Sparro takes flight again

Sam Sparro’s recent comeback single Happiness sounds like a chart topper if ever there was one.

Trouble is, given the current pop climate — littered with harsh, ear-splitting electro-house breakdowns from the likes of Calvin Harris, LMFAO and David Guetta — the warm, vintage dance feel of the song, and of Sparro’s new album Return To Paradise, seem destined for niche, rather than mainstream, success.

It’s a conundrum of which the singer himself is all too aware but, speaking to the Star Observer from his LA home, the Australian-born powerhouse insisted he was happy to march to his own beat.

“Mimicry is the name of the game in pop music today. You’ve got three or four producers making every song you hear on the radio, and not only are they ripping each other off but they’re constantly ripping themselves off too,” he said.

“As far as business goes, that’s really smart, because they’ve found a formula that makes them money. But I’m a terrible businessman.

“I’ve really resisted [the prevailing pop sound] emphatically, because I’m so bored with it and I’m so detached from it. Every now and then there’ll be a pop song on the radio I’ll connect to — I really liked the Calvin Harris and Rihanna track [We Found Love] — but I’m not really interested in chasing that wagon.”

Instead, Sparro’s delved into the sounds of his youth — and beyond — for Return To Paradise. Chic, Prince, Chaka Khan — the funk, soul and disco masters of the late ’70s and early ’80s are his musical touchstones.

“It was important for me on this album to have a specific point of reference. I was feeling nostalgic for that era of music,” he said.

“There was so much musicianship, so many great vocalists, and a different sentiment than you find in pop music today.”
How so?

“It was a lot softer and more romantic. A lot less narcissistic. That’s why I really respond to that era, and why it’s influenced this album so much.”

But today’s musical climate isn’t all dead-eyed narcissism. We’re living in a words where two of the world’s biggest pop stars, Lady Gaga and Minaj, have created drag king alter egos (Joe Calderone and Roman Zolanski, respectively) who’ve been lovingly embraced by their loyal fan bases.

For male pop stars, though, the opportunity for flamboyance and theatricality seems to be more limited, something the openly gay Sparro laments.

“I think males are definitely constrained culturally at the moment, which is ironic. There’s a lot of corporate discomfort with male sexuality right now, whereas female artists are given a lot more licence to be provocative and sexual.”

INFO: Return To Paradise (EMI) out June 1.