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

Ace Album: Nicki Minaj – Pink Friday 2

As the title suggests, Pink Friday 2 is the sequel to Trinidad-born Nicki Minaj’s career-defining 2010 debut album Pink Friday.

It is also her first new album in five years since Queen (2018), and it opened at the top of the Billboard 200 chart with the equivalent of 228,000 sales in the United States, and with 170 million streams and 92,000 copies sold as a complete package, including 25,000 on vinyl – not exactly a surprise for the best-selling female rapper of all time.

Minaj’s rhyming prowess, distinctive delivery and wide range of musical styles cement her title as the Queen of Rap.

She establishes dominance through braggadocio and explicit lines in tracks such as Barbie Dangerous and Bahm Bahm. But she also opens the album with the tender Are You Gone Already, which delves into the 2021 death of her father, and ruminates on her past in the final track Just The Memories.

The production spans everything from trap beats to melodic, hook-filled rap, and there are prominent samples of past hits from leading female singers, such as Blondie’s Heart Of Glass (1979) and Cyndi Lauper’s Girls Just Want To Have Fun (1983).

Are You Gone Already samples a more recent song, Billie Eilish’s melancholic When The Party’s Over (2018).

Befitting Minaj’s rap royalty status, the guest star list is also impressive. Canadian rapper-singer Drake, a long-time collaborator, is on the song Needle, while American rapper Future appears on Nicki Hendrix. – Eddino Abdul Hadi

Must-see MV: Namewee (featuring Matilda Tao) – 10 Men

For a song about being the strongest and most impressive among 10 men, the lyrics cannot quite capture the details of the other less attractive suitors.

So, the music video for Malaysian rapper Namewee’s new track 10 Men comes in handy to flesh out his competition, which includes a soldier, a lumberjack, an uncle, a florist and a baron.

Each gets a chance to demonstrate his talents and abilities, but they eventually pale in comparison to Namewee’s overall awesomeness.

In a Facebook post, the music star revealed that the hardest part of creating the comical clip was the casting. His team spent half a year auditioning actors who had to fit their characters and excel in dancing.

Filmed in the Yilan Park of the National Center for Traditional Arts in Taiwan, the music video also showcases traditional Taiwanese costumes, buildings and crafts. Taiwanese singer-host Matilda Tao appears, rapping, dancing and leading a group of women to decide who the best man is.

It is a silly competition, but the whole thing is so farcically executed that it is hard to finish it without laughing. – Benson Ang

Chart Champ: JID featuring 21 Savage and Baby Tate – Surround Sound

American rapper JID’s 2022 song Surround Sound is back in the spotlight, thanks to a TikTok craze dubbed the “Ceiling Challenge”.

The catchy tune knocked Mariah Carey’s ubiquitous carol, All I Want For Christmas Is You, off the No. 1 spot on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 charts, a list that tracks songs used on the social media platform in the United States.

In the viral videos, TikTok users are seen taping or mounting their mobile phones on the ceiling, and then recording various actions and dance moves.

A snippet from Surround Sound, which samples late soul icon Aretha Franklin’s 1965 song One Step Ahead, is used as a soundtrack.

The full version of the song, which is three minutes and 49 seconds long and found on JID’s third album The Forever Story (2022), features verses by US-based rapper 21 Savage and American rapper Baby Tate.

The first part capitalises on the melodic hook used in the TikTok videos, but the track takes a left turn towards the end with a darker, more sombre tone as JID raps about the harsh realities of life. – Eddino Abdul Hadi

Stream This Song: Waa Wei – Na Mo Miss You

Taiwanese singer-songwriter Waa Wei explores the painful effect that distance can have on a relationship in her lyrics and melody.

They paint a scenario of someone in New York trying to phone a lover in another location, yet feeling conflicted over the call going through.

A sorrowful mix of loneliness, isolation, obsessive longing and self-hatred at missing someone so much is on full display.

Perhaps this tearjerker of a track can provide some comfort to listeners unable to spend the Christmas and New Year periods with their loved ones, and let them know they are not alone. – Benson Ang

Singapore Scene: Hanging Up The Moon – Sugar Free

The new album by home-grown singer-songwriter Sean Lam, who releases music under the moniker Hanging Up The Moon, came together quickly.

The 49-year-old tells The Straits Times: “Some time in November, I got out of bed with a tune in my head. I picked up my guitar and the songs just kept on coming. I didn’t know it then, but I must have arrived at another crossroads in my life.”

The stripped-down, indie-folk vibes of the songs complement his astute observations on the vagaries of life. All That’s Left and My Friend contemplate relationships and connections, while Wannabe is a droll reflection on his youthful dreams of being in a rock ’n’ roll band.

Lam, who made his name with alternative rock band Concave Scream in the 1990s, says the aptly titled Sugar Free is Hanging Up The Moon’s most minimalist work yet. His previous albums and EPs include It’s All Here Somewhere (2018), For The Time Being (2020) and But It Was In Vain (2021).

“I do feel that this one’s the most unadorned of the lot. Partly because I’m just trying to do what I can with what I have and, also, I’m at the stage in my life where I’m not as self-conscious as before.” – Eddino Abdul Hadi