Rose, Snoop Dogg drop new tunes

In this monthly column, The Straits Times curates the most buzz-worthy music you need to know about that was released in the past month

- Jan Lee

Must-see MV: Rose - Toxic Till The End

After the success of her earworm Apt., K-pop girl group Blackpink member Rose's debut studio album Rosie has been hotly anticipated by fans. It was released on Dec 6.

Along with it came the music video of one of its songs, emo-pop number Toxic Till The End.

The lyrics - such as "call us what we are, toxic from the start/can't pretend that I was in the dark" - are inspired by Rose's experience with a former partner, whom she refers to only as "The Ex" in the song and interviews.

American actor-model Evan Mock, known for starring in the rebooted version of drama series Gossip Girl (2021 to 2023), plays "The Ex" in the music video, which chronicles the development of a doomed and catastrophic relationship.

In it, The Ex appears to meet Rose while hitchhiking after his bicycle tyre punctures. The two strike up a seemingly picture-perfect romance from there, as they kiss after frolicking in a water fountain.

But after he falls off his skateboard and she nurses him back to health, things go downhill.

The Ex starts hiding his phone notifications from Rose and the couple begin to have heated arguments. Rose tries to leave him, but her car breaks down.

They even have a physical altercation, where Rose pushes him into a marble bust and causes his head to bleed, but the two reconcile after the fight.

In flashbacks, it is revealed that the two have been secretly manipulating each other from the start. The Ex engineered his meeting with Rose by puncturing his bicycle tyre and stopped her from leaving by damaging her car, while Rose fiddled with his skateboard to make him fall.

The music video, directed by Syrian-Armenian writer-director Ramez Silyan, has a nostalgic sheen, with a fuzzy, old film camera quality, such that the happier scenes of the pair seem like something out of an old romance movie.