Music Picks: This Is Live! Mandopop concert series, Yuvan Shankar Raja and Against The Current

This Is Live! concert series

CK Star Entertainment’s concert series This Is Live! is back after its debut in 2021.

This time, the series will feature three Mandopop concerts by female singers, happening from Thursday to Saturday, and each spanning 90 minutes.

On Thursday, Taiwanese-South Korean singer-composer Sun Shengxi, who is also known as Shi Shi, will take the stage.

The 32-year-old won the Best Mandarin Album accolade at the 2019 Golden Melody Awards and the Best Vocal Recording Album prize at the award’s 2021 edition.

Among her most popular numbers is the reflective ballad Someday Or One Day, a theme song of the Taiwanese television drama of the same name (2019 to 2020).

On Friday, Pets Tseng is up. The Taiwanese singer-actress rose to fame when she placed sixth in the Taiwanese singing competition programme One Million Star in 2007 and made her television debut two years later.

More recently, Singaporean audiences may recognise her for playing the popular and successful Liu Wei-yun in the Singapore-Taiwanese drama All Is Well (2019).

On the music front, she is best known for her heartbreaking number Keep Thinking Of Someone (2013), which has been played more than 14 million times on Spotify.

Saturday will see Australian singer Kimberley Chen showcase her individuality and ease in performing various genres, from hip-hop to R&B.

Her performance will be supported by rising Taiwanese talent Jocelyn 9.4.0, who has gained a following on Instagram for her creative covers of trending songs, such as Tally (2022) by K-pop girl group Blackpink and Honey (2017) by American singer-songwriter Kehlani.

Where: Capitol Theatre, 17 Stamford Road
MRT: City Hall
When: Thursday to Saturday, 7.30pm
Admission: $88 to $288 via Sistic (go to sistic.com.sg or call 6348-5555)

Yuvan Live In Singapore: High On U1

Indian film score composer and singer-songwriter Yuvan Shankar Raja is coming to Singapore for the first time on Saturday.

Also known as U1, the 44-year-old will be celebrating his music career spanning more than 25 years.

He will perform his chart-topping hits such as Rowdy Baby (2018), which was featured in the Indian Tamil-language action-comedy film Maari 2 (2018). The up-tempo, pulsating number is the first South Indian song to have garnered more than one billion views on YouTube.

The third and youngest child of Indian musician and film composer Ilaiyaraaja, U1 will perform on a four-sided stage and his concert promises to be an immersive experience.

When: Singapore Indoor Stadium, 2 Stadium Walk
MRT: Stadium
When: Saturday, 6pm
Admission: $75 to $450 via Sistic (go to sistic.com.sg or call 6348-5555)

Singapore Rockfest Presents Against The Current

New York-based pop-rock trio Against The Current will raise the energy at Gateway Theatre next Tuesday, when their Nightmares & Daydreams world tour makes its Singapore stop.

Comprising vocalist Chrissy Costanza, guitarist Dan Gow and drummer Will Ferri, the band formed in 2011 and started by posting cover songs on YouTube.

After landing a deal with American record label Fueled by Ramen, they released two albums – In Our Bones (2016) and Past Lives (2018).

The indie band now have more than two million YouTube subscribers and 620,000 Facebook followers.

Kicking off the band’s new chapter, their latest singles Blindfolded (2022) and Good Guy (2023) have the right mix of angst and fist-pumping energy, and promise to get the crowd dancing along.

Where: Gateway Theatre, 3615 Jalan Bukit Merah
MRT: Redhill
When: Tuesday, 8pm
Admission: $118 to $138 via Sistic (go to sistic.com.sg or call 6348-5555)