Life Listens: New music from Justin Bieber, Ed Sheeran and Tyler, The Creator

Straits Times

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Canadian pop star Justin Bieber's seventh album, Swag, is his most expansive work to date.
SINGAPORE – In this monthly column, The Straits Times curates the most buzz-worthy music released in the past month.
Ace Album: Justin Bieber – Swag
Swag is the seventh album by Canadian pop star Justin Bieber.
PHOTO: DEF JAM
Justin Bieber's unexpected seventh album Swag was not just a surprise release when it dropped on July 11, but it also represented a turning point in his music career.
It is the Canadian singer's first since he separated from long-time manager Scooter Braun and an album in which the former child star finally gets to call the shots.
The 21-track work is also, creatively, his most expansive one to date, delving into modern R&B, soul and a smattering of pop.
The songs have an unhurried, lo-fi vibe, with some tracks such as Glory Voice Memo and Zuma House sounding like unpolished demo tracks – a far cry from the shiny, compressed sounds on his last album Justice (2021).
There are plenty of gems, such as opening song ...All I Can Take, in which he channels the late King of Pop Michael Jackson; Daisies, which passes off as an indie rock track; and 405, with its drum and bass-inspired beats.
Canadian pop star Justin Bieber.
PHOTO: LILBIEBER/INSTAGRAM
Swag features collaborations with several prominent names from the hip-hop world such as US rappers Cash Cobain, Gunna and Sexyy Red, as well as skits with American comedian Druski.
More importantly, it showcases some of Bieber's most introspective lyrics to date as he ruminates on married life with American model Hailey Bieber (Devotion, Things You Do).
There are also songs on fatherhood (Dadz Love) – the couple welcomed their first child, son Jack Blues, in August 2024.
Must-see MV: Ed Sheeran – Sapphire (Dance Edit)
The dance edit music video of English pop star Ed Sheeran's new song Sapphire has a Singapore connection.
Among the dancers from various Asian countries featured is local Indian dance group Royalusion.
Its nine dancers, whose moves are choreographed by group founder Iswarya Jayakumar, are filmed in several familiar Singapore landmarks such as Gardens by the Bay and Marina Bay.
The Sapphire (Dance Edit) music video by British pop star Ed Sheeran features dancers all across Asia and includes Singapore dance group Royalusion.
PHOTO: WARNER MUSIC SINGAPORE
The three-minute MV also features dance groups in locations such as Malaysia, Japan and Hong Kong, with choreography that mixes various styles such as Bollywood and bhangra.
While Sheeran himself does not appear in this clip, he is in Sapphire's official MV, which was filmed at various locations across India when he performed there as part of The Mathematics Tour in February.
The Sapphire (Dance Edit) music video by British pop star Ed Sheeran features dancers all across Asia and includes Singapore dance group Royalusion.
PHOTO: WARNER MUSIC SINGAPORE
You can also spot Indian playback singer Arijit Singh, who sings and plays sitar on the track, and a cameo from Bollywood icon Shah Rukh Khan.
Partly recorded in Goa and featuring lyrics in English and Punjabi, Sapphire is a single from Sheeran's upcoming eighth album Play, which will be released on Sept 12.
Chart Champ: Tyler, The Creator – Don't Tap The Glass
Don't Tap The Glass is the ninth album by American rapper and producer Tyler, The Creator.
PHOTO: COLUMBIA
Bieber is not the only music star to drop a surprise album these past weeks. US rapper and producer Tyler, The Creator also released his ninth album, Don't Tap The Glass, just a few days after he announced it.
It went straight to the top of the US Billboard album charts, his fourth consecutive album to do so.
Don't Tap The Glass, unlike his previous introspective offerings, is a full-on celebratory dance album.
American rapper and producer Tyler, The Creator.
PHOTO: FELICIATHEGOAT/INSTAGRAM
Featuring 10 songs and running a little under 30 minutes – almost half the length of his previous album Chromakopia (2024) – the album is incisive and lively, and is designed to make the listener get up and move.
Like the retro hip-hop fashion Tyler, The Creator adopts on the album cover, many of the tracks are also modernised takes on music from the past. Sugar On My Tongue, for example, leans heavily into 1980s funk, Ring Ring Ring contains elements of 1970s disco while Big Poe samples US rapper Busta Rhymes' 2001 track Pass The Courvoisier, Part II.
Stream This Song: Batavia Collective and Weish – Signs
Signs is a song by Indonesian jazz trio Batavia Collective and Singapore singer and songwriter weish.
PHOTO: SYNDICATE
A collaboration between Singapore singer-songwriter weish and Indonesian jazz trio Batavia Collective (BVTC), Signs is a heady mix of electronica and jazz.
The single from BVTC's latest EP Coded features her dreamlike voice floating over the band's off-kilter rhythms and ambient synthesizer tones.
Singapore singer and songwriter weish (second from left) and Indonesian jazz trio Batavia Collective.
PHOTO: BATAVIA COLLECTIVE
While weish has been making waves with her theatre work in recent times – Secondary: The Musical won The Straits Times Life Theatre Awards 2025's Production of the Year accolade in March – her work with BVTC is closer to the music made by her electronic outfit .gif.
BVTC say in a statement about the song: 'It started as an instrumental with no vocals in mind. But once weish came in, it changed everything. Her voice didn't just sit on the track, it haunted it. Signs became our quietest piece, but also our most emotionally loaded. It's part ballad, part breakdown, part release.'
Signs, as well as the Coded EP, is released by home-grown independent record label and audio-visual collective Syndicate.
Singapore Scene: Subsonic Eye – Singapore Dreaming
Singapore Dreaming is the fifth album from Singapore indie rock band Subsonic Eye.
PHOTO: TOPSHELF RECORDS
The fifth album from one of the home-grown indie music scene's brightest sparks borrows its title from the 2006 local film directed by Woo Yen Yen and Colin Goh that revolves around a Singaporean working-class family.
Released through American independent record label Topshelf Records, the songs take on ailments of modern living, from excessive consumer behaviour to burnout-driven workplace culture – themes familiar to many living in Singapore.
Singapore indie rock band Subsonic Eye.
PHOTO: CRISPIN TAN
The single Being Productive, for example, is a rumination on the guilt that can creep in while indulging in leisure activities, while My iPhone Screen takes on the issue of identity fragmentation caused by social media.
On bilingual opening track Aku Cemas (I Panic), singer Nur Wahidah wrestles with restless self-doubt, but ends the track on a hopeful note ('Come get a hold of yourself, the world's not ending, you're not dying').
The band also comprise guitarists Daniel Borces and Jared Lim, bassist Samuel Venditti and drummer Lucas Tee.
Musically, Singapore Dreaming retains Subsonic Eye's penchant for hook-driven melodies, zippy rhythms and jangly, chiming guitars – an antidote to the heavy subjects in the lyrics.