Tonight's the night--let's live it up

The two songs that I've been bouncing around to all day:

The Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feelin'."



I have a love-hate relationship with BEP singles; thankfully, after the "hate" of "Boom Boom Pow," the "love" of "I Got A Feeling" has arrived. Produced by dance music creator David Guetta, the song has feel good going out anthem written all over it. I spent a while thinking the "fill up my cup/Mazal tov" lines were my favorite part, but no--there are too many great parts to really have one favorite.

Ryan Tedder's "Battlefield."



Much--generally positive--has already been written about Jordin Sparks's version of this song, the lead single for her second album. It's songwriter Ryan Tedder's version of the song that I'm preferring at the moment, though; blame my unintended preference for male voices if you will, but this is the version of the song that really makes me say "amazing."

Run you over with my big black car

(Preface: You Don't Know Pop wrote about this song a while ago, but spotlighted a remix, so I still felt this post was needed/acceptable.)

It's easy to be tired of the '60s revival by now, but please don't go running away when I say that Jennifer Brown's new single, "Mr Running Man," is '60s-sounding: it has a lighter touch--instrumentally and vocally if not totally lyrically, though even the words are more cheeky than depressed or ominous--to it than most of the Ronson-inspired music we've heard in the past few years. Most of those songs have never had the energetic bounce and spring in their step that, say, the Pipettes' '60s-inspired songs did, even when they were mid- to up-tempo, and without that, for me, the possibility of fun seemed to plummet.

As her follow-up to her decidedly more serious Melodifestival entry, "Never Been Here Before," though, Jennifer Brown has released what might be her most fun and singalong-worthy song since--well, maybe ever (disclaimer: I haven't heard her 1994 debut album or her second album). The melody is good, but live, it doesn't seem too remarkable; add in the great production work, though, and with those "oh-oh-oh"s sounding like they're supposed to, and you've got Jennifer, with the help of Peter Kvint, making an up-tempo song that should be but probably won't be her biggest hit in years; it may not have the electronic touches of Pixie's "Mama Do," but, much as I like that song, it's a lot more joy-inducing than "Mama Do" is (though to be fair, the intended effects of the songs aren't identical). We were just talking about songs perfect for summer? Add "Mr Running Man" to the list.

To buy Jennifer Brown's single "Mr Running Man," go here (digital).

While we're talking about Swedish songs that do both '60s and singalong-ready bounce that seem made for summer, Fibes, Oh Fibes!'s "Love Child" has a music video now. The reason for posting it less so that you all will watch it (though it's worth doing that) but moreso so that you'll listen to the song if you passed on it the last time I praised it. Months on, it's still at "play it once and I find myself compelled to play it again and again and again" levels.

Addictive hold

We are a little less than a week away from what could be the biggest case of "I never really expected it to happen" pop justice for a Swedish song in the UK since Robyn got a pair of top 10 hits, including a #1.



As much as I fell in instant, unshakable love with Agnes's disco-pop "Release Me" the moment I heard it--the moment I heard those opening strings, probably--I never really thought its UK release would result in anything other than another song to add to the seemingly endless list of Swedish pop songs scheduled for British release, ignored by British media outlets, and then switched to a half-hearted small release at the last moment in recognition of the fact that they're guaranteed to flop. As much as I'm glad for September's success there, it didn't surprise me on anything near my levels of shock at seeing Agnes's "Release Me" sitting at #6 on the UK iTunes chart a day after its release.



If you live in the UK, you can buy the UK edit of "Release Me"--which, as I understand it, isn't having a physical release, so needs all the digital sales it can get--from iTunes here. Regardless of where you live, you can buy the most complete Swedish edition of the album from which "Release Me" comes, Dance Love Pop, here (physical) or here (digital). It's joyous disco-pop meets uplifting luscious '80s poppy R&B made by Anders Hansson, whose role in Sweden in the '80s you could maybe roughly compare to a member of SAW's but who has continued to be an important if not always fully acknowledged pop hitmaker there (though over the past year the success and quality of his work has become increasingly hard to ignore).

Tygget godt og grundigt i den spist op

What new Danish songs are getting spins from me at the moment?

Sys Bjerre feat. UFO, "Ta dig sammen": Sys Bjerre is a female singer-songwriter who makes songs with a summery lilt to them but often with melancholic undercurrents--maybe Lily Allen (mainly first album, but touches of the second) meets Veronica Maggio, though that's pretty off. I should really write something about her debut album, released in the fall of last year, at some point, but let's ignore it for a second because her new single, part of a Coca-Cola promotion, is a departure from her earlier sound. That's no surprise, though: it's produced by Thomas Troelsen and, though not fully in his traditional style, mixes Sys Bjerre's summer singer-songwriter pop with Troelsen's beats--here more '90s percussion than '80s synths--to great effect, creating, along with UFO's raps and some hip-hop influence, an end result that is perfect for this time of year. Download it for free, completely legally, here; click "ja" to say that you're over 18 and "Download sommerens hit" should be right in front of you. A click there will bring up a zip containing the mp3.

Mohamed Ali, "Rocket": the third place finisher on Danish X Factor's debut single is this vaguely RedOne-inspired pop song. It's not something for him to go international with, but fans of international pop may find it a pleasant addition to their summer playlist, though Mohamed's youthful voice and the song's style mean its demographics will probably skew young. Listen to it on YouTube here and buy it here (digital).

Thomas Holm, "Nitten": male singer-songwriter with a keyboard riff meets electro in this comedic song about poor Thomas's bad luck (though don't let that title, which translates to "Nineteen," somehow lead you into expecting the singer to sound like a boy--Thomas's deep-ish voice is that of a man). Been meaning to write about this one for a while, but it's one that has kept slipping through the cracks: it's not instantly exciting, but it has something special about it that sticks with you and makes you come back to it. Listen to it on YouTube here and buy it digitally here.

Joey Moe, "Yo Yo": a song I wouldn't recommend everyone reading this rush to listen to, but if you enjoy your bleepy electro-influenced R&B, you might like "Yo Yo." It's probably trying to be on the edgy side but falls more towards trashy fun. Listen to it on YouTube here or here and buy it here (digitally).

I've been waiting for this for a long time

Months and months after its debut, the best American boy band song properly released in years--only fighting for that title against New Kids on the Block's "Twisted," which was never a single--has a music video. V Factory's "Love Struck" is helped in no small part by the fact that it's co-written by Darin and one of his collaborators for his last album, sounds like a Darin song, and still has Darin on backing vocals, but as Swedish as the song's credentials may be, it's exactly the sound American boy bands should be making (and the American boy band singing Swedish-penned songs combination is one that gave us some of the best songs of the last boy band boom).



Edit: people outside the U.S. can watch the video in lower quality here.

Seeing an American boy band in a music video doing bits of a dance routine while performing a song that I can actually legitimately stand up for as great is an experience that triggers all the right nostalgia parts of the brain, but "Love Struck" is still modern. I keep hoping the song, which has struggled up towards the bottom end of the chart, will fully take off: with more of a promotional push, it has the potential to become a mid-size hit, even if my dreams of a smash are probably pie-in-the-sky. For a while, I hoped that the release of Fame (yes, it's a movie remake of what you're thinking of) might provide a boost, with one of the group's members having a significant role in the movie from what I understand. With Fame's release not until the end of September, though, that seems too far away to be helpful.

To some extent, though, even cracking the top forty of mainstream radio airplay, as they've done for the past three weeks ("Love Struck" currently sits at #37), is an achievement in this environment. The long time it's taken other songs to take off, though, means that despite it slipping in radio plays this week, I can't stop myself from thinking there's still a chance for this song to do even better.

In short: best effort at doing the boy band thing--speaking of technical, traditional boy bands--that the U.S. has had for quite some time.

V Factory's debut single "Love Struck" is for sale now at major U.S. digital stores.

With every step it's harder to believe

(Eurovision post coming soon!)

Thanks to Adam Lambert, Kris Allen, and Allison Iraheta, I've felt more invested in this season of American Idol than last year. Still, if you gave me a choice between the Cathy Dennis co-written winner's song, "No Boundaries," on sale on iTunes in its studio version by the two finalists on May 22 (and also co-written by Kara DioGuardi)...

...and Heidi Montag's "Blackout," also a Cathy Dennis co-write, available on iTunes as of today...



there's no contest as to which I'd rather listen to. I actually like last year's song, but Cathy and Kara, I know there were probably certain parameters you were given, but really?

Of course, if neither of those are to your liking, you could go with several songs from Glee, Fox's new comedy which debuted after Idol but won't continue until this fall. If you've ever wanted to hear glee club versions of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" (the female lead on this debuted the main female role in Spring Awakening)...



(that video will only play for Americans, I think, but you can hear parts of the song and see parts of the scene in the trailer; obviously, spoiler alert for anyone planning on watching the show)

...or Amy Winehouse's "Rehab" (sung in peppy upbeat style by the rivals earlier in the show)...



(ditto on only being accessible to Americans)

you're in luck.

Lost a dare to David Hasselhoff

It's officially confirmed (and as Robpop stated earlier): Aqua's new greatest hits (out June 15) will have three new songs on it, including "Back To The 80's," which is the lead single and comes out May 25, as well as sixteen remastered older songs. The group performed the song at a comeback concert which took place almost a year ago.



To be honest, it's fine but I don't madly love it; still, I'll have to hear the production details to know what it's really like.

If you live outside Scandinavia (and in one of the countries on the list on this page, which includes the U.S.), want their greatest hits, and are willing to pay high import prices, you can pre-order it here.

Don't want to turn up any demons between us

I avoided writing about Elin Lanto's "Spider's Web" when Alex first told me about her performance of it because, well, I felt like it was her falling off the popstar path she was on, a classic case of ditching one's style completely when it isn't selling in favor of one that might seem more credible.



In retrospect, I might have been slightly harsh. If "Spider's Web," created by Klas Wahl and George Nakas (Stonebridge feat. Therese's "Put 'Em High," Therese's "Time," Dannii Minogue's "Good Times," Victoria Beckham's "Let Your Head Go"), was the take-off point for the rest of the album, I'd be disappointed, but its electro-meets-acoustic ballad sound is one I could see myself loving as a deviation from the primary style that still bears enough of that style's traits to fit on Elin's album.

After that one performance of "Spider's Web" a few months ago, we heard nothing from Elin--understandable, perhaps, given that none of her singles have done as well as they deserved to do, but still saddening. There's been no update on her official site or MySpace for quite some time and the album that was supposed to come out received no mention anywhere.

There's good news, though: Pitchline, of Velvet's "Take My Body Close," "Come Into The Night," and "My Destiny" and upcoming songs with Magnus Carlsson, have just reported that they've done a song with Elin for her upcoming album (as well as posted a picture of a blonde Elin recording in their studio)! "My Destiny" may be a ballad, but that news means we should probably be optimistic about Elin keeping her dance-friendly sound.

If you missed out on Elin's great music from 2008, start with the Minogue-esque "Speak 'n Spell," which comes complete with a video with numerous popstar moments. There's something slinky and cool about "Speak 'n Spell" which sets it apart from other Swedish dance-pop music. Ideally, it's the direction I'd prefer Elin continue in, much as I love Pitchline's '80s-sounding hands-in-the-air dance-pop anthems, but we've yet to hear Pitchline do anything along these lines; plus, if there's still an attempt to push Elin internationally going on, I expect the style being pursued will be much more party-oriented. Still, I'm glad to have any news at all, and Elin working with Pitchline is potentially a great thing.

Can you feel the rhythm in my heart?

I wasn't planning on writing anything until Eurovision was over, but I had to make a few notes in the middle of the contest:

Thank goodness Sweden sorted out the backing vocals. I'm still not expecting the song to do very well, but I got my goosebumps back--they reminded me why I love the song.

Iceland's song has been connecting with me when performed live in a way I never expected based on the national final or the studio version. If there's a ballad I want to do well, it's this one, I'm starting to think.

The real reason I had to jot something down quickly: I've yet to mention my deep and abiding love for Germany's entry here. It's usually the non-Swedish or Norwegian song I play the most in studio and, if it's having a good day, can be just the song I play the most, period. I know, I know, I'm crazy, but I LOVE it.

I really like Turkey's entry, too. It is part of the whole post-Helena Paparizou trend, but it's a great example of it (and I don't always fall for this type of song--see Armenia's entry last year not properly connecting to me).

Speaking of semifinal one entries, I still like Romania and Finland's songs, which have yet to be performed tonight.

I'm expecting the UK entry to do way better than it deserves to do and I'll be hoping Bosnia doesn't win--I want to like the song, as by rights a revolutionary-sounding pop-rock song should be exactly the sort of thing I love, but it never becomes truly stirring.