Star Sparkle Blog

Sorry the 2nd post is later again this week. I normally post on Fridays or Saturdays (most often Saturdays) but sometimes I don't manage to get a post finished in time. I had a busy day yesterday, so didn't get this finished. :) Korean group KARD have just released their 1st album Where To Now? (Part.2): NOWHERE. Sadly it will also be their last album (or at least there are no current plans for more) since they are disbanding after over 9 years together. However, as fans have pointed out, the group may not be permanently disbanding. The contract with their agency has expired and they aren't renewing it. The members have said that they plan to concentrate on solo careers but haven't ruled out reuniting as a group in the future. KARD is made up of 4 members- SOMIN, BM, JIWOO and J.seph. As one of the few co-ed/mixed gender groups in K-pop (an industry dominated by girl groups and boy bands  when it comes to group music) they stand out. I've followed them since thei...

In March I wrote a post about the 25th anniversary of Jennifer Lopez's  2nd studio album J.Lo. It ended up being quite long, so I split it into two parts. You can see Part 1 here:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2026/03/25th-anniversary-of-jennifer-lopezs-jlo.html Now here is Part 2! It's taken a couple of months but never mind, lol. In this post I'm sharing more songs I like, plus new/previously unreleased tracks from the 25th anniversary edition of the album. :)    I'm Gonna Be Alright The original I'm Gonna Be Alright is a track from J.Lo but was not released as a single. It only has vocals by Jennifer  and samples the 1980 single 8th Wonder by American hip hop group The Sugarhill Gang .  The original version is more poppy and Latin style. This is the official audio.   I'm Gonna Be Alright (Track Masters Remix)  The song was remixed for Jennifer's 2002 album J to Tha L-O! The Remixes (her first remix album) and released as a single. The rem...

Jennifer Lopez (one of my favourite singers) has been celebrating the 25th anniversary of her 2nd studio album J.Lo. It was released on 16th January 2001 in the US (22nd January in the UK) and is one of her most successful albums to date. I'm a bit behind with this post about it but never mind! :)  This has turned into quite a long post, so I'm splitting it up into two parts. Here is Part 1! :)   The anniversary comes after her other album milestones- the  20th anniversay of her 3rd album This Is Me...Then in November 2022 and the 20th anniversary of her 4th album Rebirth  in March 2025. To celebrate the J.Lo anniversary, Jennifer released a 25th anniversary edition which features one new song (Crazy (Nobody Else), exclusive tracks only previously available on international editions and a new remix of Play (Trixie Mattel Remix). The album's title is a reference to Jennifer's nickname J.Lo, given to her by fans. Its music style is  primarily dance-pop, La...

Sorry the 2nd post is later this week, I haven't been well and didn't manage to finish it yesterday. :) Last year I started a new series on the blog called Random Albums, where I feature an album I own. The first one was Teedra Moses' debut album Complex Simplicity . You can see it here:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2024/09/random-albums-teedra-moses-complex.html Note: It was just over a year ago now and I haven't done another post in the series yet! I plan to get back to it in 2026. :) Complex Simplicity was originally released in August 2004 in the US (but not till June 2005 in the UK). Teedra released a 15th anniversary edition of the album in September 2009. Last year was the 20th anniversary. Now she has brought out a new version of the album called COMPLEX SIMPLICITY (REIMAGINED), in EP format. It was released on 12th November. Teedra says it features re-imaginings of songs she wrote at a much younger age  and is a thank you to fans.  She also says that wh...

Sorry the 2nd post is later this week. I wasn't feeling very inspired, but then I had a post idea and didn't get it finished in time yesterday. :) In August, Indian girl group W.i.S.H released their debut album Sweetburn. The 4 member group (India's first girl group in 23 years!) debuted back in March 2024. Their music (known as I-pop) is a  mix of Hindi and English, with both Indian and international influences .  W.i.S.H's creation was inspired by the rise of K-pop globally, although they want to create their own path . Sweetburn, which was released on 10th August, consists of 8 tracks, including W.i.S.H's debut single Lazeez and their other previous singles Galti featuring Mxrzi , Therapy and Headrush.  The lead single is Bolo Bolo featuring Panther, which came out in July and newer singles are Ishaare and Drameboss.  I think they've released about 7 official singles from the album. Their latest single is Desi Girl, which is a stand-alone single. It;'s ...

Canadian singer Justin Bieber released a surprise new album last month. It's called SWAG and is his 7th studio album. News of SWAG  only emerged just before its release on 11th July. I think I came across songs from it on YouTube and realised they were from a new album. It had been quite a while since Justin had brought out new music, so I was pleased to find out about it! :) SWAG follows Justin's 6th album Justice and 2nd EP Freedom (both released in 2021). To date it has reached No. 1 in several countries , including Canada, Australia, Norway and Portugal and charted within the Top 10 in more, including the UK, US, Australia, Spain and Japan. The release of SWAG comes after Justin has been through a difficult time in his personal life. There have been rumours of problems in his marriage with wife American model and businesswoman  Hailey Bieber (daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin, one of the Baldwin brothers ) and worries over Justin behaving erratically as well as...

In June I wrote a post about the 20th anniversary of my fave singer Mariah Carey's The Emancipation of Mimi album. It ended up being a long post, so I split it into two parts! You can see Part 1: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/06/20th-anniversary-of-mariahs.html I also did another post featuring a special live performance that Mariah did to celebrate the anniversary:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/06/mariah-carey-20th-teom-anniversary-live.html Now here is Part 2! Today I'm featuring some songs from The Emancipation of Mimi: Ultra Platinum Edition and the new 20th anniversary edition. :)   Don't Forget About Us Don't Forget About Us was the lead (and only) single from the re-released version of the album (the Ultra Platinum Edition) and came out in October 2005, ahead of the re-release in November 2005. It's one of my favourite songs from TEOM. :) Don't Forget About Us is about a past relationship, although Mariah has stated that the  true mean...

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...

Jennifer Lopez (one of my favourite singers) recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of her album Rebirth. It was her 4th studio album and was released on 1st March 2005 (my 21st birthday!). It seems crazy that it's been so long since it came out! lol. In November 2022, I wrote a post about the 20th anniversary of J.Lo.'s This Is Me...Then album . So, I decided to do another one for Rebirth's anniversary. :)  Rebirth was Jennifer's first album following her split from then fiance American actor Ben Affleck , which was in part due to intense media attention. The couple later reunited and married in 2022 and Jennifer's most recent album This Is Me...Now (accompanied by a film of the same name) was inspired by their rekindled romance. (I got the album for my 40th birthday last year!) However, they broke-up a second time last year. At the time of the Rebirth's release, Jennifer was married to her third husband American singer and actor Marc Anthony , with whom s...