I leave my pride, yeah, I let it slide and I let you know

Danish singer Bryan Rice seems lovely. He's also got a great "backup singer to national star" story. And, though a lot of people will brush off many of his songs as MOR and dull, I like most of them. Shayne Ward's version of "No Promises" may have improved on Bryan's original version, but the Weekend Wonderz remix of Bryan's version is so good that there's no clear winner on the "No Promises" front. "Homeless Heart," even if Amanda Stott might have done it first (I can't tell), fits Bryan perfectly, and he's got some other good songs buried on his album, something which record executives seem to recognize as they've been passed around to numerous other artists, too. It'd be lovely to see Bryan get some more international attention (though I think he's done all right in South Africa, and maybe elsewhere), but I'm worried that, if that was ever going to happen, his debut album would have been the time to do that. I'm certainly not writing off the quality of his new album yet, but I would guess that the lead single for it (and the song I'm posting today, with some reservations) has less chance of getting him that international break than several songs on his debut album.

I Lied--I've been listening to this song for a few days now and I think I know what my main issue with it is: it's a good bridge and some pretty good verses in search of a good chorus. The build-up through the verses and the bridge works really well, but the chorus just doesn't live up to the rest of the song. The end of the first chorus is even OK, when Bryan switches back to a more normal register and practically speaks that last "I lied," but for some reason, the main part of the chorus just doesn't click with me--I think it's especially true for the highest notes. Still, when the second chorus transitions into that big long note, I'm willing to buy the song. I do enjoy "I Lied"--I don't want to give the impression that I don't--but I can't help feeling that it could've been better with some change in the chorus. Still, I like most of it enough to look past that (knowing me, I'll completely love it in another week) and I'm interested to hear more from the album.

To buy Bryan Rice's new single, "I Lied," the lead single for his second album Good News (due out this fall), you can visit his website, which has a digital music store. However, it's worth noting that, unless I just haven't updated Windows Media Player or something, it's not burnable to CD. Since this is a new single, it'll only be posted for a few days.

If you're interested, you can hear another song from Darren Hayes's upcoming album, this time the non-remixed version of "Step Into The Light," on his MySpace.

Next up: I'm not sure--maybe something French.

(P.S. The most interesting description I've read of Bryan is "a mix of Gavin DeGraw, James Blunt, and Savage Garden," which I've only just heard and will have to think about some more.)