Gör vad du vill men gör det rätt

If you play too much with funk or soul, as I implied yesterday, you're going to run into extra difficulty winning me over. The latest single from Swedish singer Eric Gadd, though, despite coming from those genres (as well as pop, of course), has me completely addicted. The video for Eric's "Tvåhundratusen" came out at about the same time as the video for Elin Lanto's "Speak 'n Spell," so, though I gave it a quick watch, you can probably guess where the focus of my attention was. In the time since then, though, I've come to love it. Eric's been releasing albums for a long time (since the '80's), but in terms of recent times I think "Meet Me Here" is probably the song he's most known for (which the first time I heard in Swedish context sounded familiar--has it been used anywhere outside Sweden that I might have heard it?). "Tvåhundratusen" marks a move away from the English language material he usually releases, which is only a shame because it means this song probably doesn't have the chance to go international--something it definitely deserves.

Tvåhundratusen--I'd be hardpressed to explain why this song works so well for me when most funk/soul songs featuring falsetto don't at all; I think part of it may have something to do with the fact that it's energetic enough that it never feels like it's getting lost in itself. The horn blurts give it a little aggression as well as make it catchier, but I certainly can't attribute all the song's success to that--I'm pretty sure I'd still love it without them (though I'm glad they're there). Maybe it's Eric's delivery, with him knowing just which words and syllables to "punch" in order to make the song pop properly? Regardless, that picture I've used (no comments, please!) really doesn't do any justice to how...slightly crazy "Tvåhundratusen" is (the video does kind of a better job at that). Slight tangent: if I hear one more person compare this to Mika, there WILL be trouble--yes, there's falsetto, but that's literally the only similarity. The Justin Timberlake comparisons are slightly less I'll-attack-you-now-worthy if still somewhat baffling; Justin's music has much more of an electronic backing and has R&B influences, neither of which you'll find here.

To buy Eric Gadd's single "Tvåhundratusen," go here (physical). It'll only be posted for a short time since it's a fairly recent single.

Speaking of Swedish singers, you can listen to Amanda Jenssen's new single "Amarula Tree" here if you've been wondering what it sounds like. Features the line "I keep away from the yuppies, puppy." I'm not commenting on it yet.

Next up: maybe one of those American singers.