Star Sparkle Blog

Today's video is That Ain't Cool by my favourite J-pop singer Koda Kumi and featuring American singer Fergie (who I also like). The song is from Koda's Moon EP which was released in June 2008 and also appears on her 7th album TRICK (2009). That Ain't Cool is sung mostly in English with a bit of Japanese. According to Wikipedia there are two music videos.. I have TRICK and I think the video on there is a bit different to this one but I haven't watched it for a while, so I'm not 100% sure. Update 25/9/20- The orignal video was removed and re-uploaded as a 20th Year Special Full Version.   Please note that Avex videos are now blocked from being shown on third party applications. If you click on the video you can watch it fine on YouTube. :)                To hear a couple of Koda's latest songs check out this post: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2015/04/new-koda-kumi-and-namie-amuro-songs.html

Here is another Turkish Girls vs Boys post. :) This time it's Kenan Doğulu vs Atiye. Aytie (full name Atiye Deniz) is a popular singer in Turkey. She has a Turkish dad and a Dutch mum and was born in Germany. She also lived in America and Turkey as a child and teen. Atiye released her debut albu m Gözyaşlarım in 2007. It had both Turkish and English lyrics and the album title translates as "My Tears". The video for her first single Don't Think was popular on YouTube. Two years later she brought out her second album, which was self titled. A few of her biggest hits are from the Atiye album, the singles Muamma, Salla and Kal (with the Turkish singer Teoman ). Atiye has released 3 albums since, Budur (2011), Bring Me Back (2012) and Soygun Var (2013). Some of her other singles are Don't Think, Budur and Bring Me Back. In 2011 she won Best Turkish Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards. Her latest single is Come To Me. It's her US debut song This is Ya Habibi...

Here is EXO's new single CALL ME BABY. It's been released in both in Korean and Chinese (Mandarin). I tend to prefer Korean music to Chinese but here are both videos so you can hear the different versions. :) CALL ME BABY is from EXO's 2nd album Exodus (released on 30th March) and is out now. I think this is the Korean version: And the Chinese. Hope I've got it right! The Korean and the Chinese subgroups feature in each video but I don't know the members that well yet.

Two of my favourite Japanese singers Koda Kumi and Namie Amuro are bringing out new albums. Well, Koda Kumi has already released hers this month,  her 12th album WALK OF MY LIFE came out on 18th March. Namie Amuro is set to release her 11th/12th album (sources differ) _genic on 10th June.* Koda is celebrating her 15th anniversary this year (she debuted in December 2000 with the single Take Back). I'd like to have WALK OF MY LIFE as a late birthday present and I also might buy _genic in the future, I'll listen to an album preview first, if I can . I planned to feature some of their new songs on here but there aren't many from Namie's _genic yet since it's not out till June, so I'll post a slightly older Namie song as well.  Please note that both Koda and Namie's record company Avex don't tend to post many full videos or audios, so the songs aren't the full versions. Update 14/9/18: Avex videos are now blocked from being shown on third party...

Today's video is Elegy by Leaves' Eyes . It's on their album Vinland Saga (2005) and was the first single to be released from it. Elegy came out as a EP in May 2005, there were 2 versions of the song itself and 4 other songs. I think it's about Viking warriors going away and leaving their women behind. I've been listening to Vinland Saga lately and this is one of my favourite songs on there. :)

I've finished the 1000 Songs In a Year Challenge ! It ended up being slightly over a year but never mind! I thought I would be able to do it in a time because some days I was listening to quite a lot of songs but it turned out to take longer than I thought. This challenge was fun but it did get a bit tiring writing down everything I listened to. (Or almost everything, a few songs slipped through the cracks because I forgot to write them down or couldn't remember their name). In the future I may do another challenge where I listen to new songs in a certain genre but probably not with a time limit again. So here's the last update. :) There are 40 songs so it's quite a long list again! 960. Secret- I'm In Love (K-pop) 961. Jack Savoretti- Home 962. SISTAR- Touch my body (K-pop) 963. Mike Will Made-It feat. The Weeknd , Swae Lee and Future- Drinks On Us 964. Angel feat. Sneakbo- Ride Out 965. Giggs- (Is It Gangsta?) Yes Yes Yes (Explicit) 966. Jason De...

This week's video is the Remix version of Pia Mia's F**k With U. It features American rapper G-Eazy and is out now. I like this too but my favourite is the original. :) As you can tell by the song title, it's explicit. :) You can listen to the original here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2015/02/weekly-music-video.html

Time for another Girls vs Boys post, this time from the UK and Ireland! It's between girl group The Saturdays and boyband The Wanted. Each group has four British members and one Irish member. The Saturdays formed in 2007. The members are Rochelle Humes, Vanessa White, Una Foden, Frankie Bridge and Mollie King. (Rochelle, Vanessa, Mollie and Frankie are English and Una is Irish). They released their debut single If This Is Love in summer 2008 and their debut album Chasing Lights in October 2008. Since then The Saturdays have released 5 studio albums, Chasing Lights, Wordshaker (2009), Headlines! (2010), On Your Radar (2011) and Living For The Weekend (2013) and 18 singles. Some of their most well known songs are Up!, Work, All Fired Up and Higher featuring American rapper Flo Rida . What About Us featuring Jamaican rapper Sean Paul was their first UK No 1 in 2012. In 2014 they brought out their first Greatest Hits album called Finest Selection: The Greatest Hits. The Saturdays...

This week's video is Jealous by American singer and actor Nick Jonas . He started out by performing on Broadway as a child and in 2002 released a song that he wrote with his dad called Joy to the World (A Christmas Prayer). In 2005 he formed the  group Jonas Brothers , along with his older brothers Kevin and Joe. (They also have a younger brother called Frankie). Jonas Brothers also starred in the Disney Channel series Jonas L.A. Apparently the original plan was for Nick to have a solo career but the brothers ended up all being signed to a record label. Nick is also in a band called Nick Jonas & the Administration. (Jonas Brothers split in 2013). Nick has released 2 solo studio albums, Nicholas Jonas (2005) and Nick Jonas (2014), 1 EP, Songs from How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (2012) and 4 solo singles, his older ones Dear God and Joy to the World and 2 from his latest album Nick Jonas, Chains and Jealous. Nick has starred in quite a few musicals and film...