Star Sparkle Blog

In the past, I've written a couple of posts about songs that samples older tracks or were covers of previous songs. You can see them below: Samples and Covers:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2021/08/samples-and-covers.html More Samples and Covers: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/06/more-samples-and-covers.html   My last post was nearly two years ago, so I thought it was time for another one! This post mostly features sampled songs (however there is a bonus cover! :) Note : As with the previous posts, I've listed the original song first.   Carly Simon- Why American singer-songwriter Carly Simon released the single Why back in August 1982. It was written by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards (co-founders of the band CHIC ). Why is a pop/disco style song with reggae influences. It was from the soundtrack of the film Soup for One . Although the movie didn't do so well, the single was successful, reaching Top 10 in the UK Charts and doing well throughout Europe. Th...

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 Attention by Zhayna. She is from Jamaica and describes herself as a recording artiste, singer and songwriter. Her singles include Runaway, I Love the Way and her latest, Spend Some Time/ Outside, which just came out this month. She has also done collaborations such as Love Me, We Move and White Line. Attention is a sultry R'n'B/reggae song which was written by Zhayna. It was released in November.     Also check out the music video for her latest single, Spend Some Time/ Outside (video premiered on 6th January): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZQkERd3sUc   For more on Zhayna visit these links:  Official FB page:  https://www.facebook.com/zhaynafrance Official YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Iamzhayna

The Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest is tonight, so here's the second of my annual posts. You can see the first here: Countdown to Eurovision 2024!: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2024/05/countdown-to-eurovision-2024.html   I ended up watching both semi-finals this year. (Some years I've only watched one, so I didn't hear all the songs beforehand.) The UK could vote in the first one. Here are my favourites from this year. :)    Silia Kapsis- Liar (Cyprus) Cyprus' song Liar by Silia Kapsis was my favourite entry in the 1st semi-final and I voted for it. It got through to the final.  Silia (full name Vasiliki Silia Kapsis) is an Australian singer with Greek and Cypriot heritage. Her dad Giorgis Kapsis is also a singer.  She is one of this year's youngest competitors at 17.  Silia has been lead singer for the Australian Youth Performing Arts Company (AYPAC) and also performed at other events worldwide. She released her debut single Who Am I? in 2...

Last year I started a series on the blog called Asian Groups , sharing music from boy bands and girl groups from Asian countries. I've also written more posts about Asian groups . Today's post is a slight twist on that, featuring two Asian/Pacific  groups- Australian girl group H3RIZON and Hawaiian boy band CROSSING RAIN.  Note: I've titled this post Asian/Pacific Groups because one group has members with Asian (Filipino) heritage) and is from Australia, and the other is Hawaiian. Also there are many Asians in Hawaii. :) H3RIZON H3RIZON are the first Australian girl group to be signed to Epic Records (as part of a joint venture with RZ3 Recordings ) and the first Asian-Pacific girl group to be signed to an American record label in general. They are a trio, made up of Bernie (full name Bernadette Marquez), Gabby (Gabrielle Montalbo) and Tiara/Taya (Taylah Albert).  The girls are all from Sydney and met backstage at local shows by Filipino artists, officially forming the...

Today's video is TKRKT, the latest single by Kosovar singer Era Istrefi . It's an Albanian and English language song and a mixture of  musical styles including EDM , pop and reggaeton . It's all about a young woman going out to party and have fun with her friends. TKRKT was released in May.  Also, here is BEBE which was released in March: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC8hOBTIOqE   Want more Albanian/Kosovan music? Check out these posts: Albanian Music feature (includes music by Era and her older sister Nora who is also a popular singer): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2016/09/albanian-music.html   Era and Nora Istrefi- Nuk E Di video (2019): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2019/05/weekly-music-video.html Nora Istrefi feat. NRG Band- Ki me lyp me m'pa:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/06/weekly-music-video.html KIDA and Butrint Imeri- AM/PM:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/07/weekly-music-video_20.html

This week's video is How We Do It by Jamaican dancehall rapper and singer Sean Paul and featuring Pia Mia . Sean (full name Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques has had an almost 30-year career starting out in the music business in 1994,  although he didn't release music until later. His hit songs include Get Busy, We Be Burnin and Temperature. He released his debut album Stage One in March 2000 and to date has brought out 6 more, including Dutty Rock (2002), The Trinity (2005) and his latest, Live N Livin (2021). He also brought oy the EP Mad Love the Prequel in 2018. Sean has worked with many other artists, including Beyoncé on her single Baby Boy, American singer Blu Cantrell on hit single Breathe, Rihanna on the song Break It Off,  Beyoncé 's fellow Destiny's Child member Kelly Rowland on How Deep Is Your Love, British singer Dua Lipa for his single No Lie, and Clean Bandit and Anne Marie on the song Rock a Bye. He teamed up with Guam born singer Pia Mia  for How We...

Valentine's Day is coming up (Monday 14th Feb), so I thought I would share my favourite love/sexy songs! Good for getting into a loving vibe. :) Lumidee feat. Shaggy- Feel Like Makin' Love First up is Feel Like Makin' Love by American rapper and singer Lumidee and featuring Jamaican rapper Shaggy . Lumidee (full name Lumidee Cedeño) is probably best known for her 2003 single Never Leave You (Uh Ooh, Uh Ooh) and also Crazy with Pitbull in 2007, (although I think Crazy was either not released in the US, or didn't do as well as it did here in the UK). Feel Like Makin' Love is from her 2nd album Unexpected (which came out in 2007). It's a cover of Roberta Flack's 1975 song . Lumidee and Shaggy's version was released as a single in 2007. I don't think it came out over here, as I didn't actually know there was a video for this until looking it up for this post!  I also didn't know it was a cover, lol. Lumidee is still releasing music, her latest...

This week's video is Lights Down by Australian singer Celina Sharma , Ghanaian dancehall singer Stonebwoy and British rapper Ivorian Doll . It's the lead single from Celina's debut EP CECE, which came out in October. Read more about CECE here: https://outnowmagazine.com/celina-sharma-cece/ Lights Down is a dancehall and reggae/poppy song. It was released on 15th October. Also check out the video for 24/7, Celina's collab with British singer Harris J , here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIFf9KLqzHw     Visit this post for more on Celina and her 2020 music video CHALO:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2021/02/weekly-music-video.html Follow Stonebwoy here:  https://www.facebook.com/stonebwoyburniton And keep up with Ivorian Doll here: https://www.ivoriandoll.com/        

This week's video is Bang by Brazilian singer Anitta . Her real name is Larissa de Macedo Machado and she started out in her career by posting videos of herself singing on YouTube. She released her debut single Meiga e Abusada ("Sweet and Sassy" in English) in summer 2012 and then signed with Warner Records. The single was re-released digitally in early 2013. Her self-titled debut album was released in June 2013. Anitta's stage name is inspired by a character from the Brazilian TV series Presença de Anita . To date she has released 5 studio albums- Anitta, 2014's Ritmo Perfeito (Portuguese for "Perfect Rhythm"), Bang (2015) and Kisses (2019). In addition she brought out the live album Meu Lugar (My Place) in 2014 and two EPs- Tá na Mira ( 2013) and Solo (2018). Some of her well known songs are Show das Poderosas, Na Batida, Bang, Make It Hot with Major Lazer and Fuego (Spanish for "Fire") with DJ Snake , Sean Paul and Tainy . She has collabo...

Today's video is LA CANCION by J Balvin and Bad Bunny. J Balvin (real name José Álvaro Osorio Balvín) is a Colombian reggaeton singer whose breakthrough single was 6am, which he and Puerto Rican singer Farruko released in October 2013. He's probably best known worldwide for the single Mi Gente ("My People" in Spanish), which he and French DJ and record producer Willy William released in June 2017. J Balvin brought out his debut album Real in 2010 and has since released 4 more solo albums- El Negocio (2011), La Familia (2013), Energia (2016) and Vibras (2018). In June he brought out the collaborative album Oasis with Bad Bunny. Bad Bunny (real name Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio) is a Latin trap and reggaeton singer from Puerto Rico. He started out releasing music on Soundcloud and had his breakthrough with the single Diles in 2016. In December 2018 he released his debut album X100Pre. He has also teamed up with J Balvin and American rapper Cardi B for ...

For the past two years I've done posts featuring new music for the new year. Now we're at the start of a new year once again (and a new decade) so here is some music for 2020! You can read the posts for 2018 and 2019 here: New Music for 2018- Part 1: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2018/01/new-music-for-2018-part-1.html New Music for 2018- Part 2:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2018/01/new-music-for-2018-part-2.html New Music for 2019:- J-pop: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2019/01/new-music-for-2019-j-pop.html New Music for 2019- K-pop:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2019/01/new-music-for-2019-k-pop.html New Music for 2019- Western:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2019/02/new-music-for-2019-western.html I will do a couple of posts and feature music in a variety of genres this time (last year I split them up), so here is Part 1. :) Niza x Young Zerka- LET ME THRU First up is LET ME THRU by Swiss producer Niza and Albanian regga...

This week's video is Nesër by Albanian singer Young Zerka featuring Anila Mimani . It's a reggae style song and came out in June. Note: This video is blocked from playing on 3rd party applications, but you can view it fine on YouTube. :) Also check out Young Zerka's latest single  Money, with Eri Dee . It was released on 11th October: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W0yR7hHUTA Want more Albanian music? Check out these posts: Albanian Music feature: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2016/09/albanian-music.html Era and Nora Istrefi- Nuk E Di video: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2019/05/weekly-music-video.html Dhurata Dora- Jake Jake: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2019/08/weekly-music-video_21.html Elvana Gjata feat. Ty Dolla $ign- Off Guard (English):  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2019/09/weekly-music-video_11.html

Today's music video is Jake Jake by Dhurata Dora . Her real name is Dhurata Murturi and she's an Albanian singer, born in Nuremberg, Bavaria  (Germany) to Kosovar Albanian parents. She released her debut single Vete kërkove in Kosovo in 2011. Her most popular singles include Get Down with Don Arbas , I Like dat and A bombi. She has also collaborated with Young Zerka on the 2014 song Roll . Jake Jake came out in June 2018. The language is Albanian, although I'm not sure which dialect. Other Albanian singers I've come across speak and sing Gheg Albanian . Note: Third party applications are blocked from playing (due to the record company), but if you click on the video you can watch it fine on YouTube. :)   Update 5/9/19: This video is now blocked in the UK. Can't understand why since I thought it was an official upload?! You can find a snippet of it here (seems to also be a bid for Dhurata to enter Eurovision 2020!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuWxFSW8J...

Haven't done one of these in a while, the last one was in June , and the last J-pop themed Girls vs Boys was in 2013 ! Today's it between Japanese girl group E-girls and boyband THE RAMPAGE from EXILE TRIBE . Note:  Avex videos are now blocked from being shown on third party applications. If you click on the videos you can watch them fine on YouTube. :) E-girls My Way For my first post on E-girls (who are the sister unit of EXILE) visit this link: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2016/11/more-j-pop-acts.html In 2017 E-girls changed their line-up and there are now 11 members instead of  the original 19. Also they are part of the larger collective E.G. Family, which consists mainly of female members. This is My Way featuring Japanese reggae groups FIRE BALL and MIGHTY CROWN  and dance/electro group PKCZ® . It was released in August and is a reggae type song. I'm not sure if this is the full song. THE RAMPAGE- HARD HIT RAMPAGE are part of the super...

Here's an update on the  music and videos I've been listening to and watching lately. My last New Music/Videos post was in June , so it's been a while! Quite a lot this time, so let's get started. :) Kaif O Suroor from Pakistani film Na Maloom Afraad 2 Mabel- One Shot Majid Jordan - All Over You Majid Jordan- Spirit LANY - Thick and Thin (lyric video) Nia Sioux (former Dance Moms star) feat. Riddick- FLXXN  Yemi Alade- Issokay (Nigerian) LEAVES' EYES - Riders On The Wind  LEAVES' EYES- Across The Sea  Silk City, Mark Ronson, Diplo and Dua Lipa - Electricity AlunaGeorge feat. Cautious Clay- Superior Emotion AISHA- SHY (J R'n'B) Mariah Carey - GTFO (explicit) Tiyas King- Laws of Attraction (Swaziland/eSwatini* Kris Wu feat. Jhené Aiko - Freedom (audio) K-pop BTS- IDOL BTS feat. Nicki Minaj- IDOL Sunmi- Siren Jooheon (MONSTA X member)- RED CARPET Girls' Generation- Oh!GG (Lil' Touch) Dreamcatcher- What J-pop F...