Si vives sin pena ni gloria

Víctor Estévez Polo, or just Víctor, took third in the fourth season of Spain's Operacion Triunfo, the original Star/Fame Academy. In 2005, he released his debut album, Rock & Swing. Now, before you all go running away screaming at the "Swing" part of that title (swing night is never one of the better ones on a reality show), we're not going to be looking at the latter, swing-filled half of the album at all, and the first half has some good pop-rock (rock? no. pop-rock? yes.) on it. For a while, I was convinced Víctor's debut single, "Juguemos Fuerte," had to be a cover--it just seemed too good and, given the nature of these post-TV debuts, it wouldn't have been surprising; amidst covers of well-known songs, Rock & Swing also has a cover of Swedish singer Jamie Meyer's "Good Girl" (more on that song in the near future), renamed "No me busques." Despite all this, though, I haven't found any evidence that "Juguemos Fuerte" is a cover (please let me know if it is, though!), but I wouldn't be surprised if someone else covered it later, especially given that it sort of flopped, peaking at #28 and only helping the album get to #39 (which is probably why his second album, due to come out in 2006, was never released).

Juguemos Fuerte--I'm not sure why this flopped; maybe Spain just wasn't in a pop-rock mood. It's a song that probably wouldn't be hugely popular in the Popjustice forums, but it's exactly of the sort I like. It's not revolutionary, but it's pretty catchy pop-rock (plus, I can understand the chorus--bonus points!). If I was a native speaker of Spanish, the rhymes in the chorus might come off as too easy and the lyrics as really cliched, but, as is, they work well. There's something about this song that feels familiar (another reason I wondered if it was a cover), but maybe that's just because it's relying upon some of the basics of pop-rock.

To buy a physical copy of Víctor's debut album, Rock & Swing, go here. If you live in the U.S., you can buy a digital copy from iTunes here; it's available in other in other countries' iTunes stores, too.

Next up: maybe more pop-rock, this time from a Swedish singer I've written about before.