When you spin that record round and round

Responding to an e-mail earlier today, I couldn't help thinking something: 2007 was the year that French popstar Lorie remolded herself into a fabulous popstar. We'd had glimpses of that potential before, but it wasn't until "Je Vais Vite" that she really hit her stride. She's moved from strength to strength since then and into this year, releasing a brilliant album, a second single even better than the first, and continuing to nail the visual aspect in her videos. There are few things more exciting in the world than watching an artist you liked before suddenly kick into some sort of higher gear and reach levels of excellence you'd never even imagined before.

I think, at the rate she's going, 2008 is going to be the year of Elin Lanto becoming a fabulous popstar. She'd been good at various times in the past before, but I wasn't much of a fan of her 2007 Melodifestivalen entry, "Money." With her new record deal, though, she's unstoppable--well, in every way except sales, which should be far better than they are. On the most superficial level, her outfits, promo pictures, and music videos have reached a whole new level, one conveying a serious desire to be a popstar.

Most importantly, though, her music has just become almost unthinkably amazing. The sleek, sexy, somewhat Kylie-like "Speak 'n Spell" (co-written by Linda Sundblad) showed that all those photos she'd teased us with were a sign of a new sound, and a welcome one. "Discotheque" (posted for a very short time only, as we all need to support this new direction she's taking by buying the song, especially if we ever want to hear an album!), her new single, is also capable of inducing Kylie flashbacks as well; as Resa points out, there's something about the song and the video that makes you think back to the Light Years era. It's a little bit disco diva, too, and for some reason makes me think just a little bit of Alcazar, though that could just be because it's got the world "discotheque" in the title. It's fully danceable, complete with spacey background effects, the phrase "bang bang," and those strong electro pulses we got in "Speak 'n Spell," but it's got a big uplifting disco-pop chorus instead of of a slinky dance-pop one. My favorite bit of all, though, may be those backing vocal "oh"s, especially just before the middle 8. As a whole, "Discotheque" is a big, glitzy, catchy (need that even be said?) song about the power of music, unabashed about all that, and, yes, brilliant.

Next up: I may continue the raving trend by writing about an album.