Star Sparkle Blog

This week's music video is AMA DO LOVE X HADJE by Kosovar singer Era Istrefi . It's her latest single and was released on 15th October.  The release follows Era's other releases in 2025- CARBON2000 in March, MILLION $$$ MAN in April and Kitty with Albanian rapper and singer Noizy in June.  It's actually two songs, Ama Do  Love and Hadje, both mainly Albanian language, with a few English lyrics. Hadje is more of a dance song. My favourite is Ama Do Love, although I like both. :)     Era fan? Check out these links: Music video for Lonely with Butrint Imeri (released in 2023):  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2024/01/weekly-music-video_10.html Video for Kitty, her previous single with Noizy:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7LU6CIDS38

Back in February, I wrote a round-up of posts on the blog featuring live performances from the past couple of years (2023-2025). You can see it here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/02/live-performances-2023-2025.html Today I thought I'd share some more live performances from this year. :)   First up, here are the posts shared on the blog since February:   Eurovision 2025 Favourites (the 2nd of my annual Eurovision Song Contest posts; the 1st one featured music videos):  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/05/eurovision-2025-favourites.html Mariah Carey 20th TEOM Anniversary- Live Performances (features a live session of songs from MC's The Emancipation of Mimi album, to celebrate the album's 20th anniversary): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/06/mariah-carey-20th-teom-anniversary-live.html C-pop Saturday (my most recent C-pop Saturday post includes a live performance of Baby by Karencici):  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/06/c-pop-saturda...

Today's video is EYES CLOSED by JISOO X ZAYN . Korean singer JISOO (real name Kim Ji-soo) who is also a member of K-pop girl group BLACKPINK , and British singer Zayn (full name Zayn Malik), a former member of British boyband One Direction , have teamed up for the duet, which is the first time they've worked together.  The collab follows Zayn's new solo single Paying 4 their Sins, which was released on 16th September.  JISOSO's most recent releases are tracks off her debut EP AMORTAGE, which came out in February (see my BLACKPINK Girls' Solo Careers- Part 2 post for more on that; link below). EYES CLOSED is an English language pop song about the beginning of new love . It was released on 10th October, through JISOO's own record label BLISSOO and Warner Records .     Fan of JISOO and/or Zayn? Check out these links:   JISOO:  BLACKPINK GIRLS' Solo Careers- Part 2 (the 2nd part of my series, featuring LISA and JISOO):  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/...

Time for another instalment of my semi-regular series C-pop Saturday! Today I'm sharing some Chinese pop,R'n'B and dance. :)   MEME- Wei Xian Ren Wu First up is Wei Xian Ren Wu by Taiwanese girl group MEME (also written as ME ME). It consists of 5 members- Xiao Feng,  Xiao Ti, Strawberry and An Ru. I believe their Chinese name is a homophone of "secret", which, according to info on their  YouTube channel , "evokes a sense of mystery and reflects the members' commitment to innovate and bring unpredictable surprises to their audience" through their work.  Please note: I used Google Translate, so I hope this information is accurate! :) MEME debuted in June 2024 with the single MY BLACK EYES. To date they have released two more singles- Seaside Tour in February this year and Tian Kong Qing Niao (Bluebird in the Sky/Sky Bluebird) in April. Individual members have also released songs.  The title of this song is written in Chinese but I think that the Roma...

This week's video is A COLD PLAY, the latest single by Australian rapper and singer The Kid LAROI . It's said to be a break-up song, coming after LAROI and his girlfriend of over a year, Canadian singer  Tate McRae , broke up in July. A COLD PLAY comes after LAROI's previous singles HOT GIRL SUMMER (which at the time was referred to as a break-up anthem) and SHE DON'T NEED TO KNOW  (released in July and August respectively). It will be on his upcoming second album , reportedly due out next month . The single was released on 5th September and 3 weeks later, Tate released her latest single  TIT FOR TAT . Fans have speculated that Tate is hitting back at LAROI  in the song. The music video was uploaded on 26th September and features an emotional LAROI.     The Kid LAROI fan? Check out these links:  Music video for HOT GIRL SUMMER: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/08/weekly-music-video.html SHE DON'T NEED TO KNOW video:  https://www.youtube.com...

After sharing some K-pop in Public last week , this week I thought I'd feature more dance from another genre- Indian! :) Almost a year ago, I wrote a post called South Indian Videos, which was a selection of music and dance from a couple of South Indian film industries,  Tollywood (Telugu language) and Kollywood (Tamil language). You can see it here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2024/11/south-indian-videos.html One of the videos was a dance cover of Chuttamalle, the 2nd single from the Telugu film  Devara- Part 1 , which was released in September 2024. Part 2 was confirmed on the 1st anniversary of the film's release. There were 4 singles from Devara in total- Fear Song, Chuttamale, Daavudi and Ayudha Pooja. For more on the movie, check out the South Indian Videos post linked above, or click here .    Daavudi | Devara Dance Cover | Tyzan Rohan This is a dance cover of Daavudi, the 3rd single from the film, which came out in September last year. The playba...

This week's video is The Way You Move by American singer JayDon . His real name is JayDon McCrary (his previous stage name was J.D. McCrary) and he started out as a child actor, appearing on a couple of episodes of American TV series K.C. Undercover  in 2015 and going on to voice Young Simba in the 2019 remake of The Lion King .  In January 2018, JayDon released his official debut single Inviting All of You, going on to become the youngest solo artist  to sign with Hollywood Records (part of Disney Music Group ) that summer. He also released the single My Name in August and his debut EP followed in April 2019. Last year, JayDon changed his stage name from J.D. McCrary to his birth name JayDon and released his first single under that name in November, Ah! Ah! featuring American rapper 310babii .  This March, aged 17 (he's since turned 18) he signed to singer Usher and record producer  L.A. Reid's  record label mega , in partnership with music executiv...

Sorry the 2nd post is later this week; I didn't manage to get it finished. :) In June I wrote a K-pop in Public post (dance covers of Korean songs in public places) called Girl Group Classics. It featured dance covers of classic songs by girl groups. You can see it here:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/06/k-pop-in-public-girl-group-classics.html I thought today I'd do a follow-up sharing more girl group classics! :)  [KPOP IN PUBLIC] EXID - 'Up & Down' | DANCE COVER BY T-DOLLS First up, here is a cover of UP&DOWN (also written in lower case) by EXID . They are a  3rd generation K-pop group ( just about ) debuting in early 2012.  After 6 years, EXID announced that they were going on hiatus indefinitely when it came to group activites in South Korea (due to some members leaving their agency  Banana Culture . However, they continued to release music in Japan. In 2022, the girls made a comeback to commemorate their 10th anniversary, going on tour...

Today's video is Thanking You for Breaking My Heart by New Zealand singer Janine  (full name Janine Foster). It's from her new album Pain and Paradise, which was released on 22nd August. I think it's her debut studio album, since she has previously released EPs/a mixtape. Janine started working on the album before the pandemic and then reworked the songs after going through a difficult time, including losing her dad. She called it Pain and Paradise  because she believes that both things can co-exist . Pain and Paradise is a mix of more upbeat R'n'B/pop songs and ballads . It contains 16 tracks, including older singles such as Best Thing (one of my fave Janine songs), Broke Me Down, If I Call, Saved Me and Meet Me, and more recently released songs like Fit and Make You Proud (a song dedicated to Janine's dad). Thank You For Breaking My Heart  (Track 7 on the album) follows recent releases Make You Proud and Happy. It's a gentle song about being thankful for ...

Sorry there was no 2nd post last week; I didn't manage to get it finished in time. :) A couple of months ago I wrote a post about the solo careers of the members of Korean girl group BLACKPINK . It ended up being quite a long post, so as with similar posts, I split it up into two parts. Part 1 covered JENNIE and   ROSÉ,  and you can see it here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/07/blackpink-girls-solo-careers-part-1.html Now here is Part 2 featuring LISA and JISOO. :)   LISA 6 months after  ROSÉ,  the group's main rapper LISA (real name Lalisa Manobal, formerly Pranpiya Manobal) made her own solo debut (the 3rd member to do so). She released her debut single album LALISA in September 2021 .  The single album  became the best selling album by a female soloist at the time and broke the record for the  highest first-week sales for a female K-pop soloist, which was previously set by  ROSÉ (see Part 1). In turn,  LISA's reco...

This week's music video is ARIKE Remix by Kunmie , Simi and Mabel . It's a remix of Kunmie's single ARIKE. Kunmie (full name Oluwabukunmi Ariybi) is a Nigerian singer and songwriter. He grew up in the church and stared playing drums when he was 8, later becoming a songwriter for other Nigerian artists. Kunmie has shared that he got into music  during a difficult time in his life  and it helped him to escape from loneliness.  His breakthrough came with the release of Arike in February. It went viral on TikTok and reached No. 2 on the Spotify Viral 50 Global playlist. In March, Kunmie released his debut EP Before We Became Strangers. His music is Afrobeats and Nigerian R'n'B. It has been  described as soulful and filled with Youruba-inspired drum patterns . Watch the music video for the original Arike here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgsa2p0lIPY   Arike is about romantic relationships. For the remix, Kunmie teamed up with fellow Nigerian singer Simi a...

This week's video is INTENTIONS by Nigerian singer Juno  (also written as JUNO). It's her latest single and was released on 7th August. The Afropop/R'n'B song is described as a "mirror to desire, doubt and the silent tension between two hearts". This is the lyric video.     For more Juno check out these links: Music video for Love Life (released last December):  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/07/weekly-music-video.html   Lyric video for Love Life (uploaded on 7th August):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnQPlDesX0s  

Time for another instalment in my Asian Groups series! Today I'm featuring Indonesian girl group no na . :)  Note: Currently, Indonesians are going through a difficult time, after the killing of a delivery driver led to protests in several cities , which have spread to some other South East Asian countries. Thinking of people in those countries. :)  They are a 4-member group and were formed by American record label and mass media company 88rising , with 3 of the members meeting at their 2022 Head in the Clouds festival in Jakarta in 2022 and the 4th joining later. Their name (which is written in lower case) comes from the Indonesian word "nona", which means "young lady" or "miss" in English.   no na joined several other Indonesian acts on 88rising, including Rich Brian ,  NIKI  and  Stephanie Poetri . The members are Christy (full name Denial Christian Gardena), Esther (Esther Geraldine Simanjuntak), Baila (Bailia Shaquanda Fauri) and Shaz (full name ...

This week's video is Back Outside by American singer Nija . It's her latest single and was released on 15th August. Back Outside follows Nija's previous 2025 singles- 32nd Floor (released in March) and Heaven (which came out in June). It's a smooth R'n'B song, with laid back vibes. This is the visualiser.    Want more Nija? Check out these posts: Visualiser for 32nd Floor:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/04/weekly-music-video_23.html Official audio for Heaven:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/06/weekly-music-video_18.html    

Canadian singer Justin Bieber released a surprise new album last month. It's called SWAG and is his 7th studio album. News of SWAG  only emerged just before its release on 11th July. I think I came across songs from it on YouTube and realised they were from a new album. It had been quite a while since Justin had brought out new music, so I was pleased to find out about it! :) SWAG follows Justin's 6th album Justice and 2nd EP Freedom (both released in 2021). To date it has reached No. 1 in several countries , including Canada, Australia, Norway and Portugal and charted within the Top 10 in more, including the UK, US, Australia, Spain and Japan. The release of SWAG comes after Justin has been through a difficult time in his personal life. There have been rumours of problems in his marriage with wife American model and businesswoman  Hailey Bieber (daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin, one of the Baldwin brothers ) and worries over Justin behaving erratically as well as...

Today's video is DIED A LITTLE by  LEWY . Her full name is Mariah Lewy and she is an Australian singer-songwriter. Born in Sydney,  LEWY was into music from a young age, after being introduced to American girl group  Destiny's Child by her parents. She started singing lessons aged 5 and also learnt to play the piano and guitar. She likes a wide range of genres from pop to R'n'B and her musical influences include  Lady Gaga , Billie Eilish , Christina Aguilera and Whitney Houston .  In the past few years, LEWY has done live performances, recorded at studios in several countries and posted song covers on YouTube. In addition to singing, she is an actress, having studied acting at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Sydney and been selected for the callback stage of Moana (I presume the 2026 live action remake ). Now aged 19, LEWY has been recording an album (scheduled for release this year) and just released the single DIED A LITTLE. Her next ...

5 years ago I wrote my first K-pop in Public Dances post, featuring dance covers of K-pop songs performed in public places. Since then, the trend has taken off and expanded to other Asian music genres such as J-pop , C-pop , V-pop (Vietnamese pop) and T-pop (Thai pop) . Plus, Western and  African music dance covers . I've written quite a few K-pop in Public Dance posts in the past few years, so I thought I'd do a round-up of them all, plus share a couple of new videos. :)   Note: I haven't included all the K-pop in Public videos featured in my general dance video posts because it would take me longer to write this. But I will share links to past Dance Videos round-ups as well, which should link to most of them.    K-pop in Public Dances:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2020/08/k-pop-in-public-dances.html   K-pop in Public- EVERGLOW Dances:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2020/10/k-pop-in-public-everglow-dances.html K-pop in Public- Boys' Ed...