I'm lookin' for an escape from my routine

I wrote about Latvian singer DJ Ella and her stompy dance-influenced single "Welcome To The Club" last summer. I'll freely admit that her brand of dance-pop isn't revolutionary by any stretch (nor does it sound anything like her enjoyable Swedish-penned national final song for Eurovision 2006, "Heaven In Your Eyes"), but I've enjoyed both of her last two singles, the most recent of which was "DJ Take Me," released this past December. The album from which both those singles are taken is said to be out in early 2008, and though there's no guarantee I'll buy it, she's got me interested enough that I'll want to hear clips from it.

DJ Take Me (Radio)--this dance-pop song (a cover, but in my opinion, an improvement) starts promisingly, with beeps and the hope of maybe even some good swooshiness. It begins to sound kind of ropey around 0:23, which is also where the pronunciation changes entirely, and starts to sound a lot more like the Ella we know--I swear, it really sounds like this song is sung by someone else with Ella occasionally adding in a few words here and there. Luckily, it all comes back together for the sweet floaty chorus, which is still kept upbeat and danceable with the music underneath and the way the vocals are overlapped and processed. It probably won't have major international mainstream chart success, but there's so much that's enjoyable about it--that chorus, the gospel-style backing vocals that come in briefly later in the song--that it's easy to listen to; it's got an uplifting feel to it. Even if its play never expands beyond Latvia's and France's dance-pop radios, it's worth some plays on your iPod.

You can buy DJ Ella's single "DJ Take Me" from her CD Baby site here (physical).

Next up: Melodifestivalen.