Jag vill att du stannar kvar

(Obviously this isn't a recent picture of Pernilla, but I love the '80's pictures of her too much, so I'm going to keep using those.)

Awfully enough, Melodifestivalen is over for the year. Sure, we've got some albums coming out in the next couple of months to look forward to, but I'm still feeling like someone who's been forced to quit an addiction cold turkey. Consider today's song part of the beginning of the coming down process, then--technically not part of this year's Melodifestivalen (meaning you can tell yourself you're making progress and beginning to move on) but sounding like it very well could have been. It's a pretty safe guess that "I Min Värld" is a Melodifestivalen (2008, presumably; edit: or maybe 2006 [or both]--it's a 2008 single either way) reject, pure schlager that comes in at three minutes. If that's the case, poor Pernilla Wahlgren--with the exception of 2003, when her duet with Jan Johansen, "Let Your Spirit Fly," made it into the contest and to the final, she keeps getting shut out of Melodifestivalen in recent years--in 2005, she was passed over for "Alla Flickor," which was given to Linda Bengtzing (which I'm glad of, since I prefer Linda's recording); in (the lead up to) 2006, her song "Crashed & Burned" was rejected; and "I Min Värld" didn't make it either. As I said when I wrote about it earlier, it's not the best schlager song ever, but it's definitely an enjoyable listen and a great song. (I know I've written about it before, but it's still worth posting, and time has been nothing but kind to it.)

I Min Värld--a schlager song with a racing beat underneath it--well, the beat races, but the song doesn't feel ridiculously uptempo or anything, possibly because 1.) it's not really that fast, and 2.) the chorus has this big soaring feel--definitely upbeat, but not particularly fast. Anyway, the point is that the punches and crashes come at all the right moments in this song, the shiny electronically-created backing sparkles, and it's a fantastic catchy schlager song. I can't help thinking that if Melodifestivalen was really still as much of a schlager-focused event as many people think, more songs like this would make it through--but they don't. If just knowing that it's Pernilla doing great upbeat schlager isn't enough for you (and it should be!), here's further proof of "I Min Värld"'s schlager credentials: it was written by Pontus Assarsson and Henrik Sethsson, who've also collaborated on Fame's "Vindarna Vänder Oss" and Friends' "The One That You Need" (though if we're talking about them separately, they've done loads of non-schlager stuff as well).

You can buy Pernilla Wahlgren's single "I Min Värld" on her official site. Since this is a new-ish single, it'll only be posted for a little bit.

Next up: maybe Titiyo, given that oddly enough I just got her 2001 album today and then saw her featured on the front page of of PopJustice as being in the new Kleerup single.

No more sad goodbyes, close your gloomy eyes

Before we get into the descriptive part of this post, I'd just like to say that this album cover


sums up the entire '80's to me. Well, granted, it's not like I remember much of the '80's, but it captures what I think of when I think of them.

Anyway, some day I will properly investigate the fantastic American and British artists of the '80's...but apparently that day wasn't anytime this past week. What did I end up listening to, for reasons even I don't understand? Old '80's tracks from Swedish singers Pernilla Wahlgren and Lena Philipsson. It's not like I've got that much of either artist's '80's output, but for some reason I've got the urge to investigate. I started with the easiest '80's album to get from Pernilla, her self-titled 1985 debut (though sadly I've got the reissue and not the original with the cover you see above), put out after her performance of "Piccadilly Circus" in Melodifestivalen. The song only took fourth, but it became a (said to be overplayed now) classic. After releasing this album, Pernilla would go on to release several more (I need to track down at least Pure Dynamite and probably Attractive as well) and participated in Melodifestivalen again before taking a break from performing chart music and instead doing things like children's TV and musicals. She came back to Melodifestivalen in 2003 singing the duet "Let Your Spirit Fly" with Jan Johansen. In 2006, she released a new album, and just recently she released a new single, the schlager and probably Melodifestival reject "I min värld."

Her 1985 album, which has some songs in Swedish and some in English, has some great songs. "Can't Live Without You" is an ode to tracking down the guy who left you, but this is no mournful ballad--it's more of a hunting song set to a revvy mid-tempo beat, which includes lines like the following

I'm walkin on the sidewalks of Santa Fe
I'm lookin' for an old rusted Chevrolet
And now the clue I got is your spice cologne

The opening track, "Svindlande Affärer," which was a single, is great as well (though apparently not on the original edition of the album). I could keep going but, jumping to the point, the song I'm sharing today was never a single, at least to my knowledge, but it's at least as good as the singles from this album.

Don't Run Away From Me Now--I'm pretty sure this song is amazing--no, scratch that, I am sure. Somewhere between mid-tempo and power ballad territory, "Don't Run Away From Me Now" opens up fairly minimally, trying to create a little bit of atmosphere and the feeling that we might just be building into something, before eventually giving us a fantastic punchy (very '80's) chorus that helps the song take on a big (dare I say epic?) feel...well, big at least for this sort of commercial '80's pop. It doesn't really have one vocal hook to key in on (though the backing music is definitely throwing all sorts of hooks at you), but it's still catchy--I've been going around with "Tenderness is hard to find/Don't run away from me now" stuck in my head for days. This isn't '80's electro-pop or anything, just old-fashioned classic '80's pop, complete with big overhead handclap-friendly middle section.

To buy Pernilla Wahlgren's self-titled album, go here (physical).

Next up: maybe Jacques.

Your pain and your sorrow, I put them aside

Mentioning this in the comments has reminded me of something I've been meaning to mention on here: Swedish artist, "Piccadilly Circus" singer, and original "Alla flickor" performer Pernilla Wahlgren has a new single out. It's called "I min värld," it's very schlager, and comes in at right about three minutes, so I imagine we can probably guess what it was originally for (whether or not with her, I have no idea). Anyway, it's an enjoyable way to spend three minutes--if you like schlager or even just big upbeat pop tracks, it's worth jumping over to her MySpace to give it a listen; I really like it.

I keep toying with the idea of buying her last album, from 2006 (or maybe one of her earlier '80's ones)--I do like "Come Inside My World" a lot.