Star Sparkle Blog

Computer problems Sorry there haven't been any posts this week, I'm currently having some computer problems and Blogger won't work properly on my current browwer. I hope to get it sorted as soon as possible. Hope everyone is having a good weekend. :)

I've done quite a few posts on Japanese and Korean singers and groups, so to fit in with September's J-pop and K-pop theme I thought I'd do a round-up of my favourite acts. I was going to do both Japanese and Korean acts but it was turning into a mega post, so I'll start with the J-pop ones and do K-pop next time! Koda Kumi Koda Kumi is my favourite Japanese singer. She's very popular in Japan and this year is her 15th anniversary of being in the music business. Here are some Koda related links: Video for one of my favourite songs, Trust You: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2012/01/weekly-music-video_21.html My absolute favourite song, feel: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2013/03/weekly-music-video_27.html Top 10 Koda Kumi Songs

Recently I did a post on the Japanese boyband J Soul Brothers . Their full title is J Soul Brothers from EXILE TRIBE, since they are part of the supergroup EXILE TRIBE. The rest of the members are from other Japanese groups. According to Wikipedia the other groups are EXILE,   E-girls , Generations , Gekidan Exile and The Rampage but EXILE TRIBE appears to be mainly made up of EXILE, J Soul Brothers and GENERATIONS. EXILE are a 19 member group who were founded in the late 90s by HIRO. They were the original J Soul Brothers but later changed their name to EXILE. The current J Soul Brothers are a new group formed by Hiro and they are also known as Sandaime (Third J Soul Brothers). (See my other post for more). EXILE TRIBE  were formed in 2012. To date they have released 3 singles, 24karats Tribe of Gold, Burning Up and The Revolution (their most successful) and 2 promotional singles, Keep On Singing and 24WORLD. They released their first album, Exile Tribe Revolution in August 2014.

Korean singer BoA recently made a comeback with her new album Kiss My Lips. It is her 8th Korean studio album (she has also released 8 Japanese language albums and 1 English album) and came out in May. This year marks BoA's 15th anniversary in the music business, she released her debut Korean album ID; Peace B in August 2000. Here are the videos for two singles from the new album. First of all here is Kiss My Lips: And then Who Are You featuring Gaeko: Which song is your favourite? :)

Everything's K-pop or J-pop this month, so today's video is for the song I Need a Girl by Taeyang from the Korean boyband BIGBANG and featuring G-Dragon (also from BIGBANG). Taeyang's real name is Dong Young-Bae. His stage name Taeyang means "sun". He started out as a child actor before joining the South Korean record label YG Entertainment aged 12. He and G-Dragon (aka GD) were supposed to be a duo but ended up becoming part of BIGBANG. Taeyang's first solo song was My Girl which was released in 2006 and appeared on BIGBANG's debut album BIGBANG Vol 1.- Since 2007. But it wasn't until 2008 that he really launched his solo career with the release of mini album Hot in May. He released two singles from Hot, Only Look At Me and Prayer featuring Teddy from Korean/American hip hop group 1TYM . Taeyang has also released two full length solo albums, Solar (2010) and Rise (2014). Some of his other singles are Wedding Dress, Ringa Linhga and Good Boy

I don't know that many Japanese boybands. It's funny but I mostly know Korean groups and Japanese solo singers! I know KAT-TUN , Arashi (although they're more of a rock group, I think) and Hey! Say! JUMP but not many more. A friend recently introduced to me the band (or vocal and dance unit) J Soul Brothers , so I thought today I'd do a post about them. And of course it fits into the J-pop and K-pop theme I'm doing this month! This is a good opportunity to find more J-pop boybands too. :) The J Soul Brothers were originally formed in 1998 but have gone through two line-up changes. The current incarnation- full title Sandaime (Third Generation) J Soul Brothers from EXILE TRIBE * or J Soul Brothers III- was formed in 2010 by HIRO who is the leader of Japanese boyband EXILE (which has an impressive 19 members!) and founding member of the First Generation J Soul Brothers.  It was decided that EXILE and former Nidaimie (Second Generation) J Soul Brothers members N

I've decided to have a J-pop and K-pop month. I thought it would be good to have themed months every so often, so September is about everything K-pop and J-pop! :) To start with here is Girls' Generation's new music video for their song You Think. It's on their 5th album Lion Heart and both are available now.