Twitter-worthy newsbites, some of which actually have appeared on Twitter:
EDITED!ClipsFull versions (I'm listening to them as I write this) of several Le Kid songs previously unheard by everyone outside of a select few--"Escape," "America," and "We Are The Drums"--are streaming herefull versions here(as well as one full new song, "Seventeen"). The poppy technicolor Swedish group's upcoming debut album is one to watch out for in a big way this year. These new songs are...dreamier than I expected, but in a good way. My guess is these are still demos, but they could very well be the final versions. In other Le Kid news, it looks like "Mercy Mercy" was at some point set for a release late this past December but then canceled--pushed back, I presume. Embedded below are the lovely clips of "Escape" and "America," which I cannot wait to buy and hear in their full versions (edit: you can stream the full versions here, as I said above); in terms of music tone, they kind of remind me of Gwen Stefani's "Cool" and the restrained disco princess side of Kylie, mixed with the best parts of the radio edit of MissMatch's "Breathe In Breathe Out" (which members of the group wrote). Edit: I couldn't help myself--I'm also embedding the clip of the somewhat spunkier "We Are The Drums." The verses kind of have a RedOne-meets-the-Ting-Tings feel, but the song is much better than that makes it sound. Could summer get here quickly, please?
"Escape" (it sounds like this cuts out just before the song fully takes off)
"America"
"We Are The Drums"
(If you haven't listened to swooshy, harder-hitting dance-pop "Telephone" or summery "Mercy Mercy" yet, this is definitely the time to do so.)
Via the latest issue of QX (via in turn Schlagerprofilerna), Linda Bengtzing's upcoming single "Victorious" is a Melodifestival reject and features Velvet. To be honest, as "oh my gosh, Swedish pop princesses colliding!" as that news is, I'd kind of prefer an all-Linda single, but that's just being picky.
As covered by Planet Salem, Chart Rigger, and Scandipop, I'm enjoying Staygold's new single "Backseat Love." The Prince-reminiscent song mainly features vocals from future Melodifestival contestant Salem al Fakir (disguised and under the alias Damien Adore), but in the live performance at the P3 Guld Awards, Robyn stepped in to provide the female vocals usually done by Lady Tigra.
We've finally heard a couple of songs from the reformed-and-featuring-in-a-reality-TV-series Swedish girl group Play. Modern sounding pop, insistent single "Famous" and its sparkly b-side "Girls" have caught my ear, although we'll see if they have lasting power; the problem with much of the output of Janet Leon (one of the artists featured in last year's season of said show) was that, though it took its leads from where pop is at now, many of the songs sounded anonymous over the long run.
In belated news, I've only just noticed that "DESTROY! DESTROY!", just possibly Swedish group DYNO's best song from what we've heard so far, is streaming in a quality better than what you can hear at MySpace over on their Facebook page, accessible whether or not you have an account. Synthy pop-rock that is very much worth your time on every level. Go over the #1 Hits From Another Planet to hear "Above & Beyond."
Speaking of synths, Xenomania-backed British singer Alex Gardner debuted the soulful singer-songwriter over synths sound via the full version of his debut single "I'm Not Mad" getting played on the radio recently; check out Xenomania News for instructions on listening to it or here for a clip. I've been a bit nervous about this project living up to this potential and now find myself in the strange situation of feeling unsure that "I'm Not Mad" is all I wanted it to be while simultaneously playing it much more than I expected. I've been wondering recently if Xenomania's output in the past year or so has always succeeded as matching up a great instrumental to a great vocal part (with, in general, the instrumentals exceeding the vocal melody, but at least not really fitting together), and "I'm Not Mad" kind of enhances the differentiation even more. Still, the song has gone straight into frequent rotation on my iPod, so I must really like it.
There's a low quality recording of Nanne performing her new single "I Natt Är Jag Din" here. The song sounds to have the production style you'd expect from Nanne (flirting with electro-rock), but I'm still not totally convinced. Sanna Nielsen's mid-tempo Celine Dion-like "Devotion," meanwhile, is proving with time to be more enjoyable than my original "OK" rating would indicate. It could still use a better ending, though.
A mini-South African pop music news update (though some of the news is pretty old):
NKD just released their self-titled second album yesterday. I don't know of anywhere that ships internationally selling it, but I'm not sure if I'd buy it anyway. After the trio of former Idol contestants got off to such a good start with the poppy and often Swede-penned songs on their debut, the underrated What's That Noise, they started talking about going acoustic for this new album. Their version of Amy Pearson's "Don't Miss You" is much inferior to Amy's version. Still, I am interested to hear what their latest single, "Step Right Up," sounds like in hopes it'll revive my true interest in them. If the album cover is anything to go by, they've lost a lot of their financial ability to or interest in making themselves a quality girl group. At least we've got songs like "What I Believe," "Quicksand," "Forget Forgetting Me," "Shooting Star"...I'm just going to make myself depressed if I keep thinking about how good they used to be. It was so nice to have a South African girl group that wasn't just going for cheap and (the bad kind of) cheesy.
Quick side note: the pop industry in South Africa isn't that big and, as a result, there is a lot of using songs from other countries that goes on. Sometimes this comes in the form of just buying songs written by foreign songwriters, but other times it moves into somewhat ridiculous recycling of songs. Afrikaans artists in particular have a tendency to end up covering Eurovision and national final songs, in addition to Scandivanian artists' work. At times, the results can be surprisingly good (who would have guessed Arash's "Temptation" would work so well as an Afrikaans language boy band song?), but other times it just becomes...silly.
David Fourie, no stranger to covering songs from Sweden, is apparently working on a new album. The Afrikaaner former Idol contestant has released (as far as I know of) two albums so far, one of which included a version of Baltimora's "Tarzan Boy" that I love to a degree that confuses everyone around me. He also did an Afrikaans version of Fame's "Vindarna Vander Oss" which was the version I ever heard of that song. Anyway, I've yet to figure out whether the fact that I smiled at the news he's recorded a version of Velvet's "Take My Body Close" for his new album was a matter of "what on Earth...?" laughing at or if I'm kind of pleased by the idea. Probably both. Maybe it's affection from nostalgia, but his covers seem to actually have a bit of effort put into them and be pretty well-done, at least compared to those of other artists (though I'm under no illusions that Swedish pop fans will enjoy his version). He better keep the dance style, though, or else we'll have to have a talk.
Apparently Jacques Terre'blanche released "Set Me Free" (which I wrote about maybe a year ago) as a single. Perfect choice. I'm still mightily suspicious of the fact that MOR-y South African artist Mark Beling supposedly wrote this Phixx-esque song, but it's still great. Also, world: he did the dance version of "I Won't Forget" before Belgium, thank you very much (though that's not the version you'll hear in the video in that post and though the song, presumably in a version simiar to that you'll hear in the video, was originally for short-lived British boy band 365). The Colour Red, his latest album, was surprisingly good, with some nice dance-oriented experimentation--we're not talking "import it now" good or anything, and certainly nothing to compete with the best of Sweden's Idol boys, but it had some good songs. I do wish he'd take some decent promo pictures with his shirt on, though.
Another South African girl band also made up of former televised singing contest participants, Jamali, has a...well, I'm not sure if I should call it a cover or interpolation or what. "Re-interpretation" might be the best description. Anyway, they've got a re-interpretation of Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" called "Love At First Sight" on their latest album (listen to a clip here). I'm frankly shocked at how much I love it: it's an adorable sweet little pop song in their hands. Totally post-worthy, so I may do just that in the future (I've been meaning to for a while now). All you other South African artists, take note: how to do a pop cover version right.
I love Velvet. I really do. For fun Swedish dance-pop, the sort of thing made for throwing your hands in the air and losing yourself on the dancefloor, she's pretty hard to beat. It's been about two years since the release of the first single from her second album, "Fix Me" and since then, she's had us at her feet with nearly every single release.
With The Queen, that long-awaited second album, only including four previously unheard songs ("Radio Star," "Play," "My Destiny," and "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes," the last being a cover of an Ultravox song), it would be easy for the album as a whole to come off as nothing more than a way to hear those four songs. The infectious dance vibe of the previously heard songs has remained so untarnished, though, that The Queen ends up being a cohesive celebration of pop that is far more than the sum of those four songs.
It helps that the previously heard but not formally released songs have been tweaked. "My Rhythm" sounds much less demo-like with its newer punchier production and is even more single-worthy than it was in its already great original version. The incredibly dance-friendly "Sound Of Music" was perfect as it was, but its alterations are subtler and don't detract from the song; choosing to include it on the album was one of the best decisions Velvet and her management could have made since it's songs like this one that sum up what Velvet is about to me.
That there are some real highlights among the new songs surely helps, too. "Radio Star" is penned by pop genius Tony Nilsson, also responsible for "The Queen," and it shows: as opposed to the swooshy dance-pop production that characterizes much of Velvet's other work, there's a little more restraint here, but when the melody is this good--and this cute, for all that Velvet and Swedish writers may comment that her work with Tony is "cooler"--that's not a problem; it just puts the song a little closer to the pop side of the spectrum than the dance side, while still staying absolutely danceable. Does anyone make a chorus of pop bliss like Tony does? "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes" won't surprise anyone who knows the song or any of the numerous dance covers of it, but it's a song that suits being dance-pop-ified and Velvet's style. It easily sits alongside the rest of Velvet's work. The same can't quite be said of "My Destiny," by virtue of it being the album's only ballad (though the occasional '80s synth touches help it seem a little more in place), or "Play," also of considerably more subdued than the rest of the album, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're bad songs.
The main reason the album is such a remarkable success, though, is that the songs are flat-out great. The staying power of songs like the dance attack "Fix Me" and horns-featuring "Chemistry" is pretty tough to beat, with time only further proving them to be some of the best dance-pop music the world has made in the past two years. There's no reason we shouldn't be playing follow-ups like "Take My Body Close" and "Come Into The Night" years from now either; both those songs provide the very musical definition of "sparkling" as they spin you around and get you searching for the nearest empty space to turn into your own personal disco. "Sound Of Music" may beat them at their own game, but even if time proves that to be true, that doesn't make them any less great or any less fun. The aformentioned "The Queen" deserved far better than its stuck-in-semifinal fate in this year's Melodifestival and is a perfect pop song.
In short? Buybuy buy! The Queen is practically a greatest hits album and a must-listen for all Swedish pop lovers or anyone who loves pop you can dance to. Velvet makes pop music worth celebrating and perfect for celebrating to--a pop lover's dream.
This coming semifinal, the third overall, has the chance to give us a solid top four. Will that happen? That will depend not just on the voters but whether the artists participating live up to the potential they have. There are also a good number of acts here that I can imagine just being filler.
1.) Velvet, "The Queen" (Tony Nilsson/Henrik Janson) Backing singer turned artist in her own right Jenny Petterson, a.k.a. Velvet, has built herself quite a fanbase among fans of Swedish dance-pop. She makes her third appearance in Melodifestivalen this year, following 2006's Latin-flavored "Mi Amore" (which made it to the second chance round but no further, though it did prompt a revamp of the rules so that artists in the second chance round got to perform their songs again) and 2008's disco "Déjà Vu" (which didn't make it out of its semifinal). Outside of the contest, she's released a good number of great dance-pop songs; her 2006 album may have been Finally, but that title, accurate for its time, would be even more appropriate for her upcoming album The Queen: we've been waiting for it since she released the amazing swooshy dance-pop song "Fix Me" in early 2007. In the intervening time, she's released four additional singles, meaning that by the time the song "The Queen" comes out, she'll have released six singles from her new album before it's even come out.
If September is the queen of classy Swedish dance-pop, Velvet tends to make more hands-in-the-air sort of stuff, big fun dance your worries away tracks which sparkle with a touch of '80's. "The Queen" may be a bit of a change for her, though; Velvet has said it's not like her other tracks. Since she explained that by saying that it's dancier and poppier, though, I'm not worried (as well as confused--how a song could possibly be both poppier and dancier than what she's previously released, I have no idea). Velvet has also said the song is a cool electro dance song and will have a Madonna-inspired performance. The song is co-written by Tony Nilsson (of Ola's best songs, Elin Lanto's "Discotheque," Johan Krafman's music, very underrated work for himself, and, in addition to other songs, my probably undying musical love) and is described by its writers as an attitude-filled retro hit which you either love or hate. Schlagerprofilerna said a little while ago that, out of the girl pop group of Marie Serneholt, Agnes, Amy Diamond, and Agnes, Velvet had the most buzz.
Supposedly The Queen, Velvet's new album, comes out March 18. By that point, we'll have heard at least seven tracks on it--the singles plus "Sound Of Music"--and maybe eight, if "My Rhythm" is on it. She's also just about to release "Chemistry" in the UK, complete with, as Chart Rigger pointed out, a Pete Hammond remix.
To watch: other people have other favorites, but I still love "Fix Me" too much to not post it
2.) Rigo & the Topaz Sound feat. Red Fox, "I Got U" (Rodrigo Pencheff/Tobias Karlsson) I tend to associate Rigo, a member of Infinite Mass and a solo artist, with kind of Latin-influenced urban pop (or hip-hop), sometimes reggaeton-influenced. I'm not hugely familiar with his work, though. Topaz Sound is the band backing him up here, I think, and Red Fox is a reggae singer. The songwriters describe "I Got U" as a happy '50s-'60s inspired song with a Caribbean touch, not a hip hop song but not schlager either.
To watch: the music video for "Vamos a bailar"
3.) Molly Sandén, "Så vill stjärnorna" (Ingela "Pling" Forsman/Bobby Ljunggren/Marcos Ubeda) Bert Karlsson, a record company svengali who always tries to get artists in Melodifestivalen, has been trying to get Molly in the contest since the 2008 edition. Now she's actually old enough to enter and, unsurprisingly, here she is. Even without Bert, though, I would've expected and hoped to see her in the contest after her breakthrough in 2006, when she won Sweden's national final for Junior Eurovision and took Sweden to what was by far its best place, third. The song that did it for her, her self-written schlager ballad "Det finaste någon kan få," is nothing short of fantastic (as well as my go-to proof for the fact that yes, I can love schlager ballads).
As a commenter mentioned recently, Molly may be younger than Amy Diamond, but she has a much older-sounding voice; if it's Amy's voice that you find the main stumbling block with liking her, you may have a much better chance of liking Molly. Hopefully her song, described by its songwriters as a beautiful ballad about when destiny finally happens and by Molly as atmospheric, beautiful and with a Nordic touch, is worthy of her; along with Sarah Dawn Finer, Molly is one of my two big ballad hopes for this year. The songwriters are Melodifestival stalwarts, which means they've penned both songs I love and songs I feel no attachment to--hopefully this is one of their better efforts, but it could go either way. Christer Björkman says the song is a classic Swedish ballad, but I'm not necessarily going to take his word for it. Schlagerprofilerna did say that they'd heard "Så vill stjärnorna" is a strong ballad that those who've heard it expect to end up in Globen.
To watch: Molly singing "Det finaste någon kan fa," of course (here at the Swedish final for Junior Eurovision). Keep in mind this was back in 2006 when she was fourteen; she's only had time to grow up and get better since then.
4.) E.M.D., "Baby Goodbye" (Erik Segerstedt/Mattias Andréasson/Danny Saucedo/Oscar Görres) Made up of three former Idol contestants, boy band E.M.D. has yet to really impress me. Given that Sweden is the source of most of the boy band classics, a Swedish boy band really should be releasing fantastic songs, not uninspiring covers of "All For Love" and generally decent but unmemorable material. Given that Danny, since before joining the group, has been the singer of fantastic dance-pop songs, the fact that the group has a serious lack of great up-tempo songs has been disappointing for me. That hasn't stopped them from doing very well in Sweden, though, building up a large number of fans and (somewhat crazily) taking home the title of year's best track with "Jennie Let Me Love You" at Sweden's 2008 Grammis.
Their description of their self-written entry, "Baby Goodbye" (chosen at the last minute instead of the Jörgen Elofsson-penned "Saturday Night," currently released as a single by group member Erik) is exactly the thing they needed to say to get me interested in it despite my reservations: a self-confident up-tempo song that isn't a typical E.M.D. song. and the sort of thing that would do well in Europe. It's true that co-writer Oscar Görres did one of the better tracks on the group's debut album, the melodic piano-and-strings "Run To You," but my real hope is that he and Danny have indulged their electronic and dance sides that so far they've shown everywhere else besides the E.M.D. project. "Hey (I've Been Feeling Kind Of Lonely)," "Blue," "Running Away," and "Turn Of The Sound" from Danny's solo albums were all co-written by Danny and Oscar. Oscar is also the co-writer of The Provider's electronic pop song "Wanna Feel Real," Monrose's "Hit 'n Go," and Donal Skehan's "Double Cross My Heart," which is a pretty poppy catalogue. I'm hoping that the group will have decided they'd rather be Danny-as-a-group or "Bye Bye Bye"-era 'N Sync and, at least for "Baby Goodbye," have gone in that direction. That's probably hoping for too much, especially since their interviews have made it sound like it was mainly Erik who wrote it, but there's a chance the group could exceed the low quality expectations I think people have for them.
To watch: E.M.D. performing (via playback) "Jennie Let Me Love You," their second single and first original single
5.) Mikael Rickfors, "Du vinner över mig" (Thomas G:son) Mikael Rickfors is, from what I understand, one of those artists who's been around for a long time in Sweden and has worked as both part of a group and solo. He's not an artist who's work I'm not familiar with, despite the large number of albums he's released. Thomas G:son is a name I'm familiar with, given the generally schlager-inclined writer's large output over the years--sometimes throwaway (Anna Book's "Samba Sambero") and sometimes great. Mikael is generally more of a rock artist, though, not your typical Melodifetival act, and he says "Du vinner över mig" is a rock song which only has just a little schlager in it.
"Du vinner över mig" is described by G:son as "'80s style in a leather suit," whatever that means.
To watch listen: "Vingar," an '80's hit of his
6.) Maja Gullstrand, "Här för mig själv" (Thomas G:son/Marcos Ubeda) Maja, like many a past Melodifestival contestant, appeared on reality singing show Fame Factory. For all that, though, she doesn't make music in a "typical Melodifestival style" at all--it's quirky light jazzy bossa nova style stuff. From the description of the songwriters, it sounds like that's what we should expect here, too; they say "Här för mig själv" is groovy trendy neo-retro bossa nova clad in flowery yellow velour pajamas (yes, that's really the description). Maja has released two albums in Sweden, but it's still unlikely she's got the fanbase to push her onto the next round. Still, strange things can happen in Melodifestivalen.
To watch: Maja singing maybe her biggest hit, "Alla dessa ord," live
7.) Sofia, "Alla" (Dimitri Stassos/Henrik Wikström/Irini Michas/Nina Karolidou) Sofia has competed in Melodifestivalen once before, failing to make it out of her semifinal with "Hypnotized" in 2007 (despite me thinking the Greek-flavored up-tempo pop song--kind of in the style Helena Paparizou used to do--was the second best track in its heat). She's done a little in other countries since then but not anything in Sweden. Now blonde, she returns to the contest with a rock-inspired ethno-pop song--tough pop-rock with a cool riff according to the writers--all in Greek and in a Eurovision pop style. It's co-written by one of the writers of "Hypnotized" and the man who was, at some point in the past two years, working on an album with her, Dimitri Stassos. Henrik Wikström has contributed to too many Melodifestival tracks to name while the other two songwriters are making their first appearance in the contest (though I've written positively about Irini Michas's Greek-flavored dance-rock-pop song "Play" before).
To watch: Sofia performing "Hypnotized" at Melodifestivalen 2007
8.) BWO, "You're Not Alone" (Fredrik Kempe/Alexander Bard/Anders Hansson) On paper, this should be an easy contender for the title of best song in Melodifestivalen. Three-time entrant electronic pop group BWO's past two entries into the contest, "Temple Of Love" and "Lay Your Love On Me," have both been quality tracks loved by the fans (and they took second and third respectively at Melodifestivalen) and the group has made many a fantastic pop track since their 2005 debut album, Prototype. Composed of singer Martin Rolinski (a former reality TV singing contestant), Alexander Bard (a pop maestro behind songs by Army of Lovers and Alcazar among many others), and Martina Schiptjenko (who does the group's frequent fabulously spoken middle eights), BWO have an admirable commitment to making modern (or maybe more aptly futuristic) pop music--a commitment which they take seriously--and never fail to be impeccably styled. In my opinion, though, the group was a little off their game with their third album, a fact I was made less worried about when they debuted the "Hung Up"-like "Lay Your Love On Me" in last year's Melodifestival. Unfortunately, he two new tracks on their greatest hits besides that song weren't exciting for me, but they're a group I'm always going to want to like.
With songwriters like those of "You're Not Alone," though, one has to hope for the best even more so than you would just because BWO is involved. Bard, as mentioned, has put his name to many a great pop track. Fredrik Kempe's star has risen rapidly in Melodifestivalen since 2007's "Cara Mia," with him winning with Charlotte Perrelli's "Hero" last year and scoring a number of entries this year. Anders Hansson, like Bard, is a writer and producer with pop roots running back a long time, at least to the '80's, and also like Bard worked with the Alcazar of the past, though unlike Bard he's also working with the group in its current incarnation. In addition to co-writing Alcazar's "Stay The Night" from this year, he's also the man behind Agnes's latest album, which includes the top-notch disco-pop track "Release Me." He's a man whose work I'm always going to be interested in, even if every track isn't a 10 out of 10 for me.
Add up three exciting pop songwriters like that and a group as interesting and capable of pop brilliance as BWO and you should get something fans are dying to hear--and they are. Will it be worth the wait? I'm far more nervous than I want to be. "You're Not Alone" exists in two versions, one ballad and one disco, and it's the ballad version--described as a modern dramatic electro gospel ballad--the group has chosen to enter into the contest, though the song didn't start its life as a ballad and it's said they've left open the option of entering the disco version in Eurovision should they win and many other countries choose to send ballads. Part of me is extremely skeptical of acts who I prefer doing up-tempo work who've entered great songs in Melodifestivalen in the past "going ballad" in search of a win. Anyway, BWO says the song starts small and then becomes really big before ending small again and that it will remind people of Dima Bilan's "Believe," while Schlagerprofilerna referred to it as "Timbaland meets Army of Lovers." BWO also say it shows off Martin's voice. The group says they've changed their image, too: they're going more sci-fi and more futuristic.
A new album, Big Science, will be coming out April 1 and boasts producers including the aforementioned Bard and Hansson as well as another frequent Melodifestival songwriter, Henrik Wikström, and Johan Fjellström, the man behind West End Girls and Star Pilots as well as Verona's 2007 entry "Ti Sento." The group has at various times said that its new sound will be "inspired by such varied sources as Duran Duran, The Killers, contemporary electronic pop, classic soul and R&B" and that it is a little like the Killers and has some traces of Kraftwerk, but with BWO production still.
To watch: BWO performing "Temple Of Love" at Melodifestivalen 2006. If they mean it when they say this new song is more gospel, though, maybe "Chariots Of Fire" would be a better indication of what to expect, even if that is up-tempo.
What I expect my favorites to be: this is kind of hard--there are some people I'm hoping to like but that, moreso than in the past weeks, I could just as easily be left unmoved by. I want to love Velvet's song and I do like most of her work and Tony Nilsson's work so it looks promising, but "Deja Vu" isn't a song I return to at all at this point. As I said above, I have real concerns about BWO, concerns I'm hoping are misplaced. There's still a good chance their song will be one of my favorites of the week, though. Molly is right up there too for me, though once again, I don't feel safe about the song yet. That's even more true for E.M.D.; there's a good chance I'll rank their song in my top four, but will they really turn things around and be as fantastic as a Swedish boy band should be? I liked Sofia's last entry, but the rock part of the description does make me a bit nervous considering that the "heavier" songs I've heard from her and from those writers are more often misses than hits for me. Those first four--Velvet, BWO, Molly Sandén, and E.M.D.--are the four I'm guessing will be my favorites, though, and there's a decent chance I'll like Sofia's song, too. There's some great potential here, but equally potential to be let down.
"Sound Of Music," a song sung by Velvet which I posted on here a little while ago, will apparently be on Velvet's new album, despite the fact that I wrote at the time that the song was a demo for Lutricia McNeal. I can only guess that it was decided the song fit Velvet so well she should keep it (well, that and the fact that with her appearance in Melodifestivalen and Lutricia's still-stalled release of any new single, it seemed like there was more forward motion with Velvet's career). Even though the song's inclusion means we've heard at least six songs on the album ("Fix Me," "Chemistry," "Déjà Vu," "Take My Body Close," "Come Into The Night," and "Sound Of Music"), definitely know the title of one more ("The Queen," which we'll first get a taste of on February 20, since she's competing in the third Melodifestival semifinal), and have heard a track that we can guess is on the album but I don't think was every a proper single and so can't be sure about ("My Rhythm"), I'm thrilled about the news--it's a fantastic song. In celebration, here's another demo sung by Velvet, though this one really isn't for her, just her providing vocals on a track so it can be promoted to other artists. It's not quite as classy as "Sound Of Music," but it's fun if you're into everything dance-pop. Hopefully the date Velvet's official site announces as "preliminary," March 18, gets stuck to--we've been waiting forever for this album.
Johan Krafman's "Chain Reaction" is now officially released as a single. I'm incredibly nervous about how it'll do for him after "Disarmed"'s failure to properly take off, but I've got my fingers crossed for him. Buy it here (digital).
Lily Allen's new album is too fantastic to do a rushed write-up job for right now, but ahead of a proper review I have to mention that listening to songs like "Who'd Have Known" and "Chinese" makes me wish I was in a steady relationship in the most lovely wistful real world way possible, something even the lyrical content of "I Could Say" (almost unspeakably lovely) and "Not Fair" can't impede.
Another Tuesday, another set of confirmed Melodifestivalen performers. The information on the songs, as usual, comes from SVT, QX, and Gylleneskor, and the photos are all from SVT. As always, I strongly encourage all Melodifestival fans to read Schlagerprofilerna, the best blog out their for Melodifestival information. Most of this set of all-female artists have competed in Melodifestivalen before.
Velvet, "The Queen" (Tony Nilsson, Henrik Janson) Velvet's competed in Melodifestivalen twice before, with "Mi Amore" and, last year, "Deja Vu." This year, she returns with a Tony Nilsson co-penned track; given my on-the-record love for his work (Ola's "S.O.S.," "Natalie," "Can't Get Enough," "Love In Stereo," and "Feelgood" and Elin Lanto's "Discotheque," among other songs), you can bet I'm interested to hear this. Hopefully her entrance in Melodifestivalen means that her second album will finally come out--it'll be something like two years since the debut of "Fix Me" by then (and with a bunch of in between tracks in the meantime)! The description for this song calls it (I think) a kind of stuck-up retro song which people will either hate or love. Velvet says that it's a Velvet-type song with attitude, an up-tempo song that won't disappoint people who liked "Deja Vu."
Agnes, "Love Love Love" (Anders Hansson) After the drama of a disqualified track in 2007, Agnes is finally in Melodifestivalen. The former Idol winner will be singing a song by the man behind her latest album, so we have reason to believe him and be excited when he describes "Love Love Love" as a positive disco-pop song. Agnes says this song was the first she worked on with Anders and that it's a little (a little?!) in the same style as the songs on the album.
Shirley Clamp, "Med hjärtat fyllt av ljus" (Ingela Pling Forsman/Bobby Ljunggren/Henrik Wikström ) Shirley Clamp returns to Melodifestivalen for the first time since 2005 and fourth time overall. Quite a lot has happened since then, including a movement away from the schlager of her 2004 and 2005 entries, the former of which, "Min Kärlek," is the big keeper. Her entry this year is described by its writers as a melodic mid-tempo song which is demanding of its singer and which is about being in the middle of life and realizing its true worth. Shirley, though describing it as a ballad (in two separate sources), also agrees that you can almost call it mid-tempo and calls it powerful, adding that it is more like her previous Melodifestival songs (though more mature) than like her last album. Its creators are certainly big Melodifestival names--will that add up to something great?
Sofia, "Alla" (Nina Karolidou/Irini Michas/Dimitri Stassos/Henrik Wikström) Sofia returns to Melodifestivalen after 2007's underrated "Hypnotized" (which, along with Andreas Lundstedt's "Move," was my easy favorite from that year's first semifinal). Her song for 2009 is described as a rock-inspired ethnic (Greek) pop song and heavy pop-rock with a cool riff, which sounds like a switch away from the maybe more Greek dance sound of "Hypnotized."
Lili & Susie, "Show Me Heaven" (Susie Päivärinta, Calle Kindbom, Thomas G:son, Pär Lönn, Nestor Geli) The return of '80's pop duo Lili & Susie! And their song is described as longing '80's nostalgia with a strong chorus and clear melody, a song which won't disappoint those who like the duo; it's said to be a little like their earlier hit "Bara du och jag" in a dance version and have the happiness of "What's The Colour Of Love." I really need to do a post about them at some point--they really did have some great fun hits; I'm hoping "Show Me Heaven" will be great as well, as opposed to some of the not-so-great comebacks that have taken place. They'll be releasing an album of old songs but also with new material.
Amy Diamond, "It's My Life" (Alexander Bard/Bobby Ljunggren/Oscar Holter) Just look at those writer names--that's some real pop and/or Melodifestival royalty right there, especially in the first two (Bard of Army of Lovers, early Alcazar, and BWO and Ljunggren of too many Melodifestival entries to name, though he was incredibly successful in last year's Melodifestival). I loved Amy's Melodifestival song last year, too, as well as the album that preceded it (and her earlier work), so I'm hopeful "It's My Life," described by its writers as an uptempo electro and dance song with attitude, will continue her growing up process while still being great.
Aftonbladet is also reporting that Marie Serneholt will be the next joker announced, which would be amazing news--I really want new music from her. Interestingly, apparently--in addition to the (not coming to fruition) rumored idea of her and Agnes dueting on "Love Love Love"--there was a proposal/interest from the contest in reuniting A*Teens to compete, but the group's members said no. Aftonbladet also says that Thorleifs, a dansband, will take over "Den första kyssen," the track Lasse Stefanz declined to sing.
I need opinions on something: do you think the singer on this is Velvet?
Technically what that is is a demo for Lutricia McNeal--if "Same Same Same" and this song are anything to go by, her next album, whenever it gets released, will actually be pretty great, as well as pretty fun--but the voice sounded familiar to me, and after a little bit of thinking about it I thought maybe it might be Jenny; that opening "ooo, it's on my mind" sounds like her to me, but her voice isn't distinctive enough for me to ID for sure (and that's in a backing vocal-type part anyway). The most important thing about the song, though, is that it's fun, part pop, part dance, and disco.
What does anyone think? And, if you don't think it's her, am I alone in thinking the voice sounds familiar--who is it? Or is it just a matter of a studio voice chosen to be kind of generic?
(I should probably say that this song is by Anton Malmberg, who co-wrote "Same Same Same" and Magnus Carlsson's "Walking In My Shoes"...and I should also probably point out that Anton's co-written a lot of Luigi Masi's songs, including presumptive next single "Strangers Again.")
EDITED! 
Speaking of synths, Xenomania-backed British singer Alex Gardner debuted the soulful singer-songwriter over synths sound via the full version of his debut single "I'm Not Mad" getting played on the radio recently; check out Xenomania News for instructions on listening to it or here for a clip. I've been a bit nervous about this project living up to this potential and now find myself in the strange situation of feeling unsure that "I'm Not Mad" is all I wanted it to be while simultaneously playing it much more than I expected. I've been wondering recently if Xenomania's output in the past year or so has always succeeded as matching up a great instrumental to a great vocal part (with, in general, the instrumentals exceeding the vocal melody, but at least not really fitting together), and "I'm Not Mad" kind of enhances the differentiation even more. Still, the song has gone straight into frequent rotation on my iPod, so I must really like it.
