Star Sparkle Blog

In February last year I did a V-pop round-up post featuring the Vietnamese posts previously shared on Star Sparkle, plus some new music. You can see that here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/02/v-pop-round-up.html So for 2024, so I thought I'd share some more Vietnamese music and dance that I've featured since then, as well as new videos (plus one video that's older). :)   Music  Music video for Ulala by Kim Kunni feat. T.R.I (released last July):  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/09/weekly-music-video_13.html   LONA feat. Ricky Star- Thich hay la yeu con chua biet This is Thich hay la yeu con chua biet by  Vietnamese singer LONA and featuring Ricky Star . LONA's real name is Nguyen Ha Kieu Loan (it's Vietnamese so her surname/family name is Nguyen) and her stage name is Lona Kieu Loan, or stylised as just LONA.  She started out in beauty pageants, becoming 1st runner-up of Miss World Vietnam in 2019 and also representing Vietnam at Mi...

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 YouTub...

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 y...

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...