So when I smile I am crying

While American Idol finalists are off filming car commercials, Norwegian Idol's finalists have, for the past two years, recorded an original song. 2005's was the cute poppy "Dreaming," but the show's managers must have decided they wanted something a little less cheesy and a little more credible (here, read that as "with more guitars and not quite as shamelessly happy," though still far from cool) for the following year, the year which Aleksander With ended up winning. Normally that would be worrying, but 2006's song actually turned out to be truly great--which might have had something to do with the fact that (I think) Espen Lind was involved with writing it. They also filmed a music video for it which, in addition to being quite endearing and looking, as one YouTube commenter said, like it's "a commercial for Gap or Old Navy," made me realize something else about Norwegian Idol: its contestants are, in general, a lot better looking than ours. Pretty young, too.



This Is Life--kind of teen pop-ish, but a little more serious than you'd expect for something with that description. It's sort of an odd combination really, even stealing some elements from rock balladry. Before that reference turns everyone off, it really is a catchy pop song, just catchy in a different sort of way--the hooks here feel...heavier, maybe, to go along with the song's theme--which, despite what the video and the song's background would make you expect, is sort of depressing. I mean, lyrically those verses are pretty bleak, aren't they? I don't know, maybe the reason they're all smiling is that saying that this is what life is is supposed to be some sort of existentialist affirmation or something, but shouldn't these kids all be celebrating? They've made it to the finals! Anyhow, tossed together with some guitar hooks that feel very...solid, some "woah-oh-oh"s, and the appealing young-sounding voices of the singers, they add up to a great pop song, one of the sort that feels confessional without really confessing that much, probably to allow people to fill in the gaps with their own experiences...and I don't know, I know that's not unique to teen pop, but the song feels very tailored for the teen experience, though its audience and appeal certainly shouldn't be seen as limited to teens.

You can buy the Idol 2006 album, which has this song on it, here (physical).

Next up: maybe another Norwegian song that I was planning to post today. Or Alejandro Fuentes's latest single, the one I wrote about a few days ago.