Listen to Sparklmami’s New Single ‘my way’
The Chicago-based artist says the single challenged her to trust her melodic instincts and let her voice take up more space.
Texas-born, Chicago-based musician and visual artist Sparklmami has released “my way,” a new single via Verve Records / slowplay. Built around vintage instruments and a warm, 1970s-inspired melody, the song puts her voice at the center as she sings with confidence about getting her way.
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Sparklmami said making the track changed how she approached songwriting. In earlier work, she found comfort in vocal stacks, instrumentation, and arrangement; on “my way,” she challenged herself to trust her melodic instinct and give her voice more space. “Making this song felt like stepping into a newfound sense of confidence, a reminder that I always get my way,” she said.
Recorded on an 8-track tape machine with vintage ribbon and condenser microphones, “my way” pairs stripped-down notes with the close, warm sound of an analog recording. Sparklmami’s breathy vocal loops and “oohs” and “ahhs” play over a 1957 Gibson guitar. Frequent collaborators Eddie Burns, on drums and production, and William Corduroy, on bass and production, worked with her on the single. Its arrangement also draws on instruments including a Hammond organ and a vintage Galanti “Vibraphonette.”
The single follows Sparklmami’s debut album, in this body, which draws on childhood memories and the music she heard growing up, including 1970s Brazilian jazz and Mexican boleros. Tracks such as “no te vayas” and “quisiera” reflect those influences. The album was composed through improvisation, with Sparklmami and her band members bringing ideas into the process. She guided a lineup that included Josh Jessen on keys and synths, Kenneth Leftridge Jr. on saxophone, Nico Segal and Adlai Reinhart on trumpet, Chris Misch on trombone, Alex Santilli and Alec Trickett on percussion, and Raphael Olivier on guitar.
Sparklmami has also brought her visual-art practice into her music videos and visualizers, which she directs with collaborator Steven A. Garcia. She earned a BFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago, where her work explored memory and identity through dioramas of her childhood home and recreations of telenovelas she watched growing up. Her first U.S. headline tour, ¡mira, mami, lo logré!, begins January 9, 2027, in Chicago, with songwriter and producer Dani Offline supporting.
