Star Sparkle Blog

I'm doing the Weekly Music Video post early this week because it's my birthday tomorrow! :)  Today's video is My Luv, the latest single by Australian singer RINI . It features German/American singer Bibi Bourelly , who I first came across when she did the song Talk To Me with Nick Brewer, back in 2015). My Luv is a smooth, sultry R'n'B love/sex song! This is the official lyric video and it was uploaded on 10th February.     RINI fan? Check out these posts: Music video for Pressure from his 2nd EP Ultraviolet (released in December): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/12/weekly-music-video_14.html Features Haunt Me, also from Ultraviolet:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/12/favourite-songs-of-2022.html   And follow Bibi here: https://www.instagram.com/bibibourelly/

Back in November I wrote a post about American singer Ashanti's career over the past 20 years. It ended up turning into a long post, so I split it up into two parts. Here's Part 1: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/11/ashanti-through-years-part-1.html And now here's Part 2.  Sorry it's taken longer than anticipated! :) The first post covers 2001 to 2005 and this post covers late 2005 to present (it's a longer time span because Ashanti hasn't released as much music in more recent years).   Still On It feat. Method Man and Paul Wall Still On It was the first single from the remix album Collectables by Ashanti, which came out in December 2005, and it actually ended up being the only single from that album. The main version features the rappers Method Man and Paul Wall , and there are also two remix versions, featuring rappers T.I. and Caddilac Tah (a fellow member of Ashanti's then record label, Murder Inc. ) Still On It samples the 1986 song Knowledge ...

Sorry the Weekly Music Video is late this week; I wasn't feeling well yesterday. :) This week's video is Blame it On Me by Singaporean singer Gen Neo . It was the first of his 3 all-English language singles to be released last year, followed by RELAPSE (my favourite) , In The Morning in August and September, and Like California (with Korean singer DeVita) this January. It marked a new direction for him after previously releasing mainly Chinese (Mandarin) and Korean music. Blame it on Me came out last July . It's a R'n'B song with a good rhythm.   Gen Neo fan? Check out these posts: Music video for Like California feat DeVita: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/01/weekly-music-video_18.html Features a live performance of RELAPSE (plus Collide by Justine Skye): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/02/live-performances-gen-neo-justine-skye.html

If you follow Star Sparkle Blog, you'll know that I'm a fan of Asian music. The types I feature most often are J-pop (Japanese music), K-pop (Korean) and C-pop (Chinese). I do also write about other genres, such as Vietnamese, Thai and Indonesian, so I thought it would be cool to focus on one of those for a change. (I'm also a fan of Bollywood but I tend to write separate posts about East/Southeast Asian music.) Today I'm sharing a round-up of previous Vietnamese (known as V-pop) posts on the blog, plus some new music. :)    Emily feat. LiL Knight (LK) and JustaTee- Xin Anh Dung: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2014/09/weekly-music-video.html In my 2017 Asian Music- K-pop, J-pop and Beyond, I featured the video for What Is Love? by Hồ Ngọc Ha:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2017/02/asian-music-k-pop-j-pop-and-beyond.html And in the follow-up Asian Music- Part 2 in 2019, I shared another song of Hồ Ngọc Ha's, Bức Thư Để Lại featuring rapper R Tee: https://...

Today's music video is Fénix by Angolan singer Pérola . It's her latest single and is from her latest album (I think her 3rd one) Sincera, which was released last November. Sincera (Portuguese for "Sincere") was her first album in 8 years.  Fénix is Portuguese language song and the title translates as "Phoenix" in English (the legendary bird from Greek mythology ). The video premiered on 7th February.   Visit this post to see the video for the title track from the album (released last summer), plus more music by Pérola : https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/07/weekly-music-video.html And listen to Sincera (the album) here: https://linktr.ee/perola.sincera   Want more African musicc?  Check out this post:   Afropop Round-up 2021-2022: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/10/afropop-round-up-2021-2022.html

Time for the first C-pop Saturday post of 2023! For those new to the blog, C-pop Saturday is a semi-regular series where I feature C-pop and other styles of Chinese music. I started it back in 2018 .   So here is another selection of Chinese music. :) WayV- Diamonds Only Diamonds Only, the latest single by WayV (the Chinese sub-unit of Korean boy band NCT) was a Weekly Music Video in December: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/12/weekly-music-video_28.html   Shi Shi feat. KIRE- [jagi] Here is [jagi] by Shi Shi and featuring KIRE . Shi Shi (real name Sun Sheng Xi) is a Taiwanese-Korean singer. * She has Taiwanese heritage and was born in South Korea. She got started in the music business after taking part in the Taiwanese reality singing competition Chinese Million Star in 2012. Shi Shi went on to release her debut album Girls in August 2014 and the 2nd singleoff  the album, Constant Temperature, is one of her most popular songs to date. Her other singles inclu...

This week's video (or audio) is Personal, the new single by Kenyan artists Bey T and Karun . Both rapper/singer Bey T and singer Karun have been involved with Nigeran singer Mr Eazi's emPawa Africa initative , Bey was a finalist in his artist accelerator programme and Karun was an emPawa100 Artist in 2019. I think this is the first time they've worked together. It's cool to see them team up! Personal is the first single from Bey T's upcoming EP PINK PM and was released on 13th January. There's only an audio for now, but I'll update this post if a music video comes out. :)   Bey T and/or Karun fan? Check out these links:  Music video for Bey T's 2019 single Wololo https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2019/06/weekly-music-video_26.html Video for Karun's 2020 Catch A Vibe: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2021/02/weekly-music-video_24.html Includes I Know by Karun (2021): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2021/04/current-favourite-songs.html    Plus, my...

Last year I shared a round-up of live performances previously featured on the blog (prior to March 2022). You can see that here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/03/live-performances-round-up.html I featured more live music later on last year, so thought I would continue to share it during 2023. Here are a couple of live performances from Gen Neo and Justine Skye . :)    Gen Neo- RELAPSE (live) Last August Singaporean singer Gen Neo uploaded a live session video of his single RELAPSE. The song is one of 3 English language singles released last year (he started his career with Korean and Mandarin Chinese music). RELAPSE was the second English single to come out, following Blame it On Me and preceding Till The Morning. RELAPSE is my fave of Gen's recent releases and it's cool to hear it live. This performance features Gen accompanied by Amos Ang on the guitar.   Visit my Favourite Songs of 2022 post to see the official music video for RELAPSE: https://starsparklex...

Today's video is SHOOTING STAR by Japanese girl group XG . It's their 3rd single, coming after last spring's debut Tippy Toes and Mascara, released back in summer 2022. Like their other singles, SHOOTING STAR is English language. It was released on 25th January as a digital single/CD box, which also features the track LEFT RIGHT.   Watch a live performance of LEFT RIGHT here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oj-9QqpQ4s Update 14/2/23: The official music video for LEFT RIGHT has just been uploaded: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6YVgEpRU6Q   For more on XG and to see the video for Tippy Toes, check out my recent Favourite Songs of 2022 post: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/12/favourite-songs-of-2022.html