Star Sparkle Blog

Sorry the 2nd post is later this week; I didn't manage to get it finished yesterday. :) 2026 is shaping up to be the year of K-pop  comebacks, with several popular groups reuniting (including two of the biggest internationally known groups BLACKPINK and BTS , so I thought I'd feature them in a miniseries. :)   First up is girl group  BLACKPINK . Since debuting in 2016, the 4-member group (made up of JENNIE, LISA, JISOO and  ROSÉ) has been very successful, both in Korea and around the world. In recent years the girls have concentrated on their solo careers . Their individual contracts with YG Entertainment (one of the biggest South Korean entertainment companies/record labels) expired but they  continued to work with YG for group activities and embarked on the <DEADLINE> world tour last summer, which lasted until this January.  Now the members have reunited for their first release since 2022's BORN PINK (their second studio album), an EP also c...

This week's video is Blink by Corbyn Besson and TZUYU (of  TWICE ).  Corbyn is a solo singer and former member of American boyband Why Don't We , who officially disbanded last year. He started out by sharing music online and after his popularity grew, he released his debut solo single The Only One in December 2014. His second single Marathons followed in 2015. He joined Why Don't We in 2016. Corbyn's other singles include Love Me Better, Don't Run, Tied Up and SUMMER with American singer Jeremih . He just released his debut EP HEAD FIRST on 16th January. TZUYU (full name Chou Tzu-yu or Tzu-yu Chou in Western terms) is a member of Korean girl group TWICE . She is originally from Taiwan but moved to Korea in 2012 to train as a K-pop idol and went on to join the group. TZUYU made her solo debut in September 2024 with the EP abouTZU. The lead single Run Away was her first No. 1 single on the Billboard Taiwan Songs chart. Blink is an electronic R'n'B funk son...

Time for the first C-pop Saturday post of the year. If you're new to Star Sparkle, it's my semi-regular series (which I started in 2018 ) sharing Chinese music. Today I'm sharing a selection of pop and R'n'B songs released in the past few months. :)    DOLLA feat. Elva Suyan- MWAH! Malaysian girl group DOLLA teamed up with Malaysian rapper Elva Suyan for the Chinese version of their single MWA! The original single was released in May 2024 and is a mixture of Malay and English lyrics. The Chinese version came out last November. This is the official lyric video. It's a mixture of Chinese and English lyrics, and the Chinese lyrics were co-written by Elva.      Watch the music video for MWA! here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q_OrWI2egA And I also featured a live performance of the song in my recent Asian Girl Groups' Live Performances post:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2026/01/asian-girl-groups-live-performances.html     WayV- Eter...

Today's video is break   by American singer  Jhené Aiko . It's her most recent single and was released last November. break is a gentle R'n'B song with chilled vibes. The video is relaxing too.    Jhené is also set to release a new version of her 2nd album Trip (originally released in 2018) on 18th April, as part of Record Store Day. It will be coming out on picture disc for the first time.   Want more Jhené? Check out this post: Visualiser/audio for guidance (2024):  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2024/07/weekly-music-video_31.html      

Sorry the 2nd post is later this week; I didn't manage to get it finished yesterday. :) During the past couple of years I've shared quite a lot of dance videos. I plan to feature more in 2026, so here's the first one of the year! Here are some Dance in Public (dance covers of songs performed in public places) videos. :)   [DANCE IN PUBLIC] 'SAXO LOVE' - TOBII | TADA TEAM DANCE COVER & CHOREOGRAPHY First up, some  T-pop (Thai pop) in Public . Swiss/Thai rapper and R'n'B singer Tobii's songs have become popular in the cover dance world in the past couple of years and I've featured covers of his songs Bad Girls Like You ,  Hotel Lobby and most recently Saxo Love . Here is another cover of Saxo Love, which was released in June last year. It's performed by TADA TEAM, a dance team from Hanoi University in Vietnam.  The dance was originally performed by Thai dance studio MINIZIZE (it was choreographed by  Earth_prompen ). (MINIZIZE have also previ...

This week's video is Thong, the new single by American singer Justine Skye . It follows her last single YAP, which came out last October.  During 2025, Justine took a new direction with her music, moving into dance from R'n'B which was also reflected by her prior singles Oh Lala (a dance/R'n'B song) with Haitian Canadian music producer and rapper  KAYTRANADA  and dance track Bitch in Ibiza (both released last summer). Thong was released on 13th February and is from Justine's upcoming EP CANDY, due out on 27th March. She describes the EP as her new dance project and it also contains the previous singles Oh Lala and YAP.   Also check out the music video for YAP (plus links to more music from Justine):  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/11/weekly-music-video_12.html