Star Sparkle Blog

I did a post on new K-pop releases in June but haven't done a general one for a while, so today I'm focusing on some Western and international music. Era Istrefi feat. Konshens- Oh God First up this is Kosovar singer Era Istrefi's new one Oh God. It features Jamaican dancehall artist Konshens and was released on 26th July. Please note that the song is explicit. :) K.A.R.D- Ride On The Wind Korean group K.AR.D have a new single called Ride on the wind. It's from their 3rd mini album of the same name, and I think both were released on 25th July. (It's a year since they released their debut mini album . Doesn't seem that long!). Like Jessi's Down , this is another video with a nice beach and summer vibe. :) Shakira and Maluma- Clandestino Colombian singer Shakira's last single is Clandestino ("Clandestine in Spanish). Her full name is Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, and she is probably best known to Western audiences for

This week's video is 079ME by B Young . He's a British rapper and singer who previously released the single Jumanji this year. 079ME came out in June. The song and video have a nice summer vibe :) Update 15/6/19: His real name is Bertan Jafer and he started out as a sound engineer before becoming a rapper. He now has a website which you can find in the links below. :) For more on B Young check out these links: Official website: https://www.byoungofficial.com Official YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/officialbyoung Soundcloud:  https://soundcloud.com/byoungofficial Official FB: https://www.facebook.com/BYoungOfficial

American singer Ariana Grande has a couple of new singles out from her upcoming album Sweetener. First up here is the light is coming (written all in lowercase) which features Trinidadian American rapper Nicki Minaj . It's a promotional single which was released on 20th June. And then here is God is a woman, which I think is the 2nd official single from Sweetener. (The first was No Tears Left to Cry). It came out on 13th July. This is my favourite of the two songs. :) Sweetener, which will be Ariana's 4th studio album, is due for release on 17th August. I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of the album. :) For more Ariana visit these links: No Tears Left to Cry music video: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2018/04/new-ariana-grande-video.html Videos from her 3rd album Dangerous Woman: http://starsparklex.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/new-ariana-grande-videos.html

This week's video is Dejavu, the latest single by Korean boyband NU'EST W .  It was released on 25th June and is from the group's 2nd EP Who, You.  Dejavu is the lead single from  Who, You and NU'EST W's first song in the Latin pop genre. K-pop fan? Check out this post about K-pop releases from last month: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2018/06/new-k-pop-releases.html

Earlier this year I started a series of posts about what the girls from reality show Dance Moms have been up to since the show ended last year. Now it's time for the third instalment. Didn't plan to take this long, but never mind! This time I'm focusing on JoJo, Brynn and Camryn. :) You can read the first two posts here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2018/01/dance-moms-girls-updates-part-1.html https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2018/02/dance-moms-girls-updates-part-2.html JoJo Siwa JoJo (full name Joelle) and her mum Jessalyn joined Dance Moms in Series/Season 5 . She was originally a finalist on S2 on Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition (the youngest contestant at 9), then went on to join Dance Moms in  2015. Nicknamed "JoJo with the BowBow" due to her habit of wearing a bow in  her hair,she later released her only selection of hair bows with Claire';s (formerly Claire's Accessories, that's how I still think of it!). Her strongest da

Today's music video (or rather audio) is Body by Sinead Harnett . It was released as a single in April and has a nice, chilled out vibe. :) I first heard the song in June and included it in last month's New Music/Videos post. There's also an acoustic version of Body which you can listen to here:  https://sineadharnett.lnk.to/bodyacoustic Update 16/7/18: Sinead now has a music video for Body (uploaded a day after I did this post!), so I'm including it here as well:

Back in August 2016 I did a post of my Top 10 Summer Songs. You can check it out here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2016/08/top-10-summer-songs.html Now since it's summer again and we're having what it one of the hottest days so far (31/32 Celsius in some places, which is hot for the UK!), I'm sharing some more summer songs. :) Robin Thicke feat. Pharrell Williams American/Canadian singer Robin Thicke's single Wanna Love You Girl has a great exotic beach vibe and was released in August 2005. It was a Weekly Music Video back in May 2012:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2012/05/weekly-music-video_30.html Hadise- Yaz Günu Turkish Belgian singer Hadise's 2015 single Yaz Günu translates as "Summer Day" in English and has a suitable video to accompany it! It was released in May 2015 and I featured it as a Weekly Music Video in July that year: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2015/07/weekly-music-video.html Mila J- Kickin' Back Mil

This week's video is Lucky Rain by Chinese singer Tia Ray featuring Hong Kong singer Jackson Wang . Tia (real name Yuan Yawei)  was inspired by R'n'B and soul music when she was young and studied performing arts in Beijing. She appeared on The Voice of China and released her debut album T.I.A in November 2014. Her singles include Dear Friend, Ask Love, Girl A-Chu and Lucky Rain. She has also collaborated with Hong Kong based American singer Khalil Fong in 2014 on the song Peace, and more recently with American singer Kehlani on the single Just My Luck (there are Chinese and English versions). Tia brought out her second album TIARA earlier this year. Lucky Rain was released in April but I think the video has only just come out. Jackson of Korean boyband GOT7 features on the track. The song is in English. For more on Tia check out these links: Women of China feature:  http://www.womenofchina.cn/womenofchina/html1/news/celebrity/1805/1338-1.htm Official Twit