KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 5 — The upcoming Ombak Festival 2025 is owning up to its promise of another momentous weekend filled with sun-kissed moments and wavy vibes this September. 

Following the festival debut last year which saw legendary artists such as Nile Rodgers & Chic, Grace Jones and Macy Gray taking centre stage, Ombak Festival returns this year with another star studded lineup including great artists such as George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, Simply Red and Joss Stone. 

This time round, the festival will also host famous Thai singer songwriter Phum Viphurit, who will be making his return to Malaysia. He will be bringing his alter ego’s sloth-house music to the dance floor on top of his Lover Boy beachy sounds.  

Ombak Festival 2025 will be taking place from Sept 12 to 14 at the Desaru Coast in Johor. 

The sloth of Phum and a whole ‘laksa’ love

Phum debuted in the music scene back in 2014 but his breakthrough came in 2017 following the release of his first album Manchild, which contains his internationally acclaimed track Lover Boy that also saw him taking his music to cities and festivals all around the world.

And now, Phum is exploring another side of his music persona – which comes in the form of the world’s fastest bilingual sloth named Paul Vibhavadi. 

The Paul alter ego was introduced to fans via Instagram where Phum first teased about the coming of Paul via a series of videos showing him ‘transforming’ into the creature in a classic body horror style. 

He later released a four-track EP titled Paul Vibhavadi Vol.1 in October last year, which saw Phum experimenting with house music, funk and a dash of indie folk — all while wearing full sloth prosthetics and makeup that took two to three hours to apply, requiring a full makeup team. 

Speaking to Malay Mail, Phum said that the Paul persona was derived from his own stagnant Covid-19 days and he wanted to bring the concept of an alter ego to life, and thus came Paul. 

Even so, many were left confused about how committed Phum was to the whole project. 

“I have planned with my co-director to actually go dark on social media for a little while and actually transform on camera with 80s prosthetic make up style.

“I wanted to really explore the odd parasocial relationships artists have with their fans, how as innocent and great as it can be, it is still an odd way to go about life from both ends. 

“And Paul explores that (throughout the songs in the EP) as listeners follow him on his quest to find the mythical peaceful Himmapan forest, which is also a symbol of my curiosity towards fame and what it’s like to really live without it,” Phum said. 

Although Phum might not be in full sloth costume for his set at Ombak Festival 2025, the 30-year-old said Paul will definitely be ‘alive and well in spirit’ for the show as he will also be playing songs from the EP alongside his stacked 7-piece band. 

Despite having performed in Malaysia a few times before, in 2018 and 2019, Phum is most excited to get the chance to perform outside of KL for the first time ever. 

“I had never played anywhere outside of KL! When Ombak came calling, I was intrigued by the setting of the festival and of course, the prestige of the other artists performing. 

“It was one of the easiest ‘yeses’ in my life as a touring musician,” he said. 

Despite this being his first time performing outside of KL as Phum Viphurit, the ‘Hello, Anxiety’ singer is actually no stranger to Malaysia as he has been around the country a few times before. 

He has performed in Sarawak previously with his high school jazz choir group and he has also visited other cities such as Penang. 

He added that aside from getting to meet his Malaysian fans again, he’s also looking forward to having some authentic laksa during his time here. 

Get wavy for Ombak Festival

In line with Malaysia’s Asean chairmanship this year – Ombak Festival 2025 will also see a total of 29 regional music talents taking the stages such as Malaysian rappers Joe Flizzow, SonaOne and Zamaera, Indonesia’s DJ duo Diskoria, Cambodia’s musician Vanthan and Singapore’s rock band The Pinholes. 

Aside from music, the festival will also have art installations and workshops alongside an array of food and beverages offerings as well as activities for children. 

Tickets for the festival are still available with one-day pass ticket price ranging between RM250 and RM350 while two-day passes (Saturday and Sunday) are sold at RM650 and RM750 for a whole three-day pass. 

For more information on Ombak Festival 2025, please visit https://www.ombakfestival.com/