Saturday night we'll pack the floor

So I was messing about on this site (which is excellent for Melodifestivalen history) and looking at some of the songs that have been rejected over the years when I noticed that one of the songs rejected on the last day in the 2007 review process was called "Work It (Everybody)"--that's got to be the song Gerard went on to cover in Spanish and that I mentioned you can listen to a demo of on another site, doesn't it? I noticed there was another song in the same situation called "Tid att gå vidare"--I'm not sure about timelines, but that could've been the Thomas G:son-penned song Barbados would go on to release, couldn't it (not necessarily, of course, given that there have been other songs with that title and it's not an uncommon phrase)? The title "Gomenasai" jumped out at me considering that BWO have a song with that title on their album, but I imagine those one word titles can be deceptive (it's hardly as if they're the only act to ever record a song with that title), and that doesn't seem to fit with the image I have of what BWO were wanting to do (which really isn't based on anything, to be honest).

More speculative stuff: another of the songs on that list is called "Addicted" and that's the title of another song Gerard has recorded, written by the same people who did "Work It (Everybody)." If I'm remembering correctly, that's also a title of a song that supposedly Ola was considering as releasing as the second single after "Natalie." Could potentially be either of those, both of them (though I would tentatively lean towards not; if Gerard is going with the style of "Work It (Everybody)" and his "Addicted" also fits with that style, it seems like a song that would fit better on Ola's first album than second, from what we've heard so far), or neither. Another song on the list is "Looking For A Star," which has the same title as the song Rednex would go on to release that summer.

(It's always really obvious when I've been trying to educate myself/catch up on what I've missed out on, isn't it? And yes, I really am that excited about Melodifestivalen that I've been spending time guessing what songs were in the running for last year's. Sigh. What can I say? I'm addicted.)

(Oh, and I noticed that one of the 2006 rejects was called "Värsta schlagern"--but surely if it had been the "Värsta schlagern" [or even if there was a chance it was] there would have been more talk of that by now? And that was a longer wait to release it than I would have expected--the timeline seems off. Plus, I thought I remembered hearing/reading that Markoolio had turned down the offer to compete in Melodifestivalen with it, and that he sort of regretted it. I could have invented that, though. Same list--of the top 103 songs in 2006--also mentions songs called "Amanda" and "Drop Dead," so I'm completely confused at this point.)

Let's wake up the neighbors, dancing on chairs and tables

OK, while I'm being music dorky, I might as well go all the way and say that I'm currently really enjoying this site--I have a bunch to catch up on in regards to songwriters, producers, and song history, and, though I'm sure each publishing company has its own site, this is the one I'm working my way through at the moment.

If you read the news on the songwriters, you'll pick up interesting news bits (some names of people working on Sofia Berntson's album [Dimitri Stassos, who discovered her, and Jason Gill are working on it, though what's up now--post-Melodifestivalen--I have no idea], the fact that the same people who did Gerard's "Work It (Everybody)" have also come up with what sounds like might be another single or at least will be released somehow, "Addicted") and the music player in the bottom right hand corner will clue you in to some of the songs they've done, sometimes already released, sometimes not, and sometimes--and maybe the most interestingly (since we don't know who, if anyone, will end up doing the unreleased ones [there are some--if they aren't yet released--that I hope someone records; Thomas Ahlstrund, Richard Anderson, and Peter Malmrup's "Won't Be Back" is a cute poppy song and I wouldn't mind hearing Niklas Gårfeldt, Nilas Hillbom, and Tomas Jansson's "Unreal" on a girl group album at all, if it's not already been recorded)--demos of songs already released, like Ola's "Cops Come Knocking," Hadise's "Bad Boy," No Angel's "Someday," Soccx's "From Dusk Till Dawn," Gerard's "Work It" (entirely in English), and Alcazar's "Not A Sinner Nor A Saint" (slowed down and just with a female singer), although some of these could just have been released earlier by someone else that I don't know about and it's the original singer you're hearing.

Si buscas la fiesta, la tendrás

I'll be honest: I didn't pay the closest attention to the whole process of Misión Eurovisión, Spain's televised competition to choose its Eurovision representative; without the ability to watch it online or anywhere besides post-contest YouTube clips, my involvement on a watching-all-the-performances level was mainly limited to the final...which is probably how I missed out on Gerard (full name Gerard Martí). From the little bits and pieces I've seen of his performances from ME, I don't think I would have been particularly enthusiastic about him during the contest. However, for many artists, it's the material that makes them, not necessarily their voice (even if it's a good voice), and it's only with his debut single that I'm starting to pay attention to him.

Work It (Everybody)--this song is of a certain sort that I both often fall for and am turned off by. Not only is any pop song going for that hard-hitting club feel probably always going to be compared to Darin's "Step Up" in my mind and come up lacking, it's a type of song that can easily sound cheap and that lends itself to lots of ridiculous "oh look, I'm so hip and edgy!" posing that makes me uncomfortable. There is a certain aura of cheapness around the song and the backing vocal "work it everybody"s sound maybe ten years old, but it's fun, danceable, and has crowd noises in it and, as I said, I ultimately almost always end up enjoying this type of song, and this one is no exception. I don't expect it to do well chartwise in Spain, but I do really like it. Despite the title, it's almost all in Spanish, which I'm very glad of; the rhythm in Spanish gives it a certain feel I like and I imagine the lyrics in English would be too silly and posing-esque as well as unable to capture the flow of these ones (plus, Gerard sounds like he's much more comfortable with Spanish).

I thought I read that the single was going to come out in September, but if it's floating around this early, maybe it's due out earlier; at any rate, I don't know anywhere where you can preorder it yet, but keep an eye on El Corte Ingles.

Credit (once again) to PubliSpain for the song; strangely enough, I was planning a post on him and thought I'd just have to use a low quality MySpace rip, but luckily someone found the better quality audio version.

Next up: a French singer.