LONDON (AFP/BORNEO BULLETIN) – Malaysian singer Siti Nurhaliza has made it onto King Charles III’s personal playlist, with her song “Anta Permana” featured among his top picks in a special radio show.
The UK monarch has joined forces with Apple to launch The King’s Music Room, a program in which he shares his favorite songs from across the Commonwealth and beyond. His selections reveal a surprising appreciation for disco, reggae, and Afrobeats—showcasing the tracks that get the royal toes tapping.
Among them is Kylie Minogue’s The Loco-Motion, which Charles described as having “infectious energy” that makes it “incredibly hard to sit still.” The king, who was photographed at Buckingham Palace with an “On Air” sign, also reflected on his discovery of Ghanaian Highlife music during his first visit to the country in the 1970s.
“On my most recent visit to Ghana in 2018, I found myself dancing along to the next track, which is by Daddy Lumba—who is regarded by some as the greatest musician Ghana has ever produced,” he said, before playing Mpempem Do Me.
US singer Diana Ross’ Upside Down is another of Charles’ personal favorites. “When I was much younger, it was absolutely impossible not to get up and dance when it was played. I wonder if I can still just manage it,” he joked.
The king said that the songs evoked “many different styles and many different cultures” but that “all of them, like the family of Commonwealth nations, in their many different ways, share the same love of life, in all its richness and diversity.”
The show was recorded to mark Commonwealth Day, which is being celebrated on Monday.
Jamaican reggae legend Bob Marley also made the playlist with Could You Be Loved. Charles recalled meeting Marley in London during his youth, describing the late singer’s “marvelous, infectious energy” and “profound concern for his community.”
“I always recall his words, ‘the people have a voice inside them’; he gave the world that voice in a way that no one who heard could ever forget,” Charles said.
Other Caribbean selections included Millie Small’s 1964 hit My Boy Lollipop and Montserratian artist Arrow’s Hot Hot Hot. “When I last visited the island, it certainly was,” joked the king.
On a more sentimental note, the playlist featured The Very Thought of You by 1930s crooner Al Bowlly, a song Charles said reminded him of his beloved grandmother.
Moving into the present, the monarch admitted he couldn’t resist including “the incomparable Beyoncé,” introducing Crazy in Love as part of his selection.
Other featured tracks included La Vie En Rose as sung by Grace Jones, Love Me Again by UK artist Raye, and KANTE by Nigerian star Davido. “It also features lyrics in pidgin, which I love in all its forms,” Charles noted.
The playlist also included Miriam Makeba’s The Click Song, My Country Man by Jools Holland and Ruby Turner, Indian Summer by Anoushka Shankar, Kiri Te Kanawa’s E Te Iwi E, and Michael Bublé’s Haven’t Met You Yet.
