Singapore's award-winning hip-hop artist, producer and songwriter is our first guest in this new music channel.

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

In this first episode, ST's music correspondent Eddino Abdul Hadi hosts award-winning Singapore hip-hop artist, producer and songwriter Alyph.

Over the past few years, he had focused instead on making hits for regional acts. Alyph’s produced songs have amassed more than 45 million streams on Spotify and 2200 million views on YouTube. 

Signed to the South-east Asian wing of iconic American hip-hop record label Def Jam, Alyph, 33, teamed up with Malaysian cosmetics mogul and social media personality Dato Seri Vida for his latest single Swipe - released on October 21, 2022.

It has sparked a TikTok trend too, and even made an impact on Malaysian politics in the run-up to the country's general election late last year. Former Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, gamely danced to Swipe on his channel.

In the short clip, whenever Alyph sings “swipe”, the 75-year-old chairman of Perikatan Nasional would “swipe” away the logos of Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan.

On social media, users have been doing their interpretations of the catchy lyrics that go..."Kalau aku like (if I like), aku like (then I'll like), Kalau tak (If not), Aku swipe (then I'll swipe), Swipe 

Highlights (click/tap above):

2:10 How he appreciates different people interpreting his song Swipe; the message behind Swipe

5:15 The idea of working in Dato Seri Vida's infamous laugh and her eventual collaboration for the song

8:25 How is TikTok important for an artiste today?

13:16 On why Alyph makes music, to challenge normalcy in the music industry

17:45 How Alyph started writing and producing hits for artistes outside of Singapore, such as Kaka Azraff or K-Clique

21:48 Alyph on Singapore's hip-hop scene evolution, on being more serious as a pro artiste with Def Jam South-east Asia

Discover Singaporean artiste Alyph at:

Website: https://str.sg/wFV9

Spotify: https://str.sg/wFVC

Tik Tok: https://str.sg/wFVy

Produced by: Eddino Abdul Hadi ([email protected]), Ernest Luis, Hadyu Rahim, Teo Tong Kai and Eden Soh

Edited by: Hadyu Rahim

Follow Music Lab Podcast episodes here every month:

Channel: https://str.sg/w9TX

Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/w9TB

Spotify: https://str.sg/w9T6

Google Podcasts: https://str.sg/w9T2

SPH Awedio app: https://www.awedio.sg/

Website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts

Feedback to: [email protected]

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

Music Lab theme: Eden Soh (composer/arranger-guitar), Ernest Luis (guitar) 

---

Discover more ST podcast channels:

In Your Opinion: https://str.sg/w7Qt

Asian Insider: https://str.sg/JWa7

Health Check: https://str.sg/JWaN

Green Pulse: https://str.sg/JWaf

Your Money & Career: https://str.sg/wB2m

ST Sports Talk: https://str.sg/JWRE

#PopVultures: https://str.sg/JWad

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

Discover ST Podcasts: http://str.sg/stpodcasts

Discover BT Podcasts: https://bt.sg/pcPL

---

Special edition series:

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

---

Follow our shows then, if you like short, practical podcasts!

#musiclab

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.