Star Sparkle Blog

It's been ages since I've shared some Turkish music (apart from Weekly Music Videos, my last Turkish music post was back in 2019!), so today I'm featuring some. :) You can see my last Turkish music post here:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2019/03/turkish-music_30.html     First of all, here are a few posts featured on the blog since 2019: Otilia- Deli Gibi (Otlilia is Romanian but it's a Turkish language song): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2021/04/weekly-music-video.html Eurovision Countdown- Past Contestant Hadise (update on Turkey's 2009 Eurovision contestant): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/04/eurovision-countdown-past-contestant.html Murda feat. Hadise- Imdat: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/09/weekly-music-video_21.html   Now here is some music I haven't previously shared! :)     Hadise-  Fırtınam This is  Fırtınam, the most recent single by Turkish Belgian singer Hadise (my favourite Turkish singer!), who was Tu...

This week's video is Woman To Woman by Nigerian singer Simi . It's her most recent single and came out in March. Woman To Woman is the 4th single from Simi's 5th studio album Lost and Found, which was released in July last year, through her independent record label Studio Brat . It's an Afrobeats, R'n'B and soul album.  Woman To Woman follows previous singles All I Want, Men are Crazy and Borrow Me Your Baby. It's all about celebrating women and I think the lyrics are a mixture of English, a Nigerian language and Pidgin . This is the original music video and there's also a viral video (see below).      And here is the viral video (also released in March):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APUjYM7PiTI   Want more Simi? Check out this post: Music video for her 2020 single THERE FOR YOU feat. Ms Banks (plus links to more music): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2021/01/weekly-music-video_20.html

Sorry the 2nd post is later this week; I didn't manage to get it finished yesterday. :) I've previously written several posts about the solo careers of band members, ( Fifth Harmony and BTS ). Today I'm focusing on the members of Korean girl group BLACKPINK . :)   BLACKPINK are one of the most internationally successful Korean girl groups (and groups in general, along with the likes of BTS), and were branded "the biggest pop band in the world" in 2020.  The group consists of 4 members-  4 members- JISOO (full name Kim Jisoo, or Jisoo Kim in Western terms), JENNIE (Kim Jennie),  ROSÉ  (real name Roseanne Park/Park Chae-young) and LISA (born Pranpriya Manoban but she has legally changed her first name to Lalisa). Despite JISOO and JENNIE having the same surname/family name (Kim), they aren't related (at least not recently)!  Random fact: Kim is one of the most common family names in South Korea , along with Park and Lee. Some of them may be dist...

This week's video is Do It Right by Em Simmaly . She's an American singer who also models and acts.  Do It Right is from Em's EP Bloom in Violet, which was released in May. Her previous singles include On One, Roll With Me and Replaceable with Jango Flex.  Do It Right is a sensual R'n'B song and the first track from the EP. The music video was uploaded in May.   Listen to Bloom in Violet on Spotify  https://open.spotify.com/album/6jpDdXrlAPohcrqvf0r2m9 And you can find more videos/audios from the EP on Em's YouTube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/@emsimmaly/videos   For more on Em visit these links:  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@emsimmaly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emsimmaly YouTube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/@emsimmaly/  

Here is another instalment of my Asian Groups series! Today I'm featuring Indian boyband  FIRST5 . :) They describe themselves as India's first next gen pop boy group ("next gen" meaning a new generation). They are like a male counterpart to W.i.S.H , India's first girl group in 22 years, who debuted last year. FIRST5 (also written as First5) was founded in 2023 by Indian singer/songwriter and content creator Aksh Baghla , who held online auditions on his  social media channels. The group consists of 4 members- Yoshi, Tan, Elton and Daksh. Aksh (who is from Himachal Pradesh) was originally part of the band (hence the name "FIRST5) but decided to take a backseat (due to investment and management challenges ) and take on a mentor/captain role for the others. The boys come from Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Assam and Uttar Pradesh but moved to Chandigarh to focus on the group. Inspired by international pop and K-pop in particular, FIRST5 started out by coverin...

Today's video is Love Life by JUNO. She is a Nigerian singer/artist, signed to The Gamma (a media and technology enterprise). JUNO  (real name Joy Dzeremo) made her debut with the single Intentions in August last year. To date she has released two other singles- Love Life and her latest, PIPE ME UP with Nigerian singer-songwriter Ruger . Her music is a blend of Afro soul and Afropop . Love Life is Juno's 2nd single and was released last December. I like the chilled vibes of the song. :)       Also check out the video for PIPE ME UP (released last month):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRh5J0J2F0g   And for more on JUNO visit these links:  Official FB page:  https://www.facebook.com/hearjunoo/   Official Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/hearjuno   Official YouTube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/@hearjuno     Want more African music? Check out these posts: Afropop Round-up 2022-2023:  https://sta...

Time for another instalment of C-pop Saturday, my semi- regular series sharing Chinese music! I've only done one other post this year ( in February ), so this is the 2nd one of 2025. Today I'm featuring C-pop and R'n'B. :)   ELL&s- Elevatah First up, a Taiwanese girl group! This is Elevatah by  ELL&s , who are signed to KJM Entertainment. The group consists of 5 members- 4 of whom were previously in pre-debut girl group SUNNY PARFUM . According to their Kprofiles , they are a sub-unit of SUNNY PARFUM. The members are lead vocalist Ashlee (real name Chan Hsai-chen/Xinchan), Theia (Zheng Yuhsin), Cherry (Chen Chen-wei/Huang Xiuwan/), Rosie (don't know her full name yet) and Shan/Shanshan (Chen Yu-shan).   All the girls apart from Rosie were members of SUNNY PARFUM * ELL&s debuted in July 2024 with the digital single Elevatah. They also released the special single Ride or Die (2024 Remaster Version) last September, a remake of a song originally released by ...

Today's video is ALL I WANT IS YOU by Australian rapper and singer THE KID LAROI . It's a recent single and was released on 6th June. It precedes his latest single HOW DOES IT FEEL? which came out later this month. ALL I WANT IS YOU is a laidback pop/R'n'B song with romantic lyrics. It marked LAROI's  first solo release of 2025 , following his single I know love with his girlfriend Canadian singer Tate McRae (released in February). This is the official audio.   The Kid LAROI fan? Check out these posts: Music video for I know love with Tate:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/04/weekly-music-video_9.html Video for his newest single HOW DOES IT FEEL? (released on 20th June):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIDRLLVaLlQ

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about the 20th anniversary of my favourite singer  Mariah Carey's  The Emancipation of Mimi album. I ended up splitting it into two parts. You can see Part 1 here:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/06/20th-anniversary-of-mariahs.html I'm planning to write Part 2 soon. But today I thought I'd share a special live performance that Mariah did to celebrate the anniversary.  In addition to releasing a deluxe 20th anniversary edition of The Emancipation of Mimi (or TEOM for short!) on 30th May (see Part 1 ), Mariah also recorded a live performance of select tracks from the album.  It's called Mariah Carey: The Live Sessions and is presented by MC and musical director  Daniel Moore . Daniel accompanies Mariah on the piano.   The songs featured are Don't Forget About Us, Circles, Say Somethin', Your Girl and We Belong Together. My faves are Don't Forget About Us and Say Somethin', although I like all of them....

This week's video is Heaven, the latest single by American singer Nija . It follows her previous single 32nd Floor, which came out in March. Heaven is a chilled R'n'B song. Someone in the comments on YouTube describes it as "outer space R'n'B"! It's one of my current favourite songs and I bought it on iTunes.  The single came out on 30th May. This is the official audio. I'll update this post if there's a music video in future. :)   Visit my Weekly Music Video post from April to see the visualiser for 32nd Floor:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/04/weekly-music-video_23.html  

Sorry the 2nd post is later again this week; I didn't feel well yesterday and didn't manage to get it finished. :)   In recent months I've seen several K-pop in Public (dance covers of Korean songs in public places) to older songs by girl groups. So today I'm sharing some K-pop in Public covers of girl group classics! :)   AOA- Miniskirt In my Asian Dance in Public post in February, I shared a couple of covers of Miniskirt by AOA  (a  3rd generation K-pop group , I believe). They debuted in 2012 but they have been inactive since 2020. Miniskirt was released back in January 2014 and was the lead single from their 5th single album of the same name. As I mentioned in that post, I  featured the music video on the blog  10 years ago! The Miniskirt covers are by OnePear Dance crew from Australia and STARMINA from France, plus I shared a couple more links (scroll down):  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/02/asian-dance-in-public-videos.html Now h...

Today's video is LaSalle Ave by American singer  Jay Chang . His real name is Jay Steven Kapossy and he has a Filipino Chinese mum and Irish/Hungarian dad.  Jay was born in the US but moved to South Korea for his music career. He followed in the footsteps of his dad, who was a musician in the 80s .  He started out by competing on the Korean survival programme Under Nineteen in 2018 and while he didn't make the final group, he went on to make his solo debut with the digital single Is you in November 2020. He released two other digital singles- LIAR and I'd do anything. Jay later signed with FM Entertainment . In 2023 he competed on another audition programme,  BOYS PLANET and although he didn't make it in to the final line-up for the project boyband ZEROBASEONE , he became well known and it kickstarted his career.  He made his official solo debut in October 2023 with the EP LATE NIGHT , which is a mixture of Korean and English tracks. The lead singles were I'll...

My favourite singer Mariah Carey is celebrating the 20th Anniversary of her 10th studio album The Emancipation of Mimi. It was released back in April 2005. I'd planned to write just one post about the album but it was turning into a really long one, so I've decided to divide it into two parts! Here is Part 1. :) The Emancipation of Mimi (or TEOM for short!) was considered Mariah's "comeback album" at the time, following on from her previous two albums, Glitter (2001) which was accompanied by the film of the same name and Charmbracelet (2002). Neither the Glitter movie or album were very well received and after going through a difficult time in general, Mariah had an emotional and physical breakdown and checked into hospital that summer. She was diagnosed with bipolar II disorder , although didn't feel ready to speak about it pubicly until several years later .  Although Charmbracelet (MC's first release after leaving Virgin Records America and singing w...