Pre-Show Audience Engagement on an Iconic Landmark

Ahead of New Year’s Eve, ON THE SLY was commissioned to create the music and sound design for a series of pre-show audience engagement pieces on the Burj Khalifa, produced by Artist In Motion.

The work formed part of the build-up to the main New Year’s Eve celebrations and was designed to entertain and engage audiences gathered across the Burj Khalifa plaza and surrounding waterfront promenades in the moments before the headline show began. Rather than telling a single story, the content was conceived as a collection of short, playful moments that brought energy, movement and atmosphere to the building as anticipation built.

ON THE SLY created original music and sound design for a suite of individual pieces, each transitioning into the EMAAR logo. The brief called for a light-hearted, contemporary musical approach that could support a range of visual sequences while remaining deliberately restrained and complementary to the main show.

Musically, the work explored a shared sonic world rather than a single theme. Across different sequences including lighting-led visuals, cosmic and telescopic sequences, floral forms, drum-focused moments and theatrical, circus-inspired concepts, the music was designed to feel sweeping and fluid, with subtle Emirati textural elements woven into a modern palette. The overall tone aimed to feel magical rather than mechanical, playful without becoming distracting, and closely aligned to the upward movement and scale of the building.

First unveiled on New Year’s Eve, the project was designed to extend beyond a single moment, with the opportunity for it to live and breathe across future occasions.

This project forms part of ON THE SLY’s wider work delivering music and sound direction for live experiences, from projection mapping and architectural media to large-scale ceremonies and global public spectacles.