Music Lab Podcast
Newcomer rhyu - Singapore’s answer to Laufey?
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Synopsis (headphones recommended): Each month, The Straits Times invites music acts to its podcast studio.
In the 11th episode of Music Lab, this journalist hosts home-grown singer and songwriter rhyu.
The newcomer’s arresting vocals and original songs, a mixture of pop, jazz, and R&B, have garnered comparisons to popular Icelandic-Chinese singer Laufey, who reposted one of her videos on TikTok.
The 19-year-old, whose real name is Raine Hahn Yu, started releasing music in 2022 and started dabbling in writing and composing songs as a child.
She has since staged performances at venues such as the Esplanade, music festivals and was an opening act for Taiwanese band Cicada’s concert in Singapore.
In this episode of Music Lab, she also sings a live rendition of It’s fine, a song that has so far garnered over 1.3 million streams on Spotify alone.
Highlights (click/tap above):
1:15 Having her song blow up on TikTok
3:28 Coming up with the melody while queuing at Old Chang Kee
4:46 Laufey reposts one of her videos on TikTok
6:04 On how she started writing songs at the age of 4
10:36 Her early influences: Mandopop artistes like JJ Lin and A-mei
13:59 On her studies and a music career
16:25 How her new song came to her in a dream
21:47 How her family used to organise concerts
Listen to rhyu’s live performance of It’s fine in ST’s podcast studio here:
Discover home-grown artiste rhyu at:
Spotify: https://str.sg/bxbh
Instagram: https://str.sg/g9Pt
Produced by: Eddino Abdul Hadi ( dinohadi@sph.com.sg
Recorded by: ST Podcast Team
Edited by: Hadyu Rahim
Mixed by: Amirul Karim
Follow Music Lab Podcast here every month:
Channel: https://str.sg/w9TX
Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/w9TB
Spotify: https://str.sg/w9T6
SPH Awedio app: https://www.awedio.sg
Website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts
Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg
Read Eddino Hadi’s articles: https://str.sg/wFVa
---
Discover more ST podcast channels:
All-in-one ST Podcasts channel: https://str.sg/wvz7
The Usual Place: https://str.sg/wEr7u
COE Watch: https://str.sg/iTtE
Asian Insider: https://str.sg/JWa7
Health Check: https://str.sg/JWaN
Green Pulse: https://str.sg/JWaf
Your Money & Career: https://str.sg/wB2m
Hard Tackle: https://str.sg/JWRE
#PopVultures: https://str.sg/JWad
Music Lab: https://str.sg/w9TX
---
ST Podcast website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts
ST Podcasts YouTube: https://str.sg/4Vwsa
---
Special edition series:
True Crimes Of Asia (6 eps): https://str.sg/i44T
The Unsolved Mysteries of South-east Asia (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuZ2
Invisible Asia (9 eps): https://str.sg/wuZn
Stop Scams (10 eps): https://str.sg/wuZB
Singapore’s War On Covid (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuJa
---
Get The Straits Times’ app, which has a dedicated podcast player section:
The App Store: https://str.sg/icyB
Google Play: https://str.sg/icyX
