Singaporean musician Benjamin Kheng is back with a brand new single, ‘Baby Mama’, following his last offering, ‘Fresh Feelings’ earlier this year.
Benjamin continues to thrive in the pop, soul, and R&B identity that he’s been carving for himself in his solo career. ‘Baby Mama’ is a fun dance R&B number reminiscent of the late ’90s and early ’00s brought forward with a modern electronic touch.
“‘Baby Mama’ is about the weird but wonderful sensation of knowing someone isn’t good for you and going for them anyway. I don’t actually have a baby mama.”
Benjamin croons about the conflicting feelings in his dulcet vocals over a piano melody. As the song builds, it shifts to the classic and appropriate juxtaposition of a melancholic melody interspersed with an uptempo rhythm to make a happy-sad song. The track is a complex and deliberate amalgamation of dynamic synth tones, vocal harmonies, and electronic beats with shifting tempos that reflect the push-and-pull theme within its lyrics.
Benjamin collaborated with Australian producer and sound engineer James Angus (The Veronicas, Carmouflage Rose, NME) to put the track together.
“As a project, ’Baby Mama’ has been in the oven since 2019. James and I started working out the arrangement and production pre-Covid but shelved the song in favour of the tracks that made my previous EP.
It bothered us enough that we couldn’t quite figure it out, so we finally gave it a proper shot this year after a decision to make it hit a little harder with bigger electric guitars and distorted bass. The song was a
pandemic partnership with lots of demos sent across between James and I. [I’m] glad it got birthed in these strange times.”
The accompanying music video for ‘Baby Mama’ premiers at 6:00 PM on the same day. Conceptualised and produced by Telescope Studios, the video follows a dance between two people in a doomed romance. We see Kheng debating with himself on going all-in for a relationship with someone who doesn’t want the same things as him. The couple dance across the contrasting worlds of the stripped-down intimacy he desires and the reality of being with her.
