Skip to main content

New Music for 2026

It's a new year and so gime or my annual post featuring new music! I started this back in 2017 (writing posts sharing new music at the beginning of the year). You can see 2025's at the links below:

New Music for 2025: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/01/new-music-for-2025.html 

More New Music for 2025: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/02/more-new-music-for-2025.html

 

And now here's some new music for 2026! It's mostly Asian artists but a variety of genres. :)

 

The Kid LAROI- BACK WHEN YOU WERE MINE

First up, some new music from Australian singer and rapper The Kid LAROI. He released his 2nd studio album BEFORE I FORGET on 9th January. It's the follow-up to his 2023 debut THE FIRST TIME, which originally came out in November 2023 and was also released as a deluxe edition in August 2024.

LAROI initially planned for his 2nd album to be called WATCH THIS! and released several singles intended to be on it- APEROL SPRITZ, ALL I WANT IS YOU, HOT GIRL SUMMER and SHE DON'T NEED TO KNOW. However, he ultimately decided to scrap that album  and recorded a new one. 

LAROI has described BEFORE I FORGET as a "sadder, more emotional album" than the previous intended release, likely due to the aftemath of his break-up with Canadian singer Tate McRae last summer. Lead single A COLD PLAY was released in September, followed by A PERFECT WORLD in November.

BEFORE I FORGET is more of an R'n'B album than THE FIRST TIME, which has a variety of styles including hip hop, pop rap and alt pop. My favourite tracks include ME + YOU, COME DOWN, RATHER BE feat. Australian rapper and singer Lithe and JULY.

BACK WHEN YOU WERE MINE is the 3rd single and came out on 2nd January. It's a gentle, emotional song that sees LAROI reflecting on his past relationship.

 



The Kid LAROI- ME + YOU

ME + YOU is one of my favourite songs on BEFORE I FORGET. It's more of a rap style track ("sing song" rap). It reminds me of Tell Your Friends by Canadian singer The Weeknd (a similar style but I think ME + YOU is slower), and other people on YouTube commented that they thought so too! 

This is the official visualiser. Please note that the song contains swearing.

 


Also check out the videos for the previous singles from BEFORE I FORGET:

Music video for A COLD PLAY: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/10/weekly-music-video_8.html

Audio for A PERFECT WORLD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC32D0_xYcM 

 

And stream/buy the album here: https://thekidlaroi.lnk.to/BIF

 

ONE OR EIGHT- POWER 

Now we move on to Japan! Boy band ONE OR EIGHT released a new single on 7th January. It's called POWER and is a pre-release single from their upcoming 1st mini album GATHER. The mini album is due out on 28th January and the lead track will be TOKYO DRIFT (also due out on 28th Jan).

POWER is an English language R'n'B/hip hop song that also has dance vibes. This is the performance video.

 


 

 Gen Neo- Times Like This

 Singaporean singer Gen Neo just released the new single Times Like This. It's from his brand-new EP Through Thick & Thin which came out yesterday (23rd January). It follows his previous EP Push&Pull, which was released in November 2024.

Through Thick & Thin is an English language, R'n'B EP. It sees Gen "open a new chapter in his artistry, marked by raw honesty, emotional depth and storytelling". He also describes it as pages from a personal diary. Themes on the EP include love and loss, addiction, identity and being both an artist and a human in today's word.

It also includes previous singles The Show, Gold Heart and Hold Me Close, released in October, November and December respectively. Also Can't Fool Nobody which I'm not sure was an official single, but I did buy it on iTunes a couple of months ago. 

Times Like This is an R'n'B ballad about going through hard times in a relationship but making it work.

 


Visit my Favourite Songs of 2025 to hear the audio for Can't Fool Nobody (scroll down): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2026/01/favourite-songs-of-2025.html

And to go here to listen to/buy Through Thick & Thin: https://onerpm.link/throughthickandthin

 

no na- work

Finally, Indonesian girl group no na have just released a new single. It's called work (written in lower case, like their group name and other songs) and was released yesterday (23rd January).

The single follows the group's previous single the one (released in November) and is described as a high energy dance track that consists of Indonesian beats and rhythms inspired by gamelan (traditional Indonesian instrumental music). The girls confidently sing about putting in the work to get to where they want to be.

Pleae note that the lyrics contains swearing. :)  

 

 

So that's it for now! I may do another post with more new music later, Hope you enjoyed the post. :) What's your favourite new release?




 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New Unexpected

We're finally getting the new season of the reality TV series Unexpected in the UK! Season 3 was shown in the US last summer , and I wondered when we'd get it here. I don't have any online streaming services so thought I'd just watch clips on YouTube, lol. However it's now starting here in early March. Similar to the popular MTV franchise Teen Mom , Unexpected focuses on teen parents. The first series featured 3 couples expecting babies- Lily Bennett and her boyfriend James Kennedy who have daughter Aaliyah, now 2;  Mckayla Adkins and partner Caelan Morrison who have son Timothy, also known as Timmy (and now daughter Gracelynn , born in January 2019), and  Lexus Scheller and boyfriend Shayden Massey who have daughter Scarlett. Season 2 saw the departure of Lilly and the addition of 3 new pregnant girls and their partners- Laura Barron and her boyfriend (now husband) Tylor Stawmyor who have son Lucas (and have since had another baby , a 2nd son, who is named Leo), ...
Post a Comment
Read more

South Indian Videos

I've written several Bollywood posts this year but I don't feature South Indian music/films as much. So today I'm sharing some music and dance videos from Tollywood ( the Telugu language film industry) and Kollywood (the Tamil language film industry). :) Oo Antava Mawa- Pushpa- Dance Cover by Sonali First up is a dance cover of the song Oo Antava Mawa..Oo Oo Antava from the 2021 Tollywood film Pushpa: The Rise- Part 1 . I previously featured a dance cover of Oo Antava Mawa in a Dance Videos post in August last year. That one is by Rang De and you can see it here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/08/dance-videos.html This cover is by Indian choreographer Sonali Bhaduria, from LiveToDance with Sonali and was uploaded in January 2022. It's a shorter video.   For more on Pushpa and to watch the official Oo Antava Mawa video, check out my Tollywood Videos Round-up 2 post from September 2023: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/09/tollywood-videos-round-up-2.html ...
Post a Comment
Read more

25th Anniversary of Mariah Carey's Butterfly Album

My favourite singer Mariah Carey recently released a 25th anniversary edition of her 6th studio album Butterfly. The original album was released on 16th September 1997 and featured songs such as her hit single Honey, The Roof and My All. It was actually the first album I ever bought (on cassette tape, lol) and I still consider it one of my fave MC albums. :) Butterfly was the first album that Mariah had more control over and it is R'n'B, rather than the pop (and later pop/R'n'B) of her previous releases. It also has pop and hip hop influences. The expanded edition contain 8 extra tracks (the original standard edition has 12)- a duet version of Whenever You Call with Brian McKnight , a new take on The Roof featuring Brandy , live versions of Butterfly and My All, acapella versions of Fourth of July and Outside, an Amorphous Anniversary Club Mix of Butterfly (with DJ Amorphous ) and a remix of Honey (Another Taste of Honey David Morales Mix). I had previously heard the D...
Post a Comment
Read more