Life Listens: New music from Miley Cyrus, Doechii, Linying and Bon Iver
In this monthly column, The Straits Times curates the most buzz-worthy music you need to know about that was released in the past month.
Stream This Song: Miley Cyrus – Something Beautiful
Something Beautiful is the title track from American singer Miley Cyrus' ninth album.
PHOTO: COLUMBIA
If her latest singles are anything to go by, it seems like American singer Miley Cyrus is leaving the safe confines of mainstream music for left-field, avant-garde pop.
Something Beautiful is the title track of her upcoming album, which is set to drop on May 30.
The song starts off innocuously enough with a soulful, R&B-tinged verse in which she displays vulnerability in love. The chorus that follows is quite unexpected – big drums and discordant guitars, and Cyrus' yearning voice warped with distortion.
The sound and fury build up to a cacophonous crescendo, as the song barrels to its ending and clamorous saxophones enter the fray.
It sounds nothing like Flowers (2023), her last catchy pop hit that won Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance at the 2024 Grammys.
Cyrus has also released two other songs from Something Beautiful, which has been described as a visual album centred on the concept of healing. Prelude, the album opener, is a moody, spoken-word tune wrapped in atmospheric synthesizers, while End Of The World is a luscious pop-indie hybrid co-written with members of Canadian shoegaze band Alvvays.
Must-See MV: Doechii – Anxiety
Doechii won Best Rap Album for Alligator Bites Never Heal at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, California, in February.
PHOTO: REUTERS
There are quite a few things to unpack in the music video for Anxiety, the song by American rapper Doechii, who won the Woman of the Year prize at th e B illboard Women in Music event in March.
The music may sound familiar to many, as it samples Somebody That I Used To Know, the 2011 global hit by Australian singer Gotye and New Zealand singer Kimbra.
The music video for American rapper Doechii's song Anxiety pays homage to that of the 2011 song Somebody That I Used To Know by Australian singer-songwriter Gotye and New Zealand singer-songwriter Kimbra.
PHOTO: DOECHII/YOUTUBE
Doechii's video pays homage to that of Somebody That I Used To Know, with two actors sporting body paint and styling similar to Gotye and Kimbra's look in their video.
The twin girls who appear in Anxiety are Doechii's younger sisters, and the set recreates the rapper's bedroom where she made her early music.
The chaotic and cyclical events in the video, which include Swat police crashing through the windows and a fire breaking out in the kitchen, are a reflection of the intrusive thoughts and internal turmoil of those living with anxiety.
The song, originally self-released on YouTube in 2019, was re-recorded in 2025 after it went viral, thanks to a TikTok dance challenge based o n t he pilot episode of American sitcom The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air (1990 to 1996).
Anxiety is also on the extended version of Alligator Bites Never Heal, Doechii's 2024 release that won Best Rap Album at the Grammy Awards in February.
Ace Album: Bon Iver – Sable, Fable
Sable, Fable is the fifth album by American indie folk band Bon Iver.
PHOTO: JAGJAGUWAR
Bon Iver – headed b y singer-songwriter Justin Vernon – have often been acclaimed not just for the emotional heft of their music, but also the intricate evolution of their sound throughout a discography that spans almost two decades.
Sable, Fable, the American band's first album in six years and their fifth overall, is a work that encapsulate s the musical elements covered in their past albums. It follows I, I, their 2019 album that was nominated for Album of the Year at the 2020 Grammys.
Singer-songwriter Justin Vernon, frontman of US band Bon Iver.
PHOTO: GRAHAM TOLBERT
The album is divided into two parts and its first section, Sable, delves into the raw, folk-indie sounds of breakthrough debut For Emma, Forever Ago (2007).
The second part, Fable, showcases the complex blend of electronic music, R&B and experimental sounds found in albums such as 22, A Million (2016).
And while the general sentiment might be that Bon Iver's music is steeped in melancholia, the lyrics lean heavily towards contentment and a celebration of a new love.
There are still traces of anxiety, mostly in the early tracks, such as Things Behind Things Behind Things and Speyside, that touch on self-doubt and inner turmoil.
But the Fable songs like Everything Is Peaceful Love, Walk Home and I'll Be There reveal a side of Vernon rarely seen – a man revelling in feelings of acceptance, serenity and even happiness.
Chart Champ: Ken Carson – More Chaos
More Chaos is the fourth album by the American rapper Ken Carson.
PHOTO: OPIUM
The commercial success of More Chaos, the latest high-octane album by American rapper Ken Carson, reflects the growing popularity of what is called 'rage' music – an offshoot of trap music , a hip-hop subgenre.
Th e 22-track offering has all the hallmarks of the genre – aggressive energy, booming bass and kick drums, and a marriage of auto-tuned melody and brashness.
American rapper Ken Carson scored his first No. 1 album on the Billboard charts with More Chaos.
PHOTO: RAYCE AARONSON
Carson's fourth album went straight to No. 1 on the US Billboard album charts, his first to reach the top. His previous album, A Great Chaos (2023), peaked at No. 11.
More Chaos' gothic and cyberpunk aesthetics are on-brand for Opium, Carson's record label founded by fellow American rapper Playboi Carti.
Ironically, the work bested Music, Playboi Carti's latest album that was the previous No. 1 on the same chart. Playboy Carti guests on More Chaos' final track, Off The Meter, which also features American rapper and Opium labelmate Destroy Lonely.
Singapore Scene: Linying – Swim, Swim
Swim, Swim is the second album from Singapore singer-songwriter Linying.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF LINYING
Singaporean singer-songwriter Linying's second full-length album came about after a life-altering stint in Siargao, a remote island in the Philippines.
'By learning to lean into the unpredictable but also wildly beautiful landscape that surrounded me, I developed an intimacy with the part of myself that's ruled by feeling and desire, after a lifetime of being partial to my rational mind,' she says in a statement.
Recorded in Los Angeles, where she has been based in recent years, the soul-baring dream-pop tunes also touch on heartbreak, the momentous upheaval brought about by her move from Singapore to the United States and 'moments of rare feminine empowerment'.
Singaporean singer-songwriter Linying's new songs were inspired by her time on a remote island in the Philippines and recorded in Los Angeles.
PHOTO: LINYING/INSTAGRAM
Best known outside indie music circles as the lead singer and co-songwriter of the 2021 National Day Parade theme The Road Ahead, Linying's Swim, Swim comes almost a decade after she made a global breakthrough with 2016 single Sticky Leaves.
Sonically, songs like Donovan are breezy and upbeat, alternating between gauzy synthesizers and jangly guitars.
But there is also album closer Good Is Better Than Better, a stripped-down, beautiful and poignant track that shines with only her silken voice and a lone piano.
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