Här står jag

Swedish singer Sonja Aldén made it to the finals of Melodifestivalen this year with her ballad "För Att Du Finns," which is, with the benefit of time and not being desperately hoping for certain songs to win, actually a quite good ballad. Previously, she'd been best known for her Melodifestivalen entry "Etymon" and for being Shirley Clamp's friend and backup singer. Her new album, Till Dig, came out this week. If you're looking for an "Att älska dig," you're not going to find it on this album. In fact, Sonja's description of "För Att Du Finns" as being like a wave washing over you could pretty much apply to the whole album. Ideally, from my perspective, there would've been some big schlager stompers, but at least so far it seems to fall into the right sort of ballads and mid-tempos; dullness could have definitely been avoided if she'd been willing to mix up the tempo a bit more, though. Basically, if you don't mind the idea of an album full of songs like "För Att Du Finns," you'd probably enjoy it, but I have a feeling it would seem boring to some people.

Här Står Jag--the album's opening song and, as my opinion stands right now, easily the best on it. It's the closest a song on the album gets to being what you could call dynamic, though it's not at all what you'd call a "stormer." It really is lovely, and one of those songs that manages to be pretty while also appealing to someone who lives for the pop hook and "pop" melody.

To buy Sonja Aldén's debut album Till Dig, go here (physical) or visit iTunes--it's available in all countries' iTunes stores, including in the U.S.. I am enjoying it (though it's too early for an overall final evaluation), but one person's sweet and soothing is another person's elevator music, so I'd really suggest listening carefully to the preview clips before you buy.

Things that make me happy: discovering Jon's second album is on the U.S. iTunes store. Strangely, it doesn't come up when you search for his name, but if you search for, say, the album title or Jessica Folcker (who guests on one of the tracks), it comes up; it can be found here.

Next up: maybe something from an Icelandic girl group.