S1E11: Newcomer rhyu - Singapore’s answer to Laufey?

The Straits Times Podcasts

Home-grown singer and songwriter rhyu is the 11th guest in this music channel.

Synopsis (headphones recommended): Each month, The Straits Times invites music acts to its podcast studio.

In the 11th episode of Music Lab, ST's music correspondent Eddino Abdul Hadi hosts home-grown singer and songwriter rhyu.

The newcomer’s arresting vocals and original songs, a mixture of pop, jazz, and R&B, have garnered comparisons to popular Icelandic-Chinese singer Laufey, who reposted one of her videos on TikTok.

The 19-year-old, whose real name is Raine Hahn Yu, started releasing music in 2022 and started dabbling in writing and composing songs as a child.

She has since staged performances at venues such as the Esplanade, music festivals and was an opening act for Taiwanese band Cicada’s concert in Singapore.

In this episode of Music Lab, she sang a live rendition of It’s fine, a song that has garnered over 1.3 million streams on Spotify alone.

Highlights (click/tap above):

1:15 Having her song blow up on TikTok

3:28 She came up with the melody while queuing at Old Chang Kee

4:46 Laufey reposted one of her videos on TikTok

6:04 She started writing songs at the age of 4

10:36 Her early influences were Mandopop artistes like JJ Lin and A-mei

13:59 On her studies and a music career

16:25 Her new song came to her in a dream

21:47 Her family used to organise concerts

Watch the special live performance and video podcast version of this episode on the Straits Times’ Podcast YouTube channel: https://str.sg/tWma

Listen to rhyu’s live performance of It’s fine here: https://str.sg/3FX8Y

Discover home-grown artiste rhyu at:

Spotify: https://str.sg/bxbh

Instagram: https://str.sg/g9Pt

Produced by: Eddino Abdul Hadi ([e-mail]), Ernest Luis, Eden Soh, Hadyu Rahim & Amirul Karim

Recorded by: ST Podcast Team

Edited by: Hadyu Rahim

Follow Music Lab Podcast here every month:

Channel: https://str.sg/w9TX

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Website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts

Feedback to: [e-mail]

Read Eddino Hadi's articles: https://str.sg/wFVa

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Music Lab: https://str.sg/w9TX

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ST Podcast website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts

ST Podcasts YouTube: https://str.sg/4Vwsa

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Special edition series:

True Crimes Of Asia (6 eps): https://str.sg/i44T

The Unsolved Mysteries of South-east Asia (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuZ2

Invisible Asia (9 eps): https://str.sg/wuZn

Stop Scams (10 eps): https://str.sg/wuZB

Singapore's War On Covid (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuJa

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Chapters

1. Newcomer rhyu - Singapore’s answer to Laufey? (00:00:00)

2. Having her song blow up on TikTok (00:01:15)

3. Creating melody while queuing at Old Chang Kee (00:03:28)

4. Laufey reposted one of her videos on TikTok (00:04:46)

5. She started writing songs at the age of 4 (00:06:04)

6. Early influences from artistes JJ Lin & A-mei (00:10:36)

7. On her studies and a music career (00:13:59)

8. Her new song came to her in a dream (00:16:25)

9. Her family used to organise concerts (00:21:47)