Star Sparkle Blog

Today's video is Shallow Water by Indonesian singer Afgan . It's his latest single and was released on 2nd February. Shallow Water is a ballad in Afgan's signature R'n'B style, where he sings about being held back by old wounds when it comes to being in a relationship. It's the first single from his upcoming English album Sonder and was released on the American record label EMPIRE .      Afgan fan? Check out these posts: My Asian Music Round-up post features the music video for M.I.A, Afgan's song with Jackson Wang, plus more Asian music: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2021/03/asian-music-round-up.html if i don't have your love (2021): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2021/04/weekly-music-video_28.html  

Today's post is a slight twist on my usual dance videos! As well as sharing dance covers by cover dance groups ( K-pop in Public , J-pop in Public etc.), I'm also featuring performance videos from the artists themselves. :)    XG- HESONOO & X-GENE (Performance Video) First up is a performance video for the songs HESONOO and X-GENE by Japanese girl group XG . They are the first two tracks from the girls' debut mini album NEW DNA which was released last September. I mentioned in my review post of the mini album that I liked X-GENE but it was unlikely to be a single, since it's only 1.25 minutes long. So it's nice to see it showcased here. :) The video is nearly 2 and a half minutes long and starts with XG dancing to HESONOO (which is only 53 seconds), before going into X-GENE. It was uploaded in November.      [DANCE COVER IN PUBLIC | SAN FRANCISCO] XG "PUPPET SHOW" Dance Cover- GROOBEU (GROO브) And now for an XG dance cover! This is a cover of PUPPET

This week's video is Put It Down by Adanna Duru and Mannywellz . Adanna is Nigerian American and Mannywellz (real name Emmanuel Ajomale) is originally from Nigeria and moved to America with his mum and siblings when he was 9.  Mannywellz comes from a musical family, since his dad is the Nigerian gospel singer Kunle Ajomale and his siblings and cousin are also into music. He released his debut EP WellZ in 2014, followed by SoulFro in 2018. In 2020 he brought out the album Mirage. Mannywellz's music is a mix of R'n'B, hip hop and West African. His singles include Love & Loyalty with American rapper Wale , (who also has Nigerian heritage) Floating with Nigerian-American sister duo VanJess (now disbanded) and Di Do/No Closure. To date he has released 3 more EPs- META (2019), Don't Tell and Mr Oúlala (both 2023). Adanna just released her 2nd EP NAPPY HOUR II on 9th February. For more on her visit this post: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/03/new-music-releas

Last year I started a series called Asian Groups, sharing music from Asian boy bands and girl groups. It's a "semi-regular" series (my last post was in September), similar to C-pop Saturday ! I intended to feature both East and Southeast Asian groups, but it's mainly been Southeast Asian so far. I've covered J-pop , K-pop and C-pop quite a lot on the blog already, so the aim is to feature groups from other countries. (I tend to write about Indian music/Bollywood separately but I may feature a South Asian groups in future. (I'm not sure if there are that many though. Let me know if you have a favourite South Asian group!) :) Update 7/3/24: I've just come across a brand-new Indian girl group called WiSH, so will definitely do a feature on them in future! :) I'm planning to carry on this series in 2024. Today I'm featuring Filipino boy band 1st.One and Thai girl group RedSpin. 1ST.ONE 1st.One (also written as 1ST ONE or First.One) is a boy band f

This week's video is Saved Me by New Zealand singer Janine . It's a chilled song with Janine's trademark, relaxed vibe, where she sings about a special person in her life.  Saved Me was released last September. This is the official lyric video.       Want more Janine? Check out these posts: Features songs from her 2018 album 99: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2019/06/current-favourite-songs.html Lyric video for Best Thing (2020): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2020/09/weekly-music-video_9.html Lyric video for If I Call (2023):  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/03/weekly-music-video.html

A few weeks ago I wrote a post sharing some new music for 2024. You can see that here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2024/01/new-music-for-2024.html Today I'm sharing some more new releases, from a variety of genres. :)    Jennifer Lopez feat. Latto- Can't Get Enough Remix Last month Jennifer Lopez (one of my favourite singers) released the single Can't Get Enough. It's from her new album This Is Me...Now, which is due out on 16th February. I featured the music video in my first new music post . J.Lo now has a remix for Can't Get Enough, which features American rapper Latto . I like this version slightly more. I find that does happen with remixes sometimes. Some of Jennifer's remixes. I've liked more than the original, such as the I'm Real Murder Remix with Ja Rule and Im Gonna Be Alright (Track Masters Remix) with Nas . The Can't Get Enough remix video premiered on 29th January. Plus, there is another remix of Can't Get Enough by Bruno Marti

Today's video (or audio) is OBVIOUS by Keynan rapper and singer Bey T . It's from her debut EP PINK PM, which was released last September. The first single was Personal, with fellow Kenyan singer Karun , which was released in January 2023. Obvious is  an English language song that blends R'n'B, pop and soul. It's about resilience, perseverance and self-discovery. It came out last May but I first heard it towards the end of last year, I think. This is the official music audio.   Visit this post to hear Personal: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/02/weekly-music-video_8.html   And listen to PINK PM at these links:  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/7Mwbp0ArZhIjOpRdzrGyb8 YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDuxfjnSZig&list=OLAK5uy_nB2vRqSot-Gjs7ESMuChJDhQp19gmr8dM   Want more African music? Check out these posts: Afropop Round-up 2022-2023:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/11/afropop-round-up-2022-2023.html Ninho feat. Ayra Starr- N

Time for the first C-pop Saturday post of the year! If you're new to the blog, C-pop Saturday is a semi-regular series that I started in 2018 , featuring Chinese music (pop and sometimes other genres).  Today I'm featuring a mix of songs- pop, R'n'B and some African inspired music! :) WayV- Poppin' Love First up is Poppin' Love by WayV ,  the Chinese sub-unit of the Korean boy band NCT . It's from their 2nd studio album On My Youth, which was released in November. The title track came out on 1st November 2023, the same day as the album. Poppin' Love is a pop/R'n'B song sung in Chinese (I think Mandarin). I'm not sure if it was an official single but the video was uploaded in October. I think the video follows on from the one for No One But You + INVINCIBLE, which you can watch here if you want to see it first: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuIV0bWMEy8 Poppin' Love is listed as a "Track Video", so maybe it's not an actual