SINGAPORE – In this weekly column, The Straits Times curates the most buzz-worthy music you need to know about now. 

Chart Champ: Ateez – The World Ep.Fin: Will

K-pop boy band Ateez have dethroned American diva Taylor Swift on the latest Billboard 200 albums chart.

The eight-man group’s album The World Ep.Fin: Will has sold 152,000 units since its release on Dec 1. It knocked the pop princess’ re-recording of her 1989 album off the charts when it claimed the No. 1 spot on Dec 10.

This is Ateez’s first release to top the chart, which ranks the most popular albums of the week in the United States, marking a career-high milestone for the group. Its line-up comprises Yeosang, Yunho, Seonghwa, Jongho, Hongjoong, Wooyoung, San and Mingi.

According to The Korea Times, Ateez are the only K-pop act outside of the big four K-pop agencies – Hybe, SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment and JYP Entertainment – to achieve this feat. Ateez are managed by KQ Entertainment.

Other K-pop groups that have claimed the top spot are BTS, Stray Kids and Blackpink.

Ateez performed the album’s lead song Crazy Form, infused with Afrobeat rhythms, at the Mama Awards in November. While the number may, on a casual listen, be easily dismissed as another loud, swaggering dance song, it is a great showcase for the group’s unmatched energy during live performances. – Jan Lee

Must-see MV: Mariah Carey – All I Want For Christmas Is You (Festive Lambs Edition)

It is December, so you cannot avoid hearing Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You.

Good news for fans who cannot get enough of this holiday staple: The American singer has released a new music video to accompany the tune.

Christened the Festive Lambs Edition, Carey dedicated the new video to her fans, collectively called The Lambily (a combination of the words lambs and family).

Featuring recent scenes from the singer’s Merry Christmas One And All! concert tour, which took place in November and December, the video has plenty of footage of fans singing the ubiquitous tune.

Notably, it features scenes with Monroe and Moroccan – Carey’s 12-year-old twins, whose father is her former husband, television host Nick Cannon. Moroccan is seen playing the drums in the video, which also highlights the many musicians and crew members who accompany Carey at her shows.

You can also spot at least one celebrity fan, pop singer Miley Cyrus, in a blink-and-you-will-miss-it audience shot. Other personalities who make cameos in the video are television personality Nicole Richie and actor-host Mario Lopez. – Eddino Abdul Hadi

Ace Album: Peter Gabriel – i/o

For veteran British singer, songwriter and musician Peter Gabriel, every album release is an event. His newest work, i/o, is no different.

It is his first new album of original material in 21 years, a long-awaited follow-up to 2002 album Up.

The former singer of progressive-rock elders Genesis, which also famously included drummer-singer Phil Collins, released each of the 12 songs gradually in 2023.

True to his penchant for the avant-garde, each of the songs comes in two distinct versions, the aurally dynamic Bright-Side Mix and the more solemn Dark-Side Mix.

Even the release dates are unconventional – the Bright-Side Mix songs were released on either a full moon or a new moon.

The only exception is the optimistic and hopeful final track, Live And Let Live (“I’m gonna lay the weapons down, lay the burden down”), where all the mixes were released simultaneously on Nov 27.

For completists who buy the album’s physical, three-disc set, there is also a third mix in Dolby Atmos.

While it is musically dense, the record has been infused with enough big choruses and catchy refrains that make it a joy to listen to.

And, like Gabriel’s previous albums, each song has individual artwork created by a variety of artists from different disciplines.

Road To Joy, for example, features Middle Finger In Pink, an artwork by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. – Eddino Abdul Hadi

Stream This Song: Jack Harlow – Lovin On Me

One non-seasonal song standing up to all the other Christmas tunes in the charts this past week is Lovin On Me, a single by American rapper Jack Harlow.

The upbeat, bass-heavy tune has a distinct 1990s vibe, mostly because it heavily samples American R&B singer Cadillac Dale’s Whatever (Bass Soliloquy) from 1995.

The lyrics also reference another 1990s song, Rico Sauve (1990), a hit by Ecuadorian rapper and singer Gerardo.

Harlow – who was also recently in the spotlight in the K-pop scene for his collaboration with BTS star Jungkook on the song 3D – raps about not wanting to be shackled in a relationship.

He name-drops rising Detroit rapper Skilla Baby in the tune, but there is also a line – “She twenty-eight, tellin’ me I’m still a baby” – that some say references British pop singer Dua Lipa. The pair reportedly dated in late 2022.

Lovin On Me, which went viral on TikTok in November, had a short run at No. 1 on the Billboard singles charts before it was dethroned by Brenda Lee’s seasonal classic Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree (1958). – Eddino Abdul Hadi

Singapore Scene: Shye, Abangsapau, Sezairi and Aisyah Aziz – Just Catch

Home-grown singers Aisyah Aziz, Sezairi and Shye, as well rapper Abangsapau, feature in Just Catch, a new music video for Catch, an online arts and culture portal by the National Arts Council (NAC).

If the tune sounds familiar, that is because it is a rewritten version of Rowdy, the bouncing pop/hip-hop hybrid by Thai K-pop singer Sorn that was co-produced and co-written by two Singaporeans, producer Josh Wei and songwriter Linying.

There is a lot going on in the lively music video, which bears watching more than once.

Aisyah, Sezairi, Shye and Abangsapau all feature prominently in it, singing and rapping their lines in a series of jump cuts and kinetic camerawork that matches the song’s robust beats. 

The video also brings together prominent Singaporean creatives from various disciplines. 

There are scenes that feature theatre veteran Ivan Heng; talent from Bhaskar’s Arts Academy, the Singapore Lyric Opera and the Singapore Chinese Dance Theatre; as well as photographer AikBeng Chia, writer Daryl Yam and film director He Shuming. 

Go to str.sg/iYJ3 to watch video. – Eddino Abdul Hadi