SINGAPORE - The recent crop of releases in the pop and rock world include high-profile trans-Atlantic team-ups. Cuban-American singer Camila Cabello enlists English star Ed Sheeran for her song, while American rapper Megan Thee Stallion ropes in British singer Dua Lipa for a single.
Meanwhile, Tears For Fears, one of the most enduring English pop acts from the 1980s, make a welcome return with their first album in 18 years, while hip-hop star Kanye West has released his latest album in an unusual format.
Check these out on streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp.
1. Latin Pop
Bam Bam (featuring Ed Sheeran)
Camila Cabello
Cuban-American singer Camila Cabello's single about moving on and acceptance comes a few months after her high-profile split from fellow pop star Shawn Mendes. The song, Bam Bam, features English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran and is from her upcoming third studio album, Familia.
Cabello and Sheeran had last collaborated on the latter's 2019 album, No.6 Collaborations Project.
2. Pop
Sweetest Pie
Megan Thee Stallion and Dua Lipa
In June 2021, American rapper Megan Thee Stallion expressed her admiration for British pop singer Dua Lipa in an interview.
It turned out the feeling was mutual. Sweetest Pie is the first collaboration between them and will be on Megan Thee Stallion's upcoming second album.
Lipa wrote on social media: "So excited I'm crying sugary icing out of my tear ducts."
3. Pop/Rock
The Tipping Point
Tears For Fears
British pop and rock duo Tears For Fears - made up of Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith - are back with The Tipping Point, their seventh album and their first in 18 years. The title track is a personal work inspired by Orzabal's grief from seeing a loved one lose a long battle with disease.
The new work - a follow-up to Everybody Loves A Happy Ending (2004) - debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard album charts.
4. Alternative
Painless
Nilufer Yanya
Painless is the second album by London singer Nilufer Yanya. With music that crosses genres - such as indie rock, trip-hop soul and jazz - it is the follow-up to her acclaimed 2019 debut album, Miss Universe. According to a press release, the title is inspired by her view that pain need not be a negative thing.
5. Hip-hop
Donda 2
Kanye West
Hip-hop doyen Kanye West chose an unusual way to release his 11th album, Donda 2, the second album to be named after his late mother.
The songs are available only on Stem Player, an audio device West developed with technology company Kano Computing. This led to the release being the world's most pirated album in February 2022.
There are songs that delve into West's marital troubles with former wife and reality-television star Kim Kardashian. There are also appearances from other prominent hip-hop acts, including Future, Travis Scott as well as R&B singer Alicia Keys.
6. Rock/Pop
1
The Beatles
One of The Beatles' best-selling albums of all time, 1 gets a new lease of life with yet another audio mix.
The 2000 album, a compilation of Fab Four songs that reached No. 1 in Britain and the United States, has been remixed in Spatial Audio, a technology available through Apple Music that gives the tunes a fresh, three-dimensional sound.
Songs such as Love Me Do (1962) and Let It Be (1970) were remixed by Grammy-winning producer Giles Martin, son of The Beatles' original producer George Martin, who was often referred to as the "fifth Beatle".
7. Folk
How Is It That I Should Look At The Stars
The Weather Station
Canadian folk outfit The Weather Station's sixth album, How Is It That I Should Look At The Stars, is a reflective collection of songs meant to be a companion piece to the previous album, Ignorance (2021). Singer Tamara Lindeman wrote all the music, sang and played piano, and was accompanied by a group of Toronto jazz musicians.
8. Indie Rock
Things Are Great
Band Of Horses
American act Band Of Horses frontman Ben Bridwell scrapped a batch of songs, switched producers and shuffled band members around before finally completing sixth album Things Are Great.
It includes the pre-album single Crutch, about which Bridwell says: "Crutch means some of the things that I was dependent on. My relationship, for one. I think I wanted to say, 'I've got a crush on you', and I thought it was funny how relationships also feel like crutches."
9. Alternative Rock
Fever Dreams Pts. 1 - 4
Johnny Marr
Fever Dreams Pts. 1 - 4 is the fourth solo album by Johnny Marr, who made his name as guitarist and co-songwriter for iconic English indie band The Smiths. "It's an inspired record, and I couldn't wait to get in and record every day," he says. "But I had to go inwards."
In 2021, the musician worked with Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer on the soundtrack to the James Bond film, No Time To Die.
10. Pop Punk
Love Sux
Avril Lavigne
Canadian singer Avril Lavigne tapped collaborators both old and new for her seventh album, Love Sux.
Travis Barker, drummer of pop-punk stalwarts Blink-182, produced most of the album, while the band's singer-bassist Mark Hoppus sang and co-wrote one song, All I Wanted. The album was also released through Barker's label, DTA Records.
Lavigne has her finger on the pulse of the pop and rock scene, and the songs also feature more current acts such as Machine Gun Kelly and Blackbear.