Star Sparkle Blog

Halloween (or Hallowe'en, the alternative spelling which I like) is almost here, so it's time for my yearly post! This year it's on Tuesday (31st October). I'm a big fan of Hallowe'en and also celebrate the pagan festival Samhain on that date. Last year I wrote a post called Selection of Hallowe'en Treats! You can read that here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/10/selection-of-halloween-treats.html This year I'm doing a similar selection of "treats" (past posts and videos related to scary subjects)! These are listed by genre rather than subject. :)   Films/Music Bollywood Horror Back in 2018 I wrote a post called Bollywood Horror, featuring some Bollywood horror films. You can see that here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2018/10/bollywood-horror.html I haven't done a post solely about Bollywood horror since then (maybe in future!). I have written about a few other films in recent years though, so I'm sharing them below.    Raaz ...

This week's video is Hum Aaye Hain from the new Bollywood film Ganapath: Hero is Born . The movie is set in the dystopian future of 2070, where Guddu (played by Tiger Shroff , son of veteran actor Jackie Shroff ), transforms into the immortal hero Ganapath to change the fate of the poor in a divided world. It also stars Kriti Sanon and Amitabh Bachchan (another veteran actor). Ganapath came out on 20th October, prior to the Hindi festival Dussehra (also known as Vijayadashami), which falls on the 10th day of Navaratri and was on 24th Oct this year. It was released in multiple languages- Hindi (Bollywood), Telugu , Tamil , Malayalam and Kannada . I haven't seen it but it's not done well at the box office, which is a shame. Hopefully the songs are having more success! :) If you are interested in watching it though, it's currently showing at the Odeon in the UK. The video for Hum Aaye Hain was uploaded on 5th October. It features Tiger and Kriti who plays the character...

I last did a New Music Releases post in June , when summer was starting. We're now in autumn (or spring depending where you live), so here is some new music (in a variety of genres) for a new season! :)    NCT 127- Fact Check First up is Fact Check by NCT 127 , the 2nd unit of Korean boy band NCT . The other units are NCT U , NCT DREAM , WayV (Chinese), NCT DOJAEJUNG and their newest, NCT NEW TEAM (see below). Fact Check is the lead single from their 5th studio album of the same name. Both single and album were released on 6th October. Click "Subtitles/closed Captions" on the video on YouTube for English subtitles! :)    NCT NEW TEAM (now NCT WISH)- Hands Up Update 25/2/24: The group's official name is now NCT WISH. I've updated links in this section. Next up is more NCT! NCT New Team (working title) is the 6th and newest sub-unit from Korean boy band NCT (see above) and the first Japanese unit. Last summer I mentioned in my Asian Boy Bands- Part 2 post tha...

Today's video is Caliber by American singer Coco Jones . It was the lead single from her major label debut EP What I Didn't Tell You (which came out last November, with a deluxe edition released this January). Caliber was released back in June 2022, but I didn't hear it until recently when I was listening to What I Didn't Tell You on Spotify. It's a smooth R'n'B song with chilled vibes. :)    Coco fan? Check out these posts:  Music video for her recent single Double Back (released in May): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/05/weekly-music-video_24.html Features a live performance of Crazy For You, my favourite song from What I Didn't Tell You (scroll down):  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/06/new-music-releases.html Spend the Night, her new single with BJ The Chicago Kid:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUlhjFdarpU

I've only done a couple of general dance video posts this year (where I featured more than one style of dance), so I thought I'd do another one today. In this post I'm sharing R'n'B, African and belly dance videos, as well as a brand new XG dance cover! :) Victoria Monet | On My Mama- Lyrik London Choreography First up is a choreo to On My Mama, the latest single by American singer Victoria Monet , which was released in June. It's performed by the dance group Haus Of London and posted on the channel of Lyrik London, an American entertainer and creative from Atlanta, Georgia. The video was uploaded in July. Watch the official music video for On My Mama here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdJ-Qwu3y4Y   And for more on Lyrik London visit these links:  Official site:  https://www.lyriklondon.com/ YouTube channel:   https://www.youtube.com/@LyrikLondon/   5 VIRAL AMAPIANO DANCE MOVES- Dance Tutorial by Presh Okosi Next is up is some African dance! This is a dance ...

This week's video is When The Rain Comes by British girl group Sugababes . They were popular from the early 00s to the 2010s, but went through several line-up changes over the years.  The group made their debut in 2000 with the single Overload and their first studio album One Touch, and went on to release 6 more albums throughout their various incarnations, before the original members reformed to release another album. Sugababes started out with Keisha Buchanan, Mutya Buena and Siobhan Donaghy. Siobhan left in 2001 and was replaced by Heidi Range. One of the most successful time periods for the band was between 2001 and 2007, which saw their singles Freak Like Me, Round Round, Hole in the Head and Push the Button get to No. 1 in the UK Top 40 singles chart. Their 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th albums Angels with Dirty Faces, Three, Taller In More Ways and Change also did very well. Mutya left the group at the end of 2006 and her replacement was Amelle Berrabah. Sugababes re-recorded their 3...

Japanese girl group XG have released their 1st mini album. It's called NEW DNA and was released on 27th September. XG (whose name is short for Xtraordinary Girls) made their debut in March last year and have brought out 7 singles so far- Tippy Toes, MASCARA, LEFT RIGHT/SHOOTING STAR double single), GVRL GANG , TGIF, NEW DANCE and PUPPET SHOW. The first 3 songs (or 4 including the double single) aren't on the mini album. The concept behind NEW DNA is that of being a "new species" free from conventions and limitations .  Although the group is Japanese, their creation was inspired by Korean music and they are based in South Korea. They have released songs in English so far and have been described as a global group and "X-pop". NEW DNA consists of 6 tracks- HESONO, X-GENE, GVRL GANG, TGIF, NEW DANCE and PUPPET SHOW. It is an R'n'B/pop mini album with influences from other genres, such as K-pop, dance and hip hop. My favourite song is PUPPET SHOW. I al...

Today's music video is Je t'haine by French singer NEJ' . It's a song from her new album ATHENA (5th studio release which is due out in 2 days (6th October). Je t'haine is a French R'n'B song. The title translates as "I hate you" in English. This is the official lyric video and it was uploaded on 24th September. I can't find an English translation of the lyrics but if one appears in future, I'll update this post. :)     Listen to Ma muse, another song from the new album, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAegYYSkA1c   And watch a promotional video for ATHENA here (contains violent scenes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMzkK-7vdqw   Want more French music? Check out these posts: Video for Nej''s recent single Inta Habibi (French/Arabic language):  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/05/weekly-music-video_17.html Anggun- Face au vent (2017):  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2018/03/weekly-music-video_41.html Nabila-  Ça Ira...