Star Sparkle Blog

Today's video is for American rapper Jay-Z 's Wishing on a Star featuring Gwen Dickey. I expect most people know Jay-Z, he is one of the most successful rappers, is also a record producer and entrepreneur and has a career spanning 18 years. And of course he's married to the equally successful Beyonce . :) Jay-Z (real name Shawn Carter)  co-founded the record label Roc-A-Fella Records in 1995, with Damon Dash and Kareem Burke. He released his debut single In My Lifetime in 1995, his debut album Reasonable Doubt in 1996 and his second album In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 a year later. Since then Jay-Z has released 15 studio albums, 5 compilations and 1 soundtrack album. Some of his most well known singles are Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem), Big Pimpin and Girls, Girls, Girls. His latest album is Magna Carta... Holy Grail (2013). Wishing on a Star came out in 1998 and is on In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 (UK version) and Greatest Hits (2006). It samples the original Wishing on a Star whi...

Here are the lyrics for Is it a sign? the second to last song from Elevation. I can't find a video for it, so will just post the lyrics. The French version is Est-ce un hasard? Is it a sign? Verse 1 He was a surprise Didn't know how Didn't know why Blessing in disguise..I'm tempted Twinkled in my eyes Should I explore (?) Should I go on? Shivers all around..I've waited Chorus Is it a sign? Could this be the love that I have lost? Cause it's even deeper Is it a sign? Is this the something I've longed for? Cause it's so much stronger Is it a sign? Could this be the moment I've waited for? Cause it's even greater Is it a sign? Is he that someone I've dreamt of? Cause he's so much better Bridge 1 He's so much better He's so much better He's so much better (Yay) He's so much better (Ah ha ha ha) Verse 2 Captive round inside Feeling so wrong, feeling so right Whispered through the night..I've t...

Here is another Leaves' Eyes video. This is one for the song My Destiny from the album Njord which came out in 2009.

Last weekend I performed with my belly dance group BD4U at an event called South Coast Shimmy. It was a celebration of belly dance on the south coast and was organised by Jane Brooker of  Nefertiri , an Arabic dance troupe based in Worthing. It went well and was a fun event. Another event is being planned for later in the year. Check out the South Coast Shimmy Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/SouthCoastShimmy?fref=ts Also here are links for the sites I run for BD4U Eastern Promise (it's a Brighton based belly dance community group) and my other troupe Sahari-Zari-Super-Zars (Worthing based): BD4U Sahari Zari

This week it's Sweet Rosemary by the British group Celtic Legend. The group is made up of composers, writers, musicians and filmmakers and was formed in 2001 by composer Chris Pane. Chris was born in Cornwall and Celtic Legend's music and videos are based on stories from Celtic mythology. The lead singer and co-writer is Emily Ovenden, who is also part of the classical group Mediæval Bæbes and the metal band Pythia . The other members are Dominique Adam (lead vocals and choral vocal), producer Nigel Bates and drummer Marc Dyos. Videos are directed by Jai Michael.  Celtic Legend released an album called Lyonesse in 2007 and are currently working on a new one. Sweet Rosemary is from Lyonesse. For more on Celtic Legend, visit these links: Official Facebook MySpace Jai Michael's YouTube Note: I didn't know this video was filmed in Sussex and made by a Brighton company! Visit the site here: www.absolutebrighton.tv

Continuing the Anggun Lyrics Project from the album Elevation, here are the lyrics for Divine. The French version is Le temps perdu (Lost time). If anyone has a translation of the French version (or any of the French versions), please let me know! I'll credit you. :) I had a go at translating myself using online translators but since I don't speak French and the online translators aren't always very reliable, it's not getting very far!                                   Divine Verse 1 In my heart there is something tangled from the inside In my heart there is something trapped me from the inside Chorus 1 Yeah, it's been a long time, I've been walking like a blind (blind) And it's been a while, keep on waiting to be found You know that's worse Counting through the coldness of the ice (oh oh) Don't you ...

This week's video is for the single Frisky by British rapper Tinie Tempah featuring Labrinth. Tinie (real name Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu) started his career by releasing a free mixtape in 2005 and had some success with the songs Tears and Wifey. However it wasn't until 2010 that he became really successful with the release of his debut single Pass Out, which got to Number 1 in the UK Top 40 singles chart . Frisky was his second single and got to Number 2. Both songs were produced by Labrinth, who also sang on Pass Out (uncredited) and appears on Tinie's debut album Disc-overy. Tinie Tempah's latest single is called Trampoline and it's the first release from his upcoming second album Demonstration. Frisky is my favourite song of his.                                        Frisky- Tinie Tempah f...

The original Sugababes Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhan Donaghy have reformed as Mutya Keisha Siobhan and they have uploaded the full version of their new single Flatline to Soundcloud today. My favourite Sugababes incarnation was Keisha, Mutya and Heidi; I thought that in the original line-up their voices clashed slightly sometimes, like in Overload. But I did like the music and this is a good song. I think it sounds more like the first songs they came out with. Listen to it here: https://soundcloud.com/mutyakeishasiobhan Flatline is available for pre-order on iTunes.

Today's it's He Said She Said by American singer Ashley Tisdale . Ashley is also an actress who played Maddie in kids' TV series The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and starred as Sharpay in the hit Disney kids'/teen film High School Musical (2006) and its sequels. She released her debut album Headstrong in 2007 and went on to release a second album called Guilty Pleasure in 2008 and the soundtrack for the spin-off film Sharpay's Fabulous Adventures in 2011. Ashley is currently recording her third album. He Said She Said was the second single from Headstrong. This is the "mature" version. Ashley re-recorded it for her younger audience with slightly different lyrics. Go here for the Disney kids' version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE5TzUV52XY For a link to Ashley's song Don't Touch (The Zoom song) click here: http://starsparklex.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/weekly-music-video.html And for more on Ashley visit her site: www.ashleytisdale...

It's time for another K-pop  Girls vs Boys post! Today it's between solo stars BoA and Se7en . BoA (full name Kwon Boa) is a massive star in Korea and Japan and also popular in other Asian countries and America. Her stage name stands for Beat of Angel. She debuted in 2000 (aged only 13) with her first Korean album ID; Peace B and went on to release  her debut Japanese album Listen To My Heart in 2002. In 2008, she released her first US single Eat You Up, followed by her debut English album BoA. She speaks Korean, Japanese and English and has also recorded a song in the Chinese language Mandarin. BoA has released 7 Korean studio albums and 7 Japanese so far. Her latest album is Only One (Korean). Here is the video for the Only One single (Dance version). For the Only One Drama version video, click here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucJ95RzLHvA And for more on BoA, visit these websites: Official site (Korean/English language) Official Japanese si...