Hold on just for a while

A few notes on artist and songwriter-related subjects:

Martin Stenmarck's upcoming album, I Septemberland, features five songs from the team at Swedish music publishing and production company TEN (A*Teens, Amy Diamond, Erik Hassle). In this case, though, the songs don't seem to be by the Tysper/Grizzly/Mack team (who in addition to the aforementioned successes have also been the creators of Industry's "My Baby's Waiting" and VV Brown's "Shark In The Water") but rather by Elof Loelv and Kim Wennerström, who also worked with Erik Hassle and produced Malena Ernman's "La Voix." Kim is also a member of the band DYNO and Elof has worked with them (if you're not already a fan, now's the time to fall in love with them; they're overdue a post here, but in the meantime, check out coverage on #1 Hits From Another Planet and Don't Stop The Pop), who are now under TEN's wings. Anyway, I wouldn't expect a change in Martin's style, but hopefully this is a good sign in terms of quality meeting accessibility. The song titles TEN is involved with are:

I Septemberland
Gråa Hjärtans Sång
Happy Ending
Jag Vill, Jag Vill, Jag Vill
J, Jeff och Jesus

Kris Allen apparently wrote some songs with Eg White (Will Young's "Leave Right Now," "Who Am I," "Let It Go," "I Won't Give Up," "Tell Me The Worst," James Morrison's "You Give Me Something," Adele) for his upcoming debut major label album. The tracklisting isn't finalized yet, so it's uncertain which if any will make the cut.

(Side note: the first tastes of Adam Lambert's new music is out, but it's a non-album power ballad, "Time For Miracles," for the 2012 soundtrack and is apparently not indicative of the sound of the album. Oh, and Dr. Luke recently mentioned he was adding retro synths to a song for Adam--I'm hoping he means Van Halen's "Jump"-style synths.)

Bosson released a greatest hits collection this past summer. Did anyone else not know that? A quick glance at the tracklisting doesn't show any new songs beyond a version of "One In A Million" featuring Elizma Theron. I hope he releases new material soon...and that it's more like his older songs, not like "Wake Up." He's friends with Twentyfive Productions (Lisette Vares, Danny's "I Need To Know") on MySpace, which could mean they just produced the new version of "One In A Million" or he's working on them with new stuff.

As Paul of Fizzy Pop and PopMuse have written, the video for Will Young's new single, "Hopes & Fears," is out. It's a great song, one of those gentle mid/up-tempo hybrids that just makes you feel better about the day.

Seven of the songs on Magnus Carlsson's upcoming album Pop Galaxy are by Pitchline (Velvet's "Take My Body Close" and "Come Into The Night" and a song with Elin Lanto that I still hope to hear some day--speaking of which, Scandipop has great Elin news about a new single and possible participation in a certain music festival).

Kleerup, Natasha Bedingfield, and newcomer Jonas Myrin (you might know him best as the male mannequin in Sophie Ellis-Bextor's "Get Over You" video) all worked on a song together--presumably for Natasha. It was such a surprising combination that I had to mention it.

James Morrison has a new single, "Get To You," coming out to promote the rerelease of his second album, Songs For You, Truths For Me. It's produced by Mark Taylor, the same man who produced "Broken Strings," his excellent duet with Nelly Furtado, as well as many, many other songs. It's not quite as great as that earlier single, but it's good.

Nanne's great recent single "Otacksamhet" was co-written and co-produced by '80s Swedish popstar Paul Rein. Given how much I ADORE the Epicentre-penned "Kom Hit," on which Nanne duets with Paul, I'm thinking they should collaborate more often.

I'm sure all the hardcore Agnes fans already knew this, but half of Agnes's demo version of "Say Love," the song which eventually ended up being released by Sandra, is streaming in the music section of the website of the song's cowriters, Epicentre's Anders Wikström and Fredrik Thomander.

Addictive hold

We are a little less than a week away from what could be the biggest case of "I never really expected it to happen" pop justice for a Swedish song in the UK since Robyn got a pair of top 10 hits, including a #1.



As much as I fell in instant, unshakable love with Agnes's disco-pop "Release Me" the moment I heard it--the moment I heard those opening strings, probably--I never really thought its UK release would result in anything other than another song to add to the seemingly endless list of Swedish pop songs scheduled for British release, ignored by British media outlets, and then switched to a half-hearted small release at the last moment in recognition of the fact that they're guaranteed to flop. As much as I'm glad for September's success there, it didn't surprise me on anything near my levels of shock at seeing Agnes's "Release Me" sitting at #6 on the UK iTunes chart a day after its release.



If you live in the UK, you can buy the UK edit of "Release Me"--which, as I understand it, isn't having a physical release, so needs all the digital sales it can get--from iTunes here. Regardless of where you live, you can buy the most complete Swedish edition of the album from which "Release Me" comes, Dance Love Pop, here (physical) or here (digital). It's joyous disco-pop meets uplifting luscious '80s poppy R&B made by Anders Hansson, whose role in Sweden in the '80s you could maybe roughly compare to a member of SAW's but who has continued to be an important if not always fully acknowledged pop hitmaker there (though over the past year the success and quality of his work has become increasingly hard to ignore).

It's where my mother-in-law sleeps

I've always made a conscious effort to keep this blog only about music, which has been pretty tough at times. However, seeing as no less than Robyn appears in the video clip below, I feel justified in posting it. The Daily Show and Sweden, politics and music in the same segment? Sigh...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
The Stockholm Syndrome
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

Also, if you think there's a better way to spend the 11 PM-midnight hour than watching The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, you are WRONG. Well, OK, maybe sleeping and catching up with them the next day. But otherwise, WRONG. This isn't the most hurt-your-stomach-laughing bit they've ever done, but when my loves collide like this, the world is a wonderful place to be.

In other Swedish pop news, Agnes's "Release Me" has been C-listed on the UK's Radio 1. Radio 1. I can't believe this is happening--as much as I thought the song was instant and had the potential to win over loads of pop fans who usually ignore Swedish music, I really expected the song to end up as another "well, no one's interested in playing it so we'll just release it as a download only and forget about the whole campaign" case. If you're not yet on board with the song with the best disco strings since the Freemasons remixed Beyoncé's "Ring The Alarm" (though the overall feel of the song is pure swooning joy, not the drama of that Beyoncé track), now is the time to become so.

Can you keep a secret?

Tonight was what Melodifestivalen is about. Fantastic songs...and, in general, some fantastic results. Four of my big favorite top five songs made the top five and from there the four to make it to the next level were all the ones in my top five list. Heck, even the fifth placed song of the night was one I liked and would have placed sixth.

My least favorite were Next 3's reggaeton "Esta Noche" (I think "Baby (Give Me A Try)" on their MySpace is better) and Susanne Alfvengren's "Du är älskad där du går," but even then, they weren't bad songs. There was a bit of the ethereal nature-loving style of, say, Enya or "Den Vilda" about Susanne's song that I found nice, or at least expect I'll find nice in the studio version. Though I wouldn't say either of the boys who opened the performance did a bad job, Next 3's performance was to a large degree saved with the entrance of their main singer

As I mentioned below, Thorleifs were sixth in my ranking, but their catchy old school dansband song, complete with saxophones, was also one I enjoyed listening to; in a night this full of quality, though, it just couldn't make it past sixth in my personal rankings. I would have liked to see Anna Sahlene and Maria Haukaas Storeng take the group's place in the top five, but given that the group only made it to fifth and no further, I'm fairly free to enjoy their song as nearly-harmless fun.



Here's where we get into the top quality stuff, in no particular order. Sarah Dawn Finer, as expected, put her strong slightly grainy voice to good use and delivered the power ballad "Moving On" with all the power you could hope for. She made it to the second chance round and was the international jury's choice. Even if she should fail to qualify to the final through the second chance round (her section of which also includes Scotts, BWO, and Lili & Susie), my expectation is that the international jury would make her their choice (the other rounds' choices were Caroline af Ugglas, Amy Diamond, and Sofia) and she'd make it to the final that way. I hope she's there two weeks from now--she deserves to be.



Poor Anna Sahlene and Maria Haukaas Storeng placed seventh despite their classy catchy retro-pop, with its James Bond verses and schlager chorus, having a great melody to it and two good singers performing it. Maybe playing up the fact that Maria was from Norway and Anna had represented Estonia in their intro footage wasn't the way to go? No, I don't genuinely (fully) blame that, but the song and its singers deserved better. In a night this full of quality, though, it's maybe not surprising that people would be so busy voting for great songs that one of the great songs would slip through the cracks.



Star Pilots' "Higher" is Sunblock-esque '80's-sounding dance-pop song barely removed from the group's earlier hit "In The Heat Of The Night," though with some "Waiting For A Star To Fall" mixed in, as Rick pointed out. I was shocked when the song topped audience surveys during rehearsals and brushed it off as a fluke, but apparently the song managed to connect fairly well with television viewers, too, qualifying to the second chance round despite the unusual staging of singer Johan Becker standing off to the side (doing a pretty good job singing, too) while the rest of the group mimed and danced with some in-house dancers center stage. "Higher" will face off against Amy Diamond's "It's My Life" and then, should it survive that match-up, either Rigo's "I Got U" or Caroline af Ugglas's "Snälla Snälla."




Agnes's disco track "Love Love Love" qualified straight to the final. There is something about "Love Love Love" that prevents it from instantly grabbing you and refusing to let go like "Release Me" does, but, as Nick said, not many songs are as good as "Release Me." "Love Love Love" is a great fun disco track, the sort of song that celebrates life, and had a performance that found Agnes sporting giant hair and a gold jumpsuit. With her modern disco--when she's singing songs like "Release Me" and this--Agnes really is deserving of more international attention. How can fans of old-school disco not at least enjoy "Love Love Love"?



The night's other finalist truly surprised me. It's not that I didn't love Malena Ernman's "La Voix;" to the contrary, every schlager and disco-pop fiber of my body vibrating with excitement during the song. I really thought, though, that it wouldn't fully connect with the audience. As Swedish writers have pointed out and as I've often said, the issue with half-opera pop songs (here, with an dance-backed opera chorus and cool slightly electro or house-backed choruses) is that they lack a singalong-friendly chorus and, despite the fact that Malena started to have fun with the camera near the song's end, I thought the staging would come across to your average Swedish viewer as too aloof. To me, though, it was magic. It's a song I'm thrilled to have in the final.

What does this mean we have coming up? Next week will be Andra Chansen, the second chance round.

Out of the songs already qualified to the final, Alcazar, Malena, Måns, and Agnes are easily my favorites, followed by H.E.A.T and E.M.D., but that's speaking from a song perspective, not from the standpoint of what would get Sweden the best result at Eurovision.

(I still feel like I've got even more to say about this semifinal, so I may revisit it again soon.)

Love love love

This week is destined to be one of heartbreak and exhilaration. Strong buzz surrounds several of the tracks, enough so that not all the rumored top-quality tracks can qualify directly to the final even in a best case scenario. It should make for a thrilling if stressful change from the semifinal of this past Thursday. As usual, all credit for the information goes to the sites below--I serve merely as an aggregator--and any mistakes are my own; please correct them in the comments if you notice any.

Sources: NT, SVT, The Local, Schlagerprofilerna (1, 2), Gylleneskor, QX (1, 2, 3); picture credit to The Local and QX

1.) Agnes, "Love Love Love" (Anders Hansson)
With Agnes reinvented as a properly brilliant popstar (though she's had her moments of brilliance in the past), there's a lot of interest from Melodifestival fans in "Love Love Love," which Agnes says was the first song she and Anders Hansson did together when they started working on what would become Dance Love Pop, her third album. The Idol winner is this week making her first appearance in Melodifestivalen, though a song she co-wrote (but never intended to sing in the contest herself) was originally chosen for an earlier edition of the contest before being disqualified.

Her entry this year, described by Anders as a positive disco-pop song and by Agnes as an up-tempo song which is in the same style as Dance Love Pop and with a cool glamorous feel (with an appropriately glittery and glamorous performance, she says), is supposed to be great, though not quite as great as some of the others in this semifinal.

To watch: the music video for her most recent single, "Release Me." I've said it before, but I'll say it again: if there's one Swedish pop song from 2008 that I beg you to listen to, it's this classy breezy modern disco song.



2.) Star Pilots, "Higher" (Johan Fjellström/Joakim Udd/Johan Becker)
Star Pilots are a dance-pop project from Empire Studios. The voice on both their singles so far is Johan Becker, but originally the group was represented at performances and in photos by three other men. Those men have been swapped out for another group, though, one that this time includes Johan Becker.

Both the group's earlier singles have been '80's-inspired but modern dance-pop that sounds like a combination of Sunblock and Uniting Nations. One of those singles was a cover of Chesney Hawkes's "The One And Only"--a great cover--while the other, "In The Heat Of The Night," was completely original and absolutely fantastic; it's even getting a UK release. From the description of "Higher" by the songwriters (who are also behind songs like Verona's "Ti Sento," Alcazar's upcoming single "Burning," and production on the West End Girls' songs, among others), the group's entry in Melodifestivalen should be in the same vein as their earlier work. They say "Higher" is an uplifting kick of energy with one foot in the '80s and the other in the here and now, a radio hit with a club feeling and an international sound.

Dance music has a tendency to underperform in Melodifestivalen, but hopefully the group can deliver a great song.

To watch: the Top Gun-featuring music video for "In The Heat Of The Night"



3.) Susanne Alfvengren, "Du är älskad där du går" (Ingela "Pling" Forsman/Bobby Ljunggren/Henrik Wikström)
Filling in the weekly "singer big in decades past attempts a comeback or seeks more attention via Melodifestivalen" slot, Susanne will be singing a ballad co-written by Bobby Ljunggren. Bobby's written a number of Melodifestival songs in the past and even this year, but apparently the one to compare "Du är älskad där du går" to is Suzzie Tapper's "Visst finns mirakel" from last year. The co-writers say "Du är älskad där du går" is a calm, well-arranged, melodic ballad which grows and has hopeful lyrics. I've heard nothing to make me expect this to be anything other than your typical Bobby Ljunggren Lionheart ballad like the others we've recently heard. Susanne does think it's like her past work, though.

To watch listen: her '80's hit "När vi rör varann"



4.) Anna Sahlene & Maria Haukaas Storeng, "Killing Me Tenderly" (Amir Aly/Henrik Wikström/Tobbe Petterssen)
I love Anna Sahlene. Love her. Her second album may not have lived up to her consistently enjoyable first, but she's someone who I've been hoping to hear more music from for a while (giving us one of three million versions of "Brief & Beautiful" last year barely counts). I liked Maria Haukaas Storeng's debut album, too; it was a pleasant though not really exciting Idol contestant album. I never really fell in love with '60s-flavored "Hold On Be Strong," her top five-placed entry for Norway and a fan favorite in last year's Eurovision, though.

Still, I'm going to hold out some hope that a combination of Anna, a Swedish singer who took Estonia to third place in Eurovision 2002 but has failed to make it out of the semifinals in both her subsequent tries at Melodifestivalen (one with the fantastic "We're Unbreakable"), and Maria, a Norwegian singer who like Anna has a good voice and has been involved with songs I liked in the past (though I'd easily choose Anna's back catalogue over Maria's), yields something great. Even if the duet aspect feels kind of gimmicky to me, they're two singles I have a great amount of good will towards.

The songwriter include half of the team that so successfully jumped on the modern '70s-inspired falsetto pop bandwagon with Rongedal's "Just A Minute" last year. In a probably unsurprising turn of events, this year, they're jumping on the Amy Winehouse-induced '60s pop bandwagon with "Killing Me Tenderly," a song they describe as a cross-fertilization of Tina Turner and ABBA with today's sound and inspiration from Duffy, with a thought towards James Bond. Anna has added that it's a mid-tempo song kind of similar to "Hold On Be Strong." She says it has a groove to it which has a big, melodic chorus and verses that are a little funkier. Pauline was the song's demo singer and, given her recent singles' sound, we can probably glean from that information an idea of what the song sounds like, even if Pauline didn't want to sing it at Melodifestivalen. People who have heard the song generally reference Duffy, a fact which doesn't thrill me--I'm generally left cold by the songs in that style--but there is significant positive buzz surrounding "Killing Me Tenderly."

To watch: for Anna, I should probably post her great performance of "Runaway" from Eurovision, but I've always preferred "We're Unbreakable" (though "Runaway" is great, too), so here's her performing that at Melodifestival 2003



For Maria, here's "Hold On Be Strong" from the final of Eurovision 2008.



5.) Thorleifs, "Sweet Kissin' In The Moonlight" (Lina Eriksson/Mårten Eriksson)
Dansband Thorleifs have been around for a long time and have a large following among fans of the genre, enough to make their albums big sellers in Sweden. This is their first appearance in Melodifestivalen. They will be singing a song written by people who have done songs like Nordman's "I lågornas sken" from last year, Jessica Andersson's "Kom," Magnus Bäcklund's "The Name Of Love," and Marie Picasso's Idol winner's single "This Moment." "Sweet Kissin' In The Moonlight" is described by its writers as a Swedish shuffle with a spoonful of schlager and ABBA seasoning served up in a dance version.

To watch: I've got to be honest and say that I know pretty much nothing of the group's work, so if anyone wants to offer up a suggestion of something better to embed, please let me know. For now, though, here's an ad for their latest album that plays clips of some songs on it.



6.) Sarah Dawn Finer, "Moving On" (Sarah Dawn Finer/Fredrik Kempe)
Big-voiced Sarah Dawn Finer may have done work before 2007, but her big breakout occurred that year when she sung the MOR but great ballad "I Remember Love" to fourth place at the Melodifestival final.

She returns to the contest this year with a very different song, one co-written by Fredrik Kempe, and an incredible amount of buzz around her. Many people are saying "Moving On" is of winning class, but to write that is to understate all the positive things being said about it. Suffice to say that Sarah, who can almost surely be counted on to deliver vocally, seems to have come up with something incredibly special song-wise, too. It's described by its writers as a big, dynamic, dramatic, epic song which is hopeful but has a tiny bit of sadness in it. Sarah describes the song as a rollercoaster that takes one further in life after a setback and dares one to believe in oneself and pick oneself up when one falls. She adds that the performance will (if plans haven't changed since her interview with QX) be inspired by part of her name (presumably "dawn"), with the look and movements being inspired by an Asian film. Schlagerprofilerna's sources suggest that it's the sort of song that would be sung at the end of the first act of a musical.

If everything people are saying can be counted on as true, Sarah is not just the one to beat this week--she may very well be the one to take home the whole contest.

Sarah has a new album coming out after Melodifestivalen. She's already released one single from it, "Does She Know You." She's worked with Dilba, Magnus Tingsek, Fredrik Kempe, and writers from her last album.

To watch: Sarah performing "I Remember Love" in her semifinal in Melodifestival 2007



7.) Next 3, "Esta noche" (Michael Xavier Barraza/Jimmy Almgren/Adam Soliman)
Next 3 seems to be not just new to Melodifestivalen but new, period. The three person boy band will be singing a song which its writers (the primary one being Michael Xavier Barraza, with some of the group helping with lyrics) describe as a fusion of R&B, hip-hop, and Caribbean rhythms and a mix of rap, reggaeton, and pop in Swedish and Spanish (with a few English words). They say you could dance to it if you wanted to. Michael has also said that "Esta noche" is a rap/hip-hop song with a schlager-seasoned chorus, modern and with a Latin flavor and not influenced by ABBA.

To watch: a low quality video of the group performing a song of theirs called "Baby (Give Me A Try)." If the quality of this video leaves you still clueless as to what they sound like, YouTube also turns up what the poster claims is a studio recording of theirs called "Get Crazy" and "Baby (Give Me A Try)" is playing on their MySpace.



8.) Malena Ernman, "La Voix" (Fredrik Kempe/Malena Ernman)
The final spot of the fourth semifinal has since 2006 been taken by acts who at worst finished second in the final (Andreas Johnson) or, twice, acts who won the whole thing (Carola and Charlotte Perrelli). This year it goes to opera singer Malena Ernman. Malena, who frequently does comedic performances, might not incite excitement among many of you, but the name Fredrik Kempe, the writer of Måns Zelmerlöw's "Cara Mia" and Charlotte Perrelli's "Hero" (among other songs), might get your ears to perk up. Then again, others of you might be feeling that Kempe is wearing out his formula.

If you fall into that last camp but still count yourself as a lover of Sweden's up-tempo disco-pop and schlager, prepare to be apologizing to Fredrik for every having doubted him. Sarah Dawn Finer's entry might have the biggest buzz of all going into this week, but the reviews of "La Voix" have gone beyond tantalizing (with even Sarah calling it cool and tough to beat): the song, described by its writers as a furious grandiose declaration of love set to the combination of pop and opera (and danceable), is, according to those who've heard it, going to send schlager fans into absolute meltdown...and maybe with the fact that Malena is (or at least was) planning a performance with what she describes as "good-looking broad-shouldered men" they'll have reason to be excited about more than just the song.

The pop and opera combination is a return to roots for Fredrik Kempe, whose debut single was the fantastic "Vincero," a techno-pop-meets-opera tour-de-force. If you've missed that Fredrik, have been left feeling like this year's contest has been a bit low on true stunners, or just live for Sweden's stormers, "La Voix" is apparently a song to wait for with baited breath.

To watch: Malena performing "Rosina's Cavatina." You'll see a lot of that humor and mugging I was talking about.



What I expect to love: this is one of those heats where I can see myself enjoying almost every song and finding multiple classics. I'm almost preemptively freaking out over Malena's song; I'm expecting it to be a revelation on "Alla Flickor" levels, only with a solid vocal performance. I'm anticipating Sarah Dawn Finer's song almost as much. Agnes and Star Pilots' songs are both ones I'm hoping and expecting to love (with me having slightly bigger hopes for Agnes). Despite all the positive things being said about it, I do have reservations about Anna Sahlene and Maria Haukaas Storeng's song, as I mentioned above, mainly for style reasons, but I'm cautiously hoping to enjoy the song. Next 3 are basically there as cannon fodder and I wasn't going to expect them to be anything else, but when researching this post, I listened to "Baby (Give Me A Try)" and actually liked it, finding it more interesting than I expected. The whole Caribbean rhythm thing makes me think "Esta noche" might have significantly less edge to it than that song and I still think they'll stand no chance against this line-up, but there's now actually at least a chance I might like their song. Maybe Thorleifs will have something decent--nice--but I'll be surprised if I love it and am already gearing myself up for being upset at them for taking a place from a song I think is much more deserving.

#24 Agnes, "Release Me"

Release me
'Cause I'm not able to
Convince myself
That I'm better off without you

(If there is one Swedish song on this list that I beg all of you to listen to, even if you're not a Swede pop addict like me, it's this one.)

If in 2008 Ani Lorak was the queen of fierce voguing disco and Lady GaGa carved out a niche for herself with sleazy dirty disco, it's clear from its opening strings that Agnes's "Release Me" is disco whose key descriptor is joy. Agnes claims she knows she shouldn't be in this relationship, but she can't help herself, and neither can we--the joy exuded by "Release Me" is infectious, strong enough to make you feel like it's celebrating everything good about pop and life itself. As the second single from her third album, the Swedish Idol winner chose this breezy modern disco track with a chorus that eschews frantic dance mania for what feels like...well, release. The very definition of a feel good danceable pop track, "Release Me" is swoony, classy, made-for-everyone music. If Agnes can keep this level of track up, she'll have become a top-class popstar.

Find it on: Dance Love Pop

Love love love

Another Tuesday, another set of confirmed Melodifestivalen performers. The information on the songs, as usual, comes from SVT, QX, and Gylleneskor, and the photos are all from SVT. As always, I strongly encourage all Melodifestival fans to read Schlagerprofilerna, the best blog out their for Melodifestival information. Most of this set of all-female artists have competed in Melodifestivalen before.



Velvet, "The Queen" (Tony Nilsson, Henrik Janson)
Velvet's competed in Melodifestivalen twice before, with "Mi Amore" and, last year, "Deja Vu." This year, she returns with a Tony Nilsson co-penned track; given my on-the-record love for his work (Ola's "S.O.S.," "Natalie," "Can't Get Enough," "Love In Stereo," and "Feelgood" and Elin Lanto's "Discotheque," among other songs), you can bet I'm interested to hear this. Hopefully her entrance in Melodifestivalen means that her second album will finally come out--it'll be something like two years since the debut of "Fix Me" by then (and with a bunch of in between tracks in the meantime)! The description for this song calls it (I think) a kind of stuck-up retro song which people will either hate or love. Velvet says that it's a Velvet-type song with attitude, an up-tempo song that won't disappoint people who liked "Deja Vu."



Agnes, "Love Love Love" (Anders Hansson)
After the drama of a disqualified track in 2007, Agnes is finally in Melodifestivalen. The former Idol winner will be singing a song by the man behind her latest album, so we have reason to believe him and be excited when he describes "Love Love Love" as a positive disco-pop song. Agnes says this song was the first she worked on with Anders and that it's a little (a little?!) in the same style as the songs on the album.



Shirley Clamp, "Med hjärtat fyllt av ljus" (Ingela Pling Forsman/Bobby Ljunggren/Henrik Wikström )
Shirley Clamp returns to Melodifestivalen for the first time since 2005 and fourth time overall. Quite a lot has happened since then, including a movement away from the schlager of her 2004 and 2005 entries, the former of which, "Min Kärlek," is the big keeper. Her entry this year is described by its writers as a melodic mid-tempo song which is demanding of its singer and which is about being in the middle of life and realizing its true worth. Shirley, though describing it as a ballad (in two separate sources), also agrees that you can almost call it mid-tempo and calls it powerful, adding that it is more like her previous Melodifestival songs (though more mature) than like her last album. Its creators are certainly big Melodifestival names--will that add up to something great?



Sofia, "Alla" (Nina Karolidou/Irini Michas/Dimitri Stassos/Henrik Wikström)
Sofia returns to Melodifestivalen after 2007's underrated "Hypnotized" (which, along with Andreas Lundstedt's "Move," was my easy favorite from that year's first semifinal). Her song for 2009 is described as a rock-inspired ethnic (Greek) pop song and heavy pop-rock with a cool riff, which sounds like a switch away from the maybe more Greek dance sound of "Hypnotized."



Lili & Susie, "Show Me Heaven" (Susie Päivärinta, Calle Kindbom, Thomas G:son, Pär Lönn, Nestor Geli)
The return of '80's pop duo Lili & Susie! And their song is described as longing '80's nostalgia with a strong chorus and clear melody, a song which won't disappoint those who like the duo; it's said to be a little like their earlier hit "Bara du och jag" in a dance version and have the happiness of "What's The Colour Of Love." I really need to do a post about them at some point--they really did have some great fun hits; I'm hoping "Show Me Heaven" will be great as well, as opposed to some of the not-so-great comebacks that have taken place. They'll be releasing an album of old songs but also with new material.



Amy Diamond, "It's My Life" (Alexander Bard/Bobby Ljunggren/Oscar Holter)
Just look at those writer names--that's some real pop and/or Melodifestival royalty right there, especially in the first two (Bard of Army of Lovers, early Alcazar, and BWO and Ljunggren of too many Melodifestival entries to name, though he was incredibly successful in last year's Melodifestival). I loved Amy's Melodifestival song last year, too, as well as the album that preceded it (and her earlier work), so I'm hopeful "It's My Life," described by its writers as an uptempo electro and dance song with attitude, will continue her growing up process while still being great.

Aftonbladet is also reporting that Marie Serneholt will be the next joker announced, which would be amazing news--I really want new music from her. Interestingly, apparently--in addition to the (not coming to fruition) rumored idea of her and Agnes dueting on "Love Love Love"--there was a proposal/interest from the contest in reuniting A*Teens to compete, but the group's members said no. Aftonbladet also says that Thorleifs, a dansband, will take over "Den första kyssen," the track Lasse Stefanz declined to sing.

I don't know what addictive hold you have on me

I can't say it enough: even if most of the disco and pop from Sweden usually tends to get a little too generic for you, give Agnes's "Release Me" (wisely the second single choice from Dance Love Pop and now with music video--embedded below) a try. It's classy, breezy modern disco, a string-featuring breath of fresh air with a chorus that sounds like the best day you've ever had. Pure joy in song form.



The song can be purchased from all countries' iTunes music stores here, as can the whole album.

Speaking of "Release Me," Nikki of Pop Reviews Now has started her countdown of her favorite songs of 2008. I adore this year end rundowns in general and am looking forward to Nikki's in particular--follow along here or via the main blog itself.

I know it's wrong, so why I am with you now?

You might not guess it from the mini-explosion of posts around here today, but I've actually not been able to find the words to do justice to the one song I most want to write about. Bits and pieces, yes, but nothing coherent yet. That post may come tomorrow (or never, you never know), but for now, here's something that's a little easier to write about.

Release Me--talk about a joyous album opening. As I mentioned below, I'm a sucker for strings in disco-pop songs (cue my long-running affair with Beyoncé's "Ring The Alarm" in Freemasons remix format) and "Release Me" uses them wonderfully. The chorus is a breath of fresh air, sweet, smooth, and strong, just breezy enough to bring a smile to your face but with enough of that beat to stay firmly danceable. I have trouble imagining Swedish pop lovers not being at least a little bit enchanted with "Release Me"--fun, adorable, sweet, catchy, pretty, melodic...I think it'd be at the least a pleasant diversion for pop fans in general, too, though it's far more than that for me. I could be wrong, but I think this is going to be the big long-term favorite for me from this album. "Love Me Senseless" and "On and On" may be slightly...cooler, but "Release Me" is just such a rush of musically uncomplicated (though that doesn't mean unsophisticated) yet just classy enough joy that it's won my heart. Despite its lyrics, it's the soundtrack to the best day you ever had.

Dance Love Pop is available for purchase right now in all European countries iTunes stores here (including in the UK) and the physical version can be preordered here.

Next up: maybe more up-tempo lovely Swedish music or, preferrably, I'll figure out what to say about that transcendently amazing British song.

Why do I keep coming back?

Do you know what happens when you're stalling doing actual work and instead googling for information about upcoming releases? You stumble upon random things.

Today's example?

All of Agnes's new album Dance Love Pop is streaming in high quality here (well, I assume it's the whole thing--I'm only partway through it right now, but it's full tracks so far). Great news! I'll write more about it later, probably. Given my complete adoration of the use of strings in disco-pop, I'm a pretty happy camper as I listen to "Release Me" right now.

You're gonna find this heart of mind will stand the test of time

Swedish music news update!

Diva extraordinaire (in the best possible way) Lena Philipsson releases her duet with Orup, "Nu när du gått," digitally September 22. Oswalds Popcorn has the review (lukewarm at best) and the single cover. Sigh. Why can't you just give us another amazing solo album, Lena? The album of duets, called Dubbel, comes out November 12.

Speaking of songs released digitally on September 22, Sebastian (Karlsson) releases his new single, "My Getaway," then, with an album, The Most Beautiful Lie, following on November 5; he says it's "more personal" than his previous albums. "Words & Violence," the lead single for his last album, remains an amazing track, so I'm really hoping he'll give us something that good again.

Agnes's new album, Dance Love Pop, comes out October 29. They played about half of another song from it on the radio a few weeks back; I've forgotten most everything about it by now (it was something about love or kissing or something, I think), but it sounded OK--it'd make sense on the same album as the electro-disco-pop "On And On."

Sonja Aldén has a new single called "Du får inte" out. I don't own it (yet), but should you want to buy it, you can do so here, as well as preview the whole track piece-by-piece.

I'm not sure if this is worth mentioning, but since we've got so many other Idol graduates in this post...Daniel Lindström's got a new single called "Saturday Night" out--listen to the semi-disco sounds of it here, if you're interested. Possibly of more interest is that one-half of the Attic, Michael Feiner, has remixed the track--listen to the remix at the same place. Now that's something I may end up buying... Speaking of the Attic, are we ever getting a real version of "Flash In The Night," one that's not a six minute long remix?

Rachel of Work Your Magic might be interested to know (if she doesn't already) that Brandur released another single, "Lifelong Lovesong."

Sophia Somajo released her debut album, The Laptop Diaries. From the preview clips, I don't really think it's going to be the sort of album for me--most of it might be too "out there"--but "Warm Blooded Murder" (embedded below) remains great (time's actually been much more friendly to it than I would have expected) and it sounds like there might be some real keepers amongst the left-field electronically created pop there too. Then again, it's a nineteen track album (if bought via iTunes), so that's a lot of songs to sort through--both an opportunity for lots of filler and more chances to get it right. Would it interest people more if I mentioned there's a track featuring Juvelen?

Every time you leave me wanting more

Things I'm enjoying at the moment:

Annie's "Bad Times." I've been waiting with anticipation for this album just for this song alone. Well, that's not quite right--I've been hoping there would be other great songs too, but it's never a sure thing with me and Annie: sometimes that voice of hers--yes, I know it's beyond cliché to mention this now, but it's still true--is just too slight for me. Luckily, "Bad Times" is a song where that either doesn't matter or her voice works; right now I'd lean towards the latter. "Divine" is the word I used for the preview, and it's the word I'd use now--my favorite song ever from her, I think. Luscious.

Seal's "The Right Life." Not exactly a new development, since the non-US/UK radioplay of this song had alerted me to how much I enjoyed it months ago, but "The Right Life" has been receiving significant play from me recently. I've been waking up early recently, and there's something about wandering down to the basement kitchen, with almost all the lights in the halls and rooms off, that suits this song perfectly, if you're in that kind of pretend-pensive mood. Now, if only I had a lake to look out over.

P!nk's "So What." P!nk's just on a roll with these past few singles, isn't she? And actually, when I tried to describe "So What" to someone, I ended up using both "Who Knew" and "U + Ur Hand" as reference points--some of the attitude and music of "U + Ur Hand" but with a chorus that, in sound and structure and soul, reminded me more of "Who Knew"--because, despite all her best attempts at schoolyard taunting, it's a song that's obviously not purely triumphant, not really fine after this breakup. True fact: "Who Knew" is the song in the world that probably draws the strongest emotional reaction from me, so I'm glad to see P!nk using her voice and her musical style for something with both more musical and emotional substance than "Stupid Girls." Perfect combo.

Eric Prydz, "Pjanoo." Catchy instrumental dance.

The chorus of Lady GaGa's "Poker Face." Love "Just Dance" (with the exception of one section), album's not thrilling. Actually, the song works pretty well overall, but it's the chorus that really sells it.

Sonny Jim's "Can't Stop Movin'." Yes, I've had this for ages, but lovely summer weather has brought about another round of intense playing of it.

Actually hearing September's "Cry For You" on real, non-dance U.S. radio! Love. I think I've screamed louder each time I've heard it.

Actually hearing Van She in the United States--multiple times! Admittedly while out shopping and not on the radio, but hey, I'll take it. Need to buy that album...

David Archuleta's "Crush." So totally getting its own post at some point, but will it surprise anyone that I love it?

CC Martini, "Double Dutch." Not new. Still adore it, thanks to Mike.

Cyndi Lauper, "Into The Nightlife." Also not new (nor is my love for it), but I'm still loving this.

Keri Hilson, "Energy." Another not new song that I've long loved but have never, I think, mentioned on here. It keeps getting compared to "No Air"--for my money, it's better.

The Saturdays, "Up!" Girl group pop. Not yet in the brilliant category or anything, but I like it. When can we finally get Red Blooded Women's "Colour Me Dirty"?

Bananarama, "Your Love Is Like A Drug." Also not new, but that doesn't make it any less fantastic. May also inspire its own post.

Things that aren't necessarily in the full-on "love" zone yet but are maybe worth a mention:

John Legend's "Green Light." I don't know that this is a song that'll ever get much play from me itself, but boy, does it feel like it would suit its purpose--and I like in that context.

Andermay's "Uh Oh Oh Oh" (in English or Spanish). Cute! Not as good as "Entre tú y yo," but then, not much in the world is.

Agnes's "On And On." I'm kind of surprised I don't feel compelled to put this in that first category, but I'm not entirely sold on the title line in the song itself musically. Could possibly be a big favorite in time, and it's a great direction for a singer I'm glad to have back. Speaking of Idol contestants and their new direction, Anna Abreu of my much-loved "Ivory Tower" and "End Of Love" is back with the pop-dance song "Vinegar." I admire the ambition and enjoy the song (I think), but it's not quite "international-quality" for me yet.

Things I'm not enjoying:

The latest McFly album. It's not that it's awful--it's just that I've not listened to it in full yet. What a change from the days of yore, eh? They've just failed to capture my attention with the music so far.

Things I know of but am not commenting on/can't common on:

South Africa's most recent Idol winner Jody Williams just released her debut album. I'm most interested in the seeming "Don't Stop The Music"-inspired "Wind It" from the clips.

Magnus Carlsson released a cover of "I Was Born This Way."

David Tavaré finally released his debut album. More on this later (though that doesn't mean you all need to listen to it).

Nothing would taste the same as before

Not too long ago I wrote about how the song "Brief And Beautiful" kept getting recycled, given to several artists who all recorded their own version of it. Here comes the next installment of an unplanned but apparently ongoing series...

Swedish Idol winner Agnes Carlsson was the first to record "Love Is All Around," which was written for her, putting it on her second album; the bubbly upbeat musical followup to songs like "Stranded" and "Emotional" (itself a part of the recycling circuit), it was never a single for her, but, since it was by far the best song on that album, it really should have been. The last commercial material Agnes released was this past Christmas's cover of "All I Want For Christmas Is You," but she also recently appeared on Körslaget.

(I wasn't going to upload the song--another case of it being introduced to me by another blog--but somehow Agnes's version isn't totally on YouTube, so here it is for comparison purposes.)

Japanese boy band Arashi recorded a version of the song, one of those odd mainly in Japanese but with some random lines in English in the chorus sorts of songs. Strangely, though, the English lines aren't actually taken from "Love Is All Around;" instead, the song has been renamed "We Can Make It" and features the line "we can make it through." They added in a rap as well, but the end result is still very bubblegum. Unlike Agnes, they did release it as a single (in spring 2007).



Australian Idol contestant Ricki-Lee Coulter recorded the song for her second solo album, released in August 2007, her first solo album released after leaving the Young Divas, and made it her second single from the album. She lacks Agnes's accent, but there's something about Agnes's voice that makes me prefer Agnes's version of it; the song "pops" more and sounds richer to me. Sorry Mike! Like Arashi, Ricki-Lee released her version as a single, in her case in November 2007.



As if we didn't have enough Idol contestants covering the song, though, South African Idol winner Jody Williams released her version of "Love Is All Around" as her winner's single in December 2007. I still give Agnes the easy edge here, but wouldn't it be refreshing to have an Idol winner single this bubbly and upbeat? Speaking of Jody, she's got a new single out called "Kiss Of Life," but, since I haven't heard more than twenty seconds of it, I can't exactly judge it.



(Since "Love Is All Around" was the winner's song, both Jody and the eventual runner-up Andriette performed it, with both of their versions being released for sale digitally, though it was Jody's version that got actually "released.")

What prompted this post? I was reading about the work Spanish singer Soraya Arnelas (though she wasn't on an Idol show, she was on Operación Triunfo) is doing on her new album--due out this October--and couldn't help noticing one of the titles of the songs she's done.



Yup, you guessed it. "Love Is All Around." Could be another song, but given the history of this song, I'm not going to count on it. It's a fantastic song, but this is really getting kind of ridiculous. Then again, maybe we shouldn't be too surprised: Soraya's past two albums have been all covers...but those were of a different sort--those were known covers, covers of '80's songs (Kylie's "I Should Be So Lucky," Laura Branigan's "Self Control," Patti Smith's "Because The Night," Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want To Have Fun," Baltimora's "Tarzan Boy," the Human League's "Don't You Want Me," Yaz's "Don't Go," the Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)"...you get the idea), not a version of a song that modern day songwriters are selling artists in different regions the rights to. Don't get me wrong: I love Epicentre, the Swedish team behind the song; it's just that from the perspective of an international pop fan (which is admittedly much different from that of someone making a living via their job), I'd just much rather have new fantastic songs instead of many versions of the same fantastic song.

Further on the Soraya news front, the album is apparently super-danceable, has--in the first edition--ten songs in Spanish and two in English (titles including "Love Is All Around," "Rebound," "Duele," "Caminaré," "La noche es para mi," and "Sin miedo"), features three songs recorded with DJ Sammy, and she's given us the impression before that there's a duet with Kate Ryan on it, and not the one on Kate's new album. There'll be another version of the album, all in English, that comes out later, I think.

I know Soraya's not exactly the definition of classy, but I do hope this new album is...worthy. And makes good use of her voice and doesn't force it on songs it doesn't fit.

For more on Soraya, check out PopMusicWorldWide's opinionated post on her or Robpop's post on her.

Agnes's second album Stronger can be purchased here (physical).

Next up: maybe Kalomoira or Kate Ryan, finally. Or another Belgian singer.

Fullkomið líf

Something unrelated to the rest of the post to start it off: is this the best promotional picture of the season?



Just possibly yes...

Thanks to Alex for the tip that you can buy that Agnes/Måns Zelmerlöw "All I Want For Christmas Is You" duet I was talking about yesterday from Expressen here (you can also listen to a preview of the song there). I was able to buy it, so I presume anyone who has a credit card, regardless of country, should be able to do so as well, which is a big "yay." It's a slowed down version, going more for the "lovely" thing than the "jump around dancing" thing. You can watch a small news feature on it that features clips from the music video/ad here.

The actual song for today? Well, I'm not sure that I have that much to say about it--I wrote about Eurobandið just a little earlier and said that their song "Fullkomið líf" had qualified to the finals of Iceland's national selection for Eurovision. I think I really like it, so I decided to post it.

Fullkomið líf--oh, completely unrelated to this song, but have I mentioned how high Iceland is rising on my good list? Not only do they have some great artists of their own, a certain someone has his version of "You Give Love A Bad Name" getting frequent play on at least one of their big radio stations. Anyhow, "Fullkomið líf" (which I've read means "Perfect Life") is a big upbeat duet between Regína Ósk and Friðrik Ómar and yes, there were some "styling issues" (incidentally, they didn't look at all like they do in this picture), but the song is catchy and strong. Given poor Iceland's luck in making it out of the semifinals recently, I have no idea if this song would do the trick for them, but at least it'll be a good listen for Eurovision fans. One more note: the song is written by Örlygur (Öggi) Smári, who's done several of my favorite Icelandic songs from 2007, Páll Óskar's "International" and "Allt fyrir ástina."

I don't know of anywhere where you can buy this song yet, but I imagine Tonlist.is/.com will end up carrying the album for Laugardagslögin 2008 when it comes out.

Speaking of Iceland, apparently Birgitta Haukdaul (their 2003 representative) will be in the next semifinal (as part of a duet), a fact which I'd be more excited about (I think "Open Your Heart" is great) if her latest album didn't sound pretty dull from all the preview clips I've heard of it.

Next up: maybe something else from Iceland.

I don't want a lot for Christmas...

I'd just finished making up the preliminary version of my pop Christmas music playlist when I saw this news and was too amused not to post it. Let's hope it all turns out for the best...

Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" is obviously the best pop Christmas song ever, right? And yes, I listen to Magnus Carlsson's cover of it. But somehow, I'd never expected the next version of it likely to get playlisted by me would be a duet between Måns Zelmerlöw and Agnes Carlsson, both contestants from the same season of Swedish Idol. Apparently no one wants to talk about it, but Aftonbladet says they've heard it'll be coming out as a single in the near future.

Boy, you got me stranded with you

Though the predominant opinion about this past year's American Idol seems to be that it was one of the worst years so far, I really disagree; I can't remember a time the last time I was so content with the top few contestants and I'll be very interested to hear what Blake Lewis comes up with for his debut album A.D.D. (which apparently stands for Audio Day Dream and is listed as coming out November 27). That said, I'm not sure whether it's because Sweden has better singers or better songwriters--both, probably--but Idol contestants from Sweden have much higher odds of releasing a good album or at least an album with some good songs on it. Agnes Carlsson, only nineteen years old, is one of them; in 2005, she won the second season of Idol in Sweden, a season which also included Sebastian Karlsson (the runner-up), Måns Zelmerlöw (fifth place), and Ola Svensson (eighth place), all of whom have released songs I like. Speaking of Måns, he and "Cara Mia" only got to compete in this year's Melodifestivalen because two songs were disqualified; Agnes's "More Than A Girl" was one of them, disqualified when Agnes talked about it to the press, and we still haven't heard it--I hope we get to at some point! I think my two favorite songs by her are "Emotional" from her first album and "Love Is All Around" from her second, but since I was introduced to those songs by Catchy Tunes of Sweden, it wouldn't be right to post them; instead, here's her second single, the first one released after her winner's single "Right Here, Right Now" and which is almost as good as the two songs I just mentioned.

Stranded--for some reason, this song reminds me a little of Whitney Houston, though I've really not listened to that much of her work and don't have much basis for saying that. It's upbeat, catchy, and super-poppy, a song that feels refreshing and is sure to bring a smile to your face.

To buy Agnes's debut album Agnes, go here (physical) or here (digital).

By the way, I mentioned Ola up there briefly--I think I may be slightly obsessed with his new single "S.O.S."--it's great! And I actually get what he was talking about with the '80's comparisons now.

Next up: maybe Belanova. I'll get back to them eventually, really.