Life Listens: New music from Sabrina Carpenter, Post Malone, Taemin, Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars
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American singer Sabrina Carpenter's sixth album, Short N' Sweet, expands on the pop goodness of her hit singles.
PHOTO: UNIVERSAL MUSIC SINGAPORE
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SINGAPORE – In this monthly column, The Straits Times curates the most buzz-worthy music you need to know about that was released in the past month.
Ace Album: Sabrina Carpenter – Short N’ Sweet
Short N’ Sweet is American pop singer Sabrina Carpenter’s sixth album.
PHOTO: UNIVERSAL MUSIC SINGAPORE
With two song of the summer contenders already under her belt – lead singles Espresso and Please Please Please – a lot is riding on the American pop singer’s sixth album.
The rest of the tracks live up to the hype – a breezy collection that justifies Sabrina Carpenter’s meteoric rise.
The melodies and song structures are unabashedly pop, but with the help of a team of producers that include American hitmaker Jack Antonoff, a frequent collaborator of Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey, there is a wide scope to her sound that makes the Short N’ Sweet listening experience dynamic.
The former Disney Channel actress’ lyrics are funny, cheeky and sexually upfront, and when she is taking someone down, she does not hold back. “This boy doesn’t even know/The difference between ‘there’, ‘their’ and ‘they are’”, she croons about a clueless lover on country-folk ballad Slim Pickins.
Sharpest Tool, driven by bubblegum bass dance beats, is another scathing takedown, this time about a man looking only for a shallow relationship. On Taste, which has a music video in which she violently spars with American actress Jenna Ortega, she throws shade at her cheating partner’s other woman.
But when Carpenter is enamoured, she goes all the way, like in shimmery pop-rock tune Juno, where she aspires to get pregnant like the title character of the Oscar-winning 2007 comedy-romance film from which the song takes its name.
The album title may play on both the singer’s petite frame and compact album length (the 12 tracks run at 36 minutes), but Short N’ Sweet shows she is in it for the long haul. – Eddino Abdul Hadi
Must-see MV: Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars – Die With A Smile
The music video for Die With A Smile has a retro vibe that harkens back to television variety shows from the 1970s.
PHOTO: UNIVERSAL MUSIC SINGAPORE
The collaboration between American pop superstars Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga was certainly unexpected. Both have not released new music on their own in more than two years, and there were no hints they had been working together on this surprise standalone single.
A throwback to 1970s soul ballads, featuring soaring vocal performances from both singers, the music video appropriately takes on a similar retro vibe.
Mars ditches the vintage leisure suits of his Silk Sonic side project in favour of a look that matches Gaga’s old-fashioned country-star chic. Strumming a guitar, he dons a big cowboy hat, while Gaga sports an imposing blonde beehive hairdo as she plays on a keyboard.
The collaboration between American pop superstars Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga was certainly unexpected.
PHOTOS: AFP, DANIEL RAMOS
As Die With A Smile increases in intensity, Gaga gets off her seat to boogie and spends the rest of the song playing her instrument on her feet as she and Mars stare longingly into each other’s eyes.
The two, dressed in blue and red, perform in what looks like a television set from a 1970s variety show, complete with old-school studio cameras and warm-toned lighting.
It is a fun set-up, and both infuse the song with enough emotional heft to prevent the music video from being a mere pastiche of western music acts of yesteryear. – Eddino Abdul Hadi
Chart Champ: Post Malone – F-1 Trillion
F-1 Trillion is the sixth album by American singer Post Malone.
PHOTO: REPUBLIC RECORDS
Post Malone’s pivot to full-on country proves to be another winning move for the chameleonic American singer known for his genre-hopping.
F-1 Trillion, his first country album, went straight to the top of the Billboard album charts, knocking his Fortnight (2024) duet partner Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department off the pole position. It is also his first release to top Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart.
Featuring collaborations with some of country music’s biggest stars, from veterans such as Dolly Parton to contemporary giants like Morgan Wallen, Post Malone’s hook-filled transition to pop-country feels smooth and not at all contrived.
Post Malone’s pivot to country music is another winning move that has propelled him to the top of the charts.
PHOTO: POSTMALONE/INSTAGRAM
The album, his sixth, also made it to No. 1 on the British charts as well as in countries such as New Zealand and Norway.
All 18 songs from the standard version are also in Billboard’s Top 100 singles chart. The highest placer, I Had Some Help, with Wallen, is currently at No. 2. – Eddino Abdul Hadi
Stream This Song: Taemin – Sexy In The Air
The album cover of K-pop singer Taemin’s EP, Eternal.
PHOTO: TAEMIN_BPM/X
The amorously titled lead single of Eternal, the fifth EP released by K-pop star Taemin, marks a new chapter for the 31-year-old, who is also part of South Korean boy band Shinee.
The seven-track offering is his first solo release since leaving his long-time agency SM Entertainment for Big Planet Made Entertainment in April. His previous releases, such as Move (2017), Criminal (2020) and Guilty (2023), tended to be groovy, sultry numbers with a flair for the dramatic.
Sexy In The Air retains Taemin’s signature sound, but adds a touch of rock, especially at the beginning, with a warped guitar instrumental driving much of the song’s direction.
In the second half, the music production is changed up so drastically, it almost sounds like a different song, pivoting to a sinister-sounding hip-hop beat.
K-pop singer Taemin’s seven-track Eternal is his first solo release since leaving his long-time agency SM Entertainment for Big Planet Made Entertainment in April.
PHOTO: TAEMIN_BPM/X
This splintered approach is at least interesting, if not particularly addictive or appealing at first listen. But Taemin’s assured performance – and, yes, sexiness – elevates the song and makes it worth checking out. – Jan Lee
Singapore Scene: Music Lab podcast – Shigga Shay
Singaporean rapper Shigga Shay is a guest on ST’s Music Lab podcast.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
Home-grown rapper Shigga Shay was the first act from Singapore to take part in The Rap Of China 2024, the popular Chinese reality show (2017 to present) that looks for the country’s next rap star.
He was eliminated in the third round, but he explains in the latest episode of ST’s Music Lab podcast that he still sees his time on the show as a big win.
Shigga Shay (right) is the latest guest on the Music Lab podcast hosted by ST’s music correspondent Eddino Abdul Hadi.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
Those performances exposed him to a regional audience far bigger than the one in Singapore, and he made connections with other hip-hop acts in China that have resulted in various musical collaborations.
He still makes regular trips to China to work with his counterparts there on his upcoming release, a mixtape titled Hanyu Pinyin. The songs will showcase his multilingual rapping abilities, and features verses in English, Mandarin and Hokkien.
Shigga Shay sang a live rendition of his latest single, Overachieve, on the Music Lab podcast.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
He also discusses how hip-hop music helped him overcome his shyness, and how his late father gave him his stage name.
Listen to the Music Lab podcast, as well as Shigga Shay’s live rendition of his latest single Overachieve, at str.sg/pNYi – Eddino Abdul Hadi
Correction note: In an earlier version of the story, we said that Shigga Shay was eliminated from The Rap Of China 2024 in the second round. This was based on what he said during the podcast interview. His management has since clarified that he was eliminated in the third round.
