Act like you mean it, heart and soul

I'd been meaning to write about Norwegian singer Venke Knutson's latest abum for quite some time, and then Jessica Poptastic beat me to it--still, I'll take just a few moments. To be honest, I probably haven't given it a fair trial, but my preliminary runthroughs just didn't leave very much sticking with me at all. Venke's got a voice that has the capacity to be a song's greatest asset--it's distinctive, sweet, perfect when delicacy or fragility or vulnerability is required--but if it's matched with the wrong song, all the things that make it special are covered up or outweighed by the dullness of the song. Her cover of "Holiday" was actually a cover worth having, because matched with her voice, the song suddenly took on whole new layers; most of this latest album, though, doesn't seem to reach highs like that or like those of her previous albums. It's not necessarily that the songs are bad, but I just don't know that they'll have the staying power for me of my favorite songs from her.

That said, for some reason, I've latched onto one of the tracks, and it's the one I'm posting. It's entirely possible that I'll just keep moving from track to track, finding a new one to be taken with every now and then, and eventually come to appreciate the whole album, but right now, this is my song of choice. Even listening to bits of the album again while writing this, actually, I'm liking it more and more, though. Maybe initially listening to it when I was in the middle of repeatedly listening to and writing about my favorite singles of 2007 was a bad idea? Then again, will I really listen to it again in a week?

You're So Cool--the pop-rock stylings of this song don't really put Venke's sweet voice to its best use, but the fact that the rocking out is kept to a minimum so as not to overpower her voice is definitely in the song's best interest. It's a light pop-rock song that may be disposable, but it's fun, with a catchy guitar riff that keeps it going.

To buy Venke Knutson's third album, Crush, go here (physical)--I've got no idea if that site still ships to the U.S. since they redesigned themselves, though. "Crazy Over You" is a sunny pop song worth a listen if you're interested, and I like "That's How The Story Goes."

Next up: maybe something Danish.

I've been through hell, got up when I fell

Much as I love Sweden and watch American Idol pretty faithfully, if I had to choose which country has the best songs connected directly to Idol, I think I'd go with Norway. I'm not referring here to post-Idol output, but the songs actually on Idol itself--the winner's song and, in Norway's case, the group song its finalists do. Aleksander Denstad With's "A Little Too Perfect" was one of the first songs I posted on this blog and it's still probably my favorite Idol winner song of all time, I think. I've also shared 2005's group song, "Dreaming," and I think I'll be posting 2006's song, "This Is Life," tomorrow--it's really good (so much so that mentioning it here almost made me swap posts and share it today). Norwegian Idol winner 2004 Kjartan Salvesen's winner's single certainly fits right in with this trend of good songs. Kjartan has released two albums so far, one back in 2004 and another this year.

Standing Tall--written by Espen Lind, this song does still have the "look how far I've come" message that most Idol songs do, but it's far less treacly than anything we get from American Idol, and it's much more focused on past difficulties the singer has faced--that is, it's more, "look at me, I survived" than "look at me, I'm a winner." It's also more mid-tempo than power ballad, and its strong chorus has far more impact than, say, that of "This Is My Now" or anything like that. It probably wouldn't be very difficult at all to turn this into a rock song, but as is, it feels pop--though not "poppy"--through and through, which is a good thing--much as I think guitars can be a great thing, here I think they'd take away from the song's strength.

To buy Kjartan Salvesen's debut album, Kjartan Salvesen, go here (physical) or here (digital), though that physical link will only work until the beginning of November--another of my Norwegian music stores is closing down! Where am I supposed to buy Norwegian music from after that? CDON needs to ship internationally. Edit: oh, it looks like Zailor has their CD section back; hopefully they still ship to the U.S..

Speaking of Norway, a mini-update on some Norwegian artists:

Venke Knutson has another new single out. It's called "Walk The Walk" and, sadly, it's not doing much for me at the moment. You can watch the video on YouTube and make your mind up for yourself, though. The album "Holiday" and "Walk The Walk" come from will be called Crush and I think it's out November 5.

Jorun Stiansen, who won Idol the year after Kjartan, has a new single out. Called "Sticky Hands," the song is of the sort that seems like it's deliberately trying to be unusual. That said, I think I like it, though I don't think I love it and feel very iffy about it. You can listen to it here. Reminds me a tiny bit of Tasha Baxter's "Fade To Black" in parts, though maybe that's just because of a couple of words.

After releasing the single "Adorable" earlier this year, former a1 member Christian Ingebrigtsen has a second solo album out, The Truth About Lies. I guess "Adorable" was OK in a very cheesy pop-rock way, but I don't think it was good enough to compel me to buy the album. There are preview clips of it here. "Wonder Years" sounds OK. The album is available for purchase from most digital music stores, including iTunes stores around the world.

Next up: as mentioned, Norwegian Idol 2006's group song.

I'm not the kind of girl who settles for excuses

Ooo, weird!

Back in early May, I posted Nylon's new single "Holiday." Then, in early June, I was surprised to notice that Venke Knutson's latest single was a cover of that song.

Well, it turns out that Nylon's version may not have been the original.

Assuming these charts are right, Latvian (I think) singer Jenny May had a song called "There Should Be A Holiday" making its way through music charts back in January of 2006...and yup, it's the same song! For all I know, there could have even been an earlier version. Does anyone know for sure? I think the song was written by Peter Agren and Janne (or Jan) Kask, who are Swedish (well, at least one of them is), proving once again that Swedes are everywhere.

...and, you know, just to bring it full circle with stuff I've just written about, guess what other group (among others) Peter Agren has written for?

Nu Pagadi!

I swear, the world seems so small sometimes.

This post is really random, I know, but, as I've said before, the behind the scenes songwriter-singer and recycling of songs stuff fascinates me.

I made my mind up when I got that groove

New Venke Knutson song out!

And...

...I almost fell over...

...it's the same song as the new Nylon single!



"Holiday"--same song, released by both artists about the same time (Nylon's was first)...

...that just seems so strange to me, for some reason. Her new album will come out this summer, apparently.

While I'm reporting random music news, there's a new Jesse McCartney album due out October this year--wow, that was fast. Of course, apparently most people didn't notice the second album happened, which is sort of a shame, if for no other reason than "Daddy's Little Girl" and "Running Away."

What should we expect?

"I'm going for Prince chords, Michael [Jackson] melodies, and the bigness of Madonna--fun '80's stuff."

I'd take that with a whole saltshaker full of salt--just about any pop artist searching for credibility is going to namedrop those artists. Still, I'll be paying sort-of-attention. I don't necessarily expect an album full of great songs, but a really good song or two? A definite possibility.

Australian (soul?) singer Eran James (his debut album arrived at my home the same day Måns's album did; I ordered it after it was mentioned by Thnairg and I cannot believe he was fifteen when it was released--he sounds much older) must have his second album, Ten Songs About Love, coming out later this year; given that there's a video for "Halo" on YouTube, it must be the lead single, but I much prefer the upbeat "Touched By Love" (you can listen to it on his MySpace), already released on the Australian version of the Shrek 3 soundtrack but due to be on the album as well.