Music has been embedded in my life ever since I was in the womb, my Mum and Dad basically raised me on music, especially POP music! I grew up listening to Madonna, Mariah Carey, Kylie Minogue, Spice Girls, Britney Spears….even AQUA! I love sharing my favourite songs and album every month with the world from Scene HQ! Feel free to check out my socials here 🙂 and here’s your #DaleyPOP playlist for this month: click HERE.

Sugababes – When the Rain Comes

SUPRISE!

The award winning, multi-Platinum selling music trio Sugababes are officially back like really back, after what feels like 84 years, and they’ve dropped a new single! Mutya, Keisha and Siobhan (aka the sacred three) have released When The Rain Comes via BMG. They dropped the single a couple of weeks ago now to coincide the same day as their sold out show at London’s O2 Arena (their biggest show yet). I was there and took my boyfriend for his birthday and the atmosphere was unreal!

When The Rain Comes, is a slice of effortlessly stylish British pop from the band and a special release to say thank you to their loyal fans naww I feel seen. The track, written with George Moore (Stormzy, Nao, Yebba), who also produced the track with the group’s live band, and Iain James (Little Mix, Anne-Marie), is the first taken from super highly anticipated upcoming album coming in 2024 omgomgomg.

The girls said “We loved being back in the studio and writing this song this summer, and it feels like the perfect song to release to coincide with our biggest headline show to date. This song is a celebration of the people in our lives who stand by us and lift us up through the good and bad times. The three of us have been that for each other over the years, and we felt there was no better way to mark this moment in our journey than with this song.”

In the last two years, if you’ve been living under a rock, Sugababes have been everywhere, headlining festivals including a field-closing Glastonbury performance and have appeared on numerous magazine covers. They have performed live to over half a million fans this year alone including the very successful recording for their Boiler Room online set which became the platforms most subscribed event in its history and is due to air in October. The girls are performing When The Rain Comes on The Graham Norton Show too on the 13th October!

FYI besties, Sugababes formed in 1998 while members Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhan Donaghy were in their early teens. The trio exploded onto the UK music scene with their critically acclaimed debut single Overload and their debut album One Touch which followed. One of the most successful British girl bands, the girls have scored six Number One singles, multiple Multi-Platinum albums, and countless award nominations and wins-and they’re ready to celebrate some more.

TOKiMONSTA – Say Tell Me

Jennifer Lee aka TOKiMONSTA is one of my ultimate house music faves.

Imagine having some of your faves over at your place having a few drinks and having this song on in the background, lush lush lush. TOKi tweeted (actually I should say posted on X now),  “When approaching this song, I wanted to touch back on my roots in LA, very much anchored in underground hip-hop + electronic — a throwback to early TOKi.”

If you’re familiar with TOKiMONSTA you’ll definitely agree this song is very reminiscent and….perfection.

MIKA – C’est la Vie

Pop icon MIKA has dropped his first single, C’est la vie taken from his first fully French album set for release in December via Island Def Jam France. MIKA speaks French, English, Italian and some Arabic and Mandarin Chinese btw woah, I need to step up my game with Duolingo!

MIKA said “I have an identity that has always evolved and changed. The French-speaking part of my life really took its place and I wanted to dedicate an album to that. I had two rules: I didn’t want to pretend to be French. So I kept all my particularities, my accent, my mistakes, everything! And secondly, I didn’t want to go ‘shopping’, asking everyone to send me songs. That’s not pop music. Alt pop, you have to write it.”

Oh and MIKA will be bringing his Apocalypse Calypso Tour to Brighton next year, he’ll be at the Brighton Centre on the 4th April, buy tickets here.

noonoouri (and Alle Farben) – Dominoes

Omg so if you didn’t see my article about noonoouri check it out right here because erm….she’s the first ever AI popstar “with a human soul” to sign a major record deal which is kind of a big deal and her debut single is way too catchy….honestly!

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology was used to create the singing voice of noonoouri, which has been based on a real singer’s voice but altered so she has her own distinct sound. The songwriters and musicians on the track will receive royalties and publishing splits just like any traditional song, the PA news agency understands but yeah it’s an undeniable bop and I hope we get an album too.

Erika Jayne – Drip Drop

Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star and dance pop diva Erika Jayne always gives the gays everything we want.

The Pretty Mess herself is finally back making music and this song SLAPS. Erika even currently has a Las Vegas residency aptly called Bet It All On Blonde promising glitz, glamour, fun and a bona fide Las Vegas dance party, only until December though so you’ve still got time to see her still but if you do please squeeze me in your suitcase!

Album Of The Month:

Kylie Minogue – Tension💎 | Slayyyter – STARFUCKER

 

Omg for the first time since my silly little music column was born, I have not 1 but 2 albums of the month! I couldn’t choose between them both so I thought I’ll just POP them both in seeing as it’s my column, if that’s ok with you by Shayne Ward?😝

Let’s start with Kylie Minogue, the tension whilst waiting for Tension was huuuuge, I’ve been loving everything about this era and I’m just so impressed. I knew I would be though, the wait and has been truly worth the wait and I feel super proud to be a Kylie fan right now-as always.

I wasn’t sure how Kylie was going to top 2020’s Disco but she absolutely has (I still heart Disco though too).

Oh and Tension is Kylie’s ninth number one album in the UK! (and her 16th album).

I adore every single song on the album and not just because I’m a big Kylie fan but just because they’re all so fab, even 10 out of 10 with Dutch DJ Oliver Heldens which I’ve noticed a few fans aren’t keen on for some reason, I love it. Padam Padam, Hold On To Now (needs to be the third single I think), Vegas High, and Tension are my personal highlights though.

I’m forever grateful to be alive at the same time as our High Priestess of Pop.

Slayyyter will surely be one of the main pop girlies with her sophomore album-she deserves to be mainstream after this masterpiece, STARFUCKER (what an album title btw ha) is literally bop after bop and she doesn’t hold back like at all and in her Fame era and I’m here for it.

I guess it’s a concept album because she’s delving deeper into her pop stardom with an extravagant Los Angeles starlet persona. The 12-track album centers around themes of fame, sex, femme fatales, and celebrity obsession in Hollywood. Slayyyter said “This album is meant to feel like a pop dream sequence about losing love and chasing fame.” well it definitely does ooze that huns.

Ms Cathy said about Miss Belladonna (one of my fave tracks on the album), “I made this song in LA with my friends and collaborators Nicopop and Jbach. It’s one of my favorite songs from my album (snap) and definitely my most vocally ambitious. I’m singing operatic notes in some parts, the entire song is super maximalist-sounding dark pop. It’s a bit of a dramatised piece about an overly indulgent femme fatale,”

“I feel like the album comes from this character’s point of view, the entire song feels like a big moment and sonic shift for me as an artist. She starts drama, she’s a bit of a bitch. She’s using men to her advantage. She’s the ultimate starfucker.”