#17 Lorie, "Je Vais Vite"

Que 24h c'est trop court dans ma journée,
Et mon bonheur oh je cours après

If you're French, I'm sorry; I know she's seen as just for kids and she's not much liked, but Lorie released one of my favorite albums of the year. It's full of pop-dance that marks a significant step forward for Lorie in actually growing up musically, not just saying she was as she did with the last album. Lead single "Je Vais Vite" at first sounded pretty basic, disposable, maybe just kind of kitschy, but as time goes by, you find yourself listening to it again, and again, and again...and pretty soon, you realize that it's a great pop-dance single, full stop and unqualified. It's more stop-start than swooshy and it's kind of sparse, despite the many beeps, electro-y noises, and airplane sound effects, but on the count of bringing out a desire in me to break into a music video-friendly dance routine, it succeeds in spades. It's really just a lot of fun to listen to.

Find it on: 2Lor En Moi?

#18 Paolo Meneguzzi, "Ti Amo Ti Odio"

Facile per te decidere rubarmi l'anima
e poi fuggire

I'm not sure that I can really describe this song...which feels kind of odd, given that I have no trouble writing about "Brother Oh Brother" and I've compared that song to this. "Ti Amo Ti Odio" just has this certain transporting quality for me, one of those songs that somehow just connects with you in the gut and takes on this half-mystical quality because of how much you love it and the aura around it. Unfortunately, the video doesn't capture that at all for me. It's one of those songs where I'm glad I don't speak the language--I can only understand bits and pieces, enough for me to create a "story" for it in my head that fits with that gorgeous melody, but not enough to realize that the lyrics surely can't live up to the feeling I now associate with the song.

Find it on: Musica

Like you do when no one is around

You know how I once pretty much dedicated a whole post to "wow, look how different Simple Plan guy looks!"? Yeah, well, sorry, but here's another installment of the "wow, look at how different [singer] looks!" I know we've covered Ryan Cabrera in brief before, courtesy of his curly long black hair and black hat combo on So You Think You Can Dance. Well, look what Mr. Cabrera apparently looks like now:


(Taken from his MySpace)

I feel like my understanding of the universe is crumbling.

Edit: I typed this up yesterday, and then I actually check his MySpace again today, and it's been totally revamped with clips from his new album, Moon Under Water, due out this April, with the lead single "S'S'Say" out before then (and the verses of it are actually pretty good, though the chorus is totally underwhelming), though he doesn't have a major label deal. This was just meant to be snark, but I guess now it's actual news!

Anyway, I stumbled upon that image while checking up on Josh Hoge, the--oh, how do you even begin to describe Josh Hoge?



"I am a pop singer, but I kinda live like a rock ‘n’ roller. I definitely drink too much, and cuss too much, and chase girls around too much. I think I was like, at Nickelodeon doing an interview one time and they were just kinda like, 'This is never gonna work.'"

Source



Yeah, that probably about sums it up. Anyway, poor Josh had a great single out in 2006 called "360" that no one paid any attention to, and he released a great album sampler to promote it--seriously, not one bad song on it, and "Take It Or Leave It," posted on his MySpace for a while, was great as well. Single failed to take off, studio album thereby failed to materialize, dropped from record label, toured with Elliot Yamin and released a lo-fi ish EP instead. Apparently he's hoping to get an album out sometime in the first half of 2008.

Anyway, if you missed out on my earlier post on Josh (which was pretty near the beginning of this blog, so there's a good chance of that) and haven't heard his material, now's the time to run over to his MySpace because, as long as you've got your own MySpace account, you can download "360" and "Work Your Body" for free, and that's a pretty amazing thing, considering that both songs are fantastic. "360" is this great ballad that I mentioned just recently in reference to Justin's "What Goes Around.../...Comes Around;" both share the "you'll get what's coming to you for what you did to me" message and kind of a similar vibe. I was also really into "360" right around the time I was into Mario Vazquez's Ne-Yo-penned "Gallery," and they'd fit together on a playlist nicely as well, despite opposite lyrical sentiments.

"Work Your Body" is a complete change of pace, though, a pervey funk-filled falsetto-featuring song that deserves much more than being a free download on MySpace and a featured spot on a Biggest Loser soundtrack. Go download it already. Apparently Mark Ronson co-wrote it! And Amy Winehouse! Along with David Ryan Harris. Who knew?

While I'm writing about Josh Hoge, though I've said it before, I might as well throw in again that he co-wrote Blake Lewis's "Know My Name," which was originally intended for Josh, I think. Also, a bunch of Josh's songs (including "Take It Or Leave It") were co-written by Ryan Tedder. Josh also did a song with Cheyenne Kimball called "Wonderful" that was a bonus track on her album, available only at Target.

To finish off the randomness of this post:



Gareth Gates on ice! Love Gareth, but I hope he's doing this just for fun, because even if he wins, I feel like it'll be Matt Willis all over again in terms of helping his music career. I adore him, though, so I wish him loads of success in this and everything. Plus, congratulations--he and his longterm girlfriend just got engaged this New Year's Eve!

It's not a game

Quick note to say that Poland has announced its songs and performers for Eurovision. I don't know very much about Polish music, so I don't have much to say here, though I couldn't pass up the opportunity to notice globe-trotting Swedish singer Sandra Oxenryd among the contestants (Sweden's Fame Factory to Estonia's Eurolaul to Norway's Idols to Poland's Piosenka dla Europy). Oh, and Michaell-supported singer Isis Gee is on the list. And I presume the Queens on the list is the Europop group featured on Poplicious once (courtesy of Michaell). Songwriter Thomas G:son's got a song in the running too, sung by Men Meadow.

I'll base my decisions on my intuition

Yay! Anne Hvidsten is back, and with a great song! I realize "A Little More" probably won't be most people's favorite songs out of all the MGP 2008 songs, but so far, it's mine. That's not to say I want it to be sent to Eurovision--I don't think it would lend itself to that--but I love it. It's a lovely mid-tempo pop song with just a little bit of country influence, it's kind of female singer-songwritery and I imagine it could quite easily be called generic MOR or "radio pop," but if it is, it's a great sweet simple comforting example of it. I love the part where the guitars drop out to bring us into the chorus and Anne sings "but it's a little more than I can...handle, and it's a little more than I can...control," complete with backing vocals. The bridge right before that is great, too. And the verses. Basically, it's sweet and adorable and unassuming and I love it. And yes, I love Anne, so that might be slightly influencing my perception of the song (it was the first of the MGP songs I listened to), but I think this is just one of those songs that connects with me for some reason, that does all the right things for me to love it.

A Little More

Since no one else seems to like this song, though, we might as well deal with some of the other entries. Some songs of note, not necessarily because they're good:

Zuma's (no, not Jacob; a duo made up of two guys) "Always Always" is maybe worth a listen; it's very '80's. Then again, I liked Lustans Lakejer's very '80's entry from Sweden in 2007, so what do I know? I'm not sure that "Always Always" is quite as good as I'd like it to be, but so far I like it, and I'm looking forward to seeing the group live (let's hope that gives the song more life as well, though I could see it easily going the other way). I think it's about my second favorite song right now. Actually, let's post that, too:

Always Always

It's cases like Zuma's that remind me why I love these national finals so much--not only do they feature new songs you may like, they often introduce you to new artists you may love.

Pop lovers will probably also want to give at least one listen to the Fred Ball-penned "Baby Don't Stop The Music" by Michelle and Lene Alexandra's "Sillycone Valley" at the very least because they'll be two of the most discussed tracks in certain circles and because you might (or might not) like them. Shockingly, "Sillycone Valley" sounds more grown-up than you would expect given the title and singer--musically, at least (it's got kind of this Asian electro-pop feel). Lyrically, it's--unsurprisingly, given the singer--got lines like "if you wanna play my bongos/well you can play 'em till you blow your mind," so, um, pretty much what'd you'd expect in that department. It's still roughly my third favorite song at this point. "Baby Don't Stop The Music" is very Fred Ball-sounding, though I don't know that it's his best work. Still, it's nice to see decent electro-pop in a national final. Both could have trouble live, though; we'll see.

I really like Maria Haukaas Storeng, so I'm glad to see her in the MGP, but I'm not sure that I adore her Mira Craig-penned entry "Hold On Be Strong." It's not bad, though. People are also talking about Veronika Akelsen's "Am I Supposed To Love Again" (in a very positive way), but right now it's too lounge singer-y for me, though I could possibly see it growing with time. On the other hand, I could also see it doing so well that I end up building up a huge irrational dislike of it (and that's the way I see it going right now). The Christian Ingebrigtsen co-penned "Eastern Wind," sung by Torstein Sødal, is a big ballad and could conceivably do well if Norway is in a ballad mood.

Speaking of big, "Far Away" by King Of The Trolls is ridiculous in a Roger Pontare "Where The Spirits Are Calling My Name" kind of way, only even more over the top (who knew that was even possible?). Of course, I could probably have just told you that the singer looks like this


and you would've been able to guess what it sounds like. Actually, the instrumental bit after the chorus really reminds me of something, but I can't place it (edit: I think it's "Wild Dances"). All that said, for my sins, I may really like it. The song is very...energetic. We'll see what the live performance is like.

Pop-punk group Crash! are back with another entry; given how well they did last year, you might want to keep an eye on their entry "Get Up." I kind of slightly like Nicholas Carlie's "Colliding" in a generic radio rock ballad that I'll probably never listen to again after the national final season/a week kind of way.

MTV wants me to buy Kate Nash's album

I've been sick recently, but VH1 ran an America's Next Top Model marathon all last week (yes, literally all week), so I had something to watch during my various states of half-consciousness (I am addicted to that show--I can have seen the episode a dozen times before and if it is on, I will still watch it again). Unfortunately, the end of the marathon was like ending an addiction cold turkey--what else was I supposed to do?

Luckily, though, MTV decided to run an ANTM mini-marathon today, which of course hooked me in. However, I couldn't help noticing that Kate Nash seems to be everywhere on this channel--talking about herself in promos for her site on MTV.com, singing "Merry Happy" on the commercials for Run's House, overseeing baguette competitions on the commercials for something that I think was called The Challenge, soundtracking (with "Merry Happy" again) a commercial for a website called itsyoursexlife.com--it's pretty much at a ridiculous level of saturation. As if that's not enough, she's also on MTV Hits' "What To Watch in 2008" list ("Foundations" is getting play on the channel) and appeared on an episode of London Live run recently.

In other news, the Norwegian national finals songs are out (there are three sets of six). I'll have coherent thoughts on them at some point.

#19 Jonas Brothers, "S.O.S."

It's true
I gave my all for you,
now my heart's in two
And I can't find the other half
It's like I'm walking on broken glass,
better believe I bled

I think every time I've mentioned Radio Disney favorites the Jonas Brothers on here it's been negative, the biggest example probably being 2006's illogical rant about their recycling of Busted songs (which, though I still know it makes NO sense, I'm apparently still not over--the music video for "Year 3000" came on while I was out Christmas shopping and got me wound up all over again), but it's continued into more recent times, with them being my go-to example for how to do pop-rock poorly...even if I did reluctantly admit liking a song or two of theirs.

Imagine my worry and surprise, then, when I found myself really enjoying second album single "S.O.S.", an enjoyment that eventually (and reluctantly, as I still didn't want to be won over by them) turned into full-fledged love. "S.O.S." is incredibly catchy, something which I'd felt like was missing from most of what I'd heard from them earlier. It's the sound of a band at the top of their game, every unnecessary element (i.e., those not adding anything to catchiness) stripped out to create the ultimate streamlined pop-rock song (look at them hitting the chorus 21 seconds in! That's quicker than most Eurovision songs). Well, the ultimate streamlined pop-rock song that comes from the youthful side of the spectrum. The guitar instrumental bit that opens the song and goes on to fill in each verse is an instant attention-grabber, creating a stop-start rhythm that adds punch and pep, meaning that the Jonas Brothers have done something a lot of pop artists fail at: created a pop song that's more than just a catchy chorus. All right, boys, I'm willing to admit it may just have been posing (on my part) that was holding me back from liking you before...if I hear one more song from you that I love, I'll get the album.

S.O.S.

Find it on: Jonas Brothers

#20 Justin Timberlake, "What Goes Around.../...Comes Around"

Hey girl, is he everything you wanted in a man?
You know I gave you the world
You had me in the palm of your hand

I think I've generally taken a pretty anti-Justin Timberlake stance on this blog and in general, and I usually try not to to make too big a deal of being "anti" a whole artist, preferring to criticize people who I usually like or see some sort of potential (even if mainly in the past) in (there are some exceptions...one of which we'll be dealing with soon). The arguably disturbing video may not have made Justin seem any more likable to me, but I couldn't help it: when this song became a single, I fell in love. Part of that has to do with the "What Goes Around" part, which makes up the song's main section; lyrically, it may sound concerned with retribution, but it's not particularly aggressive or actively vengeful--it sounds more like karma, and if I could enjoy the lyrically (and, in a way, musically) similar "360" by Josh Hoge, I can hardly hold that against "What Goes Around..." It's sad, but beautiful, and it has this perfect sing-along quality that drew me in against my will. What seals the deal, though, is the interlude or "outro," "...Comes Around," where the kind of Middle Eastern instrumentation in "What Goes Around" is replaced by more producer-oriented noises and synths and the tempo picks up. Justin's attitude changes, too; he becomes a lot less sad and a lot more mocking, laughing at and enjoying his ex's suffering. It's fantastic, and it's a real shame that most radio listeners weren't able to hear it.

Find it on: FutureSex/LoveSounds

#21 Måns Zelmerlöw, "Brother Oh Brother"

Believe me brother oh brother
She will break your heart
Leave her tonight
Be strong 'cause brother oh brother
She's gonna tear you apart
Don't stay and fight

'Cause she will have some fun
And then she'll run away
With someone else
Believe me brother oh brother
She's gonna break your heart
Listen to me, I'm setting you free

How do you follow up an inescapable mega-hit like "Cara Mia"? Though I can appreciate the sentiment behind going with "Work Of Art (Da Vinci)" in an attempt to establish him as an artist who doesn't just do schlager, from the first moment the previews of the songs were put online, "Brother Oh Brother" seemed like a dream second single for the Swedish Idol contestant turned Let's Dance winner turned Melodifestivalen contestant Måns Zelmerlöw: it took the strengths and style of "Cara Mia," but twisted them in a new direction to create a fantastic danceable but sad pop stormer. Right where "Cara Mia"'s chorus goes up and explodes, "Brother Oh Brother"'s goes down, and that makes all the difference in the world--it could've capitalized on "Cara Mia"'s success without being seen as a clone of it. PinkieDust said he hoped Måns would make a song like Paolo Meneguzzi's "Ti Amo Ti Odio," and it's almost as if someone read that and said "great idea!"--that's what "Brother Oh Brother" reminds me of, just maybe with a little extra hint of Swedish schlager thrown in.

At least it's a single now, though, and doing pretty well, deservedly so. The song is gorgeous, sad, catchy, and with beat that could almost be seen as dance-influenced behind it, a pretty much irresistable combination. I loved the album version and would never have thought any sort of revamp was necessary, but now I can't really listen to the original without wanting all the little added "woah-oh-oh"s, whip cracks, clicks, piano, and extended instrumental part in the middle of the video version.

Brother Oh Brother (Video Version)

Find it on: Stand By For... (but the video version is only available on the "Brother Oh Brother" single)