Star Sparkle Blog

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 if You're Mine by Japanese boy band  PSYCHIC FEVER from EXILE TRIBE . It's their latest single and from their 2nd album DIFFERENT, which was released on 8th July. If You're Mine is the lead single from the album (although I Got Ways was a pre-release single in May) and came out on 10th July. It's in the style of the group’s signature song  Just Like Dat  and  What's Happenin' and is described as a "modern take on the Miami bass / 2-step sound inspired by early 2000s R'n'B".  The song follows on from Just Like Dat and is about what happens after two people become interested in each other. It's a mixture of Japanese and English lyrics. Click "Subtitles/closed captions" on YouTube for English subtitles! :)    There's also a dance practice video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MO-Duwxg3s   Plus, check out the music video for I Got Ways:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHy5EvDsz50   And stream/buy DIFFEREN...

Yesterday was Star Sparkle's 15th birthday! I started the blog on 17th April 2011. You can see my first ever post here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2011/04/welcome-to-star-sparkle-blog.html I've previously written two birthday posts- in 2018 for the 7th "blogiversary" and in 2021 for the 10th. (I didn't mark the 5th but I had celebrated the birthday of my blog Falling Petals that year, so decided to do one here too). You can see them at the links below: 7th bday:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2018/04/star-sparkles-birthday-fave-posts.html 10th bday: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2021/04/star-sparkles-10th-birthday-fave-posts.html Back in 2021, I wrote that it seemed strange that I'd been blogging for 10 years. Now it's been 15 years, so even more time has gone by! Star Sparkle is my main blog about entertainment.  As I've previously said, starting it gave me the confidence to branch out into other areas and I went on to start two more bl...

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 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 group 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 ly...

Sorry the 2nd post is later this week, I didn't manage to get it finished yesterday. I do aim to post on Fridays or Saturdays, but some weeks it's later and that's ok. :) It's nearly the end of 2025, so here is my round-up of the best posts from the year! :) You can see my previous Best Of posts (dating back to 2016) at the links below:  2016's Best Of:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2016/12/best-of-2016.html   2017's:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2017/12/best-of-2017.html 2018's: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2018/12/best-of-2018.html 2019's:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2019/12/best-of-2019.html 2020's: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2020/12/best-of-2020.html 2021's: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/01/best-of-2021.html 2022's: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/01/best-of-2022.html 2023's:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/12/best-of-2023.html 2024's: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2024/1...

As with last year , I've written quite a few dance video posts this year (about once a month or more often). We're now coming to the end of 2025, so today I'm sharing my annual round-up of posts featured on the blog. (My first one was in  September 2020 and then I started doing them in December in 2021 .) So here are the previous posts, plus a couple of new dance videos! :)     Dance in Public/T-pop in Public- Bad Girls Like You (Tobii):  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/01/dance-in-publict-pop-in-public-bad.html   P-pop in Public Dances (Pinoy/Filipino pop): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/04/p-pop-in-public-dances.html Asian Dance in Public Videos: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/02/asian-dance-in-public-videos.html Dance Videos- Couples' Edition 2! (features Bollywood, T-pop/Thai pop and Western R'n'B):  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/05/dance-videos-couples-edition-2.html   K-pop in Public- Girl Group Classics: htt...

Today's video is Princess GaL (Harajuku Y2K ver.) by Japanese singer Hamano Haruki (or Haruki Hamano in Western terms). She is a Japanese singer-songwriter from Fukuoka. Haruki's music is a mixture of J-pop, hip hop and rap and her lyrics are described as  "sensual and realistic, with a touch of venom" . Born in 2000 herself, she is popular with Generation Z women and has stated that her goal is to "be a friend to all women". Haruki released her debut EP 2000 in 2021 and has since released 4 more- nichijounonakaniaruhinichijou (2022), To the past me, so that I can laugh. (2022), Hamano Haruki "Re:Arranged (2023), LovE ToXic (2023). She just brought out her 1st album NET BaBy on 7th May. Her singles include WATASHI NO MONOSASHI, Tokyo, sexless, Princess GaL, CuL and her most recent, Chu <3 (a collaboration song with the lip brand CHOOSY ) which came out last month.  Princess GaL (Harajuku Y2K ver.) is a new version of Haruki's digital single Prin...

In the past few years, I've shared dance video posts from particular genres, such as K-pop in Public (dance covers of Korean songs performed in public), J-pop (Japanese pop) in Public and V-pop (Vietnamese pop) in Public . For today's post I'm featuring a variety of Dance in Public videos from different Asian music genres. :)  Dance in Public/T-pop in Public- Bad Girls Like You (Tobii) First up, some Thai pop! Last month I did a dance post sharing some dance covers of the popular single Bad Girls Like you by Swiss/Thai rapper Tobii . You can see it here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/01/dance-in-publict-pop-in-public-bad.html [POP IN PUBLIC LONDON] BINI- Salamin, Salamin (Dance Cover by CLIQUE) | United Kingdom Next is some P-pop (Pinoy/Filipino pop) in Public. This is a cover of Salamin, Salamin by Filipina girl group BINI , which was released in March 2024. It was the lead single from their debut EP Talaarawan, which also came out in March. The dance is by CLIQ...

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post sharing some new music for 2025. You can read it here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/01/new-music-for-2025.html   Today I'm sharing some more new releases from various genres. Please note that some of the songs contain swearing/explicit lyrics. :) Sukriti and Prakriti Kakkar- Aa Zara Indian twin musical duo Sukriti and Prakriti Kakkar's new single Aa Zara (released on 24th January) was this week's Weekly Music Video. Watch it here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/01/weekly-music-video_29.html   JoJo- Ready To Love American singer JoJo recently released the single Ready To Love. It's one of the latest singles from her new EP NGL, her 5th, following on 2021's trying not to think about it . The EP title stands for "Not Gonna Lie" and it came out on 24th January. NGL is mainly R'n'B and consists of 8 tracks including previous singles, lead single Porcelain, plus the "stripped down" version...

Sorry this week's post is later; I didn't manage to get it finished yesterday. :)   It's a new year, so time for some new music! Since 2017 I've been writing posts sharing new music releases for the new year. You can see 2024's at the links below: New Music for 2024: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2024/01/new-music-for-2024.html More New Music for 2024:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2024/02/more-new-music-for-2024.html   So here are some new releases from a variety of genres. :) KARD- Detox First up, some K-pop! This is Detox, the latest single by Korean mixed gender/co-ed group KARD . It was actually released in December but I thought I'd include it. :) The group released their 7th mini album Where To Now? Part 1: Yellow Light last summer, along with the singles Tell My Momma and SPIN.  Detox is a stand-alone/non-album single but it may be intended for Part 2 of Where To Now? in the future. Detox is a pop/dance song about "detoxing" from all t...