SparkleDammit’s Release of Gods of Violence

Michelle Lubbe, professionally known as SparkleDammit, is a South African musician, singer, and songwriter. She started performing at a young age and her music incorporates various styles including dream pop, synth-pop, art pop, ethereal, electronic, experimental pop and industrial. SparkleDammit released their first song called Gods of Violence, and it’s awesome! I first learned about her through my Spotify Release Radar playlist, and the band name caught my eye. SparkleDammit, I love the name. I listened to the song, then watched the video, and I knew I had to write about this new band. Another winning factor, in her channel there was a video of her playing ukulele to Zedd’s song Clarity, and boom, she’s a winner!

1. Introducing SparkleDammit

Michelle Lubbe of SparkleDammit is from South Africa. South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa. It is bordered by Namibia to the northwest, Botswana to the north and northeast, Zimbabwe to the east, Mozambique and Swaziland to the southeast, and Lesotho to the southwest. The nation has a population of approximately 59 million people of diverse origins, cultures, and languages. SparkleDammit is a professional musician who has been performing since she was young. She has recently worked under the guidance of the successful faculty of The Songwriting Academy such as Shelly Poole and Martin Sutton, to name a few.

2. SparkleDammit’s music career and how she got started

SparkleDammit’s musical inspirations come from a variety of places. Initially, the group was inspired by K-pop groups like K/DA and BTS. However, they also drew inspiration from artists like Grimes, Poppy, The Chemical Brothers, and Lily Allen. Each of these artists brought something unique to SparkleDammit’s sound.

3. Discuss the sound of the song and what inspired it

Their new song, Gods of Violence, is a great example of this. The song is characterized by its dreamy and ethereal soundscape. It’s also heavily influenced by industrial music, which gives it a darker tone. From the article Kunstenaar Michelle Lubbe stel nuwe liedjie vry – Ridge Times

“When I listened to his and Stephan Fry’s audio books, I wondered which gods people would worship in today’s time and I immediately thought of the god of social media and there would surely be a god of technology.

“However, the god who has been worshiped all these years would definitely be the god of violence, so I decided to create this song, Gods of Violence.”

This song by Lubbe was an international team effort because it was sung in South Africa, the music was created in France, the piano piece was recorded in New York and the final product was put together in Mexico.

I love this song because of the juxtaposition of cuteness and violence. I think it’s because I love both metal and KPOP that this song appeals to me so much. I like the music box sounds mixed with the industrial sound.

4. Video of SparkleDammit’s new song Gods of Violence

Here is the video for her new song Gods of Violence.

Interview

I’m excited to share an email interview I did with Michelle!

Questions
1. How did you get started playing music? What instruments do you play?

I’m not entirely sure, music has always been a part of my life, my grandfather was a saxophonist in a Jazz band, my grandmother sang Opera, and that’s only on my mother’s side . So I’ve been singing since always, it was just a part of life.

As for instruments, my mother wanted us (her 4 kids) to learn piano from an early age, so I started around 7 or 8, and I was inlove! When I was performing at recitals and stuff, it was literally like what happens to the lead character, Joe, in the Pixar film, Soul. I get lost in the music and forget people are around. Turns out I’m autistic too, but that’s neither here nor there.

Anyway, I learned bass guitar when I was in high school, and dabbled in drums, then I taught myself ukulele when I was bedridden with cancer. I can’t escape music, not even when I’m gravely ill hahah!

2. What was the inspiration for Gods of Violence? I really like how there’s the juxtaposition of evil and cutesy (like the twinkly keyboards).

I knew from the start a modern mythology concept EP would not be complete without violence, after the George Floyed tragedy and now Ukraine, violence seems to be ever present. So I knew I had to have a God of Violence on the EP.

To help out my co-writers, I drew up these character profiles for each god, figuring out what they’d look like, what they wanted from humanity, what do I want people to feel when they listened to this god/song. And somewhere between Tangled’s Mother Gothel and Anne Rice’s vampires, I had the idea of the God of Violence, using fresh blood sacrifices to stay youthful. And with violence thriving around the world, this God didn’t realise she would turn into a child from the abundance of bloodshed going on in the 21st century. Another inspiration is the film Nightmare on Elm Street, I wanted a music box playing a tune that you’d hear on a playground.

The Hanna Original Soundtrack that The Chemical Brothers added fuel to the music box fire, I loved Hanna’s Theme specifically. I loved the whimsical and child-like sound of the music box/kalimba and then that fuzzy bassline dropping in, which is almost violent and lets you know shit’s about to go down. 

In my search for sounds, I found Grimes and Poppy’s collab called “Play Destroy”, and I liked the simplicity of the lyrics, because I tend to write freaking short stories instead of lyrics. Luckily my co-writer and producer, Oscar Alvarez, helped keep me on track with simpler lyrics.

As for the piano, Jeff Franzel who played for Frank Sinatra (this blows my mind everytime I say this), offered to play some piano for the song, and now I can’t imagine the song without it. He tried different pianos to get the perfect sound, and he just did such an incredible job. I feel so lucky and honoured that he offered. I can die happy now, not kidding.

3. Any plans for upcoming shows or new songs? Any other fun facts about yourself you want to share?

I want to do live shows again, I haven’t since I was diagnosed with cancer a few years back. I did however perform an unreleased song online on the UK’s charity Nordoff Robin’s livestream last year. But I’m as much a performer as I am a music-maker, so I’m dying to get back on stage! If enough people ask, I’ll definitely make it happen. I want to find a way to show my appreciation to my listeners, so it would be perfect!

Any other fun facts about me? I almost didn’t release my music! I didn’t want my music to become a money thing in any way, I wanted to do this for myself and no one else. This was a gift to me, for actually following my passion. I wasn’t going to promote it at all, but I realised that would be selfish and unfair to all my collaborators! And I really believe they deserve credit for their insane brilliance! So yeah, very nearly didn’t share this with this world! I’m glad I did though! PS. I didn’t think Gods of Violence would get more than 200 streams! And now I’m looking at just under 9k streams, I am gobsmacked!

Conclusion

SparkleDammit is an amazing artist with a unique sound. Their new song, Gods of Violence, is a great example of their talent. The song is dark and dreamy, and it’s heavily influenced by industrial music. It’s clear that SparkleDammit has a lot of talent and we can’t wait to see what they come up with next.