Star Sparkle Blog

As you'll know if you follow this blog, I'm a fan of Asian music such as Japanese, Korean and Chinese pop. I thought it would be cool to share some Asian summer themed songs and videos. :) Note: I'm focusing on East Asian music today but if you'd like some Bollywood music check out my latest post here (The Naari Naari Song from Made In China): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2020/07/weekly-music-video_29.html Jay Park feat. GRAY- DRIVE First up is DRIVE by Korean American singer Jay Park and featuring Korean singer and rapper GRAY. This was a Weekly Music video back in October 2016, but the video has real summer vibes! Check it out here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2016/10/weekly-music-video_19.html Jessi- Down In July 2018 I included Korean American singer Jessi's single Down in my More Summer Songs post: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2018/07/more-summer-songfs.html TWICE- Dance The Night Away Last summer I featured Korean girl group TWICE's Danc...

This week's video is The Naari Naari Song from the 2019 Bollywood film Made in China. The movie is based on the book of the same name is about Gujurati businessman Raghuvir (Raghu) Mehta (played by Rajkummar Rao ) who is not doing well in his career. He plans to try his luck by doing business in China. The Naari Naari Song is a new Hindi verson of the 90s Arabic and Hindi song Habibi/Habiby Dah (Nari Narain) by Egyptian singer Hisham Abbas   and Indian singer Jayashri . The original title translates in English something like "That's My Love (My Fire is Two Fire)" and on YouTube the translation for Naari Naari is "The fire is doubled". I have heard Habibi Dah before, probably danced to it at some point! It seems to be a popular belly dance song. :) The playback singers are Vishal Dadlani , Jonita Gandi and music composer duo Sachin-Jigar . The video stars Raghu and his wife Rukhmini ( Mouni Roy ). Click "Subtitles/closed captions" while watching ...

It's been a while since I've done a general dance videos post (the most recent have featured just Bollywood dances), so I felt inspired to do that today! :) I haven't danced for months due to the lockdown. Some teachers have been teaching online but I prefer to go to in person classes. Hopefully soon! I've been having a go at a couple of these tutorials though, so that's been good. :) Babuji Zara Dheere Chalo Dance Cover by LiveToDance with Sonali I'm starting with a Bollywood dance. This is a cover of Babuji Zara Dheere Chalo from the 2003 film Dum by Sonali Bhadauria of LiveTo Dance with Sonali. It was uploaded on 4th July. Babuji Zhara Dheere Chalo is a good song. I featured it as a Random music video! back in 2011 (before I started doing Weekly Music Videos). I had to replace the original video with the official lyric video: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2011/12/random-music-video.html The music video has since been officially uploaded and you can watc...

Today's video is Summer 2020 by American singer Jhené Aiko . It's her latest song and is from the Deluxe version of her 3rd album Chilombo, which was released on 17th July. Summer 2020 is a laid-back song with a chilled vibe, perfect for summer! Especially when we could probably all do with some relaxation during these stressful times. The video features Jhené in a paddling pool and was uploaded on 17th July. View it on YouTube to see the lyrics in the info box. :) If you think it sounds similar to something you've heard before, it's because the song samples American soul/jazz/disco band Kool & the Gang's 1975 instrumental Summer Madness. If you're a 70s music fan you'll probably know it, or otherwise you may have heard it in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City ! Check out Summer Madness here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SFt7JHwJeg Jhené's sister Mila J previously sampled the song for her track Kickin' Back in 2016. That's one of my favourite M...

Time for another post in my "semi- regular" C-pop Saturday series! The last one was in March . So here are some more C-pop songs. :) Kris Wu- AURORA First up is AURORA, one of the latest songs from Chinese Canadian solo singer (former EXO member) Kris Wu . It was released back in April and I featured it as a Weekly Music Video in May: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2020/05/weekly-music-video_20.html Kris also released the official visualiser for BIG BOWL, THICK NOODLE on the same day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGxDxwJjMUc Lexie Liu- Whenever Chinese singer Lexie Liu released the lyric video for the song Whenever in April and I remember liking it the first time I heard. It's a nice chilled R'n'B song with a mixture of Chinese (Mandarin, I think) and English lyrics. Whenever is from Lexie's latest album Metropolis, which came out last December. As with Metropolis, another single from the album, the video for Whenever has an English translation of the ...

This week's video is Spotlight by British singer Jessie Ware . It's from her new album What's Your Pleasure? and was released in February. What's Your Pleasure? is Jessie's 4th album and came out last month. Spotlight is a dancey, upbeat track that also has a laid back vibe! I recently bought it on iTunes and it's one of my current favourite songs. :) Jessie fan? Check out these posts: Music video for Running: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2014/01/weekly-music-video_22.html Sweet Talk video: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2014/03/weekly-music-video_19.html And follow her here: Official FB: https://www.facebook.com/jessiewaremusic Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessieware/

I listen to some African/Afropop music and as I mentioned in last year's Afropop Round-up post , a lot of it is West African. I do listen to some East African music as well though, so I thought so it would be cool to feature some singers from East African countries today. I do also plan to feature more singers from Cameroon in future, since I'm part Cameroonian. :) Countries in East Africa include Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, and Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan. (I believe the last 3 are also partly in Central Africa). Swahili is one of the most widely spoken languages in the region. TID First up is TID (real name Khaled Mohammed) from Tanzania. You can read more about him and see the video for his song Zeze (one of my favourite African songs) here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2014/01/weekly-music-video_29.html Here is a new song from TID featuring Lulu Diva . It's called BAMBA  and was released in March. The song is from TID's latest album The Vocalist. Fi...

Today's video is Candy by BAEKHYUN , member of Korean/Chinese boyband EXO and also part of the supergroup SuperM . His full name is Byun Baek-hyun (or Baek-hun Byun in Western terms), and he made his solo debut in July 2019 with the EP City Lights, which was a bestseller. He had previously relased the singe Take You Home through digittal musuc projext SM Station Season 2 in April 2017. The lead single from City Lights was UN Village, also released last summer.  On 25th May BAEKHYUN brought out his 2nd EP Delight. Candy is the first single from the EP and came out on the same day. For more on BAEKHYUN visit these links: Kprofile: https://kprofiles.com/baekhyun-profile-facts-baekhyun-ideal-type/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baekhyunee_exo/ EXO fan? Check out these posts: Growl music videos (Korean and Chinese versions): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2014/04/weekly-music-video_30.html Features the Korean version of Mama (also features SISTAR ): https://starsparklex.blog...

It's been a while since I wrote a general post about new music releases, although last month  I posted about New K-pop Releases . I think my last one featuring music from different genres was in November ! So here are some new releases for the summer. :) Mabel- Boyfriend (Official Vertical Video) First up is the new Vertical Video for Boyfriend by Swedish/British singer Mabel . The song itself isn't new because the single came out back in February. You can see the official music video here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2020/02/weekly-music-video_26.html The vertical video was uploaded on 11th June. I'm not able to post it directly on the blog, but here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ReFRix7saE Update 18/7/20: They've changed the design of Blogger again and I can now post more videos directly! Kristan Kostov- Things I Like And next is the latest single by Bulgarian Russian singer Kristian Kostov (who was Bulgaria's 2017 Eurovision Song Cont...

This week's video is Bang by Brazilian singer Anitta . Her real name is Larissa de Macedo Machado and she started out in her career by posting videos of herself singing on YouTube. She released her debut single Meiga e Abusada ("Sweet and Sassy" in English) in summer 2012 and then signed with Warner Records. The single was re-released digitally in early 2013. Her self-titled debut album was released in June 2013. Anitta's stage name is inspired by a character from the Brazilian TV series Presença de Anita . To date she has released 5 studio albums- Anitta, 2014's Ritmo Perfeito (Portuguese for "Perfect Rhythm"), Bang (2015) and Kisses (2019). In addition she brought out the live album Meu Lugar (My Place) in 2014 and two EPs- Tá na Mira ( 2013) and Solo (2018). Some of her well known songs are Show das Poderosas, Na Batida, Bang, Make It Hot with Major Lazer and Fuego (Spanish for "Fire") with DJ Snake , Sean Paul and Tainy . She has collabo...