Star Sparkle Blog

This week's music video is CHUCO by Peruvian American singer A.CHAL and featuring Peruvian band Los Mirlos and Peruvian producer KAYFEX .  Los Mirlos (whose name translates to "The Blackbirds" in English) plays  Peruvian cumbia music . It's a sub-genre of cumbia, which is thought to have originated in Colombia (specifically from Afro-Colombian funeral traditions. CHUCO is A.CHAL's latest single. It's a Spanish language song and was released on 25th July.      For more music by A.CHAL, check out this post: Music video for LMKK (released last October, plus links to more music:   https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/03/weekly-music-video_12.html   And for more on Los Mirlos and KAYFEX, visit the links below:   Los Mirlos: Boa Viagem Music profile:  https://www.boaviagemmusic.com/artist/los-mirlos/   Official site (Spanish language):  https://losmirlos.com/     KAYFEX: Official site (Spanish/English):  https://w...

This week's video is LMKK by Peruvian American singer A.CHAL (full name Alejandro Chal). It was written and produced by him in Milan, Italy, when he visited there for a forthcoming work project. LMMK is a Spanish and English language (Spanglish) and a mix of genres- alternative R'n'B and reggaeton. It samples the song Yo Voy ("I'm Coming") by Puerto Rican music duo Zion and Lennox (now disbanded) and featuring Puerto Rican rapper and singer Daddy Yankee (probably best known in the West for his 2004 hit single Gasolina). The single was released last October and was voted favourite New Music Latin at the time of release. Towards the end of the music, you can hear a snippet of A.CHAL's newest single LALU, which came out last month (see below).    Want more A.CHAL? Check out these links: Music video for Piritu (released in Feb last year): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2024/09/weekly-music-video_11.html Video for his latest single LALU:  https://www.you...

Today's video is Piritu by Peruvian American singer A.CHAL . It was released back in February. Piriru is from A.CHAL's 3rd album  ESPÍRITU (Spanish for "Spirit") which was also released in February. It was his first album since leaving his record label Epic Records and taking a two-year hiatus from music, to work out which direction he wanted to go in next.  Other singles from the album include Saico, Walk On Everything and Quicksand. ESPÍRITU was inspired by A.CHAL connecting to his Peruvian roots (he was born in Trujillo in Peru before moving to the US as a child). His musical inspirations also include psychedelic 70s rock, hip hop and 60s boleros . Piritiu is basically the title track, where A.CHAL sings about having "the spirit", in a mixture of English and Spanish. The video has the lyrics on screen. I like the dreamy, relaxed vibe of the song. Please note that it contains explicit lyrics. :)  Listen to ESPÍRITU at the links below:  Spotify: https:...

Last week I wrote a post about the solo careers of the members of American girl group Fifth Harmony. I intended to write one post but ended up splitting it into two parts because it was long. You can read Part 1 here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/11/fifth-harmony-girls-solo-careers-part-1.html The first post features Camila Cabello, Normani Kordei and Lauren Jauregui. And now for Part 2, I'm sharing music from the other 2 members, Dinah Jane and Ally Brooke.   Ally Brooke Ally Brooke (full name Alyson Brooke Hernandez) took the first steps in her solo career with the release of the single Look at Us Now (a collaboration with American DJs Lost Kings and rapper ASAP Ferg ) in June 2017. The following January she released her first single as lead artist, Perfect with Croation-German DJ Topic , which was well received. In November 2018 Ally teamed up with Dutch DJ trio Kriss Kross Amsterdam and Dominican rapper Messiah for the single Vámonos ("Let's Go" in Eng...

Sorry the 2nd post is later this week, I didn't manage to get it finished in time. :) I've actually had this post in mind for a while now but just getting round to it! Fifth Harmony (also known as 5H) is an American girl group, consisting of 5 contestants from the 2nd season (or series) of the of The X Factor USA . The members- Camila Cabello, Normani Kordei, Lauren Jaregui, Ally Brooke and Dinah Jane- all auditioned solo for the reality show. Not all the girls got through to the next stage but they were brought back as a group to enter the Groups category. They came 3rd place in the contest in December 2012 (behind runner up Carly Rose Sonenclar and winner Tate Stevens ). The group signed a record deal with Syco (the record label of The X Factor creator Simon Cowell ; now defunct) and Epic Records , and released their debut single Miss Movin On in July 2013. Their debut EP Better Together followed in October that year. In January 2015 they brought out their first studio albu...

Yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of the release of This is Me...Then, the 3rd studio album by Jennifer Lopez (one of my favourite singers). It came out on 25th November 2002. Can't believe it's been so long!  And Jennifer (also known by her nickname J.Lo) has just announced she will be releasing a new album called This Is Me... Now next year. It will be her first album since 2014's AKA (apart from the soundtrack to the recent film Marry Me ). This Is Me...Then includes songs such as the  lead single Jenny from the Block, which was a hit in many countries, All I Have featuring LL Cool J (one of my fave songs from the album) I'm Glad, Dear Ben (a tribute to actor to Ben Affleck who was Jennifer's boyfriend and later fiance at the time) and Baby, I Love U! In fact, the whole album was inspired by her relationship with Ben. It's strange to look back on it because she and Ben got back together and married this year, 20 years after they first got engaged! My t...

Last week I wrote a post featuring Korean girl group BLACKPINK's performance at the recent 2022 MTV Video Music Awards. You can read it here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/09/2022-vma-performances-blackpink.html In this week's follow-up post I'm sharing performances from Jack Harlow, (who was a co-host of the show along with LL Cool J and Nicki Minaj ) and Fergie, and Brazilian singer Anitta.   Update 10/9/23: As I said in the BLACKPINK post, they've made the previous year's performance videos private, which is really annoying! I will update this with what videos I can find. Jack Harlow feat Fergie- First Class American rapper and VMA co-host Jack Harlow opened the show by performing his latest single First Class, joined by Fergie , the singer of Glamorous, which First Class samples.  Jack (full name Jackman Thomas Harlow) started out by making mixtapes while still in high school and self-released his first, Extra Credit in June 2011.  He went on to r...

Sorry the 2nd post is later again this week; I wasn't feeling well yesterday. I hope to get back to the normal posting schedule next week! :)   It's been ages since I've done a new music post, so today I'm sharing a few new releases from various genres. :) BM- STRANGERS This is STRANGERS, the latest solo single by Korean American rapper BM (real name Matthew Kim) who is a member of the K-pop co-ed group KARD . It's his 2nd digital single, taken from the single album of the same name. It's the follow up to his first digital triple single album THE FIRST STATEMENT, which was released in July last year and the stand-alone single Lost in Euphoria (LIE), which came out in January. As well as the title track, the new single album contains the single Bad Intentions. It was released on 9th August. STRANGERS starts with a mellow rap style and then moves into a faster song with a dance beat. This is the visualiser. Listen to Bad Intentions here: https://www.youtube.com/w...

Today's video is Suéltame, the new single by American singer Christina Aguilera (one of my favourite singers) and featuring Argentinian singer TINI . It's from Christina's latest album, the Spanish language Aguilera. Aguilera is Christina's second Spanish album and was released on 30th May. It's a trilogy- a combination of the EPs La Fuerza ("The Strength" in English) which was released in January, La Tormenta (The Storm) which came out a day before Aguilera and the upcoming La Luz  (The Light), due out later this year.  La Fuerza is about female empowerment and independence, La Tormenta is about heartbreak and vulnerability, and La Luz is said to be about healing and Christina's difficult relationship with her father, who is Ecuadorian.   Suéltame (which translates as "Let Go" in English) is the lead single from La Tormenta. It was released on 30th May and the video premiered on 22nd July. Read more about Aguilera here: https://oceandriv...

This week's video is Sincera, the latest single by Angolan singer Pérola . It came out in April. Sincera is a Portuguese language song and the title means "sincere" in English. The video features Pérola and her lover on a boat, and it's giving me summer vibes! :)     Want more Angolan/Portuguese music? Check out these links: Pérola- Falo Do Que Quiseres (2011): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2013/09/weekly-music-video.html Pérola- Eu Espero (2016): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2017/01/weekly-music-video_18.html Anitta- Bang (Brazilian):  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2020/07/weekly-music-video.html Chelsy & Nsoki- Vou Arriscar (Angolan/Portuguese): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2021/06/weekly-music-video.html  

Jennifer Lopez (who is one of my favourite singers) is bringing out a new documentary. It's called Halftime and follows her in the lead up to her 2020 performance at the Super Bowl LIV Halftime show with fellow singer and Latin star Shakira . The docu also sees J.Lo reflect on her life and career so far. Halftime premiered at the Tribeca film festival in New York on 8th June and is set for global release on 14th June, via Netflix. You can read more about it here: https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81031929 And here's a trailer:   I don't have Netflix so can't watch it, but hopefully it will come on TV in future. Looks like an interesting watch! :) Since I'm from the UK I don't know much about the Super Bowl (I know it's to do with American football! lol), but I remember watching Jennifer and Shakira's performance online. It's cool to see Shakira's belly dancing included. :)   This is the full Superbowl performance from February 2020 (sponsored b...

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post sharing some new music releases for 2022. That one focused on Bollywood and you can see it here:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/01/new-music-for-2022-bollywood.html Today I'm featuring some more new songs from a mixture of genres- K-pop, Latin and Western! :) MOMOLAND X NATTI NATASHA- Yummy Yummy Love First up is Yummy Yummy Love, a collaboration between Korean girl group Momoland and Dominican singer Natti Natasha ! I first heard this when Momoland performed it live on Simply K-pop CON TOUR the other week (without Natti though).  Yummy Yummy Love is an English language song and was released on 14th January. Watch the Simply K-pop performance here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8DfnKMiYyo   For more Momoland check out these posts (both featuring new music for a new year!): Features Bboom Bboom:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2018/01/new-music-for-2018-part-2.html Includes Thumbs Up: https://starsparklex.blogspot...

This week's video is Vou Arriscar by Chelsy & Nsoki. They are an African/Portuguese music duo and they sing in Portuguese. Chelsy Shantel is Portuguese-Angolan and was born in Lisbon, Portugal. Nskoi was born in Luanda, Angola, but grew up in Cuba and later lived in America. They were both successful as solo singers before getting together as a duo. Chelsy and Nsoki's hit songs (individually) include Meu Anjo (My Angel), Bye Bye, Kuxe ki sta Errado and Played out Record. Their style of music started out as Kizomba and Ghetto Zouk , but includes other styles such as ballads and Afro-pop. In late 2020 the two got together to record a duet for the compilation album Kizomba da Boa. They enjoyed working together so much that they wanted to continue, so formed a duo! They have since brought our two singles, Vou Arriscar and Leave The Door Open, a cover of the song by Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak (Silk Sonic) . Vou Arriscar ("I Risk" in English, I think) is their first si...

Today's post is all about the girls! While most of the girl groups I know are Western (mainly British and American) and Korean), last year I came across a couple of groups from different countries. So, I thought it would be fun to feature them in a post. :)  Afrikanas-  Põe mais açúcar First up is Angolan girl band Afrikanas. The group is made up of Cilana, Serafina, Clyde and Jandira, and they sing in Portuguese. They started out in 2012 with the album Sonhos e Verdades (Dreams and Truths in English).  One of their most successful singles is Esse Som.  I don't really know any African girl groups (mainly solo singers), so I was pleased to find Afrikanas. I originally found their video on the PlatinaLine YouTube channel.   I couldn't find much info about Afrikanas online and translated this from Portuguese with Google Translate, so I hope it's accurate! Please let me know if you have more information about them. :) This is Põe mais açúcar  (Put more sug...

Today's video is Nobody Like Me by Peruvian American singer A.CHAL . It's his latest single and came out on 5th March.  Nobody Like Me is an R'n'B/Latin style song. The beat and music remind me a bit of J Balvin an Bad Bunny's LA CANCION .  Please note that the song is explicit. Check out the video info on YouTube to read about the story behind the music video. :)

This week's video is Make it Hot by Jamaican/American trio Major Lazer and Brazilian singer Anitta . Major Lazer was founded in 2008 by American record producer Diplo , and British DJ Switch . When Switch left, he was replaced by Jamaican American DJ Walshy Fire and Trinidadian DJ Jillionaire , and the duo became a trio. Jillionaire also left and was then replaced by American DJ and record producer Ape Drums . Major Lazer's music is electronic dance mixed with various genres, including reggae, dancehall and house. To date they have released 4 studio albums- Guns Don't Kill People...Lazers Do (2009), Free the Universe (2013), Peace Is The Mission (2015) and Music Is The Weapon (2020. In addition, they have brought out one compilation and several remix albums and EPs. They also have an animated TV series based on them! The group have collaborated wth many arists, and their hit singles include Lean On with DJ Snake and MØ , Who Am I with Katy B and Craig David , Cold Water w...