Star Sparkle Blog

This week's video is Precious by Kenyan singer Xenia Manasseh . It's from her debut album LOVE / HATE Pt. 1 which came out last September and I think it's the 4th single to be released. The first single was Lowkey, which came out back in December 2020. The single prior to Precious was Anticipate featuring fellow Kenyan singer Karun , released in July 2023. Precious is an English language R'n'B song, which is about acknowledging your self-worth when it comes to relationships. It was released in December. I especially like the music. :)   For more songs from the album, visit these links:  Music video for Lowkey, the 1st single: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2021/03/weekly-music-video_17.html Anticipate feat. Karun (2nd single): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZ6RIFze7xc Love Hate (title track and 3rd single):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBaIjlfz9EM   And stream/buy LOVE / HATE Pt. 1 here:  https://orcd.co/lovehate1    Or listen/watch on YouTube: https://www

Occasionally I write a post about my current favourite songs. I've done it about once a year since 2019 but I actually didn't write one last year (although I did share my favourite songs from 2023 overall in January). So I'm picking it up again in 2024! You can see my previous posts at the links below: June 2019: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2019/06/current-favourite-songs.html May 2020: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2020/05/current-favourite-songs.html April 2021:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2021/04/current-favourite-songs.html Feb 2022: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/02/current-favourite-songs.html I still have most of the songs featured in my first post on my iPod! And these are my current favourites. :)  Gen Neo- Same Mistakes Singaporean singer Gen Neo released the single Same Mistakes last December but I first heard it in January. I wrote in my New Music for 2024 post that it was one of my current favourite songs and I still really like it no

Today's music video is Favorite Girl by Canadian singer Chxrry22. Her real name is Lydia, she has Ethiopian heritage and she's from Toronto. Her stage name is pronounced "Cherry22". Chxrry22 comes from a musical background, with both her parents being in a choir. She started out by singing at local weddings and events, as well posting covers online. Around 2017 she moved to Atlanta, Georgia in the US to advance her career and ended up signing to record label XO Records (which was co-founded by fellow Canadian The Weeknd ). She was the label's first female artist. Chxrry released her debut EP The Other Side in September 2022. Her music is R'n'B and her singles include The Falls, Worlds Away, More and Never Had This. Last October she brought out her 2nd EP Siren. I came across Chxrry randomly (on Spotify, I think) and look forward to hearing more of her music! :) Favorite Girl is a sultry R'n'B song. It's from Siren and the EP version features Am

Sorry the 2nd post is later this week, I didn't manage to get it finished yesterday. :)   In the past I've written several posts about true movies (films based on true stories) on the blog. My last one was about two years ago, a round-up of all the previous true movie posts. You can see it here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/03/true-movies-round-up.html   The majority of the films I've seen were made in the 90s or early 00s but I have watched some newer ones as well. So today I'm featuring some more recent true movies (made in the past decade or so).   Trigger warning: Most of the films are based on crimes (often murder or abuse) and I realise these are difficult subjects, so read with caution if you're sensitive to these types of films, or feel you may be triggered.  These are all Lifetime movies. Post contains some spoilers and the videos are trailers.   I've previously written about a couple of  newer true movies in my other posts, which you ca

Today's video is Scarred for Tryin. by Singaporean singer Gen Neo . It's his latest single and the most recent of his English language songs, the previous one being Unless We Try with HyperInk .  Scarred For Tryin. is a pensive slow R'n'B song about being scared to move forward in a relationship, due to past hurt. It was released on 29th March.     Gen Neo fan? Check out these posts:  New Music Releases (from June last year; includes Called it Love): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/06/new-music-releases.html Favourite Songs of 2023 (features Losing Game):  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2024/01/favourite-songs-of-2023.html New Music for 2024 (includes Unless We Try with HyperInk):  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2024/01/new-music-for-2024.html

Time for another instalment in my Asian Groups series (sharing music by girl groups and boy bands from Asia)! I've mainly featured Southeast Asian groups so far, but today I'm going to share music from a South Asian group for the first time! :) They are an Indian girl group called W.iS.H. Note: In the UK "Asian" refers to South Asians (Indian, Pakistani etc.) as well as East and Southeast Asians, and British Asian often refers to them specifically.    W.i.S.H In my last Asian Groups post a couple of months ago,  I mentioned that I would like to feature South Asian groups in the future but didn't know if there were many. Not long after writing that, I came across W.i.S.H, so here we are! Wi.SH are India's first girl group in 22 years , the last one being Viva . Although India is known for Bollywood and the South Indian film industries , Indian pop music isn't that well known globally. I'm a long term Bollywood fan, so mainly listen to music from the f

This week's video is Surrender by American singer  Jhené Aiko and featuring Dr. Chill. It's from her 3rd album Chilombo, which was released back in March 2020 (with a deluxe version following that July). It was her last studio album, although she has released singles and Sleep Soul  (a series of R'n'B sleep music for babies) more recently.  Previous singles from the album include Triggered (Freestyle), P*$$Y FAIRY (OTW) and Happiness Over Everything (H.O.E) featuring rapper Future and singer Miguel . Surrender is one of my favourite songs from Chilombo (along with P*ssy Fairy) and has remained on my iPod! I featured it in my More Chillout Songs post in 2021. It's a chilled R'n'B song with "otherworldly" vibes. Dr. Chill is actually Jhené's dad Karamo Chilombo! His spoken word part makes you think about the universe and life. :) The video was uploaded on 7th March. I think it's cool to see one after almost 4 years, to have a visual to go

It's been ages since I've done a post solely about J-pop (not since last summer !). So today I'm featuring a selection of Japanese music and dance. As with other J-pop posts, some videos are new and others a bit older, so it's new(ish).  :)  [DANCE IN PUBLIC ONE TAKE] MISAMO Do no touch dance cover- Mermaids Taiwan First up, some J-pop in Public ! This is a dance cover of Do not touch by MISAMO , the first sub-unit of  K-pop girl group TWICE . The unit is made up of the band's 3 Japanese members, Momo, Sana and Mina, so they have released music in Japanese. Do not touch came out last July as the lead single from MISAMO's debut Japanese EP Masterpiece. The dance cover is performed by Mermaids Taiwan and features Ling as Mina, Yiwei as Sana and Anta as Momo. The video was uploaded in October.     Visit my last New(ish) J-pop Videos posts to see the music video for Do not touch (scroll down): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/08/new-j-pop-videos.html   And fo

Today's video is How Your Hands Feel by American singer Ryan Destiny (full name Ryan Destiny Irons). She's also an actress and comes from a famous family, since her dad Deron Irons was in 90s R'n'B duo Guesss (along with Darryl Gerdine). Ryan started out in showbiz young, forming a musical trio called New Limit aged 12. The group (who were managed  by Ryan's mum Dawn) auditioned for America's Got Talent in 2010. Despite getting through to the finals, they decided it wasn't right for them. Ryan went on to be part of the short lived group Love Dollhouse . They released one single Can I, before disbanding in 2015. She then launched a solo career, releasing her debut single The Same in 2018. There's also a remix featuring Nigerian American rapper Tobi Lou . To date, Ryan has released 4 more singles- Do You (2020), How Many (2023), Lie Like That (2023) and How Your Hands Feel. She has yet to bring out an EP or album. Ryan's acting credits include the le

Last year I started a series on the blog called Asian Groups , sharing music from boy bands and girl groups from Asian countries. I've also written more posts about Asian groups . Today's post is a slight twist on that, featuring two Asian/Pacific  groups- Australian girl group H3RIZON and Hawaiian boy band CROSSING RAIN.  Note: I've titled this post Asian/Pacific Groups because one group has members with Asian (Filipino) heritage) and is from Australia, and the other is Hawaiian. Also there are many Asians in Hawaii. :) H3RIZON H3RIZON are the first Australian girl group to be signed to Epic Records (as part of a joint venture with RZ3 Recordings ) and the first Asian-Pacific girl group to be signed to an American record label in general. They are a trio, made up of Bernie (full name Bernadette Marquez), Gabby (Gabrielle Montalbo) and Tiara/Taya (Taylah Albert).  The girls are all from Sydney and met backstage at local shows by Filipino artists, officially forming their

This week's video is AL SHAM by Palestinian-Chilean singer Elyanna . It's her latest single and is a tribute to her Levantine heritage. Elyanna describes it as an ode to the late singers Sabah Fakhri (Syrian) and Cheika Rimitti (Algerian rai singer). Al Sham is an Arabic language song (with a couple of English lines) which is influenced by Dabke (an Arabic folk dance) and rai (Algerian music). It also has modern electronic elements. The video was directed by Elyanna's brother Fairdose and came out in January. See the description box on YouTube for an English translation of the lyrics. :)   Want more Arabic music?   Check out these posts : Turkish and Arabic Songs:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2017/09/turkish-and-arabic-songs.html Elyanna's 2020 single Ana Lahale feat. Massari: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2020/12/weekly-music-video.html NEJ'- Inta Habibi (Arabic/French):  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/05/weekly-music-video_17.html   P.S. T

Sorry the 2nd post is later this week, I wasn't feeling well the past couple of days. :) Last summer I wrote a post called Timbaland Link-up, featuring collaborations that American producer and rapper Timbaland had done with other artists. I ended up splitting it into two parts because it was quite long. You can see Part 1 here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/07/timbaland-link-up-part-1.html I wrote several posts that ended up being two-parters last year, so now I'm catching up! lol. Here is Part 2 of the Timbaland link-up. :)  The Way I Are feat. Keri Hilson, D.O.E and Sebastian In June 2007 Timbaland released The Way I Are, the 2nd single from his 1st studio album Shock Value, which came out in April 2007. It features American singer Keri Hilson and is also on international editions of her debut album In a Perfect World (2009). Timbland and Keri co-wrote the song. The Way I Are is one of Timbaland's biggest hits to date, reaching Top 5 in the US charts and No. 1

Today's video is Run Back To You by Chinese rapper/singer LAY and American singer Lauv . Lay (real name Lay Zhang) is a member of Korean/Chinese boy band EXO and its Chinese sub-unit EXO-M.  LAY made his solo debut on 7th October 2016, releasing his debut single what U need? It was a surprise gift for fans to celebrate his birthday. Later that month he brought out his debut EP Lose Control (Mandarin Chinese language). In October 2017, he released his debut solo album LAY 02 SHEEP, also on his birthday. To date LAY has released 3 more albums- Namanana (2018), Lit (2020) and Producer (2021), and 4 more EPs- Winter Special Gift (a special winter album from 2017), Honey (2019), East (2021) and West (2022). His singles include  what U need, Lose Control, I Need U (dedicated to his grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary), Sheep, Namanana, Lit, Joker and Veil. He sings and raps in Chinese, Korean and English. In addition to releasing music, LAY also acts. His TV shows and films inc

Last year I had an idea to do some posts featuring R'n'B songs from the 1990s and 2000s. It was inspired by the Timbaland-Link-up Part 1 post which I wrote last summer. So I thought I'd share some music from the late 90s and early 00s. I was a teenager during that time and it feels nostalgic to me! I'm featuring a  few songs today and plan to do more another time. :) Dru Hill- How Deep Is Your Love American R'n'B group Dru Hill was founded in 1992 and they are still active today. Some of their hits include In My Bed, How Deep Is Your Love.  How Deep Is Your Love is my favourite song of theirs. It was the first single from their second album Enter the Dru and was released in September 1998. One of their most popular hits, it was also on the soundtrack to the 1998 film Rush Hour. There is also a single version with Redman.  I featured the video as a Weekly Music Video back in 2012 (!): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2012/11/weekly-music-video_28.html   Another