Star Sparkle Blog

A couple of years ago I shared my favourite songs of 2022. Then I did the same last year, so I thought I'd make it an annual tradition! You can see my previous posts at the links below: Favourite Songs of 2022: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/12/favourite-songs-of-2022.html Favourite Songs of 2023: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2024/01/favourite-songs-of-2023.html And now  here are my fave songs from 2024! :)   Back in April, I wrote a post with my current favourite songs. So rather than repeating myself, I'll link it here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2024/04/current-favourite-songs.html A few of them had come out at the end of 2023. And here are more songs I liked last year. :)  LE SSERAFIM- EASY Korean girl group LE SSERAFIM released their 5th Korean single EASY in February. It was very popular and inspired a lot of K-pop in Public dance covers (see below!). LE SSERAFIM was formed in 2022 and currently consists of 5 members- leader Kim Chaewon, Sakura...

This week's video is Crazy by VINVAE. She is a singer/solo artist. I'm not sure where she's from (maybe Nigeria?) but I think she's based in Canada currently. I can't find much information on her official social media accounts, but I'll update as and when I find out more about her. :)  On her Spotify page , VINVAVE describes her music as an "immersive experience" which "transcends  genre boundaries". In June she released her debut album WHEN MY LIFE BEGAN. She has another release called The V Echoes which came out last November, but maybe that's an EP. Crazy is from WHEN MY LIFE BEGAN. It's a love song and kind of a continuation of Muse, an earlier track on the album. It's about VINVAE singing the praises of her lover and how she's crazy about them. The video was uploaded on 9th August. I randomly came across it on YouTube and like VINVAE's soft voice and chilled vibe. :) Her red dress too! This is the official performanc...

Back in 2020 when we were all going through stressful times, I wrote a post called Chillout Music, featuring music that helps me relax. And in 2021 I did a follow-up post called More Chillout Songs. You can see them at the links below: Chillout Music: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2020/06/chillout-music.html More Chillout Songs:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2021/06/more-chillout-songs.html Since the world continues to be quite stressful in various aspects, I thought that today I'd share some more songs with chilled vibes, mainly  in the R'n'B genre specifically. They're also a good fit for this time of year, as we get towards the end of summer. (If it's late winter where you are, I hope you also enjoy them!) :) Pia Mia- Songs from My Side Guam born, LA based singer Pia Mia released her EP My Side in 2021. I shared some songs from it in this post, along with some songs from American singer JoJo's EP trying not to think about it:  https://starsparkl...

Occasionally I feature live music performances on Star Sparkle. And of course, every year there is the Eurovision Song Contest which I'm a fan of, so I share more live music then. I'm looking forward to the 2022 contest in May! Today I'm doing a round-up of live performance posts on the blog, plus sharing a new video. :) Dutch band Within Temptation performing Candles and Memories from their Elements concert in 2012 (I saw it in 2015):  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2015/07/within-tempation-concert.html American singer Justine Skye performs We from her 3rd album Space and Time, released last year (Vevo live performance): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2021/06/weekly-music-video_30.html Ariana Grande performing songs from her latest album Positions (2021):  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2021/09/ariana-grande-live-performances.html Jennifer Lopez performing classics such as If You Had My Love, All I Have and I'm Real remix at last September's Global Aid Ci...

A year ago, when we'd all been going through a stressful time in the world, I wrote a post called Chillout Songs. I shared the music that helps me to relax. You can read it here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2020/06/chillout-music.html As things still continue to be stressful in 2021 (although perhaps slightly better), I'm sharing more chillout music today! :)    A.CHAL- Pink Dust Last year I featured Pink Dust by the Peruvian American singer A.CHAL as a Weekly Music Video. The song has a laid-back vibe and the video is slightly "trippy"! You can watch it here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2020/09/weekly-music-video_16.html   Jhené Aiko I recommend basically anything by Jhené Aiko for chillout vibes! In last year's Chillout Music post I linked to several of her songs and also featured the music video for Magic Hour. Here are a couple more of her songs.   Surrender feat. Dr. Chill This is one of my fave Jhené songs of the last year and features vocals...

This week's video is Pink Dust by A.CHAL . His real name is Alejandro Chal and he was born in Peru, before moving to New York with his family aged 4. He started out in the music business by rapping and making his own music with a friend at a young age, then released his debut EP Ballroom Riots online in 2013. The EP led to him signing a publishing deal with Sony/ATV . A.CHAL then took a break for a couple of years, returning with the singles GAZI and Vibe W/U. He released his debut studio album Welcome to GAZI in June 2016, and then the single Round Whippin' in August. To date he has released several more singles including Love N Hennessey (also a remix with 2 Chainz and Nicky Jam), Cuanto (How Much) featuring A$AP Nast , Pink Dust and Hollywood Love featuring Gunna. He has also brought out another album On Gaz (2017) and the EP Exotigaz (2018). In March 2018 he signed with Epic Records . A.CHAL kind of reminds me of Bazzi . His music has been described as "druggy atmosph...

With recent events and a lot of division and unrest in the world, I think we could all do with some relaxation! Several years ago I did a post on my other blog Falling Petals called Alternatives to Meditation and included some relaxing songs I liked, but I don't think I've ever done a post grouping them all together on Star Sparkle. So today I'm sharing some "chillout" songs. Years ago I made a playlist of relaxing songs for myself, so I'll share some of those, plus some newer music. Maybe not all of these are strictly in the chillout genre, but they do have calming vibes. Hope it helps you to relax, even if only for a little while. :) Ivo Sedlacek- Dance of Autumn Lights I don't listen to much classical music, but one of my favourite pieces in that genre is Dance of Autumn Lights by Ivo Sedlack . It's long at around 16 minutes but great if you just want to relax for a while, or maybe use it for meditation! I featured it as a Weekly Music Video back...

Sorry the 2nd post is later again this week. I aim to post twice weekly, once with the Weekly Music Video on Wednesday and again with another post on Fridays or Saturdays, but am a bit behind with things again. Never mind. Hope everyone is doing well. :) Now onto the post! I've had an idea for a while to feature some videos from my J-pop and K-pop playlist on YouTube, so today I'm starting with K-pop ones. You can view the playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXt5YYJbzF8yKJPZ0T5iUWfvez11V4a7p EXO- Growl  This is one of my favourite songs by Korean/Chinese boyband EXO. It was a Weekly Music Video in 2014 which you can see here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2014/04/weekly-music-video_30.html SISTAR- Alone Girl group SISTAR disbanded in 2017 but we can still enjoy their songs! :) Alone is one of my faves and I featured it in a 2014 Girls vs Boys post: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2014/06/girls-vs-boys-k-pop.html SISTAR- Give It To Me Her...

Today's video is Gravity by Jamie Woon . It's from his first album Mirrorwriting. It wasn't released as a single so there's no official video. I bought Gravity on iTunes the other month. It's a haunting but beautiful song. This isn't the the full song but you can find it on Spotify: Jamie Woon Spotify There's also an acoustic version which you can listen to here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7YPo3-QLD4

Today's video is Stuck On You by British singer Joss Stone . She first became famous aged 16 with the release of her debut album The Soul Sessions in September 2003 and and its first single Fell in Love with a Boy, a cover of The White Stripes' song (theirs is called Fell in Love with a Girl), which came out in early 2004. The Soul Sessions was very successful and Joss' second album Mind Body & Soul (released in September 2004) was also a best seller. The lead single You Had Me which came out the same month, is one of her most successful songs. To date she has released 7 albums, the rest are Introducing Joss Stone (2007), Colour Me Free! (2009), LP1 (2011), The Soul Sessions Vol 2 (2012) and her most recent, Water For Your Soul which was released in summer 2015.  Some of her other singles are Right to Be Wrong, Don't Cha Wanna Ride, Tell Me What We're Gonna Do Now featuring American rapper Common , Teardrops which is a cover of the Womack & Womack song (...

Today's video is Too Deep by R I T U A L and featuring one of my favourite singers, Delilah . I can't find much info on R I T U A L but I think they are a British band. I first heard Too Deep on Soundcloud a couple of months ago but then for some reason it said it was no longer available here. You can still listen on YouTube though. :)  It's a haunting, mysterious song that apparently was used for the American TV series Teen Wolf . (I used to watch that but they stopped showing it in the UK after two series, which was annoying!). * Too Deep came out in October. For more on R I T U A L visit these links: Official website:  www.ritual-music.com Official FB: https://www.facebook.com/ritualmusic/ Soundcloud:  https://soundcloud.com/ritual_music *They are showing it again on another channel now but it's episodes that have already been on.