4/09/2025

LYFE THURSDAY | SEP 4, 2025

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Intimate Voicenotes

Holiday with touches of Prince and Bobby Caldwell, while remaining distinctly 21st century in nature and subject matter. Speak marks a bold new chapter for the Hastings-based artiste, playing in story order as a narrative of desperation, love, heartbreak, acceptance and moving on. Wills retreated to a cabin in the woods he had built while making his debut to create the album, tackling feelings of stagnation and escapism. Influenced by Dijon, Mk.gee and Frank Ocean, Speak blurs genre barriers with considered arrangements pulling from jazz, hip hop, R&B and folk music. The album follows previous singles Amelia , Coulda Been Us and We Both Know , building on the success of his 2021 debut album Breathe , which amassed over 450 million streams worldwide. His breakout single Traingazing feat. Honey Mooncie became a viral sensation on TikTok and Instagram, cementing his place as a rising star with global appeal. Wills’s music has earned support from Victoria Jane (BBC Radio 1), Elton John’s Rocket Hour (Apple Music), DJ Target (BBC 1Xtra) and Jamie Cullum (BBC Radio 2), with features in Complex, Line Of Best Fit and Dummy.

B RITISH R&B and soul-pop singer-songwriter Sam Wills will release his deeply intimate new single Voicenotes tomorrow, taken from his sophomore album Speak (out Oct 3). The release comes as Wills has experienced streaming success across Southeast Asia, with growth in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. Voicenotes , the penultimate track on Speak , serves as a delicate exploration of parting with someone and lingering on relationship memories. Written alongside long-term collaborator Phairo, the melody radiates with longing and nostalgia, comparable to old jazz standards. “ Voicenotes is about missing someone you’ve parted ways with, lying awake at night lit by the blue light of a phone listening to old voice messages from them,” said Wills. o Sam Wills unveils soulful single, sets stage for Southeast Asian tour in 2026

Wills has experienced streaming success in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.

Voicenotes ’s artwork.

Café. With his Southeast Asian streaming momentum building, Wills is planning his first regional tour for next year, targeting key markets where his soulful sound has found a passionate audience.

His live performances have captivated audiences at festivals, including Cross The Tracks, El Dorado, Reeperbahn and The Great Escape Festival, alongside sold-out headline shows at London’s Lafayette, Colours Hoxton, and Jazz

The

track

showcases

his

signature intricate production and lush harmonies, with vocals that duet beautifully with light-touch production. Voicenotes evokes the timeless elegance of Nat King Cole and Billie blend of

Keina Suda ignites hearts with Rubble KEINA SUDA returns with Rubble , a heartfelt new single, and the official opening theme for the anime sensation Captivated, by You . This bittersweet mid-tempo anthem captures the longing and tender emotions of reuniting with someone important, perfectly complementing the coming-of-age stories of the series.

Known as vocaloid producer Balloon and creator of the viral hit Charles (over 150 million YouTube views across versions), Suda blends intimate bedroom pop with widescreen emotion, creating songs that resonate deeply with young audiences. Rubble showcases his signature style – delicate yet cinematic, balancing heartfelt lyrics with layered production. The music video gives fans an immersive glimpse into the emotional world Suda paints with this track, while the non-credit anime opening is also available online for a full multimedia experience. The anime is based on the work of master storyteller Yama Wayama, who also gained attention with Let’s Go Karaoke! It follows the unique everyday lives that arise from fleeting encounters, centering on the

Album art cover.

mysterious high school second-year student Miyoshi Hayashi at an all-boys school and his classmate Akira Nikaidou, who has gone through a “reverse high school debut”. The series portrays charming characters and relatable adolescent experiences in a compelling omnibus-style story.

Snow Man is a nine-member Japanese group.

Snow Man’s Charismax redefines charisma SNOW MAN redefines charisma, naming it: Charismax . The powerhouse nine-member group explodes onto screens with a track that fuses the infectious ParaPara sound of Japan’s 90s–2000s club era with slick rap flows, hard-hitting dance breaks, and a chorus built to stick. It is bold, fast and unapologetically Snow Man – charisma dialled all the way up. The music video takes that energy to another level. From seniors cutting loose in a retirement home to 250 dancers storming Shibuya’s iconic Scramble Crossing in the group’s biggest music video spectacle yet, Charismax is three minutes of pure transformation – ordinary lives turned extraordinary under Snow Man’s orbit. Fresh off its first-ever international stage at Summer Sonic Bangkok last weekend, where Southeast Asian fans saw the band live for the very first time, Snow Man is kicking off a new chapter that reaches far beyond Japan. Next up: its first global pop-up experience, “Snow Man 1st Pop-Up”, landing in Seoul (until Sept 14) before expanding to Taipei, Bangkok, Osaka and Tokyo. With Charismax , Snow Man is not just dropping a song but it is igniting a movement. The invitation is simple: step in, turn it up and feel it. Charisma, amplified. With Charismax , Snow Man proves it is not just seen or heard – it is felt, lived and shared.

Suda’s Rubble is a cinematic bedroom-pop anthem.