Ole por sus besos, ole por su cuerpo

There are many reasons I need to make it to Spain someday, but one of them is definitely so I can finally track down some of Bea Bronchal's CDs, especially Ole. From the songs I've heard from her, it sounds like she does a fantastic job of making powerful upbeat danceable pop songs. Speaking of female Spanish pop singers making that kind of music, where on Earth is Rebeca? I need a followup to "Que no daría yo" and "I Love You Mi Vida" like nothing else! Rebeca's also got another connection to Bea: some of the songs she recorded and were planned to be hers were given away to Bea for one of her albums, if I understand the situation correctly (both were signed to the same record company at the time). Rebeca's another artist whose albums are on my shopping list for that hypothetical trip. Anyway, getting back to Bea: she's got a new single out, more of a ballad than the song I'm posting today (listen to it on her MySpace), to be followed by an album. Today's song is from several years ago, though, from her 2005 album Ole.

Ole--some songs completely abuse the Spanish pop style, taking the hallmarks of the genre and using them just because it's an easy way to make something sound "different" and because a lot of people see Spanish pop as catchy. Those sorts of songs always come out sounding soulless--they're predictable and completely lack any real spark, as well as being surrounded by more than a whiff of cynicism. On the other hand, other songs--and not just big uptempo stompers--get it exactly right. However, a big uptempo stomper as well as a song that gets it exactly right is what "Ole" definitely is. Sure, you could argue that "Ole" is just as cynical, just as guilty of that "let's just shamelessly use all those stereotypical 'Spanish music' things"--we get the word "Ole," castanets, the "Spanish guitar"--but when the song as a whole, as non-revolutionary as it might be, is constructed with such care in the name of getting you on the (as theoretical as my trip to Spain) Spanish dancefloor, that's an argument that loses power. Using backing vocals that sound like the chant of a giant crowd may be an old trick, but it's a trick that's still around because it works, as it does here, giving the song an even bigger and more commanding feel. The verses are enhanced by the aforementioned Spanish guitar, but they'd work without it as well. The best part of the song, though, is, of course, that chorus, complete with its crowd-chanted backing vocals and lines propelled along by that emphasis on the first syllable but that don't peter out because of the way the stop-start rhythm at the beginning of each "phrase" switches to a quick double emphatic punch at each phrase's end.

This is all making it sound too serious: basically, a big fun danceable pop song. That's all you really need to know.

You can buy Bea Bronchal's album Ole here (physical).

Next up: maybe that Lithuanian singer.