Wanting a primer to bands in the Singaporean indie rock scene, I remember once showing Sobs to one of my online friends. “I wasn’t expecting a popstar,” she commented, perhaps expecting me to show her the more ‘rock’ side of things. It wasn't a comment that I was expecting either, but it's also somewhat telling of Sobs’ appeal. Riding on the sparkling, pristine songcraft that the trio conjured on 2018’s Telltale Signs, frontwoman Celine Autumn's sweeping vocals managed to anchor a swoon-worthy magnetism that helped establish them as one of Singapore’s brightest sparks in indie pop. It’s a presence that has not only made their sound influential here in Singapore's indie scene, but has also helped create an image that's propelled them into the teenage hearts of simps in bedrooms worldwide, Southeast Asia and beyond.

This project knows that – with Cayenne, the pop-star fixation is no longer an undertone, but instead the M.O. The backdrop responds accordingly, with confidence – its spotlight throwing away its pastel glow of jangling riffs for saturated, hyperpop sheen. With the simps in arm, twee innocent heartbreak is off the menu today, as she asserts her newfound alpha energy, chardonnay in hand (All the dates I’ve been on/Got me bored out my head/They could never). But the facade doesn’t last for long – and the yearning and heartbreak remains at her core. (Am I getting on your nerves/It’s been a bad day/And you thought I needed something worse/So you went and stood me up again). Colored with just the right degree of autotune, her inner conflicts and bright delivery synthesize to create a winning pop formula – and none come more timeless to romantic drama than mixed signals city.

But as a song, Cayenne probably has even larger things to shake than the crushes. Despite Celine having the charisma to wield a pop-star guise, her vocal delivery still somewhat lacks the personality that sells the XCXs and Kim Petras of the world – instead becoming slightly consumed by the sonics that surround her. But that’s not necessarily a stroke against her – rather, it’s a case of her partner-in-crime outshining her. Produced by Sobs bandmate Jared Lim, also producing under the name of jorud on his solo efforts, Drivin’ Away instead becomes a vehicle for him to completely morph into the role of a masterful pop producer. The result is as they describe on their Bandcamp – clank!, bangers, huge.

Announcing itself with a volley of pitch-shifted samples and chime-like synths, the track bursts into technicolor, with waves of distorted bass hitting like digital sledgehammers, crisp kicks and snares galore. Some signatures remain from his experimentations as jorud – notably the chippy staccato guitar stabs, playfully dancing behind the beatwork – but for the most part, Lim conjures a track compressed and engineered to perfection, its beats ducking and filling spaces masterfully. The track feels less like a pop-star statement by Celine, but more a sonic dopamine shot, engineered with a sense of polish exceeding anything jorud has done previously. It’s nothing new, but together, the hyperpop stylings are down pat, and it commands attention.

Despite the Celine XCX-aspirations that the track holds (and boy the simps will still come nevertheless), the wheel of Cayenne's Porsche still doesn't feel entirely in her hands. Even with her presence, one can’t help feeling that the one driving away with the spotlight is not Celine’s popstar parade, but rather Jared’s A.G Cook-ian foil. The track is an electrifying debut for Cayenne (as we welcome hyperpop to Singapore with open arms), but even more so a coming out party for jorud, as he proves himself as one of Singapore’s most talented producers. The biggest question this debut holds might not be about Celine's tears on the curb, or the shirts that she's torn and tossed - but this question that lingers: why isn’t jorud blowing up?

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