Life Listens: New music from Jungkook and Billie Eilish, DJ KoFlow on Music Lab podcast

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

Must-see MV: Jungkook (featuring Latto) – Seven

One of the most hotly anticipated K-pop releases of 2023 has dropped – and trust a BTS boy to bring the fire to it.

The septet’s youngest member Jungkook’s catchy new track Seven, an English number featuring American rapper Latto, became the first K-pop solo song to top Spotify’s Daily Top Song Global Chart after its release last Friday, with close to 16 million streams.

Seven comes with an eye-catching music video that stars Jungkook and popular South Korean actress Han So-hee, best known for playing the sultry mistress in infidelity drama The World Of The Married (2020).

The video starts with an argument in a restaurant between the two, who play an estranged couple. It is rare to see a K-pop superstar like Jungkook get rejected but, throughout the song, that is what happens as he follows Han, seemingly trying to seek her forgiveness.

He serenades her and expresses his desire to be with her all seven days of the week, while Han ignores him, rolls her eyes and pushes him away, before finally taking him back at the end of the song.

The music video is set to the clean version of the song. There is an explicit version with more sexual lyrics, which Jungkook dances to in an official performance video. – Jan Lee

Singapore Scene: KoFlow – Music Lab podcast

In the past two decades, home-grown DJ and turntablist KoFlow has helped to spearhead the hip-hop community here through his club nights and festival performances around the world.

In July’s episode of The Straits Times’ podcast series Music Lab, he talks about how he learnt the ropes of nightlife early on by working at his mother’s club.

A mentor to younger generations of local DJs, he discusses how hip-hop has grown more popular in Singapore over the decades, and his role as a nightlife and music ambassador.

He also shares how he has evolved from being a performer to heading clubs, bars and restaurants, and how his years of experience as an artiste have given him a clear vision of how they should be run.

He has also focused on creating original music and expanding his artistry in the past few years, and he is set to release his new EP Grey.

On Friday, he will headline a concert at Pasir Panjang Power Station that will feature his new compositions.

Touted as a performance that features the “depth and intimacy of orchestral strings with beats”, he takes the stage with music collective Tangent Moves, whose music traverses classical, jazz, experimental and more. – Eddino Abdul Hadi

Book It/From Outer Grey – By KoFlow

Where: Pasir Panjang Power Station A, 27 Pasir Panjang Road
When: Friday, 7pm
Admission: From $25 (go to

bit.ly/3Yc3X7H

)

Stream This Song: Billie Eilish – What Was I Made For?

American pop singer-songwriter Billie Eilish has joined the star-studded list of singers and musicians who have contributed to the soundtrack of the highly anticipated Barbie movie, which opens in Singapore cinemas on Thursday.

The soundtrack album, produced by British-American producer and hitmaker Mark Ronson, also includes tunes by other stars such as Dua Lipa, Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice.

Eilish’s What Was I Made For?, her first original song released in 2023, is quite a tearjerker.

The melancholic piano ballad, gently layered with orchestral flourishes, puts her impassioned voice front and centre as she laments about finding her purpose.

The lyrics (“Looked so alive, turns out I’m not real /Just somethin’ you paid for”) and sentiments could very well apply to the titular character in the film inspired by Mattel’s iconic doll. – Eddino Abdul Hadi

Ace Album: Anohni And The Johnsons – My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross

Britain-born, New York-based singer Anohni’s latest and sixth album presents a visceral world view in a batch of songs that are both personal and political.

While her previous album, 2016’s Hopelessness, dabbles in dance and electronic music, My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross straddles vintage soul music and discordant art pop.

The transgender performer’s intense and majestic voice is the only constant, rising and falling as she addresses loss, inequality and environmentalism.

Anohni, previously known as Antony Hegarty, takes on each tune with care, whether it is a song about the last days of her late mentor, rock icon Lou Reed (Sliver Of Ice), or a passionate protest against injustice (It Must Change).

She also reunites with her band, The Johnsons, after a decade on the new songs. They are named after American trans activist Marsha P. Johnson, whose face is on the album cover. – Eddino Abdul Hadi

Chart Champ: Dave And Central Cee – Sprinter

Sprinter, a track by British rappers Dave and Central Cee, is showing no signs of slowing down.

It has been No. 1 on the British charts for six weeks running, holding off pop juggernauts Olivia Rodrigo, whose Vampire is at No. 2, and Taylor Swift, whose Cruel Summer is at No. 3.

A sun-kissed hip-hop tune anchored by Dave and Central Cee’s adroit wordplay, Sprinter also topped the charts in other countries such as Australia, New Zealand and Sweden.

It is the lead single from a surprise EP, Split Decision, from the pair of old friends who last collaborated on a 2016 remix of Spirit Bomb, a song by fellow British rapper AJ Tracey.

It is also the first track of 2023 to be released by Dave, who made headlines when his 2019 debut album Psychodrama won two prestigious British music awards – the Mercury Prize and Album of the Year at the Brit Awards.

Central Cee is no stranger to chart success too. His sophomore mixtape, 23, topped the British album charts in 2022, while his single Doja recently became the most streamed British rap song of all time on Spotify. – Eddino Abdul Hadi