You wanna leave me here, leave me out of sight

I think at one point I had some supposedly deep analysis of the following song that I was going to post up, but that was months ago, so of course I've lost it since then--which is just as well, because thinking back on it, I'm pretty sure it was a lot less good than I thought it was. And yes, this does make the third time I've written about Danish singer Mukupa--apparently this is the week of reoccurring characters on this blog. Oh well. Anyhow, for more information, check any of my earlier posts on her, though it's probably worth noting here that, very sadly, Natasja, her long-time friend and who she'd formed a pretty boundaries-breaking duo with back in the early '90's, passed away in a car crash fairly recently; Mukupa was in the same car. Today's song has also been sung by Swedish artist Ann Winsborn and by former Eurovision contestant Xandee, but since I don't have Xandee's version and Ann is enough of a pop blog favorite already (deservedly so--if you don't know her and have any interest in pop with some dance beats and maybe a bit of disco, run and seek out her two albums Everything I Am and Pink Collar Crime right now, because she's fantastic fantastic fantastic) and Mukupa, who co-wrote the song, isn't nearly well-known enough, that I thought I'd go with Mukupa's original version (from back in 2001, as opposed to the 2004 album releases of both the aforementioned artists) instead.

Edit: or it's really late and I've already posted this before! Well, I'll keep the description since it's longer than last time, but I'll throw in another song as well.

I Need You--this is one of Mukupa's more dance-pop and less hip-pop songs (as you might guess, given who's covered it), though it's a slick sort of far-from-joyous dance-pop that there surely must be a better name for. There are still vestiges of Mukupa in Ann's version--the little half-raps are definitely more in keeping with her style than Ann's. Ann's version (which I love as well) is surely more of a complete, well-produced sounding song that fits in solidly with her album and is probably the better song, but for some reason, I have such a soft spot for Mukupa's version--maybe because it's one of the few songs that finds her showing vulnerability, as opposed to the more "strong woman with some attitude" feeling you get from so many of her songs, and as a result it just hurts that little bit more to hear her being hurt--near the end, where she starts to sing over top of the chorus, just sort of...works, without ever having to move beyond its light pop sound. The more sparse feel of Mukupa's version may make it sound less lush than Ann's, more demo-like and maybe more of its era, but it adds a musical clarity I love. The keyboard line running throughout is worthy of special note as well.

Something About The Boy--the chorus reminds me of something else, but I can't place it. Anyhow, this is more on the bouncey pop side, with a chorus that sounds solidly out of the year its from but that still holds up today.

Sigh...I think I'm losing it, I really do!

To buy Mukupa's album 2nd Base, go here (physical) or here (digital). At the very least, if you didn't get it when I posted it earlier, pick up the Fu Tourists Remix of "Stop Stop," which is swooshy dancey fabulousness. You can visit her MySpace here.

Next up: I'm not really sure--maybe that American group finally?

We got that "you hang up," "no you hang up" kinda love

Some mini-news flashes:

Blake Lewis is, according to Chris Richardson, "doing his [Blake's] ’80s pop" for his upcoming album (Chris has apparently done some writing with him). Sounds potentially promising--the '80's pop-inspired part, I mean.

Swedish singer Peter Jöback has a new single out called "Stockholm i natt." I've known about it for a few days, but I think, given that it's a ballad in Swedish, it just doesn't quite connect with me, or maybe it'll take some time to grow (Sonja Aldén's Melodifestivalen entry had to). However, for my money, if you want a song with "i natt" in the title, you're better off with Niclas Wahlgren's "I Natt (Part Two)." Yes, it is more older person/MOR sounding, but I really like it. More upbeat than "Stockholm i natt," too.

Month old news at this point, but Danish singer Natasja sadly passed away in a car accident in Jamaica. I've never been too fond of her music--it's dancehall sort of stuff--but she was very close friends with Karen Mukupa (they were in a duo together in the '90's), whose work I do enjoy and have featured before. Mukupa was in the car with her, but is, as far as I know, fine. My condolences go out to Natasja's family and friends.

Shayne Ward mania is taking me over. I love "If That's OK With You" and, in search of any of his new material (because, let's face it, you can only listen to "No Promises" and "Next To Me" so many times; his debut album didn't exactly give you countless listening options), I've been listening to a live performance of another of his new songs "You Hang Up."



It sounds different than I would have expected given the Digital Spy review of the album sampler (it's surely the mentioned "track 4"), but I really like it. And I love that quoted lyric--I could walk around "singing" it all day. And speaking of Shayne, go read the hilarious banterview about him over at Chart Rigger.

If you wanna get with me, boy, you gotta keep it real

A few months ago (can it really have been that long already?), I wrote about Danish singer Mukupa. As part of a group, she was one of the pioneers of women in hip-hop and rap, but her solo album 2nd Base is incredibly poppy, with the occasional Verbalicious-esque rap thrown in. When I first wrote about her, one of the songs I featured was "Stop Stop," a pop song with a little bit of faux-R&B mixed in. Her album also features a remix of it, and--somewhat unusually for me--I think I prefer it to the original.

Stop Stop (Fu Tourists Remix)--I know those first five seconds aren't hugely promising, but stick with it, because once you get the real beat and swooshing background effects, it'll be a hard song to resist. The verses are sped up and this remix smartly keeps (and plays up) the "aahhh-aahhh"'s, but it's those moments like the one just after the beginning that make this song worth listening to--they're "throw your hands up and forget you troubles" moments.

To buy Mukupa's album 2nd Base, go here (physical) or here (digital).

Matt Willis's new single is out in its physical version on April 2, with the digital release a week beforehand. It's a cover of the Primitives' "Crash" and he's got a clip of it on his MySpace--it doesn't sound better than Shebang's version and it's not about to beat "Up All Night" (not much does), but it's not bad. My hope that he succeeds may be influencing my perspective here, though.

The video for Gareth Gates's new single "Changes" comes out this Sunday--hopefully, it'll be on YouTube soon afterwards!

Edit: I forgot--Jimmy Jansson and Sebastian's new albums come out today (and maybe others I've forgotten about, too)! You can listen to clips from Sebastian's album The Vintage Virgin on the Swedish iTunes here (I haven't really gotten to do so yet, though I will say that trigger metaphors are overused in music); I haven't found anywhere to preview Jimmy's album Sån E Jag yet (besides his official site, which has clips of two of the songs on it--click on "Musik"), but I'll let you know if I do. Incidentally, someone seems to have made a mistake, because a lot of the digital music sites selling Jimmy's song "Amanda" have, instead of a picture of Jimmy, the cover of Jessica Andersson's "Kom" accompanying the song--slight difference. You can buy Sebastian's album here and Jimmy's album here.

Next up: probably that group from Belgium.

Give me some insight, aiight?

(Apologies for the less than great picture, but I couldn't find a better one.)

Yay for insomnia! Another late night post tonight, although really, it's not that late...

It's not a word I use often, but are you all ready for something completely poptastic? Sounding like something straight out of the late '90's or early 2000's (and after all, it did come out in 2002), today's album is nothing other than cheesy fun pop. Given that she has a ridiculously low number of listeners on Last.fm, I had to share the love for this artist.

Karen Mukupa, also known as Mukupa, Miss Mukupa, and Ms. Mukupa, comes from Denmark (though she was born in Zambia) and first broke onto the music scene in the early 1990's as part of the hip-hop group No Name Requested (another ex-member, Natasja, released her debut solo album a couple of years ago and has songs still getting radioplay). She later returned as a solo artist and released at least two albums. I don't have Mukupa's Law, but 2nd Base, which veers between dance-pop and pop-rap, might not be a classic, but it's definitely enjoyable, and deserves a lot more fame outside of Denmark than it has (unless it's already famous and I'm oblivious).

Stop Stop--the album's second single. This is one of the more pop-rap-R&B songs, but it's far more on the pop side than anything else. In fact, the whole album is thoroughly poppy and a great mood-lifter. Plus, there's not a single ballad on it! You really can't beat that. Anyhow, back to "Stop Stop": it's got a great catchy chorus that really, to me, has a "take you back" feel; it's fun, but I also get the tiniest bit nostalgic for the days of music like this. If you like your pop more dance-pop, there's a remix of this song at the end of the album that you'd probably prefer even more than this version. (Incidentally, if we can believe Amazon, this song also got a UK release--does anyone know?)

I Need You--this song was never a single, despite the fact that four singles were released off the album, if that gives you any indication of how much good stuff is on it. "I Need You" is definitely on the dance-pop side. It's not of the storming kind, more of the smooth slick kind, though that slickness is briefly interrupted by Mukupa's pop-raps (we need more rapping like Mukupa, Verbalicious, and Tara Chase in music!).

I definitely recommend buying the album, or at least some of the songs on it; you can buy Mukupa's album 2nd Base here (physical) or here (digital). If you miss this style of pop, you will love a lot of the songs on it. It even has a ridiculous cover/reworking of Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again" on it! And a disturbing song about making sure the man hitting on you isn't your father before you do anything with him! How can you not want to hear it?

Next up: maybe that German band finally, or I may repost a song from earlier because something I've just seen has got me very excited about that particular artist all over again.