It's getting harder to read your silence

I can be so clueless sometimes...how did I not notice until now that Danish singer Bryan Rice's radio-pop-rock album track "In Your Room" was co-written by Gareth Gates?



I've had this ongoing amusement (initially on defunct blog You Call That Life) of documenting all the various people who have performed the songs from Bryan Rice's 2006 debut album before and after him--they're the absolute epitome of how songs in the music industry get recycled. The big example was Shayne Ward covering "No Promises," but pretty much all of the other tracks on the album have shown up in incarnations on other albums...except, as I've long been surprised by (given that I like the track), "In Your Room" (well, there may be versions of it out there somewhere, but I've yet to hear them or have forgotten them).

If I'm making guesses, though, it seems likely the song was originally intended for Gareth--correct me if I'm wrong, but there aren't very many Gareth co-writes floating around that are sung by someone other than Gareth. Instead, he didn't end up using the song and eventually it was passed on to Bryan.

Anyway, it's written by Gareth, Andreas Carlsson, and Lisa Greene.

What they dream about I get for free

Writing about one of this blog's early obsessions (Ben Adams) a few days ago has got me in the mood to recap what some of the others (those I haven't written about recently--it doesn't necessarily mean I've stopped liking them...though it doesn't mean I haven't)--are up to. Incidentally, I've never gone back and tagged this blog's first half-year of life or so, so the tags for this post won't necessarily be too helpful until I finally get around to doing that.

In February, Gareth Gates is going to be playing Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat somewhere. Awww. You know I'd end up buying tickets if I was in London (well, presumably that's where it is), right? Tyler James-penned "Absolutely" from his second album is still a-maz-ing (as are many other of his songs, but that's album-track-more-people-should-really-know-about amazing...as are some of his other songs).

Speaking of musicals, apparently Darius is up for some award for his performances in the West End. I'd rather have new commercial pop music...

Alex Vargas (I was obsessed with "Diamonds In The Dirt") is the lead singer in Xenomania-backed band Vagabond. Most of what I've heard from them isn't really my sort of thing--it's this kind of lazy (not as in no effort, but as in the vibe it gives off) soul-funk mix and in most cases doesn't show Xenomania influence at all--but limited single release "More Than You Can Take" (on YouTube) is sort of an interesting falsetto-featuring sort of soul-dance-indie mix; I like it enough that if I had any ability to play a vinyl single, I'd probably have bought it. First proper lead single "Sweat Until The Morning" (clip on their MySpace) doesn't get me excited, but it's due out next year, with plans for an album in summer. Maybe they're holding off from putting the great stuff on MySpace? I'd like to be enthusiastic, but I'm not yet.

The Click Five, creators of probably/possibly my favorite album ever (as of now), are messing about in Asia. At least they're still together! This despite replacement lead singer Kyle having apparently gone on a solo acoustic tour this summer/fall. I've got a giant post about them that I'll probably dig out at some point.

Speaking of TC5, original lead singer is still writing songs for his solo career. So that solo acting and music career is really working out, huh? Such a good thing you left the group... Neither party is as strong as they were together. "Go into the record industry so I can steal the pre-singer switch demos for the second album" is still my fallback career plan.

Matt Willis, in between being a TV presenter, is apparently writing songs for a new album. He's not with his old--or any--record company anymore, but I'd still love to hear more music from him in whatever context and however it's distributed. The era of his first solo album really was excellent--even the b-sides were great. I may feel a proper Matt flashback post coming on...

Also on the ex-Busted front, James Bourne apparently finished up his debut solo album just days ago--eleven songs and "100% electronic," "NOT a rock album"--it has no guitars except for at the end of one song. Out early next year. There's a version of one of the songs on his MySpace, but apparently the version on the album is mixed differently.

Even when you fall and it all goes wrong

I think I argued last year that nothing says love like Swedish dance-pop--and so, with that in mind, that's what I'm posting today. Is the song I'm about to post Fredrik Kempe's best song? No, but I still love it, and at any rate You Don't Know Pop and Don't Stop The Pop have both featured songs from him before, and made great choices on which songs of his to highlight.

The song might also be familiar to you from...oh, well, probably not, but I knew it from Gareth Gates's first album. Fredrik recorded his own version of it for his second album, Bohéme, and kept it in its original ballad style. However, near the end of the album, you get this remix, which may not appeal to fans of the original, but that I still love.

A little bit about Fredrik, just in case you missed the aforementioned earlier features on him on other blogs: he debuted as a singer in 2002 with the great dance-opera hybrid "Vincero." He's gone on to release two albums as well as compete in Melodifestivalen twice, once by himself singing "Finally" and once with Sanna Nielsen singing "Du och jag mot världen." Last year, he gave us some of Melodifestivalen's best songs, including "Cara Mia," "Våger Du Våger Jag," and "Rainbow Star." This year, he's got two entries, Charlotte Perrelli's "Hero" and Daniel Mitsogiannis's "Pame," both of which I'm very excited to hear. You may also be familiar with his song "Miss America," which Måns Zelmerlöw covered to great effect on his album Stand By For....

With You All The Time (NiteSite Version)--this isn't danced up enough to the level of calling it ridiculous dance-pop (one of my favorite subgenres), but I love what the transformation does for the song. It still starts out kind of slow, but then, as the chorus nears its end and we approach the bridge, a cute, light beat begins to sneak into the music and the tempo begins to pick up--then the chorus hits, and it's pure sweet joy--just cheery fun. It's another of those cases where the remix tweaks everything about the song to make it exactly what I woud've wanted it to be. It would be an easy song to pick on, but why bother? It's there for the people who want it, and easily ignored if you don't. Plus, give me a dance beat under anything, and I'm usually happy.

To buy Fredrik Kempe's second album, Bohéme, go here (physical).

Next up: Melodifestivalen?

Like you do when no one is around

You know how I once pretty much dedicated a whole post to "wow, look how different Simple Plan guy looks!"? Yeah, well, sorry, but here's another installment of the "wow, look at how different [singer] looks!" I know we've covered Ryan Cabrera in brief before, courtesy of his curly long black hair and black hat combo on So You Think You Can Dance. Well, look what Mr. Cabrera apparently looks like now:


(Taken from his MySpace)

I feel like my understanding of the universe is crumbling.

Edit: I typed this up yesterday, and then I actually check his MySpace again today, and it's been totally revamped with clips from his new album, Moon Under Water, due out this April, with the lead single "S'S'Say" out before then (and the verses of it are actually pretty good, though the chorus is totally underwhelming), though he doesn't have a major label deal. This was just meant to be snark, but I guess now it's actual news!

Anyway, I stumbled upon that image while checking up on Josh Hoge, the--oh, how do you even begin to describe Josh Hoge?



"I am a pop singer, but I kinda live like a rock ‘n’ roller. I definitely drink too much, and cuss too much, and chase girls around too much. I think I was like, at Nickelodeon doing an interview one time and they were just kinda like, 'This is never gonna work.'"

Source



Yeah, that probably about sums it up. Anyway, poor Josh had a great single out in 2006 called "360" that no one paid any attention to, and he released a great album sampler to promote it--seriously, not one bad song on it, and "Take It Or Leave It," posted on his MySpace for a while, was great as well. Single failed to take off, studio album thereby failed to materialize, dropped from record label, toured with Elliot Yamin and released a lo-fi ish EP instead. Apparently he's hoping to get an album out sometime in the first half of 2008.

Anyway, if you missed out on my earlier post on Josh (which was pretty near the beginning of this blog, so there's a good chance of that) and haven't heard his material, now's the time to run over to his MySpace because, as long as you've got your own MySpace account, you can download "360" and "Work Your Body" for free, and that's a pretty amazing thing, considering that both songs are fantastic. "360" is this great ballad that I mentioned just recently in reference to Justin's "What Goes Around.../...Comes Around;" both share the "you'll get what's coming to you for what you did to me" message and kind of a similar vibe. I was also really into "360" right around the time I was into Mario Vazquez's Ne-Yo-penned "Gallery," and they'd fit together on a playlist nicely as well, despite opposite lyrical sentiments.

"Work Your Body" is a complete change of pace, though, a pervey funk-filled falsetto-featuring song that deserves much more than being a free download on MySpace and a featured spot on a Biggest Loser soundtrack. Go download it already. Apparently Mark Ronson co-wrote it! And Amy Winehouse! Along with David Ryan Harris. Who knew?

While I'm writing about Josh Hoge, though I've said it before, I might as well throw in again that he co-wrote Blake Lewis's "Know My Name," which was originally intended for Josh, I think. Also, a bunch of Josh's songs (including "Take It Or Leave It") were co-written by Ryan Tedder. Josh also did a song with Cheyenne Kimball called "Wonderful" that was a bonus track on her album, available only at Target.

To finish off the randomness of this post:



Gareth Gates on ice! Love Gareth, but I hope he's doing this just for fun, because even if he wins, I feel like it'll be Matt Willis all over again in terms of helping his music career. I adore him, though, so I wish him loads of success in this and everything. Plus, congratulations--he and his longterm girlfriend just got engaged this New Year's Eve!

Gucci shoes, beluga caviar

It's been a while (well, comparatively, given that my support of him has already been established ridiculously often) since I've written about Gareth Gates, hasn't it? I've neglected to mention loads of news--new songs on his MySpace, album cover, Popjustice interview, and so on. With the physical single of "Angel On My Shoulder" out this week and the album out June 25, there may not be a better time to revisit him. I said once that I could run this blog for a month on good songs Gareth has done, and I wasn't joking--I really could (though don't worry; I'm not planning on it). I've heard "Anyone Of Us (Stupid Mistake)" several times on Internet radio recently, surprisingly enough, and each time I'm reminded of how good a song it is--good enough that it's been released in several other countries by several other singers in their native languages (I know I've posted Swedish singer Mathias Holmgren's version before and Sarbel, Greece's representative to Eurovision this year, has released a version as well; his version includes more differences in the music itself than Mathias's does). I can't believe I've never posted the following song, but it doesn't show up when I search, so I guess I haven't!

Absolutely--Gareth's second album is full of great songs, but I think this is one that seems to be popular (relatively) among people who don't particularly think of themselves as Gareth fans. This song is one of the Tyler James-penned ones (along with "Foolish"), but it's less soul-inspired than I guess I think of Tyler's work as generally being; you could probably call it "funky," though that's somewhat of an awkward adjective. "Absolutely" is thoroughly pop, completely catchy, and very electronic--not in the sense of electronica, but rather that it's not a live instruments sort of song. Hinged upon a prowling sort of electronic line, the song, an ode to the pinup model who you also happen to be sleeping with ("I've got your pictures all over my wall/But I've got the greatest secret of all"), also throws in some repeated nonsense syllables for good measure; it all adds up to a song with a little attitude and a whole lot of catchiness.

To buy Gareth Gates's second album, Go Your Own Way, go here (physical) or here (digital). You can pick it up on eBay or Amazon Marketplace for incredibly low prices and, given that it's a double album and has tons of great songs, it's definitely a good investment. Possibly more important, though, would be getting his new (not-yet-out) album Pictures Of The Other Side, which you can buy here.

Next up: maybe something Swedish. But I'll try to avoid going so Swede-crazy again, at least as much as possible.

Watch our cares float away

Gareth Gates's new single "Changes" is out this week. To be honest, I still don't understand it as the choice of lead single, as he seems to have recorded more instant songs and songs more likely to get radio play, but chosen it was, and I have this fear--hopefully irrational and completely unlikely--of the single not doing too well and the album release getting cancelled. As I said, hopefully that's not likely, but still, it wouldn't feel right for me to let the week pass without reminding people that the single is now out. I faced a little bit of a dilemma in choosing what to post today; I suspect many people with any interest in either of his albums already own them (though that won't stop me from writing about some of the songs from them at some point in the future) and I've posted his demos and most of my favorite b-sides already. The result? I'm posting a song that I do have some reservations about--mainly in regards to its length, as I know not everyone is up for eight minute long remixes--but I do undeniably enjoy.

Sunshine (Bimbo Jones Club Mix)--I am far from a remix expert, but I always associate Bimbo Jones with this sort of steel drum-esque sound. If I listened to enough of his work, that might get annoying, but for a song like "Sunshine," which is just as bright as the title implies, it's a good match. It's no dancefloor stormer, but it is still danceable, though you could relax to it just as easily, sitting on a beachside lounge chair and sipping a drink.

To buy CD1 (not the one with the cover pictured here) of Gareth Gates's single "Sunshine," which has the Bimbo Jones Club Mix as a b-side, go here (physical). More importantly, you can buy his new single "Changes" here (physical) or here (digital).

Next up: probably music from Mexico, maybe France.

See your face in every magazine

Is this the new Gareth Gates single cover?


(Taken from eBay, via his forum.)

Possibly. According to HMV and Amazon, the b-side is "Lovesong." It is a very nice picture--but then, covers have never really been a problem for Gareth, at least from his second album era:















He was the undisputed king of popstar hair. And I won't even be argued with.

OK, I'm done.

(If it makes it any better, I just sought out those pictures for this post...)

Also on the topic of Gareth: why did no one tell me that Fredrik Kempe covered "With You All The Time"?! And even remixed it into what sounds like amazing dance-pop (based on the clip, which isn't itself hugely amazing but sounds like it's building up to something great) ?

Turn the page on what we've left behind

What, you thought I wasn't going to be post this video? (To be honest, I almost forgot).



I'll be back with thoughts on it (it's the music video for Gareth Gates's new song "Changes," in case anyone hadn't guessed) once I have time.

Let's watch this, while we're at it.



And maybe this too.



Oh, the number of times I've copied those dance moves (starting at the "Never been a sinner" line). "I want to come back as Gareth's hair gel" indeed. And I love that closing line.

Hope this happens today

Gosh! Melodifestivalen fever takes over, I pay a little less attention to UK artists, and look what happens--Gareth Gates puts clips of songs on his MySpace, is working on redesigning his official site (though the version there at the moment is a redesign, too), announces the release date for his new single "Changes" (April 9), and announces the title of his new album (Pictures Of The Other Side). Heck, it's even being reviewed already (though I haven't heard anything about any songs we didn't already know)! He's doing a showcase of his new material tonight, so hopefully there will be more reviews and we'll get to hear about some of the other songs. Now, I promised over at You Don't Know Pop that I wasn't going to say anything bad about ballads in general for a week (if you haven't been checking that blog lately, absolutely go look at Troy's Valentine's Day dedicated post--all ballads, and so many good ones that I was inspired to make the aforementioned promise!), so I'll just say I hope there's news about some more mid- to up-tempo stuff. An official release date for a single, an official album title--I'm in mild shock!

I still maintain his second album is a classic--go buy it if you haven't already.

And I'm allowed to change my mind

It's been a little while since I've done a real news round-up (though I know I've done a lot of "breaking news" sort of posts lately), and there's a lot I'd like to mention, so today will just be some random thoughts and news.

In the "news I should have brought to you yesterday but didn't want to mention" file is information about Gareth Gates's new single. It's confirmed for an April release, and he's also confirmed which song it will be: "Changes." It's the latter that resulted in my hesitation to mention it yesterday. I haven't heard the whole song yet, let alone heard the whole studio version yet, but from what I've heard of the song, I'm not sure about the choice. Well, that's not entirely correct--it would be more correct to say I have an opinion which could be totally wrong, but I'll throw it out there anyway: I see this as the sort of song that might be loved by fans, but isn't a good choice for lead single. Facts about "Changes": it is a ballad. You can't view it as anything else--it's not a Shayne Ward "No Promises" or Anthony Callea "Rain" song that you could maybe make a case for it being something else. I'm trying not to let my own preference for the uptempo influence my analysis of this decision, but that might seep in somewhat, which is why I'm so leery about actually saying much. It's also a very intimate-sounding ballad. Very singer-songwritery sounding. And (I can just hear the screams of derision coming from the PJ Forums already) it's co-written with one of the writers of James Blunt's "You're Beautiful." Ballads can do very well, but I feel as if normally they tend to be catchy, or less..."rambling" isn't the right word...less hushed? More commanding of your attention? As I said, I haven't heard the whole thing, so I could be utterly wrong on this (and I hope I am), but to me it just doesn't feel like the super-strong comeback single he needs. I don't expect anyone to want to download these, but if anyone wants to listen to them, here are a couple of clips (taken from the documentary) of "Changes": longer clip (the song's beginning, I think) and shorter clip (probably leading into the chorus). Anyone else have any thoughts? And be honest--I can take it!

Also, speaking of singles, Sebastian (Karlsson)'s latest single "Words and Violence" (which I wrote about and posted a live version of back in December) is finally availabe to purchase in a physical format, meaning we non-Swedish residents can finally get hold of it. I'm not sure if anyone else has grown as obsessed with this song as me recently, but if you want to, you can buy the single for it here.

No news from Go:Audio (except that they keep redesigning their MySpace), but I just wanted to mention again how great their song "Made Up Stories" (which you can listen to on the aforementioned MySpace) is.

Also on the guitar-pop tip, the Click Five's song "Time Machine" is being used to advertise Orlando--that's lovely, boys, but when do we get a new album? (Rumors say fall 2007, but that's based off of nothing.) Those live performances of some of your new songs are too low quality for me to stand listening to, no matter how intense my withdrawal symptoms get.

What has happened to Veto Silver? According to their MySpace, they still have shows coming up, and it looks as if they've lost and replaced a member, but when are we getting new music?

My reporting that Anthony Callea's single "Addicted To You" would have two new b-sides was wrong--one will be "Meant For Love," previously only available on the Australian iTunes. The other is called "Try," and is, as far as I know, new.

Ever since Kevin recommended Sondre Lerche in the comments, I've fallen in love with him. His upcoming album, Phantom Punch, might be more hipster than what I normally listen to, but it's so much fun...I definitely recommend picking it up when it comes out in early February! I really want to write more about him later, but if I do, Kevin gets all the credit (and huge thanks!) for introducing him to me. In the meantime, if you like well-done music videos, check out the one for his song "Two Way Monogue" (also courtesy of Kevin's recommendation).

I'm a horrible comments lurker, but I do it in hopes of finding new blogs. A couple of blogs new to me: Give Your Ears A Taste Of The Visual and PopMusicWorldWide. I only just found out about PopMusicWorldWide this morning, and I absolutely adore it already; when its creator says "world wide," that's the complete truth. Incredibly thorough, it's already introduced me to artists I'd never heard of before and given me a lot more information about artists I only knew in passing. I only wish I'd known about it sooner. Give it a visit--you'll love it!

Other excellent blogs have relocated: Digital Technique is now at the All New Digital Technique and Aria of Pop is now at Synth Me Spaghetti. Both are top-quality blogs that I adore.

Next up: maybe that band from Germany.

She's a rainbow baby when she's painting the town

(After suffering from yet another bout of insomnia, I decided I might as well check up on some of my other popstars. I promise there will be a real post later today, but I just couldn't not share this now.)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There are pretty much no words for my excitement at the moment--I got hit with two pieces of huge news tonight/this morning. I don't even know where to begin, or what to say, or...well, let's start off with the one that's easier to deal with first.

There were two bits of Gareth Gates that I neglected to bring to you all earlier this week. One is that he's having an online question and answer session this Friday (news which was accompanied by this photo at left). I mainly didn't mention it because I can't imagine it'll be anything other than chaotic, and any important questions will surely be answered or deliberately left unanswered by him. The other piece of news was that HMV had a listing for a new single by him, but the supposed release date--earlier February--was clearly far too soon to be accurate, given the time needed for promotion.

So, the news update on the Gareth front? HMV is now listing the release date of his new single as March 19. Now, that doesn't mean it's guaranteed, but it is more reasonable, and is pretty exciting. The real question is: what does the song sound like?

(Picture credit to BenAdams-music.co.uk; thank you!)

Onto the other popstar update, and it's one I can't even believe I'm reporting: news from Ben Adams! Though he's always been pretty good about rotating new songs onto his MySpace, there's generally not very much heard from him. Before you get too excited, there's no mention of an actual release date or even of the album "coming together;" however, when it comes to Ben, I'll take what news I can get.

His official website now has a video showing--well, it's difficult to say what it's showing, because basically it's just Ben running around with a camera and interviewing a bunch of people he's working with, both in Sweden and in the U.S. (it's all from 2006). The video is pretty long, but it's definitely worth sitting through if you're at all interested in him. Early in the video, a song came on that I didn't know, and I was pretty excited: "ohh, that's lovely--he's letting us hear one of his new songs--cool!" But no--the entire thing is filled with clips of brand new songs (one of which sounds decidedly Prince-esque, I think, and even says "her favorite color's purple")--I can't even begin to say how many there were, but a lot. They also played a clip of "Get Off My Girl;" I found that really reassuring--I don't know why I was worried they might scrap it, but I thought maybe, despite that track's strength, they might go in an all new direction). I honestly cannot wait to be able to buy his album, whenever it finally gets released!

Other highlights? I might have missed some names, but I'm pretty sure I heard Ben refer to one man as "Jorgen" and he referenced the records he'd sold with Britney Spears, which would mean that must be Jorgen Elofsson; I don't know what he actually looks like, so I can't confirm, but I don't know who else that could possibly be. Also with a cameo in the video: Robin Thicke, who Ben is apparently writing with.

As for the song clips themselves, I was hugely relieved to hear that most of them still have that slightly experimental, producer-oriented, maybe electronic (as in produced, not all "real" instruments) sound and are mid- to up-tempo (though there was a pretty nice ballad played at one point).

I'll see if I can come up with something slightly more intelligent to say when I'm not incredibly sleep deprived (maybe I just need to go take a bunch of NyQuil?), but basically: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Real information! New songs! Just actually seeing that Ben is still alive and working!

So, basically: possible single release for Gareth in mid-March and Ben is still actually doing real work on the album--good news all around, then. Anyone else want to wish for any comebacks while the good luck seems to be running so high?

(Can I just say, though, Ben, that perhaps, given the situation your former girlfriend is in, group joking about racism--even if it was filmed in 2006--might not have been the best thing to include?)

Mistletoe, Christmas songs, let it play on and on

I realized several days ago that I'd left out of the Christmas special one of the songs that had been my inspiration for starting it; at that point, I thought it might be interesting to post it on Christmas day itself, but I've just realized that that would take away from the ability to play it in the lead-up to Christmas, when the vast majority of Christmas music gets played. It's from someone who I've written about countless times, and who has a TV documentary airing December 23 (featuring some of his new music!): Gareth Gates. In addition to releasing two excellent albums, the Pop Idol runnerup also had some great B-sides on his singles; this is one of them. (Incidentally, I just have to say: if we were giving out awards for best popstar hair, I'd have to nominate Gareth--post-2002, that is--and he'd be a top contender for most photogenic popstar, too.)

Christmas To Remember--as you all probably know by now (but I really can't say it enough), I love Gareth's music; his second album was full of so many excellent pop songs that he should have been able to release singles off of it for years. His music is really pop, and I love that about it. This song is exactly in that vein--complete pop--and it's pretty adorable. Sweet and mid-tempo, "Christmas To Remember" is, as you might have guessed from the title, a love song (convenient that "December" and "remember" rhyme, right?). This is first album era, so he sounds young and the song itself is more reminiscent of the songs on his first album than, say, "Sunshine."

To buy Gareth Gates's single "What My Heart Wants To Say," which has "Christmas To Remember" as a B-side, go here (physical).

Oh, and as a reminder, "Made Up Stories" by Go:Audio is still amazing (even if the band has rather frustratingly decided to start making news about their album viewable only to MySpace "friends"...). My favorite song of the moment, in fact.

Next up: maybe a Swedish singer.