Star Sparkle Blog

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 o...

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-...

It's been a while since I've written a general dance videos post (I think the  last one was a year ago !). So today I'm sharing a variety of videos from different genres. :)    [DANCE IN PUBLIC SPAIN - ONE TAKE] TYLA MIX - MINIZIZE Choreo |Dance Cover by NEOLIGHT First up, an  amapiano dance cover! Last year, Thai dance studio MINIZIZE performed a dance cover of several songs  by South African singer Tyla - PUSH 2 START, Jump and the remix of her hit single Water.  The dance was choreographed by Thai choreographer  Earth_prompen  and the video was uploaded in January 2025. Watch it  here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIWR_FcRUro Water was released in July 2023, the lead single from Tyla's debut self-titled album (which came out in March 2024) and is one of her most successful singles to date. Jump was the 4th single from TYLA (released in May 2024)  and PUSH 2 START came out in October 2024, alongside the del...

This week's video is Terminé/ It's Over by Cape Verde born French singer Ronisia . It's her latest single and was released in June. Terminé is a French language R'n'B song. It's listed by both the French and English titles ( "terminé" also translates as "finished" in English). This is the visualiser.     Want more Ronisia? Check out this post: Music video for her 2025 single Call Of:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/02/weekly-music-video.html    

Time for another instalment in my semi-regular series C-pop Saturday! It's been 6 months since my  last one (and the only post of the year so far), but never mind, lol.   B CRUSH- Crush On First up is Crush On by B CRUSH.  They are a mixed gender Taiwanese Mandopop group which consists of 4 members- ZAI, YAN, Rebaecca and WEI. I can't find much info about them but will update this if I do find more. :) B CRUSH made their debut last October with the single Crush On, which appears to be their only single so far. I came across the video a while ago and thought I'd save it to feature in a post sometime, especially because it's fitting for summer. Crush On is an upbeat pop song with a mix of Chinese (Mandarin) and English lyrics, about a summer encounter on the beach that sparks instant attraction. It has a suitably summery music video. Click "Subtitles/closed captions" on YouTube for English subtitles! The lyrics are on screen but not translated into English. :) ...

Today's video is Massacre from the new Bollywood film ALPHA . It stars Alia Bhatt  (part of the famous Bhatt family ) as Sita, an assassin who was raised in isolation from a baby by rogue commander Fateh Singh Lakhwat (played by Bobby Deol , one of my favourite Bollywood actors!).   Fateh trained  Sita to be a super soldier but when she finds out that he's hidden the truth of her family background from her, she teams up with her long lost sister Durga ( Sharvari ) to stop him and his mission. Random fact:  Alia Bhatt is a British citizen , due to her mum, actress and director Soni Razdan being British (Soni's mum is British with German heritage and her dad is Indian (Kashmiri Pandit). Alia's dad is former film director, producer and screenwriter  Mahesh Bhatt . ALPHA (which also stars Anil Kapoor ) was released on 3rd July. It's part of the YRF Spy Universe film series (the 7th instalment) and the first female led movie. The others include Ek Tha Tiger...

This summer has been a hot one in the UK so far! Last month I wrote a post sharing  Dance in Public videos with summer themes . Now as we move into late summer, I thought I'd carry on the theme. :)  I've written quite a few summer themed posts on the blog over the years and I've also done a couple of posts rounding them up. You can see them below: Summer Songs Round-up:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2020/06/summer-songs-round-up.html Summer Songs Round-up 2020-2021: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2021/07/summer-songs-round-up-2020-2021.html   My last round-up was in 2021, so today I'm featuring the summer posts since then, plus a few new songs. :)    Summer Vibes!: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/07/summer-vibes.html More Summer Vibes!: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/07/more-summer-vibes.html Vibes for Your Summer!:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2024/07/vibes-for-your-summer.html Island Vibes!:  https://starsparklex.bl...

Today's video is VEQ TI by Kosovo Albanian singer  Era Istrefi  and Kosovo Albanian rapper and singer  Ledri Vula . It was released on 19th July It's Era's latest single (her last release was MOVE ON in March) and a recent one for Ledri (preceding his single JETA IME with Greek Albanian producer and singer  Claydee , which came out on 27th July). This is the second time that Era and Ledri have worked together, having previously collaborated on the single T'LO in June last year. VEQ TI is an Albanian language pop and rap song (with some English lyrics) and Era describes it as  "your sound of the summer" . The title translates as "Only You" in English. The music video also has summery vibes!     For more music by Era check out this post: Music video for MOVE ON  (released in March), plus links to more music:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2026/03/weekly-music-video_25.html    And for more on Ledri visit these links:  Music v...

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...

Today's video is Seema by Romaine Willis . She is a Sri Lankan singer/songwriter from Colombo. Romaine had a passion for music from a young age and started out by performing in local talent events.  She released her debut single Milk & Sugar during the pandemic (August 2021). Later singles Pem Kekula with DJ MASS and Tharunai with APZI and DJ MASS) from Sri Lankan romantic comedy film Yaaluwoda Yaaluida (released in November 2021 and March 2023 respectively) were hits on streaming platforms. In 2022, Romaine released the remix album Mel Peththak Mashup Vol 1. Her other singles include Jealous, Delawan Banda with Sri Lankan rappers Randhir and APZI, Thani Manasaka, Dan with DJ MASS and Seema. In addition to original songs, she does covers. Romaine’s music is a mix of R'n'B and other genres, including pop and jazz. She has been called Sri Lanka's version of South African singer Tyla by fans!  Seema is Romaine's most recent single. It was released last Novembe...

In recent years there have been some interesting collaborations and music crossovers between artists from different countries and music genres. I think it's cool to see diverse styles coming together, so today I'm featuring a few. :)   CKay/Nora Fatehi- IT'S TRUE Nigerian singer and record producer CKay teamed up with Canadian dancer, actress and singer  Nora Fatehi for the song IT'S TRUE in 2024. It's from his album EMOTIONS which was released in October 2024. IT'S TRUE is an Afrobeats song with a mix of English, Pidgin and Hindi lyrics. Nora has Moroccan heritage but is based in India due to her work in Bollywood (and also South Indian film industries ) hence the Hindi lyrics.  I featured the audio (it wasn't released as a single) as a Weekly Music Video last year and it was No. 8 on my Top 10 African Songs post in January. Watch it here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2025/01/weekly-music-video_22.html   LISA feat. Tyla- WHEN I'M WITH YOU In Jun...