Alternative trap – a fast-emerging, experimental take on the hip-hop subgenre – tends to be a male-dominated scene, but Tish Errda is putting her own boldly romantic take on it and winning critics over. Check out her first single, BEH CAMNE (yes, spelt all in caps), released two months ago. A hypnotic Malay number in which she croons about navigating a toxic relationship with her powerful honeyed vocals (the song title is a colloquial phrase often used to express a demand for answers), it brings to mind a female version of The Weeknd. Yet the 24-year-old marketing and business law student is quick to credit her counterparts – folks like Ahmadjohnson69, who produced her debut track, and the celebrated chanteuse Aisyah Aziz, whom she counts as a friend – for influencing her artistry. Says Tish: “It’s important to have close collaborators in the community because it helps our industry to grow as a whole.” This year, expect her to blossom with a series of new releases and tie-ups with artists from Singapore and the region.

The hardcore metal band ERROR (spelt in all caps, please) was formed in 2019 after guitarist Sufi Fadzlien (far right) and drummer Sufi Riduan (far left) met while working part-time at Gardens By The Bay (believe it), and bonded over their love for the music genre. Along with three other pals – (on couch, from left to right) vocalist Daniel Jeffrey, guitarist Alfian Mazlan and bassist Akmal Azman – this Gen Z group (all are aged between 17 and 25) has become one of the most followed metallic hardcore acts here, evolving from playing covers to writing their own headbanging anthems. Their latest release, Emptiness Within, for example, is a high-energy, dissonant-heavy paean of teenage angst with the unmistakable influence of metalcore acts from the 2000s. Their goal is to diversify Singapore’s small yet vibrant hardcore scene “without straying away from its essence”. And true to their hardcore roots, they hope for others to do the same. Says Sufi Fadzlien: “Create your own bands; make your own music and publish your own unique material.” We say, rock on.

With a stage name like Mary Sue, is it any surprise that this 23-year-old bedroom musician with a uniquely fuzzy, feel-good brand of hip-hop wants to bring a softer, more vulnerable side to the rap genre? A student at the Nanyang Technological University’s School of Art, Design and Media, he sees writing and producing music as catharsis and therapy. Cue his soaring 25-track debut album Kisses Of Life (yes, 25 songs, including three released exclusively on Bandcamp), released last year and has him pouring out about anything from personal relationships to his grandfather’s deteriorating health and eventual death over infectious, lo-fi loops. “As someone who has zero ability instrumentally and in music theory, I just create 100 per cent based on feel and hope that more people here would embrace that same free-flowing form of creation,” he says. “Screw conventions. Why not make a song in 15 minutes and release it the next day?”

Those in the local indie music circle would know Darell Laser as the frontman and bassist of the cult emo-math rock act Forests. Now the 35-year-old is venturing into the bedroom dream pop space with his new, aptly named solo venture Quite Quiet. For all his ambition (he writes, sings and plays everything – guitar, bass, keys and drums – himself), he aspires to “write easy and chill songs whenever I feel like it without any pressure of trying to be different or whatsoever”. Going by Quite Quiet’s first album, a trip to nowhere, released mid-last year, that laid-back approach is a very good thing. The 12-track LP is a masterful blend of ethereal melodies with pop sensibilities, and atmospheric vocals and instrumentation adding a haunting poignancy. Now, this is music that comforts the soul.

The combination of Raizel Gonzales’ smooth and jazzy vocals, and Ian Lee’s lush, instrument-driven arrangements has given birth to nkei, one of the most beguiling alt R’n’B acts to emerge here in recent years. It might have to do with the duo’s unpretentious, no-frills approach to music-making. “We just want to make cool and accessible music that is more raw and without the need of a huge budget,” says Gonzales, a 22-year-old who studies big data at university (Lee is a year older and runs a music production studio). “At the end of the day, a good song is a good song.” Following the release of their fourth single, Whole – a melancholic guitar ballad – last July, expect three more soulful tunes in early 2023 and a recording of a live performance to be revealed this month.

Photography Athirah Annissa, unless otherwise stated Art Direction Jonathan Chia Coordination Khong Yawen Grooming Sarah Tan, using Gucci Beauty

This article first appeared in the Jan/Feb 2023 Art & Music Edition of FEMALE