Star Sparkle Blog

This week's video is IRONIC by MARQUISE . Her full name is Marquise Jadenipit Auramornrat and she is a Thai singer-songwriter and dancer.  MARQUISE's uncle is Jettamon Malayota, who fronts one-man Thai pop band  PENGUIN VILLA . She got her own start in music in 2023 when she became a contestant on The Debut: Dream Academy, the talent show run by South Korean entertainment company HYBE and American record label  Geffen Records , with the purpose of forming an international girl group.  She was one of 20 finalists (the only representative from Thailand) and made it through to the final but didn't make the group, which went on to become KATSEYE .  She went back to Thailand to continue her training and also featured in the Netflix docuseries Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE in 2024. Random fact: MARQUISE was named after the marquise cut of a diamond because her family owns a jewellery business. Jadeinipit is her first name (inspired by the gemstone jade) but she go...

In the past I've written a couple of posts about international girl groups. You can see them below: International Girl Groups:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2021/04/international-girl-groups.html More International Girl Groups:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2024/11/more-international-girl-groups.html   The first post featured Angolan group Afrikanas and Thai group G-TWENTY, and the second one featured South African group Girl Chat and Thai group Wizzle. I haven't come across many African girl groups in general, so I was excited to discover Nigerian girl group MYST recently! :)  Described as a Nigerian Afro-pop girl group, MYST is a trio made up of Mira,  Sucré and Trella. They come from different states/areas (Mira is from Lagos,  Sucré is from  Abuja and Trella is from Port Harcourt) and were originally solo artists before forming the group.  They  connected in interesting ways - Mira met  Sucré's  aunt in a BTS Army grou...

Today's video is Heaven Baby by Nigerian singer Ayra Starr and featuring British singer ZAYN  (Zayn Malik). It's her latest song and is from her 3rd studio album Starrgirl, which was released in August.  The first official single from Starrgirl was Tornado, which came out in June. However, the album also includes the previously released singles Gimme Dat featuring Wizkid , Hot Body, Who's Dat Girl featuring Nigerian singer and rapper  Rema and Where Do We Go. My favourite songs from it include Hot Body and Pressure featuring American singer Leon Thomas (not a single). ZAYN's latest album is KONNAKOL (his 5th) which  was released in April and his latest single is Sideways which came out in April. I'm not sure if Heaven Baby is an official single (it's listed as the 14th official track on Starrgirl ) but maybe it's more of a promotional single. It was released in August but there is now also a music video. The duet marks Ayra's first collaboration with ZA...

Back in May during the time of the Eurovision Song Contest , I heard that an Asian version was launching. I was excited because I'm a fan of both Eurovision and Asian music ! Now it's getting closer because the first edition of Eurovision Song Contest Asia  will take place next month.  Visit my Countdown to Eurovision 2026! post for more about the contest (scroll down): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2026/05/countdown-to-eurovision-2026.html There is now more information since I first wrote about it. The Grand Final will be held in Bangkok , Thailand on Saturday 14th November and 11 countries are competing. In addition to the TV broadcasts in the 11 countries, it will also be shown live on YouTube and there will be a Rest of the World vote (which was introduced to the main ESC in recent years). I hope to watch and vote but will have to check the time difference.  The contestants have been chosen through national selection shows. 8 countries have been confirmed so far-...

This week's video is Best Behavior by Canadian R'n'B duo Majid Jordan  (made up of Majid Al Maskati and Jordan Ullman) and featuring British singer  Clementine Douglas . It's from Majid Jordan's 5th studio album Two Roads, which was released on 28th August. Two Roads follows their previous album Good People/Afterhours which came out in November 2023. It was preceded by the lead single Cold and 2nd single See You Again, (released in May and June respectively). Majid Jordan describe it as their "most immersive and fully realised work to date" .  To date, they have released two more singles- the title track on 21st August and Strangers on 28th August. Side note: It's now 10 years since I first featured Majid Jordan on the blog ! I didn't realise it had been so long, lol.  Best Behavior is one of my favourite songs from Two Roads (others include Have I Gone Too Far?, Rather Be With You and Dream). It's an R'n'B synth pop song and puts me ...

It's been a while since I've shared any Turkish music on the blog (I did a couple of posts last year ). So today I thought it would be cool to feature new Turkish boy band CRUSH ! :) In recent years, the rise of K-pop globally has inspired other countries to create more  next/new generation pop groups . In Turkey, girl group manifest made their debut last year. And now there is a male group counterpart! CRUSH were formed through the Idol House Türkiye  reality show competition, which was inspired by the South Korean idol training system . The contestants were virtually enrolled in a professional idol camp for training and then competed on the show, which was broadcast on YouTube. The winning members were chosen by a jury and public vote. The  group is signed to Istanbul and New York based record label  ETL Records and Turkey' largest record label  DMC Music Company  (aka Dogan Music Company). Their goal is to  "bring together the different stren...

This week’s video is GET EVEN by Australian singer and rapper The Kid LAROI , and featuring American singer-songwriter  GIVĒON . GET EVEN is LAROI's latest single and follows SLEEP, which came out in August. He released his 2nd studio album BEFORE I FORGET in January and a deluxe edition in April, as well as several singles from it. As with SLEEP, I think GET EVEN is a stand alone single. Both songs were recorded for  the original version of LAROI's 2nd album (then titled WATCH THIS!). As I mentioned in a previous post , he decided to scrap it and record a new one, which was largely inspired by his break-up with girlfriend Canadian singer  Tate McRae .  In turn, a couple of songs on the deluxe edition of Tate's 3rd album SO CLOSE TO WHAT??? (released last November, following the original’s February 2025 release) are thought to be about LAROI. GET EVEN was released on 18th September. Although the song  marks the first time that LAROI and GIVĒON have worked...

In March I started a mini series called New Generation Girl Groups, which features new girl groups. So far I've featured  GIRLSET and fiveALIVE .  Now here is the next post in the mini series! Today I'm featuring British girl group Say Now . :)  Say Now formed in 2022 and originally called themselves needanamebro  They debuted their current name in July 2023, explaining that Say Now is something they live by ("saying how you feel when you feel it"). The group consists of 3 members- Ysabelle (Yssy) Salvanera), Amelia Onurah and Madeline (Maddy) Haynes. They stared out as a duo (Amelia and Yssy) but  then Maddy joined, after meeting the other girls through social media. They are managed by Modest! Management and also signed to  Atlantic Records . Say Now started out posting covers on TikTok and released their debut single Better Love in April 2023 (under needanamebro). Other singles Not a Lot Left to Say and Netflix (Better Without You) followed later tha...

Today's video is stormy weather by Meron T . She is a British singer-songwriter from South London. Her music is a mix of neo-soul, Bossa Nova style vocals, jazz, soul and R'n'B.  In September 2018, Meron released the single Hunny with producer/DJ Sey G and in November 2019 she released her debut EP Mirage EP. She became more widely known in 2020, with the release of the single Standing There, a collaboration with The Silhouettes Project . It led to her reaching a million streams online. She released her 2nd EP Palindrome in September 2025. Meron's music is influenced by her London upbringing and East African ( Ethiopian and Eritrean ) heritage. Her other singles include A/B side singles Everything and Don't Let with Sey G,  Face Your Demons with producer  Nikhil Beats , State of Mind, 1sidedlove, stormy weather and her latest fiyah! featuring Sam Wise (released in July). stormy weather (written in lower case) came out in March. I like the laid-back and "quirk...

Sorry the 2nd post is later this week; I didn't manage to get it finished yesterday. :) I've previously written two K-pop in Public (dance covers of Korean songs performed in public places) posts featuring all-male groups. You can see them at the links  below:  K-pop in Public- Boys' Edition!: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2021/05/k-pop-in-public-boys-edition.html K-pop (and J-pop) in Public- Boys' Edition 2!:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2024/05/k-pop-in-public-boys-edition-2.html My last post was over two years ago (it also features one J-pop dance cover), so I thought it was time for another one. Here is K-pop in Public- Boys' Edition 3! :)   [ FRÁME CHOREOGRAPHY] MINISKIRT - AOA | MALE VERSION PERFORMANCE VIDEO  In the past year or so, I've shared covers of Miniskirt, the single by girl group AOA .  It was released back in January 2014 and was the lead single from their 5th single album of the same name. There has been a trend of nostal...

This week's video is Groupie by Canadian singer  Chxrry (formerly known as Chxry22). It's from her debut studio album U, Me & My Ego, which was released digitally in May. The album follows Chxrry's EPs The Other Side and Siren, which came out in September 2022 and October 2023 respectively. Groupie was the second single from U, Me & My Ego, following Main Character (released in July 2025) and was released in December last year. Two more singles have been also been released in April- Hall of Fame and Bottles & Lights featuring American singer Mariah The Scientist . Groupie is an R'n'B/pop song and is one of my favourite tracks from U, Me & My Ego. Other songs that I like are the title track, Call Security and Boring.  This is the official music video. Please note that the songs contains explicit lyrics. :)      Stream/buy U, Me & My Ego here:  https://chxrry.lnk.to/ego  And visit the YouTube playlist to watch music videos/visualiser...

Earlier this year I started a mini series called K-pop Comebacks, featuring the comebacks of K-pop groups during 2026. So far I've written about BLACKPINK and  BTS . Today I'm focusing on boy band BIGBANG  (also written as BigBang). Originally a 5 member group, BIGBANG debuted back in 2006 and became one of the most popular K-pop groups. They were the first idol group to be formed by YG Entertainment (one of the biggest entertainment companies in South Korea) and are a 2nd generation group , among the first K-pop acts to become successful internationally. The original members were leader G-DRAGON (real name Kwon Ji-young), T.O.P. (Choi Seung-hyun), Taeyang (Dang Young-bae), Daesang (Kang Dae-sang) and Seungri (Lee Seung-hyun). They debuted in August 2006 with the single BigBang in August 2006 and their debut studio album BIGBANG Vol.1- Since 2007 followed in December that year. Their breakout single was LIES (released in August 2007). It was the first single from their first ...

Today's video is Last Day of Summer by British singer Katy B and British DJ and record producer  Jax Jones . It's been a while since Katy has released music. Her last release (apart from singles) was the EP Peace and Offerings (her 4th) in November 2021 and her last album was Honey in April 2016. She brought out one single from the Peace and Offerings- Under My Skin which was released in August 2021. Katy's most recent singles prior to this one were Avalanche and Dreamstate with Wilfy D (released in July 2025 and January this year respectively). For more on Katy, visit my Top 10 Female Singers post (she is No.10 on the list):  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2015/02/top-10-female-solo-singers.html Jax (real name Timucin Lam/Timucin Fabian Kwong Wah Aluo) started making music at a young age and posted music online on MySpace (remember that?!) in the early days of his career. His breakthrough came in 2014, when he featured on fellow British DJ and record producer Duke D...

Sorry the 2nd post is later this week; I didn't manage to get it finished yesterday. :)  It's been a while since I've written a New Music Releases post. I wrote my annual New Year music posts at the beginning of the year but apart from that, the last one was in July 2025 ! So now as we're shifting into a new season, here's some new music for the coming autumn (or spring, depending on your location)!   JENNIE- Less than a Lover Korean singer and rapper  JENNIE  (member of popular K-pop girl group BLACKPINK ) is releasing more solo music. Last month she released Less than a Lover, the lead single from her debut digital EP Fallen Angel. The EP follows JENNIE's debut studio album Ruby , which came out in March last year. :) Fallen Angel was released on Friday (28th August). It consists of 3 tracks- title track FALLEN ANGEL, HEAVEN and Less Than a Lover and is  described as coming "from a very personal place with the truest self-expression"  and as a gift f...

This week's video is When Did You Stop Loving Me? by American band LANY . It's from their 6th studio album Soft/Soft 2. Note: They are now also classed as a duo since keyboardist Les Priest left in 2022, leaving two members- lead singer Paul Klein and drummer Jake Goss. Soft was released last October, following the releases of the lead single Know You Naked in August and 2nd single Last Forever in September.  In March this year, LANY brought out an expanded edition of the album called Soft 2. It features 5 new tracks, including I'm Doing Alright and when Did You Stop Loving Me?, plus a live video for the latter.  This is the music video for When Did You Stop Loving Me? It was uploaded in June and features Paul walking along the beach. Dreamy beach vibes for late summer!   Watch the live video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZBHv4XCLVo   For more on Soft 2 read this post: https://www.melodicmag.com/news/lany-continues-to-explore-resilience-on-soft-2-with-five-...