Taken from this week’s Future Pop mailer. Click here to subscribe.
Star is the new US TV series from the creator of Empire, following a girlgroup on the pursuit of stardom. The pilot episode aired on Fox last month, and 4 songs by the stars of the show were released as an EP via Republic Records. The three girlband members were found through auditions, but lead singer Jude Demorest (who plays the titular character, Star) already had, or perhaps still has, a solo deal with Epic. She’s listed as a co-writer on Work From Home by Fifth Harmony, which may mean it was originally meant for her (5H are also with Epic). The premiere had mixed reviews, but I enjoyed it enough to keep watching, and there were a couple of songs I loved: I Can Be and I Bring Me. The tracks are sassy, confident, quality R&B-pop, and the girls are talented performers, so I really hope the show picks up steam and they actually have a chance of becoming a real thing, like a cool 2017 version of S Club 7. I Bring Me is full of attitude and witty lines – it reminds me of L.A.N.C.E. by June’s Diary, the group produced by Kelly Rowland’s talent show Chasing Destiny. American TV needs to keep offering up R&B girlgroups until one works, and we can all enjoy their musical output in the process.