And Matt Damon's not meant for me

To semi-counteract the abundance of words in my Melodifestival post below, here are a few quick notes on some songs I'm loving at the moment. There are bunches more, but I better break them up into a few posts.

As Chart Rigger has already covered, the new Leighton Meester single, "Somebody To Love," is really pretty good. It's electro-pop, but of a more restrained, loungey sort (which isn't actually lounge courtesy of its beat). Leighton's voice is kind of emotionless, but it's perfect for the song. Speaking of voices, this is the first time I've ever found Robin Thicke's voice sexy (my usual attitude towards him is loving "When I Get You Alone" and wishing I liked him more to spite Justin Timberlake), but boy, it's enough to make up for lost time. Worth more writing later.



My three favorite songs from the Saturdays' new album, Wordshaker, are, in order, "Open Up," "Ego," and "Wordshaker." I see what they meant about going in a more rocky direction, but really, don't be scared: they didn't. A few more guitar-mimicking sounds here and there, but it's just as pop as their debut. "Open Up" may be too cheesy for some, but for me, it's pure Swedish pop perfection, with fantastic verses, bridge, and second half of the chorus.



"Ego," just designated the second single, is a perfect choice, modern electronic pop just like we want from the British girl group.



"Wordshaker," like "Ego," is a fierce critique of a boy doesn't even sport many of those guitar-esque elements.



As I mentioned on Twitter (follow me!), Shakira's "Men In This Town" sports bonkers lyrics and a dancey pop beat.



As a catch-up note, I haven't mentioned British group's Ou Est Le Swimming Pool's dark-but-accessible electronic pop song "Dance The Way I Feel" yet. It's ADDICTIVE and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to all pop lovers, no matter how much cool you like with your music.

Is it possible to love with a broken heart?

A few random bits of news about new-ish songs:

I just noticed that you can stream many of the Dolly Rockers' songs on Last.fm, including, most importantly, the studio version of "How Did I End Up With You" (or "How Did I End Up With U?" or "How Did I End Up With You?" or "How Did I End Up With U"--Last.fm-concerned me is suffering). While you're there, if you've not listened to them before, give "Gold Digger" a try, too; their debut single, "Je Suis Une Dolly," is good, too, but it has a much more "novelty single" sound. In other news about the British girl group, the picture on Popjustice from a photoshoot with them looks great.

It looks like Måns Zelmerlöw's new single is "Hold On." Good song, although not one of my ultimate favorites on the album. "Forever" is crying out to be a summer single, although maybe that's more in my head than in terms of what Swedish radio would actually play.

This Must Be Pop's discovery Jonas Oakland has a new single out (it should be on international iTunes stores shortly). It's called "Stay," is Swedish disco-dance-pop in the vein of his first single "Beat Of My Heart," and is for sale now. Definitely one that's just for the hardcore Swedish pop addicts, but I thought some people besides me might like to know. Stream it on his website.

Speaking of things you lovers of poppy dance music from Scandinavia are likely to enjoy, I'm so grateful to Scandipop for pointing us all in the direction of Friðrik Ómar's (a.k.a. the male half of Eurobandið and the singer of "Eldur," the second best song in Iceland's 2007 national final) "I Wanna Know." It's another Örlygur "Öggi" Smári (the man behind Páll Óskar's comeback and Eurobandið's "This Is My Life") creation and, though not quite as great as "This Is My Life," it is definitely enjoyable; it also seeks a different vibe, less celebratory and more pensive, saddened but hopeful dance. Listen to it on his MySpace.

I've been playing Cobra Starship's "Good Girls Go Bad," featuring Leighton Meester, a decent bit these past few days. Melismatic's description of the song, "cookie-cutter power-pop emo glitter," is unbeaten.