You can look hotter than TNT, you could lie, say you're with MTV

Maybe I shouldn't like the latest single by Latvian singer Elina Furmane, currently going by just Ella (or DJ Ella). In the past, she's covered Malin Schavenius's 2004 (Norwegian) Melodi Grand Prix entry "Sunshine" (which is co-written by Anna Sahlene) and has entered her own Eurovision national final several times, including in 2006 with the Thomas G:son-penned "Heaven In Your Eyes." Don't expect this song to be like either of those, though (though I wouldn't be adverse to her recording some more songs in that vein)...

Welcome To The Club--as you'd probably expect from the title, this song is definitely more clubby dancefloor-type. I know it could quite easily face accusations of being generic and I'm not promising that I'll still be listening to it in a year, but it's a good of-the-moment track. And really, as we've established before, throw enough nonsense syllables in a song (in this case, "ah-ah ah-ah"s) in something and I'm sold. It definitely fills my occasional need for some cheesy lyrics, too. I'm quite sure it would completely flop some place like the UK, but I like it--it's catchy enough for me.

To buy Ella's single "Welcome To The Club," go here (physical).

Oh, and tiny bit of Swedish news I forgot to mention in the post below this: I know I posted "B.I.T.CH." a little while back, but apparently DeDe's real new single is "Turn You On" with Pras out of the Fugees. I'll admit, I'm not an expert on her at any stretch, but suffice to say I'm...umm...very surprised at the sound of this single.

Next up: I know it's been very dance around here, but coming up soon will be some singers--including that German one, eventually--who are more pop-rock. Oh, and there needs to be at least brief discussion of a certain chart placing...

She's who I wanna be

Swedish singer Denise Lopez, or DeDe, first became famous back in the 1990's, working with people like Max Martin. Like many Swedish singers, she's also entered Melodifestivalen, but her song "Someone, Somewhere, Someday" only took seventh in her semifinal. She released an album that same year, 2003, which I think was basically a repackaging of an album she'd released in Japan the previous year; the album included two unreleased Dannii Minogue songs, which you can read more about here. Now, she's back again with an album due out August 22 and a lead single currently sent out to radios.

B.I.T.C.H.--her MySpace is trying to pass this off as standing for "Being In Total Control Of Herself," but let's ignore that--this is a song that demands a little attitude, and DeDe delivers, though in a restrained way. I love the little string touches. Spelling in songs has never been quite my "thing" as much as it is for some people, but it's fun and used to good effect here. The backing vocal-ish singing is nice as well, a little ominous especially during the first verse, though the chorus forsakes some of that ominousness to go for--well, it's not a blow-out chorus, but it's more straightforward. That's a good thing, though.

To buy DeDe's song "B.I.T.C.H.," go to her MySpace (digital).

Since this song is a new single of an artist and I'm not sure what it's level of success will be (I'm hoping it does well and I don't want to in any way hurt it), it will be posted for only a few days.

(By the way, though it's not how I discovered the song, I should note that this song was written about weeks ago over on the great Cheiron Songwriters Forum.)

Next up: an American singer.