Singer Laufey roped in fellow ‘Wasian’ celebs like Katseye’s Megan for music video

SINGAPORE – In this monthly column, The Straits Times curates the most buzz-worthy music released in the past month.

Must-see MV: Laufey – Madwoman

Laufey’s 1960s-inspired music video for Madwoman is generating online buzz for its star-studded cameos by fellow “Wasian” (mixed white and Asian) celebrities.

The jazz-pop/bossa nova tune is from A Matter Of Time: The Final Hour, the newly released deluxe edition of the Chinese-Icelandic singer-songwriter’s Grammy-winning third album, A Matter Of Time (2025).

Korean-Canadian actor Hudson Williams, the breakout star of sports romance series Heated Rivalry (2025 to present), plays Laufey’s troublesome love interest.

Meanwhile, her glamorous pals include her lookalike Megan Skiendiel, a member of global girl group Katseye who has a Singaporean-Chinese mother and an American-Swedish father. The in-joke here is that Laufey was mistaken for Skiendiel in real life by the paparazzi at the 2026 Golden Globes in January.

Rounding out the friend group are Chinese-Swedish-American actress Lola Tung from drama series The Summer I Turned Pretty (2022 to 2025) and Chinese-American Olympic gold medallist figure skater Alysa Liu, who are both seen playing poolside mahjong.

Lastly, Chinese-American actresses Havana Rose Liu and Chase Sui Wonders make cameos as cover girls on magazines.

The MV is helmed by Taiwanese-American music video director Warren Fu, known for his work with music acts such as Daft Punk and The Weeknd.

“Growing up, I felt a general lack of representation for people who looked like me in music and media. With the Madwoman video, I wanted to be that representation,” says Laufey in a press statement. She will hold a concert at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on May 19.

“The result is what honestly feels like my absolute dream video and exactly what younger Laufey would have loved to see.”

Singapore Scene: Charlie Lim – Nobody’s Home

For the past year, the spotlight on home-grown singer-songwriter Charlie Lim has been fixed on Here We Are, the theme song he co-wrote and performed for the 2025 National Day Parade.

But after stepping away from working on his solo music for almost a year, he is back with a new release.

Nobody’s Home is firmly in the vein of what Lim does best: heartbreaking ballads that are deeply introspective and emotional. The track serves as the lead single for his upcoming third full-length album Daydream, which is slated for release at the end of 2026.

The raw vulnerability of its songs stems from a dark period in his personal life. In a social media post on March 20, Lim revealed: “I went through quite a manic depressive episode, the ending of a long-term relationship.”

He added that music was the only thing for him to kind of figure out how to build himself back up again.

These painful experiences laid the foundation for his new songs, with Lim noting that the record’s themes revolve around “regret and dealing with it, taking accountability, not running from your mistakes and just sitting with them”.

Daydream follows his previous acclaimed albums: the melancholic Time/Space (2015) and the electronic and UK garage-influenced Check-Hook (2018).

Stream This Song: Madonna – I Feel So Free

In 1985, Madonna famously declared “only when I’m dancing can I feel this free” on one of her earliest hits, Into The Groove.

Four decades later, the American pop star is exploring that exact sentiment with her new single, I Feel So Free.

The hypnotic deep house tune is the opening track of her upcoming 15th album, Confessions II, set to be released on July 3. It serves as a direct sequel to her 2005 chart-topper Confessions On A Dance Floor.

A nostalgic love letter to classic house music and her roots in the underground New York City club scene, the song prominently samples the 1989 Chicago house classic French Kiss by American DJ and record producer Lil Louis.

With lyrics celebrating the anonymity of dancing in a crowded disco, I Feel So Free also samples a 2021 video monologue she did with American fashion magazine V for its Madonna Forever issue.

Ace Album: Angine de Poitrine – Vol. II

With their cartoonish costumes and viral fame, one might be tempted to write off Canadian rock duo Angine de Poitrine as just another internet novelty.

The masked duo – Khn de Poitrine and Klek de Poitrine – were thrust into the limelight thanks to their live performance on a video series by Seattle-based American radio station KEXP in 2025. But dive into their new album, Vol. II, and that assumption is quickly dispelled.

In an era increasingly saturated with artificial intelligence-generated slop, Angine de Poitrine’s stripped-down, raw and strictly live musicality is a much-needed antidote.

There are no glossy, sterilised productions here. Every note captures the warmth and organic energy that AI simply cannot replicate.

Mostly made up of instrumentals, their bizarre meld of groovy and progressive rock utilises a custom-built, double-necked guitar that allows them to experiment with microtones instead of the standard musical scales.

Album highlights like the frenetic Mata Zyklek and the oddball rhythms of Utzp capture their ethos, showcasing sheer technical chops and an authentic, unpolished charm.

Chart Champ: Foo Fighters – Your Favorite Toy

Shooting straight to No. 1 on the Worldwide iTunes Album chart, Foo Fighters’ 12th album features songs that hark back to frontman Dave Grohl’s pre-Nirvana punk and hardcore roots with their blistering energy.

The album also went to No. 1 in at least 14 countries, including Australia, Canada, Germany and Britain.

The 36-minute album – the shortest in the American rock band’s 30-year history – was ahead of new releases from artistes such as American singers Noah Kahan and Demi Lovato, as well as a posthumous Michael Jackson project.

Perhaps the group’s rejuvenation has been bolstered by the addition of new drummer Ilan Rubin, who injects a fresh, thunderous pulse into the rhythm section. He was also part of the line-up that performed at their most recent Singapore show at the Padang stage of the Formula One Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix 2025.

Opening track Caught In The Echo sees some of Grohl’s most aggressive vocals in some time, throaty screams that are a stark contrast to the more reflective singing found in previous album But Here We Are (2023).

The lyrics seemingly reference recent developments in Grohl’s personal life. These include his 2024 announcement that he had fathered a child outside his marriage (Unconditional), and the enduring grief from the 2022 deaths of Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins and Grohl’s mother Virginia (Asking For A Friend, Of All People).