From his popular videos of covering songs to collaborating with different musicians internationally, Singaporean singer Benjamin Kheng has created a safe space for himself through music. 

During an exclusive interview with Benjamin at the Sony Music Philippines office in Ortigas on Nov. 8, the singer shared his journey as an artist after coming back on the scene after the pandemic. 

"I'm doing much better now because I think writing this album has helped me. I think the act of putting it on a paper and then singing it out, then seeing it on screen and then talking about it, you've kinda grown from that," Benjamin said. 

Aside from creating music, he also directs to lighten up his atmosphere. 

"Also, I took some time out to film another project, a TV series and just have a little bit of break from music, so it was a nice little reset for myself. Taking little breaks has been helpful for me," he added.

From collaborating with James Reid with the song, Benjamin releases another single entitled "Shared Traumas" featuring Australian artist Keenan Te. 

"Shared Trauma" is the first single of 'GLOOMY BOOGIE Vol. 2', the final part of Benjamin Kheng's two-part album. The first part, Vol. 1, was unveiled earlier this year in August.

The song was written by both Benjamin Kheng and Keenan Te, and produced by Los Angeles-based rising producer, Rence. The mixing and mastering was done by a two-time Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum engineer from New York City, Joe Grasso.

According to Benjamin, the song talks about trauma from one's past relationship. 

"I'm no licensed therapist, but as someone who started a relationship with good ol' trauma bonding, I'd say please don't do that. It's much better as a song, though. That's what 'Shared Trauma' is about - there's something poetic about the feeling of mutual sinking and the polarity of finding new love through old wounds, which was fun to play up in the lyrics, as well as the music arrangement around a darker subject matter," shared Benjamin.

Nominated at Awit Awards 

Garnering a lot of attraction on the Philippine audience, Benjamin placed a nomination at the recent Awit Awards, where he was nominated as the Best Global Collaboration for his song "Good for a Time" featuring Bea Lorenzo.

Benjamin said that he's beyond grateful for being nominated for the award. 

"I didn't believe it actually, I was like this is crazy. It felt good and then I saw the whole list of nominees, and I was like, Oh my gosh, there's a lot of musicians here," Benjamin said. 

Aside from working with James Reid from his previous song, Benjamin also mentioned he wants to work with Ben&Ben, Jarold Base, and more.