Music Scene: New works by Billie Eilish, Bruce Springsteen, Kylie Minogue and more

SINGAPORE - Some of pop and rock's long-lasting veterans have released new albums in the past month. They include American musician Bruce Springsteen, Australian dance pop doyenne Kylie Minogue, English singer Elvis Costello and Australian rock icons AC/DC.

There are new works from contemporary pop powerhouses too. Teenage Grammy winner Billie Eilish has a new single; reggaeton star Bad Bunny collaborates with Jhay Cortez for a No. 1 hit; and British girl group Little Mix have put out their sixth album.

1. ROCK

LETTER TO YOU

Bruce Springsteen

Hear it on: Spotify, Apple Music and other music streaming platforms

Watch it on: bit.ly/2UBzUpN

For his 20th album, the Boss reunites with the members of his E Street Band after their last tour in 2016.

Recorded live in his home studio in New Jersey, Letter To You was partly inspired by the death of former bandmate George Theiss. Nine of the 12 songs are new.

The rest - If I Was The Priest, Janey Needs a Shooter and Song For Orphans -are old songs thatSpringsteen wrote in the early 1970s but did not release.

Accompanying the album's release is a documentary film, Bruce Springsteen's Letter To You, put out by Apple Original Films.

2. DANCE-POP/DISCO

DISCO

Kylie Minogue

Hear it on: Spotify, Apple Music and other music streaming platforms

Watch it on: bit.ly/38ChDkC

Australian dance-pop icon Kylie Minogue's 15th album, aptly titled Disco, is her first since 2018's Golden. She worked on most of the album herself in her home studio during the Covid-19 lockdown.

The tracks are a blend of 1970s and 1980s disco and modern electronic dance music.

In an interview with Apple Music, the singer says: "Some of the best disco as we know, is really sad. And it's dressed in sequins, and it's lit with coloured lights.

"And of course, disco's history is rooted in the need and desire to have a place to express yourself and be yourself without judgment or not be yourself, whichever way you're inclined."

3. ALTERNATIVE POP

THEREFORE I AM

Billie Eilish

Hear it on: Spotify, Apple Music and other music streaming platforms

Watch it on: bit.ly/2IwQPaR

American singer Billie Eilish is seen running through an empty mall in the music video for her new single Therefore I Am.

The video, shot on an iPhone, was directed by the 18-year-old multi-Grammy winner herself. The location, Glendale Galleria, is a Californian mall she used to frequent in her early teens.

Eilish will sing the song live for the first time at the American Music Awards on Nov 22, where she is nominated for the Favourite Artist - Alternative Rock and Favorite Social Artist prizes.

She is expected to release a documentary film, Billie Eilish: The World's A Little Blurry, which will premiere in theatres and on Apple TV+ in February 2021.

4. ROCK

POWER UP

AC/DC

Hear it on: Spotify, Apple Music and other music streaming platforms

Watch it on: bit.ly/2Ivx4jm

Australian rock legends AC/DC are showing no signs of slowing down and have released 17th album - the first for the 47-year-old Rock And Roll Hall of Fame inductees since 2014's Rock Or Bust.

Founding member Angus Young, who still plays lead guitars in his trademark schoolboy uniform, told BBC News recently that the band have no qualms about staying true to their hard rock formula: "We stuck to what we did best. We always found that our strength not our weakness."

The album is dedicated to his brother and the band's late rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young, who died in 2017 after a long battle with dementia.

5. ALTERNATIVE/ROCK

HEY CLOCKFACE

Elvis Costello

Hear it on: Spotify, Apple Music and other music streaming platforms

Watch it on: bit.ly/3nmKmOu

English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello has been nothing short of prolific since he made his debut in the late 1970s. Hey Clockface is the 31st album from the multi-Grammy winner and Rock And Roll Hall of Fame inductee.

Most of the songs were recorded in a three-day session in Paris in February.

Costello says of the title track: "This is a song about picking an argument with time, the very clock face, either running too fast or too slow, depending on the company you keep".

6. ALTERNATIVE ROCK

EARTH TO DORA

Eels

Hear it on: Spotify, Apple Music and other music streaming platforms

Watch it on: bit.ly/32FsGFT

Fun fact: The cover of Earth To Dora, the 13th album by American alternative rock stalwarts Eels, is a painting that had been hanging in frontman Mark Oliver Everett's bathroom for a decade.

He told Billboard magazine in a recent interview that the Dora in the album title is named after a friend who worked on the lights at the band's past concerts.

She was going through a hard time and Everett was trying to make her feel better.

He said: "Most of the lyrics of the song came directly from things I was texting to her. I realised, maybe I can cheer up some more people if I turn them into lyrics for a song."

7. POP

CONFETTI

Little Mix

Hear it on: Spotify, Apple Music and other music streaming platforms

Watch it on: bit.ly/3kpNszh

British girl group Little Mix's sixth album includes three previously released singles - Break Up Song, Holiday and Sweet Melody.

The group are planning a tour across the United Kingdom and Ireland in April and May 2021. A portion of the ticket sales will go to two charities - Black Minds Matter UK and Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy.

8. ALTERNATIVE ROCK/ELECTROPOP

SONG MACHINE, SEASON ONE: STRANGE TIMEZ

Gorillaz

Hear it on: Spotify, Apple Music and other music streaming platforms

Watch it on: bit.ly/3kAAKhh

Virtual band Gorillaz's new album features a host of formidable names from the pop and alternative music scene.

Elton John, together with American rapper 6lack, appears in The Pink Phantom; The Cure frontman Robert Smith features in album opener Strange Timez; and American singer-songwriter Beck is on The Valley Of The Pagans.

The songs are part of a web series titled Song Machine, which Gorillaz - made up of Blur frontman Damon Albarn, artist Jamie Hewlett and producer/drummer Remi Kabaka Jr.- started in January.

9. FOLK

SONGS/INSTRUMENTALS

Adrianne Lenker

Hear it on: Spotify, Apple Music and other music streaming platforms

Watch it on: bit.ly/3kBfgAO

American singer-songwriter Adrianne Lenker - best known as singer and guitarist of indie rock band Big Thief - has released two solo albums, Songs and Instrumentals.

"There are two records; they are connected but meant to offer separate experiences," she writes on social media.

The songs were written after a breakup and the cancellation of Big Thief's tour due to the Covid-19 pandemic. "If you could use some support in the form of songs, give it a spin. These songs have helped me heal," she says.

The watercolour painting that appears on both albums were done by her grandmother Dianne Lee.

10. REGGAETON/LATIN POP

DAKITI

BAD BUNNY & JHAY CORTEZ

Hear it on: Spotify, Apple Music and other music streaming platforms

Watch it on: bit.ly/2UsPSmd

Dakiti, a single by Puerto Rican singers Bad Bunny and Jhay Cortez, shot straight to No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Latin Songs chart upon its release.

It continues a winning streak for Bad Bunny - all three songs that achieved the feat in 2020 were all his.

He told Billboard that the creative process behind the song was different from thatof his previous works.

"It was a combined effort, which is unusual for me, but when one works as a team, great things come out," he says of working with Cortez and fellow Puerto Rican artists Mora and Tainy.