Star Sparkle Blog

In recent years there have been some interesting collaborations and music crossovers between artists from different countries and music genres. I think it's cool to see diverse styles coming together, so today I'm featuring a few. :)   CKay/Nora Fatehi- IT'S TRUE Nigerian singer and record producer CKay teamed up with Canadian dancer, actress and singer  Nora Fatehi for the song IT'S TRUE in 2024. It's from his album EMOTIONS which was released in October 2024. IT'S TRUE is an Afrobeats song with a mix of English, Pidgin and Hindi lyrics. Nora has Moroccan heritage but is based in India due to her work in Bollywood (and also South Indian film industries ) hence the Hindi lyrics.  I featured the audio (it wasn't released as a single) as a Weekly Music Video last year and it was No. 8 on my Top 10 African Songs post in January. Watch it here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/01/weekly-music-video_22.html   LISA feat. Tyla- WHEN I'M WITH YOU In Jun...

This week's video is Body So Tea by American singer Coco Jones . It's her latest single, following LUVAGIRL which came out in March.  Coco is currently working on her next album, (a follow up to her debut Why Not More? , released in April 2025, with a deluxe edition coming out last August) and has said that she had doubts over whether Body So Tea is a good fit for the upcoming album (she shared a video about it too). However, she went ahead with releasing it and the song has proven to be a hit with fans! :) Body So Tea was released on 10th July. It's a sexy R'n'B song and is  about beauty, confidence and self-acceptance . This is the visualiser.     Coco fan? Check out these posts:   Music video for LUVAGIRL: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2026/04/weekly-music-video_8.html Live Performances 2025/2026 (features live performances by Coco of her songs On Sight and Thang 4 U):  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2026/06/live-performances-20252026.html...

Sorry the 2nd post is later again this week. I'm working on one about music collabs but haven't got it finished yet. :) This week I'm sharing a couple more dance videos, following on from last week's  Dance in Public- Summer Vibes! post .   Hawaiian Hula In summer 2023 I shared a video 2 minute hula routine. It's taught by Lynn from iHula Hawaii and filmed on the beach in Hawaii. Watch it here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/08/2-min-hula-on-beach-video.html   Island Vibes! And in August 2024, I wrote a post called Island Vibes! featuring some island/beach inspired music and dance. Check it out here:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2024/08/island-vibes.html   PARTYFOUL- aue @ da beach Now here is a video from Hawaiian boy group  PARTYFOUL . Originally a 6-member and then a 5-member band known as CROSSING RAIN , they debuted in 2021. They disbanded in 2024 due to issues with their management, but 3 members went on to form the group PARTYFO...

Today's video if You're Mine by Japanese boy band  PSYCHIC FEVER from EXILE TRIBE . It's their latest single and from their 2nd album DIFFERENT, which was released on 8th July. If You're Mine is the lead single from the album (although I Got Ways was a pre-release single in May) and came out on 10th July. It's in the style of the group’s signature song  Just Like Dat  and  What's Happenin' and is described as a "modern take on the Miami bass / 2-step sound inspired by early 2000s R'n'B".  The song follows on from Just Like Dat and is about what happens after two people become interested in each other. It's a mixture of Japanese and English lyrics. Click "Subtitles/closed captions" on YouTube for English subtitles! :)    There's also a dance practice video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MO-Duwxg3s   Plus, check out the music video for I Got Ways:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHy5EvDsz50   And stream/buy DIFFEREN...

Sorry the 2nd post is later this week, I didn't manage to get it finished yesterday. :)  Summer is in full swing and it's been feeling like it lately, with heatwaves in the UK! I've written quite a few summer themed posts on the blog over the years and I'm planning to do another one featuring summer songs soon. This week though, I thought I'd do something a bit different- share some Dance in Public (dance covers of songs performed in public places) videos with summer vibes! :)   [P-POP IN PUBLIC] BINI- Pantropiko Dance Cover- ABK CREW        In summer 2024 I featured a dance cover of the 2023 single Pantropiko by Filipina girl group BINI  in my Dance in Public- V-pop and P-pop Videos post. BINI are known as the "Summer Queens" of P-pop (Pinoy/Filipino pop), due to releasing  summer themed music  and Pantropiko (which translates as "Tropical" in English) is one of the songs that earned them that nickname. It was the 2nd pre-release ...

This week's video is Boom by Dani Enli . She is a Chinese-Australian artist from Perth, Western Australia and her music is a mix of pop, R'n'B, hip hop and Jersey Club . She launched her career in 2024, releasing the single used to it  in February that year. Subsequent songs I LIKE YOU and till the end of time went viral on Instagram. Her other singles include OVER NOW, LIFESTYLE, Light Work and Boom. In addition to being a singer, Dani is also a dancer. She originally planned to be a doctor but her plans changed after she  found out she had a rare medical condition in her final year of medical school and decided to concentrate on making music instead. Authenticity and creative freedom are important to her, as well as Asian representation in global pop . She has performed in several cities in Australia and has also opened for   Kenyon Brown , J.Tajor and Teo Glacier  who are all from New Zealand and/or Australia. Boom is Dani's latest single and was released on...

I'd had this post in my drafts for ages (a year or more!) but just didn't feel inspired to write it. So last year (April 2025) I wrote a post called Teen Thrillers instead. You can see it here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/04/teen-thrillers.html Now it's over a year since I did that post and I'm feeling more inspired. So here are my Top 10 thriller films! :)  Please note that the post contains spoilers.  Trigger warning: Some of the films mention sensitive themes.   Note: Sorry for the different text! It got messed up and I'm trying to sort it out. :)     1. Disclosure (1994) Disclosure is based on the book by Michael Crichton (probably best known for Jurassic Park ) ,. Computer  specialist Tom Sanders ( Michael Douglas ) works for the company Digicom. He's married to Susan Hendler (played by British actress Caroline Goodall ) and they have two kids. They're planning to merge with a larger company but there are problems with the CD-...

Today's video is Birds Eye View, the latest single by American singer Alina Baraz . It follows her recent single Take Care Of You which came out in May. Birds Eye View is a gentle pop/R'n'B song with dreamy vibes and the video matches the song. It was released on 26th June.     Also check out the video for Take Care Of You:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2026/05/weekly-music-video_0597442938.html  

In the past few years, I've written occasional posts about my current favourite songs. More recently, I've also done posts featuring my fave songs from the year as a whole (like my Favourite Songs of 2025 post ). So here they are for the first half of 2026! You can see my previous posts at the links below: June 2019: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2019/06/current-favourite-songs.html May 2020: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2020/05/current-favourite-songs.html April 2021:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2021/04/current-favourite-songs.html Feb 2022: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/02/current-favourite-songs.html April 2024:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2024/04/current-favourite-songs.html   March 2025: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/03/current-favourite-songs.html   Here are the songs I like at the moment. :)     The Kid LAROI- COME DOWN Back in January, I featured some new music by Australian singer and rapper The Kid LA...

This week's video is Sideways by Charlie Puth and featuring Coco Jones . Charlie is an American singer who stared out on YouTube, uploading comedy videos and song covers in 2009. He went on to release his own music, brining out a music video for the song These Are My Sexy Shades in 2010 and releasing his debut EP The Otto Tapes independently in December 2010. The following year, Charlie won the online video competition Can You Sing?  alongside Emily Luther , with a cover of British singer Adele's  Someone Like You. The two singers then signed to eleveneleven , the record label of American comedian and TV host Ellen DeGeneres and released the single Break Again in December 2011. However, after Charlie recovered his first EP with them, eleveneleven disappeared and had dissolved by 2012. He self-released his second EP Ego in October 2013, for streaming and mostly concentrated on production and song writing for other artists over the next year or so. In 2015, Charlie signe...

Note: I'm currently having trouble with video previews displaying on the blog. But if you click through, it works fine. :) Time for another instalment in my Asian Groups series! Today I'm featuring new Thai girl group NAMP . :) They are a 4-member group signed to Thai record label and entertainment agency XO Entertainment  (whose other groups include boyband ATLAS and girl group 4EVE ). Their name comes from the first letter of each members' name and stands for "Not A Minor Player".  The members are Nita (full name Pranita Utaichalurm), Azarra (real name Sasithorn Twaits), Miles (Natthamon Obboon) and Pammie (Pimpicha Charoensak). Azarra is Thai-Australian and the others are Thai.  NAMP made their debut in January with the release of their first single KAKA. In March they brought out their second single HURRICANE.    KAKA KAKA is the girls' debut single. It was released digitally in January.  It's a high energy pop song with a mix of Thai and English lyri...

Today's video is Goals by LISA ,  Anitta and Rema . The 3 artists have collaborated on the song for  FIFA World Cup 2026 , which is being hosted in North America this year (the US, Mexico and Canada). Thai singer LISA is a member of one of  the most well known K-pop groups  BLACKPINK and also has a successful solo career .   Brazilian singer Anitta is one of Brazil's most popular artists (having been nicknamed the  "Queen of Brazilian Pop" ) and has also expanded her career internationally, helped by her multilingual skills (she is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish and English).  Nigerian singer and rapper Rema is successful in his native country, having risen to fame after his debut single Dumebi (released in March 2019) became a hit. He went on to became famous internationally, with the release of the single Calm Down in February 2022 and the remix featuring American singer  Selena Gomez , which came out in August 2022. In 2025 he became...