What about the rain you cried on my pillow

Once again, we've got another female Fame Factory contestant from Sweden today. However, in this case, she's never competed in Melodifestivalen...but she has already been to Eurovision! She was chosen by a jury vote to represent Estonia at the 2006 Eurovision, where she didn't make it out of the semifinals. I wouldn't say it's worth buying Sandra Oxenryd's whole debut album (if you have to get an album by a female singer who I would've liked to see make it out of the semifinals but didn't, go with Kate Ryan's Alive), but there are a few good songs on it. On the other hand, it also features yet another cover of "A Moment Like This"--are there not enough giant inspirational songs out there that reality TV contestants have to keep reusing the same one? Sandra's also from the same season of Fame Factory as Linda Bengtzing, which Sandra ended up winning.

Through My Window--Sandra's Eurovision song, written by the creators of Estonia's previous entries "Once In A Lifetime" (a great song, sung by Estonian singer Ines) and "Runaway" (also a great singer, sung by another Swedish singer, Sahlene, who's probably going to be featured here very soon), which both placed highly; "Through My Window" didn't, coming in 18th out of 23 in the semifinals and so failing to make it to the final. The song is upbeat, with little clappy background effects; I wouldn't say it's schlager, but then again, I still get schlager and dansband music mixed up, so I'm definitely not the best person to talk to.

At Your Side--though the end of the chorus of this song is good, the verses are generally better than the chorus itself (though it does improve when we get some ad-libs or variation from its formula). It's pretty easy to pick out my favorite parts--I think the top award goes to the "someone to love us through, through the pain, a little hope" part, not because of the lyrics, but just how she sings them--I love how her voice rises up, somehow conveying both intensifying pain and support. That's making this song sound a lot deeper and sophisticated than it is; at heart, it's just a catchy little pop song, simple but fun. I'm not overly fond of those last few seconds, though.

To buy Sandra Oxenryd's debut album (I think there may have been two editions of it, one called All There Is and one called Through My Window, but as far as I know they have the same tracklisting), go here (physical) and here (digital).

Next up: possibly more Fame Factory contestants, but even if not that, probably more music from Sweden. I really will get away from that eventually, I promise.