Life Listens: Music from Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Kelly Clarkson, Aska Yang and Dru Chen

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

Chart Champ: Taylor Swift – Cruel Summer

The American superstar’s Cruel Summer is far from new, but a fan favourite track from her 2019 album Lover.

Buoyed by the buzz surrounding her massively popular The Eras Tour, where the song is a set-list staple, it went viral. This prompted music label Republic Records to release it as a single on June 20.

It is currently No. 1 on Singapore’s Apple Music and Spotify charts, which is not a surprise considering the feverish anticipation among local Swifties for her six-night concert at the National Stadium in March 2024.

Cruel Summer, an affecting, electronic-tinged ode to a summer romance that features alt-rock singer-songwriter St. Vincent, is not the only Swift song on the Top 10 of the local charts.

Apple Music has five others from various albums in the Top 10, including Anti-Hero from her latest album Midnights (2022) and Style from 1989 (2014).

On Spotify, there are four other Swift songs on the local Top 10 charts, including Enchanted from Speak Now (2010).

Cruel Summer is also climbing the charts elsewhere around the world. In the United States, it is currently at No. 18 and in Britain, No. 12. – Eddino Abdul Hadi

Must-see MV: Olivia Rodrigo – Vampire

In the music video for Olivia Rodrigo’s new single Vampire, the American pop star is seen performing at an awards show before a part of the stage lighting falls on her.

She is injured and bleeding, but soldiers on with her performance, eventually running away as, for some reason, policemen try to catch her.

The on-screen drama matches the track’s theatrical vibes.

While the lyrics take aim at a relationship gone south and a bloodsucking ex, the song arrangement and music video storyline seemingly touch on her sudden rise to fame in the last couple of years.

The former Disney Channel actress found success with the 2020 breakout debut Drivers License, eventually winning multiple accolades at major ceremonies such as the Grammys and Billboard Awards.

Vampire starts off as a piano ballad a la Drivers License, but morphs into a dark, multi-faceted pop-rock tune that brings to mind her other hits such as the propulsive Good 4 U (2021).

The song is taken from her highly anticipated sophomore album Guts, set to be released in September. – Eddino Abdul Hadi

Ace Album: Kelly Clarkson – Chemistry

Hell hath no fury like Kelly Clarkson scorned.

The first new non-Christmas album in six years from the former American Idol champ and talk-show host contains plenty of diss tracks aimed at her ex-husband, music executive Brandon Blackstock. The couple, who married in 2013, went through a tumultuous divorce that was finalised in 2022.

“They say the worst parts of someone come out to play when s*** goes wrong, so s*** must hit the fan with you all day,” the American singer belts in pop-rock banger Red Flag Collector.

Said to be Clarkson’s most personal work to date, the album also features the pessimistic I Hate Love, which, inexplicably, features banjo-playing from veteran American comedian Steve Martin.

To be fair, some tunes, such as Favorite Kind Of High, do celebrate the high points of a relationship, although these are few and far between.

While a large part of Chemistry is still geared towards pop arrangements, some tracks take a darker turn.

Skip This Part and Mine, in particular, switch gears towards the end, incorporating gloomier melodic progressions and heavier, harsher instrumentations. – Eddino Abdul Hadi

Stream This Song: Aska Yang – Illuminate

In the Mandopop world, Taiwanese singer Aska Yang’s voice is distinctive for its sense of drama and tension. With a strong vibrato, it excels at delivering emotion-laden love songs, often about painful and tortured relationships.

Illuminate is right up his alley and a fitting theme song for Chinese drama A Date With The Future (2023), which centres on the romance between a woman and a firefighter, thwarted by deep scars from the past.

The circumstances here – full of misunderstandings and missed connections – are rife with conflict, and Yang’s delivery expresses this with just the right intensity, compensating for the song’s run-of-the-mill lyrics. – Benson Ang

Singapore Scene: Dru Chen – Slower Life

Singapore-based R&B and soul-pop wonder boy Dru Chen’s third and latest album Slower Life features collaborations with several prominent peers, including local singer-songwriters Gentle Bones and Rangga Jones.

The three of them sing together on Mess In Me, one of the outstanding songs from the album, which features a stirring blend of their velvety voices.

Slower Life also includes a duet with singer-songwriter Charlie Lim on the inspiring Utopia Reimagined: If You Knew, an interpretation of classical piece Utopia Symphony by Russian composer Vladimir Martynov.

Singer-songwriter Shye appears in upbeat album opener I’ll Be Honest, while actor-singer Calvert Tay features on the bouncy track Show Me.

Slower Life also seems to be linked to Chen’s 2021 album Slow Life. In fact, the new offering includes several songs from its predecessor, including Summertime, a duet with Jones, and La Di Da, a tune with Gentle Bones. – Eddino Abdul Hadi