After a run of songs that seemed to all be serious, hip, or rocky, today we're returning to "pure pop" that is, most importantly, incredibly fun and happy. Fame (who should really be shown in a color picture, because black-and-white just doesn't represent them) were a Swedish duo made up of Magnus Bäcklund and Jessica Andersson, two contestants on Fame Factory, a reality show singing contest. Though Magnus won (Jessica dropped out), the two would team up to form Fame and ended up representing Sweden in the 2003 Eurovision with "Give Me Your Love," which took fifth. Supposedly, from what I've heard (which could very well be out of date--does anyone know?), the duo is still sort of together, but Magnus released a solo album this year (it's more pop-rock than Fame's music) and they each competed separately in Melodifestivalen. Though the studio recording of "Give Me Your Love" on their album (also called Give Me Your Love) lacks some of the energy and emotion of the live version, the album nevertheless has some really great songs on it--it's incredibly poppy.Anyway You Want It--some of the album's songs have, like "Give Me Your Love," Magnus and Jessica singing together. Others, though, feature just one of the two. This is one of those--it's a Jessica song. "Anyway You Want It" starts out with this neat overlapping, harmonizing effect before it jumps into the energetic, upbeat part of the song. The whole song is cheery, poppy fun, but the chorus deserves special mention--it'll have you wanting to sing along with it.
Like The Sun After Rain--a little more balladish than "Anyway You Want It" (though catchy and still not really slow), "Like The Sun After Rain" features both Jessica and Magnus. It's sweet and, though still very pop, it's a little more toned down--not quite bursting with exuberance like some of their other songs, but still happy.
To buy Fame's debut album Give Me Your Love, go here (physical).
Next up: Give Me Your Love also has a surprising (though I can guess why it's there) cover on it that will be appearing here in the near future. For now, either a song in Spanish or a couple of songs from the new album of an artist who often sings in languages besides English, but is American.
5 comments:
ooo what fun! I love their name! I love them! They are my new favourite duo since Jemini! You can just tell that even though the photo is black and white, the guys shirt is incredibly bright. That's why they had to appear in b&w - people's retinas were at stake!!
Ah ha! That must be it! I think the shirt is purple, if I remember correctly. They are so much fun...their 2004 Melodifestivalen song "Vindarna Vänder Oss" is excellent as well (though I don't actually have it--I haven't been prepared to shell out the $57 [!!!] HMV wants for the Melodifestivalen 2004 album).
$57 is a bit pricey for one song ;)
Does anyone have "the winds turn us mp3?!"
Is there an English version of "Vindarna Vänder Oss" (I know "the winds turn us" is what that translates to)? I don't have an English version, if there is one, but Paul was nice enough to post the Swedish-language version on his blog--
http://thezapping.blogspot.com/2006/11/california-dreaming.html
It's near the bottom of the post, where it says "this mp3 here is for Poppostergirl" (right click and save as on the word "mp3"). Hopefully that helps :) If there is an English version out there, though, let me know...I'll have something else I have to go search for ;)
(By the way, I love your taste in music, judging by your blog!)
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