Friday, May 02, 2008

Baby, this is your moment here in the spotlight

I'll freely admit that Latvian singer DJ Ella's new album isn't going to be for everyone--it's for those of us who love random European starlets singing over dance beats and who eat songs like that up, really (though there are some less dance moments)--but if that's your style, there are several songs worth hearing. Ella's record company has been really making a push to make her big (in Latvia), and to that end they've got some international songwriters' songs for the album, but it wouldn't surprise me to learn that (as is the case for at least several songs, one of which is more of a pure "cover" than a matter of recycled songs like the others) some of the songs I don't recognize have been or will be passed around to other artists as well (but DJ Ella's version was a big improvement on the original, so I'm more than fine with it at least in that case). I've posted the title track and lead single, "Welcome To The Club," and "DJ Take Me" (which really is great), the second single, before, so here's another track worth listening to from the album.

(Side note: Eurovision national fans may know Ella from when she sang the Thomas G:son-co-penned "Heaven In Your Eyes" in Latvia's 2006 national final.)

Shine Like A Superstar--I think this is the latest single, though apparently "Kitchy Kitchy" was a single at some point and I've got no idea how it fits into the singles run. It's a big dance-friendly song with a kind of R&B-ish verse before switching into a big uplifting pop-dance chorus, a hands-in-the-air sort of thing which is so short that it really needs to be done twice in a row (as it eventually is) to have proper impact. The middle 8 is randomly one of those attitude-filled talky bits you often get in electro-pop that doesn't really sound like Ella at all, but there's no "featuring" listed for this track (then again, some of her vocals on "DJ Take Me" sounded completely different from what I thought we knew Ella's voice to be). The whole song kind of feels too short, but you can always go back and play it again, and I like the chorus enough that I'm willing to do that. Gosh, my descriptions are getting really incoherent nowadays, aren't they? That's sort of fitting for this song, though, which doesn't seem sure what it really wants to be or do--it's kind of bonkers in a "did they just take the verse, chorus, and middle 8 from three separate songs?" way, but that sort of endears it to me even more. To be honest, though, any song with this kind of chorus, this big silly upbeat dance-and-forget-your-troubles kind of sound, is probably going to win me over, regardless of what it spends the rest of its time doing.

To buy DJ Ella's album Welcome To The Club, go here (digital); if you really want a physical copy, you might eventually be able to buy it from here. I'm not sure that I'd recommend the whole album, though...then again, I do love all three of her singles (ignoring "Kitchy Kitchy") and at least two or three other tracks on the album. "Welcome To The Club" and "DJ Take Me" are also available on iTunes.

Next up: maybe something French.

8 comments:

Robpop said...

AAAAAAAAH I was gonna do a report about this!!!!! HAHAA!!!!

That is just freaky!

I am trying to get her people to put the album on Amazon. Boys Today sounds amazing.

Myfizzypop said...

can i just say she's not for me, but not everyone is so no worries :) What i am fascinated by are her amazingly long looking legs in that pics. You know the movies that start with the woman holding up the torch in like a roman-esque dress? Her legs are just as unfeasibly long as these :P

Anonymous said...

Hello ;-) I'm from Poland and i'll try write in English...
I'm writing to you because i want to know something about the song "I can be your friend" -Mans Zelmerlow. Can you help me? You can write me at: asia_r.89@wp.pl Greetings to You!

Poster Girl said...

WEIRD, Robpop! And I thought you were unAmerican--can't be if we're on the same wavelength! "Boys Today" should probably be semi-legen (wait for it) DARY if only for those lyrics--some of them come too fast for me to make out, but seriously, I just want to quote them wholesale. I mean, not only do we get lines like "They're looking for girls like a puzzle that fits/with J.Lo's behind and Pamela's gifts," that whole opening verse alone is amazing; I just want to be like "Preach!" Seriously, go ahead and write about her too if you still want to--especially with songs like that, she's crying out for the Don't Stop The Pop treatment. The middle 8 on it is just as random as the one in "Shine Like A Superstar," in fact, even more so--it suddenly switches over to this reggaeton/tribal beat and then midway through to this dialogue about French!

Yeah, I knew she wasn't your style! And like you say, that's fine too--just different tastes and all that. She and Candy Coated Chaos have apparently both recorded one of the same songs, though, in a random Paul association. Yeah, Tyra might not be happy with the pose, but she would tell her she's got legs that go on for miles.

Anonymous, I'll e-mail you!

Anonymous said...

can you please post a link to download "Shine Like A Superstar" on ZSHARE.

Viagra Online said...

What a crap, I wonder if anybody purchased this mediocre album, simply a disaster...

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Generic Viagra said...

I just want to be like "Preach!" Seriously, go ahead and write about her too if you still want to--especially with songs like that, she's crying out for the Don't Stop The Pop treatment. The middle 8 on it is just as random as the one in "Shine Like A Superstar," in fact, even more so--it suddenly switches over to this reggaeton/tribal beat and then midway through to this dialogue about French!