Over The Rainbow
Female Singapore|January - February 2022
Videos By Some Of Singapore’s Most Daring And Stylish Young Imagemakers Including Filmmaker Joy Song And Photographer Zalindrome. A Site-specific Installation By The Pop Culture-obsessed Mixed Media Artist Eduardo Enrique. An Immersive Audiovisual Experience Featuring Psychedelic Motion Graphics By Reza Hasni (See Right) And A Soundtrack By Electronic Musician Kin Leonn And More. Without Doubt, One Of The Buzziest Shows At Singapore Art Week This Month Will Be Happy House Curated By Tulika Ahuja And Eileen Chan. The Former Is The Independent Art Consultant On Everyone’s Lips For Her Playful And Thoughtprovoking Interactive Shows. The Other Is The Beloved Dj Who Revolutionised Our Nightlife Scene With Her Underground Techno Parties And Laid The Foundation For The Project After Leaving What Was Formerly Her Happy House. Here, The Latter Talks To Noelle Loh About The Death Of Clubs, Locals’ Troubling Relationship With Happiness, And How She Reclaimed The Joy She Found On The Dance Floor Through Art.
Over The Rainbow
It all started with a random message accompanied by a smiley face-scrawled poster sent over Whatsapp early last month: “I hope this message finds you well. I’m working on a new project, Happy House, which is an ongoing study into the state of happiness in Singapore and want to understand why we have such a complicated relationship with happiness… We are doing an open call now to buy your happy memories for $1 each. Whether it’s a snapshot from a happier time or a compilation of many memories that have brought you joy, we want them!”

The sender indicated on screen: Eileen Chan aka DJ Cats On Crack.

Pre-pandemic, Chan was the poster girl of underground nightlife here. Besides her infectious house and techno sets, she had co-founded The Council – operator of three cult clubs (Headquarters, Tuff Club and Somewhere) where bonds and beats matter more than the dress code or decor, as well as organiser of even grittier warehouse raves of legendary proportions. Nearly two years on and… she’s sending scam-like texts to people she had not seen since the onset of Covid?

“We are presenting the first chapter of Happy House as part of Singapore Art Week (SAW) in January,” she explains after a convivial exchange of emoji greetings. A click on the link in her message takes one to the Instagram account @happyhouse.sg that’s part meme punctuated bulletin board, part social experiment with contributions from those who have shared photos or videos of fond times past for a buck. (One post reports that according to an index by the website Expensivity, the price of happiness in Singapore is around $5,150 monthly – “moderate” by regional standards.)

Denne historien er fra January - February 2022-utgaven av Female Singapore.

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Denne historien er fra January - February 2022-utgaven av Female Singapore.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA FEMALE SINGAPORESe alt
GOOD VIBES
Female Singapore

GOOD VIBES

EVERY YEAR, CHANEL PICKS A PLACE ON THE WORLD MAP NOT ONLY TO INSPIRE, BUT ALSO TO SHOWCASE ITS ANNUAL CRUISE COLLECTION (IT’S A TRADITION THAT’S ROOTED IN THE MAISON’S EARLY YEARS WHEN COCO CHANEL PRESENTED A LINE OUTSIDE OF THE USUAL FASHION CALENDAR TO INCITE WANDERLUST FOR TOASTIER, MORE PICTURE-PERFECT CLIMES DURING THE WINTER MONTHS). THE LATEST DESTINATION: VIBRANT MARSEILLE – THE FRENCH CITY THAT RECEIVES THE MOST SUNSHINE; HOME TO AN ECLECTIC REPERTOIRE OF CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS AND LANDMARKS; AND A MAGNET FOR EMERGING CREATIVES WITH ITS MIX OF GRIT AND GLAMOUR, LAND AND SEA, AND YOUTHFUL BOHEMIAN ENERGY. THE RESULTS? A COLLECTION THAT MAKES US WANT TO LET LOOSE AND DANCE. NOELLE LOH REPORTS FROM THE PHOCAEAN CITY.

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3 mins  |
November 2024
THE PARTY EDIT
Female Singapore

THE PARTY EDIT

Club-appropriate hits from the Resort 2025 collections

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1 min  |
November 2024
THE VIPS
Female Singapore

THE VIPS

SOME OF THE 17 PEOPLE SPOTLIGHTED ACROSS THE NEXT 26 PAGES HAVE BEEN IN THE NIGHTLIFE BUSINESS WAY BEFORE THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC DECADES EVEN. OTHERS LESS, BUT HAVE BEEN FOR MUCH OF THEIR LIVES DEEP INTO MUSIC, VIBING IT OUT ON DANCE FLOORS AND MAKING SURE EVERYONE AROUND HAS A HELLUVA GOOD TIME. THEIR ENDEAVOURS RANGE FROM A MODEST NEIGHBOURHOOD BAR TO CONGLOMERATE-BACKED, MULTI-CONCEPT SPACES AND A MULTIFARIOUS NETWORK OF POP-UP PARTIES, ALL OF WHICH HAVE BEEN MAKING AN EXTRA-LOUD SPLASH IN THE PAST YEAR. WHAT ELSE THEY ALL HAVE IN COMMON: THEY'RE RETHINKING AND RESHAPING PARTY CULTURE FOR THE FUTURE - OR, TO PARAPHRASE CHARLI XCX, THEY'RE BUMPIN' IT. KENG YANG SHUEN AND NOELLE LOH PUT THE CAMERA FLASH ON.

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10+ mins  |
November 2024
THE NIGHTS
Female Singapore

THE NIGHTS

ROUGHLY TWO YEARS ON SINCE THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC, FOLKS FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE ARE STILL TAKING IT UPON THEMSELVES TO THROW THEIR OWN INDEPENDENT PARTIES WITH MORE EXPERIMENTAL SOUNDS, AND MORE INTENTIONAL AND INCLUSIVE EXPERIENCES THAT INJECT A ROUSING UNDERGROUND ENERGY TO SINGAPORE NIGHTLIFE. KENG YANG SHUEN TURNS THE SPOTLIGHT ON FOUR OF THE NEWEST ORGANISERS ON THE SCENE AND TELLS YOU WHY YOU SHOULD HIT THEIR PARTIES.

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4 mins  |
November 2024
THE SOUNDS
Female Singapore

THE SOUNDS

THEY'RE ALL UNDER 30, MOSTLY SELF-TAUGHT AND EMERGED PROFESSIONALLY ONLY AFTER THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC. MOST DON'T EVEN HAVE A REGULAR GIG (YOU'D HAVE TO CHECK THEIR INSTAGRAM ACCOUNTS TO FIND OUT WHEN NEXT THEY'LL BE PERFORMING), BUT DON'T YOU DARE CALL THEM BEDROOM DJS. KENG YANG SHUEN SPOTLIGHTS SEVEN EMERGING SINGAPORE-BASED MUSIC SELECTORS AND MIX MASTERS WHO'VE BEEN TEARING UP DANCE FLOORS IN THE PAST YEAR AND SHOULD BE TAKEN VERY SERIOUSLY.

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6 mins  |
November 2024
SHE CALLS THE SHOTS
Female Singapore

SHE CALLS THE SHOTS

SINCE THE 2000S, RIHANNA HAS BEEN MAKING DANCE FLOORS WORK, WORK, WORK WITH HER INFECTIOUS ELECTRONIC AND R&B-INFLECTED POP HITS. FOR ANOTHER SIDE TO HER \"QUEEN OF THE NIGHT\" PERSONA, THERE'S HER ROLE AS THE LATEST FACE OF DIOR'S J'ADORE PERFUME AND ITS ACCOMPANYING CAMPAIGN FILM. SHOT BY HER LONG-TIME FRIEND STEVEN KLEIN, IT FEATURES THE BARBADIAN BADDIE STRIDING THROUGH THE GILDED HALLS OF THE PALACE OF VERSAILLES DRIPPING IN GOLD. HERE, SHE SHARES MORE ABOUT HOW THE FAMOUSLY FEMININE FRAGRANCE EMBODIES CELEBRATION.

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3 mins  |
November 2024
A Not So Common Scent
Female Singapore

A Not So Common Scent

For the first time, the singular house of Hermes has launched a chypre perfume fragrance type known for its complexity and dualistic nature a that comes in a first-of-its-kind bottle, no less. Keng Yang Shuen finds out more about Barenia, Hermes's latest scent that hit stores recently, from the brand's in-house perfumer Christine Nagel.

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5 mins  |
October 2024
Strange Love
Female Singapore

Strange Love

The six names in this story create wildly different works that tend to blur the boundaries among disparate disciplines. All have little in common except one thing: a certain wondrousness and sense of curiosity that inspire audiences to look at familiar things anew. Keng Yang Shuen reports.

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6 mins  |
October 2024
The artist
Female Singapore

The artist

Johnny Depp is certainly far from the conventional leading man: the iconically quirky on-screen roles, the rock musician persona (he was a guitarist before becoming an actor), the unexpected neoexpressionist portraits in 2022 (these paintings of cultural heroes ranging from AI Pacino to Elizabeth Taylor sold out in a day), and of course the title of being Dior's long-standing poster boy for its wilderness-inspired flagship men's perfume Sauvage for nine years and counting.

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5 mins  |
October 2024
spirited away
Female Singapore

spirited away

Collaborations with the art world have become a trusted way of injecting novelty into fashion.

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4 mins  |
October 2024