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

Ace Album: Taylor Swift – The Tortured Poets Department

Just how tortured is American pop star Taylor Swift on her 11th album, The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD)? Perhaps this line on the track Who’s Afraid Of Little Old Me? speaks for itself: “I leap from the gallows and I levitate down your street; crash the party like a record scratch as I scream: ‘Who’s afraid of little old me?’”

Swift is so tortured that she had to release an extended edition of TTPD, called TTPD: The Anthology, which adds 15 additional tracks to the 16 tunes on the standard release.

Whichever version you listen to, there will be a dearth of the radio-friendly pop hits of 1989 (2014), her most successful album.  

What you will find instead is a creative essay collection that feels and sounds like a full-on theatrical production: choked to the brim with the dramatic, confessional commentary that has become Swift’s signature songwriting style, but even more unfiltered and unhinged than ever before. 

Take, for instance, these lines from the synth-goth anthem Florida!!!, a collaboration with British indie-rock band Florence & The Machine: “Barricaded in the bathroom with a bottle of wine. Well, me and my ghosts, we had a hell of a time.”

Over TTPD, Swift chronicles the intense sequence of events that happened to her in 2023 with varying overlaps: the demise of her six-year relationship with British actor Joe Alwyn, a short-lived but intense rebound fling with British musician Matty Healy and the incredible success of her The Eras Tour concerts.

In sound and mood, the record strikes a balance between the synth pop of Midnights (2022) and the dreamy folk strings of Evermore (2020) and Folklore (2020), with The Anthology tracks leaning more towards the latter two albums.

Between that and the more mature lyrics, younger fans may not relate to TTPD the way that they have immediately responded to previous Swift hits such as Love Story (2008). 

But for those with a bit more patience to sit with Swift as she processes her heartbreak, grief and anger, TTPD might very well become a classic entry in her broader musical canon. – Yamini Chinnuswamy

Chart Champ: Beyonce – Cowboy Carter

American music star Beyonce garnered several notable achievements with her eighth album Cowboy Carter. It went to No.1 on album charts in several countries, including the United States and Britain. She is the first woman to have her first eight albums debut at No. 1 on the US Billboard album charts. She is also the first black woman to top Billboard’s Top Country Albums and Hot Country Songs chart.

The Texas-born diva digs deep into her Southern roots.

Cowboy Carter is an expansive and multifaceted 27-track work that explores how the genre transcends the twang, banjo and viola of pre-album single Texas Hold ’Em, as well as country’s black roots.

Songs like Spaghettii and Sweet Honey Buckiin’ play with multipart structures, dancing around genres such as rap, folk, funk and jersey club; Ya Ya incorporates rockabilly and psychedelia; while Riiverdance has elements of house music.

Beyonce does not simply cover classics such as Dolly Parton’s Jolene or The Beatles’ Blackbird, but she also reinvents them. In the case of the latter, renamed Blackbiird, she reclaims its original narrative – Paul McCartney wrote the 1968 song inspired by black women activists during the civil rights struggle in the US southern states.

Cowboy Carter also features endorsements from country music elders. Parton, Willie Nelson and Linda Martell, the first successful black female artiste in country music, make appearances in the interludes.

Expect to hear some of Queen Bey’s strongest vocals, which are certainly more prominent amid the album’s more organic instrumentations compared with her previous club-centric album Renaissance (2022).

Daughter, for example, features a bridge in which she sings Italian opera song Caro Mio Ben, while tracks such as Flamenco and Tyrant showcase flawless harmonies and tasteful melisma. – Eddino Abdul Hadi

Stream This Song: Illit – Magnetic

Rookie K-pop girl group Illit may be only one month into their debut, but their song Magnetic is already a viral hit. And lyrics like “This time I want/You, you, you, you, like it’s magnetic” have certainly stuck.

On TikTok, the catchy chorus of the dance track with elements of house music has been used more than 460,000 times since its release on March 25. It has also inspired a viral dance challenge on the platform.

Magnetic also made its way into the Billboard Hot 100 chart, debuting at No. 91 on April 20, with more than 6.2 million official streams in the US. This makes the quintet the fastest K-pop group to enter the Billboard Hot 100 and the first to enter the chart with their debut song.

While Illit have achieved considerable success with Magnetic, controversy has followed them as well.

K-pop agency Ador’s chief Min Hee-jin – who is in charge of hot K-pop girl group NewJeans – has accused Illit’s label Belift Lab of copying NewJeans’ concept to market Illit. Both Ador and Belift Lab are separate labels owned by K-pop giant Hybe. – Jan Lee

Must-see MV: Future, Metro Boomin and The Weeknd – We Still Don’t Trust You

The music video for We Still Don’t Trust You has star power, bringing together American hip-hop juggernauts Future and Metro Boomin, and Canadian R&B star The Weeknd.

Featuring stylised scenes of clubbing and the three artistes dancing in a spacious, bare room, the song is the title track of the album by Future and Metro Boomin, which topped the US Billboard charts.

Like many hip-hop music videos, it has scenes featuring attractive women. But its lead model, Canada’s Winnie Harlow, is one who defies conventions of beauty as she has the skin condition vitiligo.

We Still Don’t Trust You is a sequel album that dropped three weeks after Future and Metro Boomin released We Don’t Trust You in late March. That first album notoriously included the song Like That, which features scathing verses from guest artiste Kendrick Lamar aimed at fellow rapper Drake. It kicked off a rap beef that has now engulfed several high-profile hip-hop stars.

This ongoing feud, which in recent weeks has included rappers such as Kanye West and J. Cole, has resulted in the rappers releasing songs and counter-songs taking aim at, among other things, one another’s perceived shortcomings. – Eddino Abdul Hadi

Singapore Scene: Gen Neo – Scarred For Tryin.

Scarred For Tryin. is the new single from Gen Neo, the home-grown singer, songwriter and producer who started out writing and producing songs for K-pop acts such as Super Junior and Eric Nam before embarking on his own solo singing career.

Driven by a trap beat, the R&B tune about heartbreak showcases the 34-year-old’s sonorous voice, narrating a story of despondency in the face of a failed relationship.

The South Korea-based singer, whose real name is Liang Genrong, also appeared on a high-profile global platform recently.

In March, he performed a version of British singer Seal’s 1994 hit Kiss From A Rose on ReImagined, a web series on the Grammys’ website in which contemporary music acts cover and reinterpret songs from the past that have garnered prominent Grammy wins. – Eddino Abdul Hadi