Life Listens: New music from Niall Horan, Jeremy Monteiro, Queens Of The Stone Age, SixTones and Hu Xia

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

Chart Champ: Niall Horan – The Show

British pop star Harry Styles may have hogged the headlines in recent years, but he is not the only One Direction boy band member making waves with his solo output.

Irish singer Niall Horan is back in the limelight with his third solo album The Show, a follow-up to 2020’s Heartbreak Weather.

Released in early June, the album went to No. 1 in several countries, such as Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. In the United States Billboard charts, it made its debut at No. 2.

The collection of songs is quite a mixed bag and, in a lot of ways, mirrors the musical fluidity of Styles’ Grammy-winning 2022 album Harry’s House.

While Meltdown is an upbeat indie-pop track with a driving rhythm similar to Styles’ As It Was, Save My Life’s buoyant pop recalls One Direction’s youthful hits.

Taking on topics ranging from mental health to the complexities of relationships, it is Horan’s most mature work so far.

He imbues many of the tracks with a lot of heart, and there is a palpable sincerity to mellow songs such as the folksy You Could Start A Cult and piano ballad Science. – Eddino Abdul Hadi

Singapore Scene: Jeremy Monteiro – Sings

Singapore’s most accomplished jazz name recently achieved a significant milestone in his long career.

Jeremy Monteiro’s latest and 47th album, Sings, went to No. 1 on the local iTunes album charts last week, briefly beating global heavyweights such as Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran and Jay Chou. It also topped the local iTunes jazz charts.

These two charts track music sales on the iTunes digital media platform, which means that his fans are buying and downloading his songs, instead of merely streaming them.

Sings is also the first album in which the Cultural Medallion recipient, who is better known as a musician, bandleader and composer, takes on vocals in all the songs – on top of playing the piano – which include renditions of standards such as Moon River and Smile.

While recording Sings, Monteiro caught Covid-19, which affected his ability to sing in tune. It was only three months ago that he recovered his vocal abilities and returned to the studio to finish up the album.

Sings will also be available in CD format in the near future. – Eddino Abdul Hadi

Ace Album: Queens Of The Stone Age – In Times New Roman...

Queens Of The Stone Age’s last album, 2017’s Villains, featured their most danceable tunes to date.

In their new offering, In Times New Roman..., the American rock quintet – who played a triumphant set at the Glastonbury music festival over the weekend – are no longer in the mood to party.

The guitar riffs are thick and sinewy, and the tracks are driven by menacing grooves that are more likely to ignite mosh pits.

The acerbic lyrics seem to be inspired directly by the drama surrounding frontman Josh Homme’s life. Not only did he go through a very public and messy divorce with Australian rocker Brody Dalle, but he also recently revealed that he has cancer.

Drummer Jon Theodore, as always, is a gem, alternating between tight rhythms and elegant fills.

But In Times New Roman... is not all sound and fury. Tracks such as Obscenery, Emotion Sickness and Straight Jacket Fitting are also adorned with just the right amount of layered harmonies and unexpected turns to keep the listener engaged. – Eddino Abdul Hadi

Stream This Song: Hu Xia – The Youth Memories

Chinese singer Hu Xia is best known for the track Those Bygone Years from the hit Taiwanese romance movie You Are The Apple Of My Eye (2011). And so far, nobody does wistful longing quite as well as him.

His new tune The Youth Memories is the theme song of the 2023 Chinese drama of the same name, which centres on a group of young people passionately pursuing their dreams in 1970s China, when the country was opening up to the world.

It paints an idyllic picture of the past, where people wrote stories on bookmarks, and one’s future was full of promise.

Filled with imagery of seeds germinating and flowers blossoming, its lyrics aptly convey youthful optimism, carried by Hu’s tender, melodic delivery. – Benson Ang

Must-see MV: SixTones – Kokkara and Fireworks (YouTube Limited Performance)

Japanese boy band SixTones (pronounced “stones“) put on a series of exclusive-to-YouTube performances with the release of their new single Kokkara, which now sits at the top of Japan’s Oricon weekly singles charts.

The six-man act from controversy-ridden idol powerhouse Johnny & Associates has always been more hip-hop-focused than its agency mates such as Snow Man and Naniwa Danshi. And Kokkara is no exception, beginning with a fast rap.

The YouTube performance, which was streamed live on June 9, kicks off with musicians playing wind instruments before a door opens to reveal the group behind them. In a hallway, the members perform Kokkara while seamlessly moving between one another, behind the camera and even up a short flight of stairs.

The playfulness of SixTones, who are known for their boisterous energy, is felt more keenly in this live performance, where they are given free range to sing and move as opposed to their more choreographed music videos.

After a talk segment that mixes the introduction of their album with chit-chat, the group perform Fireworks, a B-side track for Kokkara which adds Latin music influences for a seductive sound. – Jan Lee