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International Music Crossovers

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 June last year Thai rapper and singer LISA (member of popular girl group BLACKPINK turned solo star) collaborated with South African singer Tyla on the song WHEN I'M WITH YOU. It's from LISA's debut solo studio album which was released in February last year. I don't think it was an official single but was released alongside the album on 8th February 2025.

WHEN I'M WITH YOU is a pop and R'n'B song about love and marked the first time that LISA and Tyla worked together on a song. It was cool to see them team up. :)

The music video was released in May 2025 and I featured it in my New Music Releases post in June last year: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/06/new-music-releases.html


KUNMIE x SIMI x MABEL- ARIKE Remix

Nigerian singer Kunmie released his hit single Arike in February 2025, which is from his debut EP Before We Become Strangers (released the following month). After seeing it do very well, he also brought out a remix for the song in July. The remix features fellow Nigerian singer Simi and British/Swedish singer Mabel.

It's nice to see an African/Western crossover. Mabel also has African heritage (her mum singer Neneh Cherry is mixed Sierra Leonean and Swedish).

Arike Remix was a Weekly Music Video last September: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/09/weekly-music-video_17.html


JISOO X ZAYN- EYES CLOSED

Last October LISA's BLACKPINK bandmate JISOO collaborated with British singer ZAYN (former member of British boyband One Direction on the single EYES CLOSED. The English language pop duet was the first time that they had worked together.

Watch the music video here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/10/weekly-music-video_15.html

 

Corbyn Besson & TZUYU (of TWICE)- Blink

We also saw a Western/Asian crossover when American singer Corbyn Besson (a former member of American boyband Why Don't We teamed up with Taiwanese singer TZUYU (a member of popular Korean girl group TWICE). They released the single Blink in September last year.

Blink is  also an English language song and it's from Corbyn’s EP HEAD FIRST. You can see the music video here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2026/03/weekly-music-video.html

 

Myles Lloyd, GEMINI, Karencici and JUNNY- DMC

In March I randomly came across DMC by Canadian singer-songwriter Myles Lloyd on Spotify. I hadn't heard of him before but I liked the song and ended up buying it on iTunes.  

It's actually a newer version of his song Drive Me Crazy which was released in November 2024. The remix featured South Korean R'n'B/alternative artist GEMINI, Chinese American singer Karencici and fellow Canadian singer-songwriter JUNNY.

DMC was a Weekly Music Video in April: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2026/04/weekly-music-video.html

 

The Kid LAROI, Jung Kook, Central Cee - TOO MUCH

Back in 2023, Australian singer and rapper The Kid LAROI (real name Charlton Howard) teamed up with Korean singer Jung Kook (also written as Jungkook; full name Jeon Jung Kook) from BTS (one of he most well-known Korean boy bands and British rapper Central Cee (real name Oakley Neil Caesar-Su) for the single TOO MUCH.

LAROI has released two studio albums, the most recent being this year's BEFORE I FORGET (see below) as well as deluxe editions. His most recent single is Pieces, which came out on the same day as the deluxe edition of BEFORE I FORGET (24th April).

Jung Kook  launched his solo career in 2023, with the single Seven featuring American rapper Latto. He released his debut studio album GOLDEN in November 2023.

Central Cee (also known as Cench) has become one of the most popular UK rappers in recent years, having released the drill singles Day in the Life and Loading in 2020. His breakthrough came with the singles Doja (released in July 2022) and Sprinter, with fellow British rapper Dave (released in June 2023). The latter became his first No. 1 single.

He released his debut EP Nostalgia in March 2017, followed by two more EPs (17 and CS, Vol 1) in June and September that year. To date Central Cee has bought out 3 more EPs (one a joint release with Dave), 2 mixtapes and an album. He released his debut studio album Can't Rush Greatness in January 2025. His most recent release is the EP ALL ROADS LEAD HOME, which came out in March.

TOO MUCH was the 4th single from LAROI's debut album THE FIRST TIME and was released in October 2023, a month before the original version of the album came out. (A deluxe version followed in August 2024.) The 3 artists co-wrote the track along with several others, including Canadian singer Justin Bieber. It's a synthpop, pop rap and R'n'B song.

TOO MUCH did well in the charts, reaching the Top 10 in Australia and here in the UK (making it LAROI and Jung Kook's 3rd UK Top 10 Single and Central Cee's 7th).

Please note that the song contains explicit lyrics. :) 

 


For more music from The Kid LAROI, visit my post Current Favourite Songs. which features COMEDOWN and RATHER BE feat. Lithe from his latest album BEFORE I FORGET (originally released in January): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2026/06/current-favourite-songs.html

 

Jung Kook made a comeback with BTS earlier this year, releasing their album ARIRANG  in March. Read more about it here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2026/04/k-pop-comebacks-bts.html 

 

And for more on Central Cee visit these links:

Official Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/centralcee 

Official YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CentralCee

 

JayDon feat. Paradise, Jay Park and LOUIS of LNGSHOT- Lullaby Remix

Finally, here is one more East/West collab. American singer JayDon  (full name JayDon McCrary) released a remix of his single in November last year. The original Lullaby was released as the lead single from his debut mixtape Me, My Songs & I in February 2025. The mixtape came out in October.

The Lullaby remix saw JayDon joined by American singer Paradise (son of American record producer L.A. Reid), American rapper and singer Jay Park (who has Korean heritage and launched his career in South Korea) and LOUIS (full name Louis Elliot Jiho Joudain) from Korean boyband LNGSHOT. 

The remix was released last November. Another one called Lullaby (mega remix) came out in December. That one features singer Usher, who co-owns JayDon's record label mega, along with L.A. Reid. 

I featured the official visualiser for Lullaby Remix as a Weekly Music Video in March:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2026/03/weekly-music-video_18.html

Another visualiser was later released. This is the Seoul Visualizer, which was filmed in Seoul (the capital city of South Korea). It premiered in May.

 

 

Hope you enjoyed the post! :) What are your favourite international music collaborations?  

 





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