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

Must-See MV: Bad Bunny – Monaco

Revered Hollywood veteran Al Pacino does not seem like the sort of personality to make a cameo in pop music videos.

But such is the star power of Puerto Rican rapper-singer Bad Bunny, the world’s most-streamed music artiste.

Pacino, whose roles in classic gangster films such as Scarface (1983) have inspired countless hip-hop musicians, has a significant scene in the MV for Monaco, a track from Bad Bunny’s new album Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va A Pasar Manana.

The surprise release is already 2023’s most-streamed album in a single day on Spotify.

In a cosy pasta restaurant, the pair exchange pleasantries and the famed thespian even gives his stamp of approval.

“Hey, you’re doing great,” Pacino tells Bad Bunny. “You really are doing great. He’s charging it up.”

The actor is not the only celebrity to appear in the MV, which has scenes of Bad Bunny living the high life on yachts and at casinos.

Red Bull’s Formula One driver Sergio Perez also pops up, taking selfies and hanging out with the music star at what appears to be the F1 Monaco Grand Prix. - Eddino Abdul Hadi

Ace Album: Troye Sivan – Something To Give Each Other

Australian YouTuber-turned-pop star Troye Sivan’s lovestruck single Angel Baby (2021) was a hit with music fans here. It was the second-most streamed song among Apple Music listeners in Singapore in 2022.

Something To Give Each Other, his third album and his first since 2018’s Bloom, is quite a different affair if all you are familiar with is that pop ballad.

An exhilarating body of work made for the dance floor, the album melds genres such as synth-pop, house music and R&B. 

Where previous releases featured popular collaborators such as Ariana Grande and Charli XCX, the team-ups this time are more niche and adventurous, such as with Spanish musician Guitarricadelafuente, who appears on the track In My Room.

Sivan – who, like K-pop group Blackpink’s Jennie, was one of the singers starring in the much-maligned HBO drama series The Idol (2023) – is in a hedonistic mood.

Yet, there is also recognition that with pleasure comes discontent. Still Got It, for example, laments the loss of intimacy after the end of a relationship.

For the most part, though, Sivan is playful, at times even silly, seeking pleasure and living in the moment. - Eddino Abdul Hadi 

Singapore Scene: Nathan Hartono – The Great Regression

The Great Regression is not the first album by home-grown singer and songwriter Nathan Hartono.

But it still feels like a new beginning. It is his first album since signing with a major record label, Warner Music Singapore, and his first full-length LP since his regional breakthrough on Chinese reality singing show Sing! China in 2016.

As Hartono has shown in the pre-album singles released in the past year, these are his most candid and soul-baring songs to date.

Addressing mental health issues head on, the tracks unpack the reality of what is, on the outside, a seemingly charmed life as a pop singer.

Tell It To My Face addresses anonymous online trolls (“Funny how a mess of strangers mess with my mind”) while In The Clouds proclaims that fame is not all it is cracked up to be (“I’m not where I wanna be and despite the view, I want to let gravity pull me closer to somewhere I can call home, somewhere I feel less alone”).

However, the raw emotions are balanced by upbeat, funk-pop rhythms and luscious melodies, a formula that helps deeply personal songs resonate with listeners and feel less like navel-gazing exercises. - Eddino Abdul Hadi

Chart Champ: Ado – Show

The mysterious Japanese singer Ado may be only three years into her debut, but her songs routinely top charts.

The single Show is no exception. Much like her 2021 hit Odo, Show – a Halloween event theme for Universal Studios Japan – makes full use of Ado’s guttural, energetic style of singing.

It is an unabashedly loud and brash number that makes sense, given its ties to a theme park.

The single logged its third week at the top spot of the Billboard Japan Hot 100 as of Oct 11. It is also No. 1 on Spotify’s Top 50 list for Japan.

This is hardly Ado’s first successful chart outing. She made history in 2022 when New Genesis, the theme song for the anime film One Piece Film: Red, topped Apple Music’s Global Top 100 charts, becoming the first Japanese song to do so.

And she will soon make history again as the first female solo artiste to stage her own show at Japan’s 68,000-seat National Stadium with a two-night concert in April.

Ado, who has never revealed her face and uses an anime-style avatar for her promotional materials, will stay obscured in the shadows even when performing live. - Jan Lee

Stream This Song: Della Ding Dang – A Night Tour

When darkness falls, one’s inhibitions fall away and it is time to have some fun.

This seems to be the clarion call behind Chinese singer Della Ding Dang’s new single, A Night Tour, which uses the idea of night to great poetic effect. It is the theme song of her upcoming concert tour of the same name.

The night is exquisite, with Taiwanese lyricist Ting Huang’s lyrics conjuring beautiful images such as fireflies flickering in the dim moonlight and neon lights shining like rainbows.

The night is also inviting, with lines such as “it’s a carnival from sunset to infinity” capturing a sense of mystery and endless possibility.

And at night, people can be themselves, stripped of the masks of artifice they wear in the day.

It is a feat to pack so much imagery into one song, and A Night Tour takes listeners on a bewitching nocturnal journey that will have them dreading it when morning comes. - Benson Ang