We're not just taking the Highway to Heaven - we're taking the highway to a better world alongside Global Citizen and NCT 127. "You're so super, ay!" — NCT 127 declares that in their track Superhuman, and they're by no means wrong.
You may not have the teleportation or otherworldly dancing skills (yes, that's a superpower!) shown in NCT 127's "Superhuman" music video, but you do have the power to change the world - that's what NCT 127 brought to the table as a musical guest at this year's Global Citizen Festival!
Global Citizen provides a platform for people all over the world to call upon world leaders to achieve the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals and end extreme poverty by 2030. In the two months leading up to the Global Citizen Festival, Global Citizens took over 1 million actions by joining a social action platform at globalcitizenfestival.com - these actions led to 18 commitments from global leaders worth $932.1 billion, affecting the lives of 7.6 million people worldwide.
These actions are also how Global Citizens scored admission to this year's Global Citizen Festival. Over 60,000 Global Citizens gathered at Central Park's Great Lawn on Saturday, September 28, 2019, with even more tuning in through live streams held by MSNBC, Twitter, and Youtube.
Although the venue prohibited NCT's iconic bright green lightstick, NCTzens nevertheless found a way to express their love for NCT through neon green clothing, NCT concert tour merch, and posters of their favorite memes and slogans of their bias - showing up strongly to represent NCTzens amongst a crowd of thousands.
The festival kicked off in the afternoon with a video presenting the goals of Global Citizen Festival and each of the acts to follow. Upon seeing the name 'NCT 127' lit up on the Great Lawn stage, cheers got ten times louder.
Between a rotating list of acts and key speakers uniting from change, the festivities went on straight on from golden hour through nightfall, with no time to rest in between swaying to Ben Platt, jumping to Carole King, and saving the world one action at a time.
NCT 127's set came nestled between amazing acts like Pharrell Williams and Queen, long after the sun had set - that just meant the dazzling lights of NCT 127 (read as: Haechan's smile?!) could shine even brighter. For their first-ever performance in New York, NCT 127 opened with the English version of "Highway to Heaven" and followed up with the original Korean version of "Superhuman." With only two songs, NCT 127's performance was extremely brief, yet still ethereal: set against a red background, every razor-sharp move of their choreography, every dazzling sustained high-note, and every smile and wink sent the audience into screams.
NCT's concept — involving an infinite amount of members — mirrors the ever-growing potential of technology and the ever-growing potential of each person to do good. NCT 127 calls on each of us to not only join Neo City and become NCTzens but to join the Global Citizen Movement as Global Citizens — "To everyone here and everyone watching, please keep on supporting the Global Citizen Movement!" called Mark, on stage.
And the journey towards bettering our Earth is hardly over! The Global Citizen Movement will culminate in a historic ten-hour global broadcast event spanning five continents and held on September 26, 2020. Artists like Shawn Mendez, Billie Eilish, Lizzo, Coldplay, Alicia Keys, and EXO have already raised their hands to support the cause.
We're not just taking the Highway to Heaven — we're taking the highway to a better world alongside Global Citizen and NCT 127.
(And if you're missing NCT 127 extra heavily in the meantime, make sure to check into their upcoming performance at this year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on November 28th in NYC! As the first K-Pop group to perform at the parade, it's nothing short of legendary — and we get to see history in action.)
