Star Sparkle Blog

It's Hallowe'en in a couple of days (Sunday 31st October) so time for my annual post! Last year I did my 2nd Hallowe'en Round-up post. You can see both that and my first one from 2016 below:  Hallowe'en Faves + Round-up: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2016/10/halloween-faves-round-up.html Hallowe'en Round-up 2:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2020/10/halloween-round-up-2.html   This year I'm sharing some spooky music videos! :)  Shakedown- At Night Back on Hallowe'en 2012 (9 years ago now!!) I featured At Night by Swiss dance duo Shakedown as a Weekly Music video. The single was released in 2002. Watch it here https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2012/10/weekly-music-video_31.html   Red Velvet- RBB Next here is RBB (Really Bad Boy) by Korean girl group Red Velvet. This was a Weekly Music Video the day before Hallowe'en 2019: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2019/10/weekly-music-video_30.html     Nadiyon Paar (Let the Music Play/Play Again) from Roo

This week's video is Em Đi Đâu by Vietnamese music producer and singer Machiot. His real name is Đỗ Minh Nghĩa (I think that Nghia is his first name, since Asian names are usually written with the surname/family name first). He started out in producing and then moved into being a vocalist, releasing EP Có Những Lúc ("There Are Times" in English, I think) in 2020. Em Đi Đâu is from Có Những Lúc and it was released in February last year. The song title translates in English as "Where Are You Going" (at least according to Google Translate!). I hope that this info is right, since I translated most of it from Vietnamese (using online translators)! :) Check out the video for Machiot's latest release Cô Đơn Vắt Vai here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAeeWt9lrKQ And you can listen to the EP here (Vietnamese language article):  https://billboardvn.vn/producer-machiot-chuyen-huong-lam-ca-si-phat-hanh-ep-dau-tay-co-nhung-luc/ Follow Machiot at these links: Offic

Last month Jennifer Lopez (one of my favourite singers) took part in Global Citizen Live. It was a 24-hour music event that took place on 25th and 26th September, with the purpose of uniting the world to tackle climate change, eradicate poverty and provide vaccines to people who don't have access to them. Artists from around the world performed live. You can read more here: https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/live/ Jennifer performed several songs, including If You Had My Love, Jenny from the Block,  All I Have with LL Cool J , I'm Real and Ain't it Funny with Ja Rule . Some of those songs were a real blast from the past, especially All I Have and I'm Real which feature my two favourite rappers! :) I didn't catch all of the performances at the time but the videos are on YouTube. Check out my faves below. If You Had My Love, Love Don't Cost a Thing, I'm Glad Medley First up is a medley of Jennifer's 1999 debut single If You Had My Love (my fave J.Lo song) wh

This week's video is Getting Late by Tyla and featuring Kooldrink . Tyla Seethal is a 19-year-old South African model and singer who is coloured (South African mixed race) and has Mauritian, Indian, Zulu and Irish heritage . She started out in music by posting videos of herself singing on Instagram and then made her music debut with the single Getting Late. Her latest release is the song Overdue with DJ Lag and Kooldrink.  In addition to singing and modelling Tyla writes, paints, acts and dances. She has a big following on TikTok . Getting Late was released last year but the video came this January and went viral on YouTube. I actually only just saw it the other day on an African music programme on MTV Base. Tyla reminded me of Ariana Grande and I see she's been called the "South African Ariana"!  Tyla collaborated with producer Kooldrink on the song, which she describes as "fusion music". It's a mixture of pop, R'n'B and the South African gen

Today I'm sharing a selection of Japanese and Korean videos! As with my 2020 J-pop videos post and this year's J-pop and K-pop post ,  I've titled it "New(ish) since there are a couple of songs that are older. :) G-EGG B team- Santa Monica (Japanese version) First up is Santa Monic by G-EGG . They are a Japanese/Korean boy group project. I came across this video a while ago and the group has just debuted in Korea, so they've now released a Korean version too.  G-EGG is short for Global Egg and was created by Jung Yoonhak , the leader of K-pop boyband SUPERNOVA .  They were put together with the intention of forming a final group and took part in the survival TV programme G-EGG. The final group is called NIK and consists of the top 11 members. There were 4 G-EGG teams- A, B, C and D. I won't list all the members but just the ones from the B team, since Santa Monica is their song. :)  B team was made up of 5 members (including a few who made it into NIK)- Gunmi

Today's video is In The Dark by Swae Lee and featuring Jhené Aiko . Swae (real name Khalif Malik Ibn Shaman Brown) is one half of American hip duo Rae Sremmurd , along with his older brother Slim Jxmmi (Aaquil Iben Shamon Brown). The group name is "Ear Drummers" backwards (I never even noticed that!). They are probably best known for their 2016 hit single Black Beatles.   Swae has also branched out on his own, releasing solo music and collaborating with others, including rappers French Montana on Unforgettable and Post Malone with Sunflower from the 2018 Spider Man movie Into the Spider-Verse (also songs I like, especially Sunflower!). He released his debut solo album Swaecation in May 2018, as part of a triple album set. The rest of the set contains Rae Sremmurd's 3rd album SR3MM and Slim Jxmmi's Jxmtro.   Swae's 2nd album Human Nature has been expected to be released this year, although there's been  no update lately. His latest single is Ball Is Life

American singer Alina Baraz recently released a new EP. It's called Sunbeam and came out on 23rd September. I only actually found out about it the other week and was pleased to see she had new music out! :) Sunbeam (Alina's 4th EP) contains 4 tracks- If You Let Me, Between Us, Alone With You and I Could Imagine. Alone With You was released as a single in July. Since its full title is Sunbeam, part 1, I presume there is another instalment to come!   The EP is Alina's usual chilled R'n'B style, so if you like that, you'll enjoy the new songs. :) I bought Alone With You on iTunes when it came out and my other favourites are If You Let Me and I Could Imagine. I do like Between Us as well.  Here are the official lyric videos. They add to the overall feelings (vibes) of the songs.    If You Let Me  If You Let Me is about being the person someone else can confide in when they're struggling, if they're willing let you in. I love the "dreamy" vibe of t

This week's video is in my toes (title written in lower case) by Australian singer Kimberly Chen . It's a romantic R'n'B slow jam and was recorded during the start of the pandemic. It's on the 2021 mini album WFH (short for Work From Home, I presume). I hope the info is right, I used Google Translate to translate it from Chinese! :)  While Taiwan based Kimberly often sings in Chinese (Mandarin), in my toes is an English language song. This is the official audio and was uploaded in June. Please note that the song contains swearing. :) Kimberly just released a new Chinese song last month, no biggie featuring Abin/Ng KiPin from the Taiwanese indie rock band EggplantEgg . Watch the music video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCxqnUWOq9s

Two singers I like are releasing new music this month, so today I'm sharing music from Pia Mia and JoJo . :)  Please note that a couple of the songs contain explicit lyrics. :) Pia Mia First up is Guam born, LA based singer Pia Mia (full name Pia Mia Perez). Her new EP (her 3rd) My Side was released yesterday.  I didn't know it was coming out, so it was a nice surprise! Pia's last release was The Gift EP back in December 2017. The EP was released on Pia's own label Cherry Pie Records and contains 5 tracks- My Side, Only One, Active, 730 and Remember Me and is chilled R'n'B.  Read more about My Side here:  https://www.pmstudio.com/music/music.html?page=20210926-14968   730 Pia released the audio for 730 on 10th September. I featured it as a Weekly Music Video: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2021/09/weekly-music.html   My Side This is the title track, a slow, reflective song about a relationship going wrong, due to your partner not listening to your side of t