Sacrifice my life for you

Amazing songwriter Tony Nilsson gave a radio interview a week ago and, amongst the other comments I had to strain to understand a third of (yeah, I need to find a Swedish tutor pronto), one of the more interesting facts was that Fernando Fuentes sang the original demos for Tony's "You're Out Of My Life" and "Like Suicide" (the latter of which Fernando co-wrote). The show even played a few clips, excerpted below for anyone who's as much of a pop nerd as I am.

Like Suicide Clip by poppostergirl

You're Out Of My Life Clip by poppostergirl

Fernando's claim to fame comes from participating in the first season of Fame Factory. Since then he's mainly been out of the public eye, but he's worked as part of a party band and at Wallmans, a show-featuring restaurant where many journeymen singers work as part of making a living in music.



Fernando may not have gotten to sing "You're Out Of My Life" or "Like Suicide" in Melodifestivalen--those privileges went to Darin in 2010 and Christian Walz in 2011, who both recorded excellent studio versions even if they received disparate results in the contest--but before you feel too sorry for him, he provided backing vocals for Eric Saade at this year's Eurovision. Participating in Sweden's highest-ranking entry since victory in 1999 has to feel pretty darn good, as does showing up on the cover of Aftonbladet celebrating.



In today's Melodifestival, it's hard to climb from the behind-the-scenes roles into the spotlight, so I'm not necessarily expecting Fernando to appear in the contest as an artist in his own right. Still, every now and then someone manages it, so who knows? He certainly acquits himself very well in the "Man Of The Mirror" video above (and sounds pretty good on the demo of "Like Suicide" as well, though I'm glad we have Christian Walz's version). If nothing else, keep your eyes peeled the next time you see a line of singers swaying behind the main artist--you never know who you might spot.

(Photo credit to SVT.)

Vaken i en dröm

A tradition half-abandoned last year makes its quiet return two days (or two days and one week) late: a preview of this coming weekend's Melodifestival semifinal. As always, I have absolutely no inside information, so I am incredibly indebted to the below mentioned websites; all of my information about this year's entries comes from them.

Sources: Aftonbladet (1, 2, 3,), Poplight, QX (1, 2, 3), GD, SVT, VK, Expressen,

Brolle, "Seven Days and Seven Nights" (Brolle)
Former Popstars contestant Brolle carved out a successful niche for himself in the first half of the '00s with his Elvis style. His latest songs haven't had the staying power of early hits like "Playing With Fire," though, which may have finally brought him to Melodifestivalen. Brolle describes his self-penned ballad as a tribute to love and the way the members of a couple fight but then work together to make the relationship work. It is, he elaborates, a mix between old Brolle, new Brolle, and rockabilly.

To watch: though I think his third album contains some underrated tracks and even liked the Billy Idol-flavored single from his greatest hits, the description of "Seven Days and Seven Nights" makes me think "Playing With Fire" from his first album might be more representative.



Loreen, "My Heart Is Refusing Me" (Moh Denebi/Björn Djupström/Lorén Talhaoui)
A 2004 Idol contestant turned television host, Loreen describes her song as "as far from schlager as you can get." She's elaborated by saying "My Heart Is Refusing Me," a dramatic, emotional, string-filled ballad with a lot of pain, represents the intersection of electronic and organic. Loreen is signed to a new record label run by Måns Zelmerlöw and the two co-writers of Loreen's song. Speaking of the songwriters, I'd characterize these three as "working men" songwriters, for lack of a better phrase--they've had songs on albums (and in Melodifestivalen), but they're not big names. That's meant as no slight, though, since that's how most writers come up through the ranks.

To watch listen: the best I've got is her 2004 featured vocalist appearance on Rob n Raz's single "The Snake"



Babsan, "Ge mig en spanjor" (Larry Forsberg/Sven-Inge Sjöberg/Lennart Wastesson)
Fittingly for the first drag queen performed-entry in Melodifestivalen since After Dark twice graced the stage, "Ge mig en spanjor" is said to be a mix of "La Dolce Vita" (written by these songwriters, as is Jill Johnson's "Crazy In Love") and "Y viva España" or, alternately, a happy disco-flamenco song. Expect humor in the performance--not that you needed to be told that, given that the song is being sung by Babsan and has a title that translates to "Give Me A Spaniard."

To watch: Babsan performing at Allsång på Skansen



Elisabeth "Bettan" Andreassen, "Vaken i en dröm" (Lars "Dille" Diedricson/Calle Kindbom/Kristian Wejshag)
Bettan is a veteran of both national finals and Eurovision at this point, having competed in Melodifestivalen six times and Norway's Melodi Grand Prix five times and making it to Eurovision four out of those eleven tries. She won the whole contest in 1985, performing "La det swinge" as part of Bobbysocks. Dille and Calle are likewise Melodifestival and schlager veterans. They've co-written songs like, in Dille's case, Charlotte Perrelli's "Tusen och en natt" and Linda Bengtzing's "Jag ljuger så bra" and, in Calle's case, Fame's "Give Me Your Love" and Barbados's "Kom hem." Kristian debuted in the contest with Jessica Andersson's "I Did It For Love," co-writen with Calle, and since "Vaken i en dröm" is said to be a ballad, that entry might be an indicator of what to expect.

To watch: since we're expecting a ballad, here's her performance of "I evighet" at Eurovision in 1996. Performing for Norway, Elisabeth took second.



Sanna Nielsen, "I'm In Love" (Bobby Ljunggren/Thomas G:son/Irini Michas/Peter "Bassflow" Boström)
Power vocalist Sanna, a young Celine Dion in the making, returns to Melodifestivalen for the sixth time. As the public vote-winning but ultimately second-placed contestant in 2008 with "Empty Room," Sanna's entry this year will be much anticipated. With five previous entries, Sanna has basically covered the schlager spectrum of tempos; this time, she returns not with a ballad but with an up-tempo, upbeat song. She says it begins mysteriously, has a strong chorus, and allows her to show her voice. The song's writers are a conglomeration of big festival names: Bobby and Thomas have created all sorts of generally schlager-flavored entries, Peter makes excellent uptempo pop like Charlotte Perrelli's "Hero" and Ola's big hits, and Irini, the least famous of the bunch, co-wrote Sofia's Greek-pop-rock "Alla."

To watch: Sanna performing the the uptempo schlager song "Våger du våger jag" in Melodifestivalen 2007. Sure, it doesn't show off her voice or make the same impression on the public as "Empty Room," but a.) I never really warmed to "Empty Room" and b.) her entry this year isn't a ballad. The completely lovely "Hela världen för mig" might actually do a better job of making her live vocals sound appealing, though.



The Moniker, "Oh My God!" (Daniel Karlsson)
Performing under a stage name, former Idol 2007 participant Daniel Karlsson will sing an entry he describes as a '60s-type song inspired by ABBA, the Beatles, and the Ark in a faster, happier style than he usually uses.

To watch: the music video for his single "Would You Believe?", released under his own name in 2008.



Anniela, "Elektrisk" (Johan Alkenäs/Tim Larsson/Tobias Lundgren/Johan Fransson)
"Elektrisk" has been linked to both Linda Bengtzing and Magnus Carlsson, a promising indicator of pop-friendliness, as is the credentials of its songwriters (the makers of Linda Bengtzing's "Alla Flickor" and "Hur svårt kan det va?" and Alcazar's "Alcastar"). Anniela, a young singer looking to break into the Swedish consciousness after the release of her debut album last year, confirms that speculation by calling "Elektrisk" danceable electro-pop.

To watch: there are better songs on her debut album, but none of them have music videos, so here's said album's single, "Strip-teaser."



Christian Walz, "Like Suicide" (Fernando Fuentes/Henrik Janson/Tony Nilsson/Christian Walz)
Best known for singles from his second album like "Wonderchild," the somewhat quirky, soulful singer-songwriter makes his first appearance in Melodifestivalen with a song he describes as "a combination of my band and a spaceship." Henrik and Tony have teamed up on songs like Velvet's "The Queen" and Darin's "You're Out Of My Life" (with Tony also writing most of Ola's big hits).

To watch: the music video for "Wonderchild"



I don't dare make predictions about results, but I'm cautiously optimistic about the quality of this week's offerings. I kind of wish Brolle had a few other songwriters backing him up, but given my established weakness for his musical offerings, I expect to be won over nevertheless. Sanna and Anniela's songs should be great (even if Anniela's likely lack of stage experience and name recognition may hurt her performance, I expect it her song to sound great in studio and those particular songwriters always get me excited). I'm a fan of Christian Walz and several of his song's co-writers so, even if they seem like an unusual match, we might get something good from him, too. Getting a great schlager ballad in Melodifestivalen is rare nowadays in my books, so Elisabeth's entry doesn't have me psyched up. Still, one always hopes that institutions like her wouldn't return to the contest without something decent. Daniel's earlier single was quite good, but having heard less material from him, quality-wise he's a wild card. Loreen's song certainly sounds intriguing though I'm not counting on it to translate to the Melodifestival stage. Finally, the songwriters for "Ge mig en spanjor" have shown their skill enough in the past to make me hope there's a song of substance--albeit fun, frothy substance--behind Babsan's performance.

Then again, I'm always cautiously optimistic about the quality Melodifestival semifinals. It's those voting results you have to look out for...

Romance is the real art

This is one of those posts where you all just have to let me indulge myself--this song absolutely won't be for everyone, but I love it.



Back when Christian Walz posted his new album, The Corner, on MySpace, I wrote that I couldn't wait to hear the strings in "Loveshift" in high quality. The good news is that they--and the musical backing of the song--are exactly what I was hoping they would be. The bad news is that I still hate the opening two lines of the first verse. Still, I've gotten over them enough to appreciate the song as a whole.

"Loveshift" is, in its own way, cheesy as all get-out, but it's not cheesy in a '90's pop sort of way--it's that relentlessly upbeat string section and the deeper '70's style mid-tempo beat underneath that do it, that and the little xylophone part periodically perched on top. It reminds me so much of something, but I can't quite place what. I do always end up wanting to sing the chorus to "Love Train" every time we move towards the chorus, but I don't think the instrumentals match up totally, to the extent as they would with whatever song it's reminding me of. I'm absolutely convinced that if you listened to an instrumental version of this, you'd be convinced you were listening to some long-lost song from decades ago--the '70's, probably (this is where my lack of music history knowledge hurts me). Like "What's Your Name," though, and in fact probably even more so, it avoids the novelty record category by being just so darn good. One more note: I love that this song sounds fully, properly produced, as opposed to going the deliberately lo-fi route.

To buy Christian Walz's third album, The Corner, go here (physical) or here (digital).

Next up: maybe that British pop-rock.

A rainy day reality

In news that I realize no one but me may care about, Christian Walz's MySpace is streaming his new album, The Corner. It comes out physically this Wednesday.

(Until about 2/3 into the album, I thought the upbeat '60's/'70's style [NOT of the Winehouse type] of "What's Your Name" was going to be a one-off. I need to hear the strings on "Loveshift" in high quality A.S.A.P., by the way. And the second track made me think he was going...actually, I have no idea what to categorize it is. Good, though.)

Where in heaven have you been all my life?

Do you know who's back?

Christian Walz! Of the BRILLIANT "Wonderchild."



His new single is "What's Your Name?" and you can listen to it here. I'm not madly in love with it yet, but one and a half listens is way to early to judge a song and I'm still glad to have him back (and I could see myself being won over by its sweetness with time). "What's Your Name?" is kind of a little more twee indie-pop sounding than "Wonderchild," but then, something that bouncy, upbeat, and full-sounding was kind of always an anomaly for him. It does have a kind of clever conceit of cycling through some of the cheesiest pickup lines you can imagine ("I'm no Flintstone/But I'll make your bed rock"). Sound-wise, it's very much a trip back in time, too--'60's, I'd guess, though maybe that AM pop-rock from the '70's, too? I'm so out of my league, trying to know anything about music beyond the past few years. The era you'd expect to hear the line "What's your sign?" in.

Oh, and do you know who else is coming back, though admittedly not quite yet? Danny--as a solo artist (thanks to Bas for the tip)! Listen to a brief message from him as well as part of the eventual new single, "Radio," below. I'm breathing a sigh of relief that we're getting a return from Dance Danny. Please let the song be good. It's written and produced by 2N Productions (much of Kate Ryan's best stuff and Danny's song "Only Wanna Be With You," one of my favorite tracks from his debut album). Now, when is it coming out and when are we getting the album?

It is what it is, not enough to call it quits

(Picture from RockPhoto.nu; thank you!)

The return of Christian Walz! Well, not really, but I'll take what I can get. Best known for his song "Wonderchild," Christian is Swedish, and has released two albums so far; I still need to buy the first, but I love the second (and wrote about some songs from it here). Unfortunately, as is true for many I artists I like from non-English speaking (or not primarily English-speaking) countries, I have a difficult time keeping up with him; I probably should have known about this earlier, but I just found out...well, technically yesterday...and was so excited I had to share. The reason I said it's not really the return of Christian Walz is that this isn't technically a song by him; it's actually a Fläskkvartetten (or Fleshquartet) song featuring him. The group Fläskkvartetten (a group of string players that has been together since the 1980's) may be familiar to you, as Robyn was the featured vocalist for their song "This One's For You." So far, I've just bought Christian's song (I have no patience), but I may have to buy the whole album; based on the preview clips, it sounds gorgeous in a very atmospheric, instrumental way.

Stay The Same--to begin with, let me recommend listening to this song on good headphones and with no background noise if possible; I know that's the ideal listening environment for all songs, but it's especially necessary in this case, I think. Christian's voice, distinctive as always, is vitally important to holding this song together (and to my enjoyment of it), but really, his singing is just an opportunity to give Fläskkvartetten the excuse to build a beautiful, dark, string-focused but minimal backing. Those high string peaks just before the "pretending it's OK" and after the "down to stay" line could not possibly, despite the fact that they come from instruments and not a human voice (my natural preference), express any more emotion. The title notwithstanding, there's the slightest hint of the exotic here, but more than anything else, a practically unbearable sadness; each individual element of this song may be light, almost delicate, but as a whole, they create the feeling of a truly immense weight on your shoulders--a weight that, if we are to believe the lyrics, comes from pretending a relationship is still working, knowing it's failing, but still being unable to end it. I can't believe this song is 3 minutes and 19 seconds long--despite its slow pace, it always seems to be over so quickly.

I also recommend watching a recent live performance of the song (it's also the performance from which this picture is taken); you can find it here on YouTube.

Given that it's 1:13 AM, I don't think I've done justice to this amazing song, so I may end up writing more about it in the next few days. For now, though, you can buy Fläskkvartetten's album Voices Of Eden here (physical) or here (digital). I really recommend buying Christian Walz's album Paint By Numbers--you can get it here (physical) or here (digital).

Next up: I know exactly what it'll be--a Romanian group that I've written about before avoids taking sides in the debate RobPop has started.