Star Sparkle Blog

Today's video is fly on the wall (written in lower case) by British singer Tyler Lewis . She is from West London and comes from a mixed race/heritage background (Sri Lankan, Dutch, Portuguese and South African), which has influenced her music.  Tyler took her first steps into music aged 9, winning a school talent show with her version of Mariah Carey's Hero. She went on to appear on the reality TV show Little Mix: The Search in 2020, where British girl group Little Mix were looking for singers to form bands.  Tyler released her debut single downtime in February. Her music is a mix of pop and R'n'B. fly on the wall is Tyler's second single and was released in March. In the video she gives me Aaliyah (RIP) vibes. People have also commented that she sounds like JoJo .      There's also a lyric video (uploaded on 8th May): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc25tmQUSaQ   For more on Tyler visit these links:  Notion interview: https://notion.online/firsts-...

It's been a while since I've done a New Music Releases post. Apart from my posts about new music at the beginning of the year , the last one was in October . So today I'm sharing some new releases (from a variety of genres) for late spring. :)  Tyla, Gunna and Skillibeng- Jump South African singer Tyla just released her latest single Jump. She teamed up with American rapper Gunna and Jamaican DJ Skillibeng for the song, which came out on 20th May. The video was this week's Weekly Music Video: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2024/05/weekly-music-video_22.html BM feat. Jay Park- Nectar Korean American rapper BM (who is a member of K-pop mixed gender/co-ed group KARD ) recently released the solo single Nectar. It's from his 1st EP Element, which came out on 7th May. He has previously released several solo singles and 3 single albums- The FIRST STATEMENT (2021), STRANGERS (2022) and LOWKEY (2023).  Element is a 5 track Korean and English language EP  and BM's b...

This week's video is Jump by South African singer Tyla and featuring Gunna and Skillibeng . It's from her debut self-titled album which was released in March and includes the hit song Water. Jump is the 4th single from the album and is a dancehall song that also has amapiano and trap influences. Tyla has teamed up with American rapper Gunner and Jamaican DJ Skillibeng for the track. It's one of my favourite songs on TYLA. Jump came out on 14th May and the video was released on 20th May. In the video Tyla showcases South African culture, in particular the culture of Johannesburg.      Stream/buy TYLA here: https://tyla.lnk.to/tyla   Tyla fan? Check out these links: Audio and music video for Water, the 1st single from the album: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/09/weekly-music-video_20.html Features Truth or Dare (2nd single): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2024/01/favourite-songs-of-2023.html Video for ART (3rd single):  https://www.youtube.com/watch...

Back in 2021, I wrote a post called K-pop in Public- Boys' Edition!  It was similar to my general K-pop in Public (dance covers of Korean songs performed in public places) posts, but featuring all-male groups. You can see the post here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2021/05/k-pop-in-public-boys-edition.html I thought it would be cool to do another boys' edition today, also featuring a J-pop cover! :)  (KPOP IN PUBLIC CHALLENGE) Work Hard- Dance Cover by CALLVIXION INDONESIA Fist up is a dance cover of Work Hard by boy band DKB . The single came out in October 2020 and I really liked it at the time. The cover is performed by CALLVIXION (CALL TEAM DC). They are a dance cover group from Karawang, Indonesia.   Watch the music video for Work Hard here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_Rzu0t_LIc [KPOP IN PUBLIC CHALLENGE] JUNGKOOK '3D' Dance Cover- Call Team DC And here is another dance cover by CALL TEAM DC, this time of 3D, the popular solo single by BTS member Jung K...

This week's video is Espresso by Bulgarian Russian singer Kristian Kostov (who represented Bulgaria in the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest ). Espresso is Kris' latest single and came out on 30th April. This is an audio. I like the gently, poppy vibe of the song.   Kristian fan? Check out this post: Music video for Iris, his 2023 single with VOSTOK (plus links to more music): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/06/weekly-music-video_14.html   P.S. Speaking of Eurovision, Switzerland's Nemo won this year's contest with the song The Code . The UK got 46 points from the jury but zero points from the public. I don't think our song was that great but Olly tried, and I don't think any one deserves no points. The UK didn't actually come last (we came 18th out of 25), but people are acting like we did because of the public vote! It's just frustrating and I think people could be a bit kinder. Anyway, my favourite was Cyprus (I voted for them again, like in the ...

The Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest is tonight, so here's the second of my annual posts. You can see the first here: Countdown to Eurovision 2024!: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2024/05/countdown-to-eurovision-2024.html   I ended up watching both semi-finals this year. (Some years I've only watched one, so I didn't hear all the songs beforehand.) The UK could vote in the first one. Here are my favourites from this year. :)    Silia Kapsis- Liar (Cyprus) Cyprus' song Liar by Silia Kapsis was my favourite entry in the 1st semi-final and I voted for it. It got through to the final.  Silia (full name Vasiliki Silia Kapsis) is an Australian singer with Greek and Cypriot heritage. Her dad Giorgis Kapsis is also a singer.  She is one of this year's youngest competitors at 17.  Silia has been lead singer for the Australian Youth Performing Arts Company (AYPAC) and also performed at other events worldwide. She released her debut single Who Am I? in 2...

Today's music video is YOU by American singer SiR . It's his latest single and is from his 4th studio album HEAVY, which was released in March. Other singles from the album include KARMA with rapper Isaiah Rashad and IGNORANT with singer Ty Dolla $ign . YOU is a chilled R'n'B song with a good vibe for the upcoming summer! :) It was released on 22nd March, the same day as the album.   I also really like ONLY HUMAN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLopmDrrAgo   Stream/buy HEAVY here:  https://orcd.co/heavyalbumsir Or listen/watch on YouTube:  HEAVY playlist   Want more SiR? Check out these posts:    Music video for Nothing Even Matters (2022): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/10/weekly-music-video.html Chilled R'n'B Songs (includes Work Hard Play Hard, his 2023 single with D Smoke): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/08/chilled-rnb-songs.html

It's Eurovision season once again! I thought it was earlier this year but the final will be on Saturday 11th May which is around the same time as last year (it was 13th May in 2023)! The 68th Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Malmo, Sweden , since last year's winner was Loreen with Tattoo. It was actually the second time that Loreen had won, having previously come top with Euphoria back in 2012! The UK's entry this year is Olly Alexander (from Years and Years ) with Dizzy . I normally write two Eurovision posts, although for the past couple of years, I also did two "mini countdown" posts during April. Here are my posts from last year: Eurovision Round-up 2 (includes the countdown posts):  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/05/eurovision-round-up-2.html Eurovision 2023 Favourites: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/05/eurovision-2023-favourites.html   I thought for something different I would share the music videos for some of my favourite entries ov...

Today's music video is Distorted by Filipino girl group 4th Impact (also stylised as 4TH IMPACT). It was the sisters' debut US single and their first solo independent release since moving to America. It came out last autumn and the follow-up, balled All At Once, was released a month later. Both singles appear on 4th Impact's self-titled debut album/EP which was released in January. Distorted is a pop/R'n'B English language single, inspired by 00s music. The song is about the heartbreak of being cheated on by the person you'd hoped to marry and the music video was directed by 4th Impact themselves.  Distorted was released last October.   Stream/buy 4TH IMPACT here: https://4thimpact.lnk.to/self-titledEP   4th Impact fan? Check out these links:  My post Asian Groups- Filipina Girl Group: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/05/asian-groups-filipina-girl-group.html Music video for the follow-up single All At Once (released last November): https://www.youtube.co...