Star Sparkle Blog

Sorry the 2nd post is later again this week, I didn't manage to get it finished yesterday. :) Last month I started a mini series called K-pop Comebacks, featuring the comebacks of K-pop groups during 2026. The first one was about BLACKPINK and you can see it here:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2026/03/k-pop-comebacks-blackpink.html Today I'm focusing on BTS (one of the most popular Korean boybands ). They debuted in 2013 and are a 7-member group, made up of leader RM, formerly known as Rap Monster (real name Kim Nam Joon), SUGA (Min Yoon Gi), Jin (full name Kim Seok Jin), j-hope (Jung Ho-seok), Jimin (Park Ji Min), V (Kim Tae Hyung) and Jungkook (Jeon Jung Kook). * Since then, the boys have been very successful, not only in South Korea but internationally. They are probably one of the most well-known K-pop bands worldwide.  In June 2022, the group took a break while the members served their  mandatory military service in Korea and have also been concentrat...

This week's video is LUVAGIRL by American singer Coco Jones . It's her latest single and was released on 23rd March. LUVAGIRL is Coco's first release of 2026 , following her debut album Why Not More? which was released in April 2025 and the digital special edition Why Not More? (More!) which came out last August. The track sees her in her "luva era" (as she describes it) after  getting engaged to American basketball player  Donovan Mitchell last summer. It's a love song reminiscent of early 2000s R'n'B . This is the official music video and there's also a lyric video.      Watch the lyric video here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Lhs1WEjloo   Coco fan? Check out this post: Music video for On Sight from Why Not More? (released in April 2025), plus links to more of her music:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/05/weekly-music-video_21.html      

Last year I wrote two posts sharing K-pop in Public (dance covers of Korean songs performed in public places) covers of older songs by girl groups. Today I'm doing a round-up (or more like a "mini round-up", lol) of past posts featuring girl group classic covers, plus a couple of new videos. :)   K-pop in Public- Girl Group Classics:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/06/k-pop-in-public-girl-group-classics.html K-pop in Public Dances Round-up (features a cover of  HELLO VENUS' Sticky Sticky by OnePear from Australia):  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/08/k-pop-in-public-dances-round-up.html K-pop in Public- More Girl Group Classics: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/09/k-pop-in-public-more-girl-group-classics.html Dance Videos Round- up 2025 (includes a cover of AOA's Miniskirt by KPOC from the US): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/12/dance-videos-round-up-2025.html   And now here are a couple of  new videos. :)    [KPOP IN P...

This week's video is DMC by Myles Lloyd , GEMINI , Karencici and JUNNY . Myles is a Canadian R'n'B singer-songwriter from Montreal. He is an independent singer, and released his first song Step Down in August 2017 and his debut album Goodbye in September 2019. His other albums include Forever Yours (2022) and WHAT MORE CAN I SAY ? (2024). His recent singles include Closer, Grapevine and Voodoo. DMC is a newer version/remix of Drive Me Crazy, which Myles originally released in November 2024. A music video premiered in July 2025.  For DMC, Myles teamed up with South Korean R'n'B/alternative artist GEMINI, Chinese American singer Karencici and fellow Canadian singer-songwriter JUNNY. GEMINI (real name Kim Jae-Min)  debuted in 2020 , appearing on   Jay Park's  and Cha Malone's  record label H1GHR MUSIC's  compilation album [HIGHR : BLUE TAPE]. * He went on to sign with record label AT AREA and released his debut single Going. To date he has released 4 EP...

Sorry the 2nd post is later this week; I didn't manage to get it finished yesterday. :) The 90s and 00s were the era of girl groups in the West, in the US and the UK in particular, with groups like En Vogue , the Spice Girls , Destiny's Child , Atomic Kitten , Sugababes ,  Mis-Teeq and Pussycat Dolls dominating the charts. In the years since, girl groups (along with boybands) have largely faded away and there are predominately solo singers. In other parts of  the world, especially Asia, girl groups have remained popular. You'll see this in the K-pop industry particularly. I have often featured Korean girl groups on the blog and also from other Asian countries in my Asian Groups series in recent years. (The series covers both female and male groups.)  I've also written a couple of  posts about international girl groups  (African and South East Asian). Some of them are older groups though.  There are a few exceptions in the West, such as Fifth Harmony ...

Today's video is MOVE ON, the new single by Kosovar (Kosovo Albanian) singer Era Istrefi . It came out on 8th March ( International Women's Day ) and is her first release of 2026. MOVE ON was written by Era herself and is a mostly Albanian language song, with the occasional English line. It's in the style of her signature brand of pop and dance with reggae influences.      Want more Era? Check out this post:  Music video for AMA DO LOVE X HADJE (released last October), plus links to more music:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/10/weekly-music-video_22.html