Star Sparkle Blog

Here is the first Asian Groups post of the year! (It's been quite a while since my previous one in September last year!) If you're new to the blog, it's a series featuring groups from Asian countries. Today's post is about Thai girl group VIIS . :) The group is signed to Thai record label GNEST and originally consisted of 5 members- Atom (real name Pariya Piyapanopas), Cheers (Kotchaphan Kitkrailard), Plaifah (full name Plaifah Siraacha), Tara (Anantara Gibson) and Sonya (Sonya Proud Beeson).  Some of the girls had previous experience in the entertainment industry before debuting. Cheers was a contestant on The Voice Kids Thailand in 2019 and Plaifah became a member of girl group TRIXX (now inactive) which was formed on the reality show The Next Boy/Girl Band Thailand in 2019. Atom started out as an actress in the web series Social Death Vote . Atom announced that she was leaving last month , due to health reasons. She has still take part in group activities int...

Today's video is X by Chinese singer and rapper Lexie Liu . It's from her latest EP TEENAGE RAMBLE which came out last October. While Lexie started out making Mandopop (Mandarin language Chinese pop), hip hop and R'n'B music, in recent years her style has been more electropop, particularly on her debut solo album The Happy Star (released in 2022).  X is more of a return to "basic" pop and I do prefer it to the electropop personally. I liked her early Chinese rap/hip hop music best, such as Sleep Away ,  OUTTA TIME featuring KILLY and Bygone from her 2019 EP 2030.  X follows Lexie's previous singles POP GIRL and LIKE U (released in March and July 2025 respectively). It was released in October 2025, just after the EP came out.     Stream/buy TEENAGE RAMBLE here:  https://lexieliu.lnk.to/teenage-ramble   Or listen to the EP/watch the music videos on YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXqcPvUIzRQ&list=OLAK5uy_n4iZ7jmTzlyM2tRQNFv5vGZen84c9...

It's a new year and so time for my annual post featuring new music! I started this back in 2017 (writing posts sharing new music at the beginning of the year). You can see 2025's at the links below: New Music for 2025:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/01/new-music-for-2025.html   More New Music for 2025: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/02/more-new-music-for-2025.html   And now here's some new music for 2026! It's mostly Asian artists but a variety of genres. :)   The Kid LAROI- BACK WHEN YOU WERE MINE First up, some new music from Australian singer and rapper  The Kid LAROI . He released his 2nd studio album BEFORE I FORGET on 9th January. It's the follow-up to his 2023 debut THE FIRST TIME, which originally came out in November 2023 and was also released as a deluxe edition in August 2024. LAROI initially planned for his 2nd album to be called WATCH THIS! and released several singles intended to be on it- APEROL SPRITZ , ALL I WANT IS YOU , HOT GI...

This week's video is Bite The Bullet by Sissy Ford . She is a British singer who was born in Cambridge and then moved to London aged 17, to study music at  East London Arts and Music (ELAM) . Sissy released her first single Louder independently in May 2024. She went on to bring out her debut EP FROM HOME: THE BEDROOM EP in March 2025. Her other singles include Fake It, Streets, Bite The Bullet and her latest, Sit Right. Sissy is inspired by a variety of artists, such as SZA , Don Toliver , Arctic Monkeys , Michael Jackson , Kehlani and kwn (who is also Kehlani's girlfriend!). She makes her own beats and has a large following on social media platforms, where she has created music with her fanbase. Bite The Bullet was released in November last year. It's a R'n'B song with a good beat and confident lyrics about being a better choice for a girl than her boyfriend.   There's also a live version:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBJUpS8qqcc Plus, here is the music vi...

It's been ages since I've written a Top 10 post (my last one was Top 10 Britney Spears Songs back in 2017!). So today I thought I'd do another one sharing my Top 10 African songs.  They are my favourites across different countries and genres. :)     1. Mr Eazi and Simi- Doyin (Nigeria) Nigerian singer Mr Eazi (who is known for founding Banku Music, a mixture of Nigerian and Ghanaian music) collaborated with fellow Nigeran singer Simi on the single Doyin, in August 2019. It's my favourite song  of both singers and was a Weekly Music Video in September 2019. Watch it here:   https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2019/09/weekly-music-video_25.html   2. Bey T- Wololo (Kenya)  Kenyan rapper and singer Bey T (who also has Ethiopian heritage) released the single Wololo in May 2019. It's a catchy song that sticks in my head. Wololo was a Weekly Music Video in June 2019:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2019/06/weekly-music-video_26.html  ...

This week's video is Paper Planes by ICONIXX. They are an American pop/R'n'B girl group, who can also be classed as J-pop (they describe themselves as a global R'n'B/J-pop girl on their Instagram ) because their music will be in Japanese as well as English. Since I like Western R'n'B, J-pop and  J-R-n'B , think that an R'n'B/J-pop group is a cool concept! :)  ICONIX X  consists of 4 members- Harley, Shayah, Tia and Tyra. Tia and Tyra are sisters who are mixed Japanese and black, and they are bilingual (fluent in English and Japanese). The members were selected after auditioning and training under YNG WMXN's Academy for Girl Group Artist Development in 2024. The group is signed to independent record label Unlimited Possibilities Studio. They made their debut with the single GONE in September 2024.  Paper Planes is ICONIXX's 2nd single and was released on 12th December 2025. It's a smooth R'n'B song with mainly English lyrics b...

I've often featured Asian girl groups on the blog (such as in my Asian Groups series ). Today I thought I'd do something a little different and share some live performances from a few Asian girl groups! :)    no na- shoot In October I included a performance from Indonesian girl group  no na in my Live Performances 2025 post. They performed their single shoot at the Head in the Clouds NYC event in New York City, in September 2025.  You can see the post here (scroll down):  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/10/live-performances-2025.html   no na- the one (Acoustic Version) And here is another performance by no na, this time of their latest single the one (written in lower case, like their group name and other song titles). It's a upbeat pop/dance song with 80s vibes and was released in November. For the acoustic version, no na are accompanied by a musician playing traditional Indonesian instruments. The video was uploaded on 11th December.  ...

This week's video is More To Life by American singer Alina Baraz and Danish music producer Galimatias  (real name Matias Saabye Køedt). The duo previously released the EP Urban Flora back in May 2015, which they made online, without having met in person. Last October they brought out a surprise follow-up EP called Urban Flora: Lost Sequels, to celebrate the 10th anniversary . Watch the  videos/listen to audios from Urban Flora here (YouTube playlist):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGe-x8Ua-gc&list=PLqcArciYvm8KQV40bLtLPVzk8vIgpPkzI Lost Sequels consists of 2 tracks- More To Life and Blue, both of which were uploaded to YouTube in October. I think that the music style of the EP is alternative R'n'B/electronic, like the original. More To Life is a chilled song with dreamy vibes. This is the official lyric video.     Also watch the lyric video for Blue here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S1cvrUlnlU   Plus, stream Urban Flora:...

It's now a new year and here is the first post of 2026! :) In 2022 I started sharing my favourite songs from the past year (I wrote that post in December 2022). I've now made it in an annual tradition, usually at the beginning of the new year. You can see my previous posts at the links below: Favourite Songs of 2022: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/12/favourite-songs-of-2022.html Favourite Songs of 2023: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2024/01/favourite-songs-of-2023.html Favourite Songs of 2024: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/01/favourite-songs-of-2024.html And now here are my fave songs from 2025! :)    As with 2024, I did a post about my current favourite songs earlier in the year (March 2025), so I will share it here, rather than repeat myself (some of them were released in 2024):  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/03/current-favourite-songs.html     Nija- Heaven  American singer Nija released the single Heaven in May. I like the c...