Life Listens: New music from Jackson Wang, Iggy Pop, Annette Lee and Benjamin Kheng

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

Stream This Song: Jackson Wang – Why Why Why

After his sold-out solo concert at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in December and a glitzy Christmas Eve party at Marina Bay Sands’ infinity pool, Hong Kong-born singer-rapper Jackson Wang closed 2022 by releasing this new single on the last day of the year.

And what a way to say “New year, new me”. The track is a welcome departure from the fiery passion and emotional turmoil of his Magic Man (2022) album. Instead, Why Why Why opts for a laid-back, understated approach, with simple instrumentation and a soft groovy beat.

The lyrics sees the protagonist eschew cliches to justify his attraction to his love interest. Love, to him, is a feeling – there is no why. Through the simplicity of this message, Wang’s rawness and authenticity shine through. – Benson Ang

Ace Album: Iggy Pop – Every Loser

Among the rock elders still actively making music out there, there is no one quite like punk godfather Iggy Pop.

Now 75, the often shirtless American singer’s newest and 19th solo album proves that age has not slowed him down – it has done the exact opposite.

Most of the tracks on Every Loser pummels with a jackhammer-like intensity. The band of musicians backing him up are an all-star cast that includes members of Guns N’ Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Blink-182 and Foo Fighters – latter-day rock and punk royalty who owe much to Pop’s trailblazing ways.

Switching between full-throated hollering and ragged baritone crooning, it seemed at times that the younger musicians were trying to play catch-up with Pop’s unbridled energy.

His wry observations on various issues such as social media (Comments) and the commercialisation of the punk culture that he helped defined through his late 1960s to 1970s band The Stooges (Neo-Punk) are often amusing.

To borrow the title of one of his most famous songs, his Lust For Life is infectious, and this is one true-blue rock star too stubborn to go gently into the night. – Eddino Abdul Hadi

Must-See MV: The Smile – Tiny Desk Concert

The Tiny Desk online concert series by American media organisation NPR Music is famous for featuring stripped-down performances by prominent musicians that shun flash and excess in favour of simplicity and substance.

The Smile – made up of Radiohead members Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, and jazz drummer Tom Skinner – are the latest band to take on the task of performing at the desk of NPR host Bob Boilen in Washington.

The episode sees The Smile perform three songs from their debut album, A Light For Attracting Attention, one of 2022’s most arresting alternative rock releases that seamlessly fuses genres such as post-punk, Afrobeat and progressive rock.

The British trio, bolstered at times by saxophone player Robert Stillman, expertly pare down the tunes to their bare essence without compromising the songs’ complexity and nuance.

Instead of relying on high volume and a multitude of electronic effects, The Smile double down on the tight rhythms and Yorke’s delicate singing. The pair from Radiohead may be the famous rock stars in the group, but the performance shows what a brilliant drummer Skinner is, an adroit musician whose every note feels essential to the songs. – Eddino Abdul Hadi

Singapore Scene: Annette Lee and Benjamin Kheng – We Are....

With Chinese New Year around the corner, it seems the best time for home-grown singers Annette Lee and Benjamin Kheng to release We Are..., a song about what it means to be a Singaporean Chinese.

Presented by the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre (SCCC), the song and music video take a light-hearted look at all the quirks that set locals apart from others around the world.

From an over-reliance on hanyu pinyin to distinct traits such as kiasu and kiasi, the duo spell out in song how Singaporeans’ wen hua, or culture, simply hits different.

The catchy tune, an amalgam of electronic pop and hip-hop, has the same comic vibes as Lee and Kheng’s 2021 collaboration that went viral, The Caifan Song. The YouTube video for that song clocked 1.2 million views.

Posted on the social media platforms of Lee, Kheng and SCCC, time will tell if this latest collaboration will have the same type of reach too. – Eddino Abdul Hadi

Chart Champ: SixTones – Koe

Japanese idol boy band SixTones topped Japan’s Oricon weekly album rankings with their third studio album Koe, which sold more than 517,000 copies within its first week of release. This is their highest first-week sales for an album, outperforming their early 2022 release City.

The six-man group is known for an eclectic music style that differs from typical boy band fare and Koe is no different. While the album is not available on streaming services, there are music videos and special performances on their YouTube channel for a selection of tracks.

The lead promotional song is Boom-Pow-Wow!, an unabashedly fun party track that repeats a “wowowowo“ riff. While the song does fit the sextet’s boisterous personalities and brand, check out the exclusive YouTube live band performance of Hito Hito Hito (People, People, People) for a good time.

The upbeat track blends jazz and hip-hop that SixTones clearly had a blast recording. They are relaxed but confident and vibing. A fairly rap-heavy track, it gives all its members, including clear-voiced vocalist Taiga Kyomoto, rap portions. Yet the chorus still allows them to showcase their well-balanced harmonies. – Jan Lee