Åh, Kristina, guldet blev till sand

Aftonbladet reported today that Peter Jöback will be the next joker in 2010's Melodifestival, singing a Fredrik Kempe-penned ballad which their source says is of winning class. While there's not official confirmation of this fact yet, if it's true it significantly changes the picture for next year's contest. Peter is something of an institution in Sweden. As Markus Larsson of Aftonbladet rightly points out, Darin may be popular amongst young girls, but Peter is popular amonst far more demographics; songs unheard, he'll be the one to beat in March.

Peter has a voice which often veers towards theatrical, and he's done his share of theater and theatrical-sounding songs, especially piano- and string-featuring ballads. In fact, his biggest hit is the beautiful "Guldet blev till sand," from a musical written by the two "B"s of ABBA.



His latest album is a collection of covers, but the lead single for the album before that, "Stockholm I Natt," is probably as fair a representation of his sound as any (though it's not my absolute favorite of his songs).



Like any artist whose career is going on two decades of work, of course, he's accumulated a flirtation with various styles on his resumé, from Disney ballads to the more pure pop of his 2000 album Only When I Breathe to the sort of glam rock power ballad of his duet with the band Laakso; even to a previous Melodifestival entry, albeit back in 1990 before he was really an established artist.

I'm tentatively in favor of this development. I don't love everything Peter does, but there's no denying he can make a heartwrending song when he's matched up with the right material. The best we can do is hope that he has been in this case. Fredrik has composed some great ballads in his time, even if I tend to prefer his more uptempo songs. My first thought that I'd love Peter to sing a song like Patrick Isaksson's "Faller Du Så Faller Jag," a (non-Kempe) Melodifestival entry from 2006, but the song will probably be far more "polished orchestral" than that if I'm being honest with myself. Still, the idea of Peter singing one of the better ballads from Fredrik's first two solo album is pretty enticing.

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.

I met you again a few weeks ago, you had a proper job and a place to call home

OK, so until today, I didn't really know much about the group Laakso (Swedish--of course they are--but seemingly named after a place in Finland), though they've been featured in other places, but now I think I'm in love...at least with this song! This is just a low-quality radio rip (sorry about that), but I absolutely have to share this song with you, because it's amazing. "Italy vs Helsinki," the lead single for their new album (which I think will be their third album) is good, but I think this song is much better; if this is the sort of song they have hidden away on the album, I can't wait to buy it.

Norrköping (Radio Rip)--don't let the title scare you away--this song is in English, not Swedish; Norrköping is just the name of a city. As I mentioned in the post below this, they're supporting the Ark at some upcoming performances, and if you like that sort of music, I definitely recommend listening to this song. I don't even know how to begin to describe it--think narrative, epic, guitars, piano, synths, and just generally amazing. Beautiful, too. This song deserves a much more coherent and better description, so I may write more about it later, but for now, just listen to it already! If they don't have (another?) hit before the end of the year, I'll be very surprised; at the very least, I see lots of blog love in their future, though maybe not in the circles I usually frequent.

Laakso's album Mother, Am I Good Looking?, from which this song comes, isn't out yet--it comes out April 18--but you can preorder it here. A huge thanks goes to Oswald over at Ronny & Ronney's Schlagerblogg for letting me know about their new work.

Next up: maybe that French song, finally.

(Edit: if anyone wants to hear "Italy vs Helsinki," which is growing on me to the point that I'm beginning to love it, too--it's the sort of song that's brilliantly over-the-top--though I still prefer "Norrköping," go to It's A Trap.)

To be high on love again

Song I have to hear ASAP: Laakso's new single "Italy vs Helsinki."

Why?

• They're supporting the Ark at some upcoming performances.
• It's featuring Peter Jöback.
• It's being raved about over at Ronny&Ronney's Schlagerblogg.

Has anyone heard it?

Edit: Just heard it on the radio--at first listen, I like it but would not classify it as "fabulous." Still, we'll see what I think after repeated listenings.

Edit again: ooo--but I may love the song they followed it up with! Is that still them, I wonder? I think so, but I'm not sure what the title is.