Friday, February 22, 2008

There's no way to explain those feelings

I'm pretty excited at the moment--after what seems like ages and really must be something like 10 months since Turnaround introduced it to me, I finally finally finally have (a non-MySpace rip of) Jonathan Fagerlund's song "Playing Me," which I've been in love with from the first listen. Back when he released his debut single, "Angeline," I made it my song of the day but didn't post it because his label had done such a fantastic job of making it easy for international customers to buy--in addition to being able to buy a physical copy of it, customers could get it from any country's iTunes stores or Klicktrack without region restrictions--and I really wanted him to do as well as possible. His brand new single "Playing Me" is still available to international customers if you want to buy the physical single, but digitally it's restricted just to Swedish customers. With that in mind, I am going to post it, but only for a short time; for people outside of Sweden, importing singles is just ridiculously cost prohibitive, but I don't want to risk hurting sales for him (though admittedly that's unlikely), since he's still trying to establish himself. Anyway, back to Jonathan, in case you missed my earlier posts on him, he's a former member of an ill advised Lou Pearlman-managed boy band, but he left (good call) and is now pursuing a solo career. He's young, younger than a usually like my popstars being, but if the songs are great enough, I'm more than willing to make an exception, and so far, his are.

Playing Me--perfect boy pop. Perfect teen pop? Mmm...better just to say perfect pop--or maybe even better to say that it's perfect pop for me. It's difficult for me to avoid getting all hyperbolic about this song because it's exactly the sort of music I adore; it does everything I could've wanted it to do without feeling by numbers at all. "Playing Me" may be made up of lots of non-"real instruments," but at the least it's supposed to sound like it isn't--not in the sense that this is guitar pop or anything, but in that it's going for a fuller, more fleshed-out sound. "Playing Me" is soaring uplifting catchy Swedish pop (yes, it may not have happy uplifting lyrics, but that's exactly the right word to describe the melody), complete with strings, and I love it with every bit of my heart. Could you tell?

To buy Jonathan Fagerlund's single "Playing Me" (he's credited just as "Jonathan" on it), go here (physical).

Next up: Melodifestivalen! Though at some point I do want to write about that national final I alluded to--which, interestingly enough, includes another former member of that boy band and a friend of Jonathan's.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

So I take it you're rooting for Donal over the turkey?

Anonymous said...

Isn't it amazing.
Pure popjoy!

I really hope "Playing me" will enter the charts, but I'm not too optimistic.

Does the video get airplay in Sweden?

turnaround

Poster Girl said...

Len...I didn't want to come across as predictable, but, basically, yes! I've got two posts sitting as drafts at the moment, one about Donal before we heard the song and the other about Dustin after hearing the songs. I know it's a lost cause--to take a quote over from Chig's site, it's "a sacrificial song in the Dustin the Turkey pre-selection"--but I think it's great.

I'm not optimistic either, turnaround--I really don't think it is, but then again, it did just come out midway through the week, so it could have started being played and I just haven't noticed. :(

Myfizzypop said...

This is the best boyband song i've heard in ages. everything about it screams an understanding of what makes good pop music. His voice is lovely and warm for someone so young - i can't wait to hear a full album from him, as he is batting two for two so far.

Poster Girl said...

Oh, Paul, I know you already knew about it, but I loved reading that comment--you're exactly right about everything you say, too (not that I'm surprised ;) ). I forgot to mention how...classy this song is. I know that seems like an odd word to use, but it doesn't have that sense of being try hard that many (and even many good) recent boy band songs do.

Unknown said...

Thanks a lot poster girl for your great articles and for taking the time to answer the comments. Love your blog ! Keep it going on ;)

Poster Girl said...

Thanks so much! :D That's so great to hear and so kind of you to say!