Lopez Blogs

Think we may have heard the winner this week folks ...

"For Många Ord Om Karlek" - Niklas Strömstedt: This is an OK start, although is so retro that it probably belongs in the 1968 MF rather than the 2008 one.

"If I Could" - Calaisa: Corrs-type close harmony country-folk-pop which is probably only there to make up the numbers but sounded pleasant enough.

"Pame" - Daniel Mitsogiannis: This year's "Cara Mia"!! Will it have that killer key change I wonder???

"Hur Svårt Kan Det Va" - Linda Bengtzing: Now you know I've never really been a fan, but this is possibly her best ever entry at MF, and like Rongedal, it has a severe attack of the Grace Kellys! Very agreeable schlager.

"I Lågornas Sken" - Nordman: I must be in charitable mood tonight because there's usually only so much of these brooding baldies that I can take, but I even found this ok.

"That Is Where I'll Go" - Sibel: Huge power ballad which should ensure qualification for the ex-Idol contestant if she gets the vocals right tomorrow. Not really my cup of tea though.

"Ingen Mar Så Brå Som Jag" - Fronda: possibly this week's novelty song, and would sound better outside MF but I even had time for this one.

"Hero" - Charlotte Perrelli: more modern sound than I expected from her. I've never really been a fan of hers but this will probably change that. High-powered pop schlager which I'm sure she will deliver with ease. Think this has got a bit of the "Det Gor Ont" about it too.

So here are my predictions:

To Globen: Charlotte and Linda.
To Andra Chansen: Daniel and Sibel

Oh, and Charlotte's going to win Melodifestivalen this year.

Black and Gold - Sam Sparro: exceptional, classy, adventurous pop song which I have played this week more than any other, and is possibly the first serious contender for inclusion in the EuropeCrazy 2008-50!
La Histeria - Marquess: this song has its own little party going on!
Fascination - Alphabeat: hyper-happy pop from Denmark which my local radio station played the other day! It will probably be too upbeat and cheerful for us over here in the land of dreary-pop.
Happy Together - The Jam: still got this 80s oldies vibe going at the moment (there's a post coming about that soon I promise) and this was a great song from their album "The Gift".
Ready For The Floor - Hot Chip: no I still haven't heard their album but I'm still enjoying this little electro-pop song.
Sun Goes Down - David Jordan: the more others hate this, the more I love it!
We Keep On Rockin' - Alcazar: took a couple of weeks for me to appreciate this comeback track but it's finally made it to the playlist. Welcome back!

No Melodifestivalen tracks on the playlist yet, I'm waiting till they're all available in studio versions - at which time you can expect Ola, BWO, Patrik Isaksson and Rongedal to make the list - and there may be some treats in store from this week's heat too. Will check out this week's sound clips either tomorrow or Saturday and do the usual preview and predictions too.

Before I get all pop perfect on your (quite cute and well formed) asses, aidez-moi with a little light listening (oh I am all about the alliteration today!) My 11 hour flight to Vegas kicks off on Saturday and I was hoping you could all recommend something new (or new to me) to listen to on the way there. Send me your poor, your huddled masses, etc. Oooo it's like being an A&R executive isn't it? Sidebar your honour: The earth moved in England the other night - earthquake, or hell freezing over and the four horsemen of the apocalypse rising because of this??

Jonathan Fagerlund ~ Playing Me: This may be the best boyband single by a solo artist in a very long time. The remaining Backstreet Boys should sit up, listen and take notes. You know when you've had a really long crappy day and you get home and slip into a bubble bath, or wrap yourself in your favourite old duvet? That's what listening to this golden gem of pop music is like - Jonathan's voice is delightfully warm and smooth, the pulsing instrumentation strums along into the "screw you" message of the chorus, and the whole thing is pretty bloody aces. And it's doing well in Sweden. First Angeline and now this? Jonathan's batting two for two and I cannot wait to hear a full album of this classic pop material. PS - check out PPG for a much better write up than this!

Simon Curtis ~ Another Heartache: My memory isn't what it used to be, so forgive me if I've written about Simon before :P Actually i'm about to reboot on the Alter Boy project (that's a good thing) so expect a lot more in the future. I've been playing this song for a few months now and i'm still not tired of it. And writing about Jonathan reminded me what a great classic pop tune this is - part Savage Garden, part Backstreet Boys, part A*Teens and all Simon. I've written about the musical amazingness of it before so for now i'll focus on the lyrics and vocal. Ironically, the song itself causes another heartache - while explaining to a lover that it's better they break, Simon conveys the sheer agony of splitting up with such raw emotion (particularly on the gorgeous piano driven acoustic version) that it's difficult not to be sucked into the song. As a vocalist Simon is equally comfortable at the top and bottom of his vocal range and uses his voice and inflections to complement the message of the song. Great production values too. You can listen to it on his myspace page...

Matt Pakora ~ Dangerous: Now i'm not sure that this comes under the perfect pop description, but I do like the song and it raises some interesting (to me anyway) points. I pretty much thought i was done with the Timbaland sound, and while this track doesn't really provide anything fresh to those production values, French artiste Matt makes the song fun enough and fairly catchy. The real puzzler here is no doubt a lot of money was poured into this track, yet to me it's substandard to say, a Simon track like Pop Messiah or Broken who didn't have the budget this song has. I'm not criticising the song, i like it i do - but let's be frank. Who do you have to sleep with to get a record deal these days? (for Simon's sake hopefully not Perez!! EW)

Still loving: Jesse McCartney's Leaving; Chris Richardson (shameless Justin T cribbing) All Alone; The Feeling's Join With Us
Newly Loving: BWO - Lay Your Love On Me and little David Archeluta (Imagine on American Idol was just - wow!)

Somehow, every year I swear that I will not become addicted to the following reality shows - Big Brother, The X Factor and Dancing On Ice. While my love affair with Big Brother (ew, how Ian in Shameless) has waned significantly, the X Factor has produced G4 (!), Shayne Ward, Leona and (hopefully) the adorable Same Difference. And of course Dancing On Ice just gets better and better with each series... As it's only 3 weeks til the final, I think I'll concentrate on the 3 acts who in my opinion are clearly head and shoulders above everyone else.

Gareth Gates and Maria: Sigh. How come Gareth Gates the ice skating dancer is so much more fun than Gareth Gates the somber 3rd album fallen popstar? Can't he figure out a way to marry the two together? Because frankly, he seems like an utterly charming chap and he should be at the point in his career where people like Shayne Ward, Darin and Blake Lewis are looking to him for pointers. In fact, Shayne, Darin and Blake are the ones producing quality pop with (some) artistic integrity and Gareth is playing catch up to them. Sheesh! But this isn't about Gareth's fading pop career - it's about his grace and ease on the ice. He may not be the best male skater (that title belongs to the oddly chunky Chris Fountain) but there is such glee and excitement in his performance that it's hard not to root for him. If he is not in the final, and if he does not use this opportunity to reignite his musical career with a disco'd up cover of the BeeGees "You Win Again" then there is something seriously wrong with the universe (Ps - he gets points deducted for referring to himself as a musician during the show. That's too Mandy "I hate my first two albums" Moore for my liking!)

Chris Fountain (hollyblokes) and Frankie: Now it would have been a real slap in the knickers if Chris had done his near perfect and exhilarating skating routine to Will Young's version of Ain't No Sunshine. Not only would have Gareth been reminded of his second placing to Will in Pop Idol, but he would also have had to face up to the fact that it's unlikely he's going to beat Chris. While Gareth may be more fun, Chris is certainly more breathtaking. His routines constantly push the boundaries of what has been performed on this show in the past, and they seem to match the music perfectly. As a person, Darren finds him most unlikeable, but I have no such issues and can't wait to see what he pulls out of his well-padded bag of tricks next... (note: ignore the awkwardly inserted body popping he loves at 28s and 1m05s and enjoy the axel leap he almost perfectly lands at 1m45. Marvelous)

Suzanne Shaw (Hear'say) and Matt: Two things - first, ITV (the channel in the UK that aired Popstars, the show that created Hear'say - seen today at Troy's blog fact fans) has treated the Hear'say girls well. First of all Mylene reignited her career by appearing on the ITV show "I'm A Celebrity (Get Me Out of Here)" and is now in demand for classical albums and mother-baby advice books. Then they give Kym Marsh a pivotal role on prime time soap Coronation Street and now Suzanne is by far the best girl on Dancing On ICe. Secondly, while Suzanne's performances have always been quite theatrical (due to the fact that she lifts well and is flung round the ice well by her able partner Matt), I never expected to be as blown away as I was this week with her outstanding dancing - on ice - to Madonna's Music. It's hard to pin point one moment of brilliance, but i am particularly fond of the slow motion skating at 44 seconds. Spine tingling! How Shrek and the gay one from Hear'say boys section must be tucking into their kebabs and cheap lager with bitterness...

Other dancing on ice thoughts:

-- Fred Pascalak is still quite the hottie... if only for his flawless skin and rippling biceps. Plus his skating is quite amazing. You should see him and his lovely wife Mel skate together. Outstanding.
-- I'd quite like to see celebrities like Sinitta (can you imagine her dancing on ice to ToyBoy), Sean from Same Difference and maybe someone rather amusing like Alan Carr in next years show.
-- I'd be quite happy with Sergey Lazarev competing in an international all stars edition... Is there anything this boy can't do???

The nice folks at Cosmos records have provided me with a free mp3 download for you all to share - this is a live version of their very good song Fine Line. It was recorded recently in Sweden and now you can enjoy it from the comfort of your own home as if you were really there! Marvelous! And above you'll find their rather heart warming cover of Come Back and Stay (originally by Paul Young) performed at London's Soho Revue Bar. It's like Christmas come early! The iTunes (and everywhere else) release of the very lovely in original and remixed form, Release Me, is er, released (!) on March 4th.

Download: Oh Laura - Fine Line (Live) MP3
Essential Link: My review of A Song in Your Head album and interview with the band

Last night's third MF heat kicked off with Kristian Luuk in fine form - he is really growing on me and I am beginning to get his humour although I can't understand much Swedish. I'm also loving those little in-between-song segments with Kristian competing against the contestants in sporting challenges which are good fun. Under-fire interviewer Nour El-Refai is also trying her best with the post-song interviews but I think that's a rather pointless segment. I've also had my reservations about comedian Bjorn Gustafsson in the past, but I thought he was funny last night.
BWO kicked off the proceedings with "Hung Up" oh sorry I mean "Lay Your Love On Me". Admittedly I am biased as I like them anyway, but this screamed "Qualifier" from the beginning. It's not perfect - not as instant as "Temple of Love" - but it's more than good enough for the final. Shallow Alert! I love Martin!

The presentation of Mickey Huskic's song just reminded me of all that Zeljko/Hari type Balkan power ballad stuff which always does well at ESC. Not a qualifier, although (slight) Shallow Alert! He was quite nice to look at for a while.

Frida Muranius featuring Headline: their feelgood song also screamed "Qualifier" to me, a real crowd pleaser even if the backing singers' evening wear didn't match the street fashion of the main singers. She was very bubbly and I quite liked her last night.

Thérèse Andersson was surprising. Everyone will remember her as a member of Pay TV, but that whole schlager meets opera sound came as a real shock to me. I didn't see "When You Need Me" as a qualifier but there you go....and what about that dress?

Although Patrik Isaksson isn't the most visually appealing act, I really liked "Under Mitt Tunna Skinn" because to these ears it sounded like a blend of "When The Night Comes Falling" and the fabulous "Varlden Utanför" - how good a recommendation is that. I'll probably play it a lot more too when I get the CD.

I know that Caracola have their fans, but "Smiling In Love" was just too much for me. Terrible, terrible lyrics and for me this is Melodifestivalen at its worst. As they sang it I had this fear that it would qualify, and it did.

Based on the clips, I saw Ainbusk qualifying but that was until their dire rendition of their Pling ballad-by-numbers. They looked like "Desperate Housewives" and their performance (and result) was pretty desperate too.

Finally, Eskobar. "Hallelujah New World" was OK, but was a fish out of water at MF. One of the lines went "searching for something good to come out of this" which I suppose summed it up. Despite being a wild card - and therefore usually a foregone conclusion to qualify - it finished last.
So BWO and Frida featuring Headline are off to Globen, with Thérèse and Caracola to Andra Chansen. I've had time to think about it now - Patrik was robbed.

Above: BWO, Frida and Headline celebrate their passage to Globen.

Above: he may have missed out on qualification but Patrik Isaksson still manages a smile.

Next week: the battle of the schlager-divas, ding ding, seconds out, round one - it's Charlotte versus Linda!!

Most famous, I suppose, for "Making Plans For Nigel" and "Senses Working Overtime" but tonight I want to mention "The Disappointed" which is one of their later songs and lyrically is quite outstanding and should speak to anyone who's ever been unlucky in love.... The video, typically, is quite strange. Find it, as ever, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG3YTqOlIkI

Another early 90s treat which I have fond memories of, even if I know nothing at all about this band apart from the fact that they came from Boston, if that's any help. The song was "Joyride" and I remember it from around late 1991/early 1992. Again it looks rather dated now, but I still like the song. Whatever would I do without YouTube? Find it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3RJdR0Bdb4

Now this might be quite an obscure one. Back in 1991 this was a big hit in the USA singles charts although did absolutely nothing this side of "the pond" anyway it now may be a little dated to some (the video certainly is :-))) I think they call this 'old-school Latin freestyle' but whatever, the beat will make you dance. Find it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAUe7qz9t3Q

First one this week is a song from 1990 which I used to like a lot. "Could Have Told You So" was a very strong and memorable pop hit which still sounds very good - however they will probably only be remembered as one-hit wonders. Their lead singer Christian James' image was very reminiscent of Bros, if that's any help. Find "Could Have Told You So" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svF3tUPs-3s

Super Saturday.

Can't really comment as I haven't heard all tonight's winners but....

CONGRATULATIONS ICELAND!! My favourite-country-which-has-never-won ESC has chosen my favourite entry from their national final. Well done to Eurobandid, aka Fridrik Omar & Regina Osk, who will represent Iceland this year with "This Is My Life", a cracking techno-pop number which should wake up the voters!

IRELANDE DOUZE POINTE: I saw a bit of the Irish final: didn't hear much of the songs but the panel were unintentionally hilarious. This year's panel was Dana, Louis Walsh and Marija Serifovic, the latter of course won Eurovision last year and proceeded to bring her own individual brand of Serbian 'tact and diplomacy' to the proceedings. Highly entertaining.
The songs: disappointing. The winner: beyond parody. Now when you say that Ireland's sending a turkey to Eurovision, you will really mean it. Disappointed for Donal Skehan, whose "Double Cross My Heart" was more Melodifestivalen than...well, anything in Melodifestivalen I guess.

Therese Andersson & Caracola to Andra Chansen.

Sadly, Patrik missed out :-(

It was a very strange Melodifestivalen tonight. Something strange happened....for the first time, I got Bjorn Gustafsson, whom I found quite funny for once with his Celine Dion song, and his love song to Carina Berg. I didn't know she was Kristian Luuk's girlfriend - hey, you learn something every day, thanks Aftonbladet! :-)

BWO to Globen!!!!!

Dancing all night with the bourgeoisie and swearing undying love for Martin <3 :-)))))

OK - wrong again!

Glad though that my three favourite songs of the night are through to the final 5 - "Lay Your Love On Me" by BWO, "Upp O Hoppa" by Frida featuring Headline, and "Under Mitt Tunna Skinn" by Patrik Isaksson and Bandet, which I all loved in their own different ways.

Therese Andersson and Caracola also go top 5.

More to follow....

Think it could be quite close to call tonight but here are my predictions for tonight's Melodifestivalen....

Qualifying to Globen: BWO and Ainbusk.

Yes I'm biased, but BWO have the most memorable pop song of the night, I've only heard the one-minute clip so can't compare it to the greatness of "Temple of Love". They are promising spectacular costumes and stage routine, and Martin will no doubt be looking as fabulous as ever.

Ainbusk have been around for a while, and they may just get the 'ballad vote' amid all the uptempo tunes tonight.

Qualifying to Andra Chansen: Frida Muranius and Eskobar.

I'm not really a fan of Ms Muranius based on her one-big-hit-single but this pleasantly surprised me. It's uptempo reggaeton-style pop with some rap thrown in.

Eskobar are one of this year's wild-cards and they usually have a good chance of qualifying. This is very different from the usual MF stuff and if they pull off a good performance this could be a qualifier.

Patrik Isaksson is also on tonight and I was quite impressed with his song based on the clip which I heard - very reminiscent of "When The Night Comes Falling" which I loved.

Answers in a couple of hours...

I have many many things i want to write about at the end of this neverending week! If I were still doing thezapping it would end up a massive massive post that takes two weeks to write and longer to read! I have learnt to be brief and concise since then so enjoy my favourite type of post - the bullet points!

THE OBSESSIONS:

~ It looks like The Feeling will be debuting at number one this very Sunday. Which makes me feel all warm and gooey inside. There is a cute enough interview on Popjustice, but the real gems are, as always, to be found in the QA section of their own website. They look.... bizarre as the spice girls at G-A-Y!
~ BWO have a clip up to listen to of their new single for Melodifestivalen, which i assume will appear on their greatest hits compilation later this year. Entitled Lay Your Love On Me, it's typical BWO and hence, i really like it. Their output is consistently solid, though not very innovative. Still I'm easy to please...
~ Jason Mraz is back with a new single, I'm Yours. Which would be ace, except it was released as a demo on the Wordplay single back in 2006 and pretty much soundtracked mine and Darren's wedding. Still, the fully produced version is lovely, and the song is so kick you in the crotch fantastic that i am in love with it all over again.
~ Instead of recording an ace new album to rival MYOB like she should be (though 4 new songs have been recorded for an interested label), Deborah Gibson is passing on her years of experience in the ultimate precocious kids venture - Camp Electric Youth! Oh my. Oh, and is it just me that thinks the world needs a pop group called The Electric Youth a la West End Girls/A*Teens???
~ I'm so in love with them still that i frankly don't give a flying fuck that Same Difference are releasing Breaking Free as their debut (and probably only) single. I can't get enough. Here is them singing that very song when I saw them at Nightingale. Listen out for my hideous bellowing along to the song. Fo' shame.
~ Don't think I've forgotten about Simon Curtis just because i'm no longer zapping. He is still the most promising male solo artist I've heard in years :)
~ Shayne Ward releasing You Got Me So instead of the smells like a hit Damaged? Good grief. Still I've totally ignored his single choices to date in his career other than That's My Goal and If That's Ok With You...

THE BEST IN BLOG:

~ Crazy World of Music has an mp3 of the debut Chris Richardson single "All Alone". It's ok I guess, though it's VERY justin timberlake What Goes Around...
~ D'Luv has a completely accurate post about the lazy Leona Lewis. And how it is almost dictated that she will be a USA success (simon cowell was crowing about this before she even won the bloody show). Still Better in Time is actually quite nice. And she was ace at the Brits...
~ ModFab has a comprehensive guide to this Sunday's Oscar ceremony. I'm with him and D'Luv on the whole Juno thing. Far too hip for it's own good and with a hideous and unlikeable main character. UGH!
~ PPG has some essential amazingness in the form of the near perfect new Jonathan Fagerlund single. It is actually very very good indeed. Fact.
~ Check out DanUK's new clothes. Very foxy. Not sure about the make up though :P I'm hoping he'll write up his thoughts on Lost episode 4 soon. The final two words were a corker!
~ Check out DanUSA's big gay iPod. Very foxy. Not sure about the Michael Bolton song though :P
~ XO goes gaga over a very Professor Higgins looking Sam Sparro whose song Black and Gold is seeping into my very being. And yay for his crappy few weeks getting better!
~ Poptrashaddicts are positively fizz(y-popping) at the slit over ElectroVibe, especially after they played at my local club. I don't have the heart to tell them it's also the name of a popular sex toy over her :P

Have an ace weekend.

In this week's Sverige Topplistan singles chart, congratulations once again to Amanda Jenssen as "Do You Love Me" still stays at no.1. Basshunter's at no.2 with "Now You're Gone" and Alcazar's new hit "We Keep On Rockin'" climbs to no.4 from last week's no.17.

Veronica Maggio, who became quite popular a couple of years ago is back with "Måndagsbarn", no. 34 this week, which like a lot of other stuff at the moment has a bit of an Amy Winehouse-retro-vibe about it.

Velvet's "Deja Vu" is the highest new entry and the highest placed song from Melodifestivalen in the chart, with Michael Michailoff at no. 3o, Andra Generationen at no. 36 and Brandur at no. 40. Everything will completely change in the singles chart in the next few weeks as it will be totally taken over by Melodifestivalen songs.

Say It Right - Christoffer Hiding: Not usually into these Idol-cover versions but my favourite guy from the last series of "Idol" in Sweden truly made this song his own (as Louis Walsh might say)
La Histeria - Marquess: OK it's official now, I love this tune. Catchy and summery.
Love Is Gone - David Guetta: since Quentin did a magnificent version of this last week on Star Ac I have been listening quite a lot to the original.
The Headmaster Ritual/The Queen Is Dead - The Smiths: Hadn't heard these for a few years but had this sudden urge to play them, and remembered just how spectacular Johnny Marr's music was, even if it was always overshadowed by Morrissey's voice and words.
Double Je - Christophe Willem: one I've dug out again after his triumph at the NRJ Music Awards. What a star he is, even if his image may suggest otherwise.
The Murder of Love - Propaganda: another long-lost 80s oldie which I converted from vinyl to MP3 so I could listen to it anytime on my iPod.
Do You Love Me - Amanda Jenssen: still loving this. And it's still better than any of the Amy Winehouse-copycats doing the rounds.
Always Always - Zuma: first of my MGP favourites which I'm still listening to even though that's over for another year.
Colliding - Nicholas Carlie: I'm not sick of this one yet either. Classy contemporary swaying pop ballad.
Work - Kelly Rowland: This is another of these songs which I didn't really like for a long time but now I do.

Ever since the writers downed their pens, America has switched off their collective tv sets and gone out to do something more interesting instead (and if you remember where that is paraphrased from you are nearly as old as I am. 21) ~ however, there have mercifully been plenty of little gems cropping up all over the place. If you are a self confessed tv nut like me, you won't have had to go without. But first up, lets check out some music...

Last night was indeed the Brit awards. I didn't watch all of it but I did catch some random moments. Here are some of the highlights in my lovely bullet point format!

• Take That winning two awards and Gary looking more silver foxy by the day. Don't know what was up with Mark's bouffant though - it looked very windswept.
• Leona Lewis did a "just like on her album" version of Bleeding Love which was made more fantastic than it should've been by the fact that it's such an ace song, her amazing purple dress (she looked like my favourite quality street) and the quite funky choreography of the backing dancers
• Sharon Osbourne looking decidedly awkward when Kylie came up to collect her award from an overstimulated, but lovely looking DanUSA, er I mean David Tennant. The Osbournes can't be the Minogues favourite people really, can they?
• Amy Winehouse performing Valerie was total car crash. I mean seriously, it was worse than vacant Britney at the MTV Awards. Her shuffling two step attempts at dance made it look like she really needed the bathroom, her vocal was all over the place, the orchestra were pissing themselves laughing at her and she was out of sync with the music. Pity - i still love the song.
• I fairly adore the fact (though probably not as much as Adem) that the Arctic Monkeys always dress up for award shows. They were very drunk and apparently trashed the stage so ITV had to go to Fearne Cotton backstage. Still, they looked very dapper as English gentlemen...

For a much more entertaining look at the brits, why not pop over to Chartrigger. You know you want to... In other music shows, I didn't watch the grammys so can't really comment on that. I'm not even sure who won other than Amy and Mark Ronson. I am waiting til the final ten to get into American idol, though i do like the adorable little Utah boy David Archuleta. I hope he gets through. Dany (one N? How pretentious) Noriega irritates the bejeezus out of me - he is the gayest looking non threatening teen dude since Zac Efron. I honestly thought Jason Castro was a girl btw. Overall, i was appalled by the like of styling - a couple of people seemed to have made the effort but not really anyone else. Plus Yuri, XO, DanUSA and a few others had a discussion about someone's scarf that led to me labelling that particular Robyn look on boys being akin to "some dick thirsty drama Professor". Lovely. Though not as lovely as when i sent out our new First Aid policy at work to everyone and labelled the email "Fist Aid". I live to give.




Dancing on Ice: Ah its the reality show it's ok for C-list celebrities to go on. This year has been quite engrossing to be honest. It's clearly a race between four people - Suzanne Shaw (Hear'say), Zahra from Corrie, Gareth Gates and Chris Fountain (hollyoaks). The girls are pretty decent - and fearless (I could barely watch Suzanne do the headbanger last week - check out around 1m34s) but it's Chris and Gareth that have my attention most. Chris is just in a league of his own, which you can see above. His performances are always electric and fascinating to watch (check out his week one performance set to the Arctic Monkeys), while Gareth's seem to be all about having fun and a good time. If he put as much fun into his rather dour third album as he does this performance of Blame It On The Boogie, well it might have done a lot better. Plus some of the professional male ice skaters are quite pleasing to the eye...(yes Fred Palascak and Daniel Whiston i mean you!)

Skins Year 2: Thank god for the return of Skins - two episodes in and it is as engrossing and magnificent as ever. Turns out Tony is now a "total mong" (their words not mine) and is having trouble with his memory and motor neurone functions - this has had a knock on effect to the group who seem strangely disjointed even when together. Maxie is emerging as the star this season - his stalker storyline is rather brill, and his role in Osama! The Musical was hilarious. Points to Anwar for shagging Maxie's psycho stalker and listing the films of Hugh Grant to stop himself from performing too quickly. "I never get to About A Boy"... Classic.

Shameless Year 5: The extended (16 instead of 8) season of Shameless has been slightly hit and miss for me, though still better than most things on the box. The frank-centric episodes do nothing for me (his "love story" one last week was dullsville) but there is such a wealth of fascinating characters to draw on that there is always something to get drawn into. I currently love Mickey and his useless attempts to hide his gayness from his gangster family... But what the fuck was that Ian shags his half brother storyline about??!

Nip/Tuck Year 5: Talking of incest, it seems to be quite fashionable this year. Nip/Tuck has always been about the sublime and ridiculous and of course this year has been no different with it's hardly subtle commentary on the fact that fame will fuck you up and ultimately kill you (particularly hammered home during the final few seconds of the most recent episode). So what did the year bring? Julia being tv's most unlikeable person seeking to find herself again and screwing her family up in the process; Matt going from one extreme relationship to another, including boffing his half sister; Eden being one of those beautiful so must be evil type messages; Hearts and Scalpels being the most thinly disguised front for a Grey's Anatomy rip off (key line when they fire the lead actor "if you were black we could have waited til the end of season to fire you!!" hahahaha) and Cagney or Lacey playing a psycho agent who clearly didn't swipe her passport at the Mexican border. As over the top and melodramatic as usual. Brillo.

Honest Year 1: I am hoping against hope that there will be an Honest year two. Not only did Matthew McNulty do rather well playing twins, but the show couldn't have been more At Home With The Braithwaites if it tried. And that's a good thing - Amanda Redman knows how to play obstinate mother really well. The show wasn't anything groundbreaking but was quite entertaining in it's own little way.

Best of the rest:

Lost - has regained it's former glory. There is an episode of the simpsons where Homer is watching Twin Peaks and declares "brilliant - i have no idea what is going on". That's me and Lost! I have to run over to DanUK to see what he thinks!
Kyle XY - is it me or does ABC Family seem to have outdone the CW in becoming a worthy WB type station competitor. Kyle XY continues to be emminently watchable, even if no one ever dies for real after being shot or jumping off a cliff. Plus they have thinly veiled family conversations about discovering masturbation. How Dawson's Creek of them...
Prison Break - still ridiculous and ludicrous all at the same time. Yet in a way that doesn't anger me like the filled with holes plots of 24. Episode 13 could serve nicely as a cliffhanger or a slightly unresolved but satisfying series finale. Fox i'm sure will take their pick...

Returning soon:

All new episodes of Gossip Girl, Reaper, Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy and Supernatural! Woo hoo! no Heroes, Pushing Daisies or Private Practice til next year though. Boo you whores...

Well I got a few of my predictions right, and some I got in the wrong order :)

I wasn't at EuropeCrazy HQ tonight so missed watching the awards show live, but will catch up with it over the next few days. Anyway I had a look at the results and here's a few thoughts.

YAY! for Take That - two awards (best live act and best single) proves that they were - and still are - the world's greatest ever boyband, or should I now say man-band ha ha.

BOO! for the tedious, overrated Arctic Monkeys winning best album and best British group: is this really the best that we can do? Even worse, they have spawned millions of equally tedious imitators.

EH? for Mark Ronson winning Best British male artist. Now I have loved his interesting cover versions with guest vocalists over the past year, but would it not have been better to give it to someone who actually sang on his own record?

OH GIMME A BREAK! for Kate Nash winning the Best British female award. Is it just me, or is it cause I eat so many lemons that I am so bi-tter?

???? for Adele winning the new "hype of the year" oops I mean "Critics Choice" award. How about "Most hyped act kept off no.1 by Basshunter"????

I might have more to say once I watch the show. It goes without saying that it was probably rubbish as usual anyway.

After I did a post last week about some singles coming out by boy singers, I thought to myself "self, you must do a post about singles coming out by girl singers" - but tragically nothing really stood out to me. Until a number of not exactly earth shattering, but perfectly pleasant tracks popped up at random on my drive to Blackburn yesterday afternoon (and all from albums that I initially adored then got a bit bored with). I shall proceed...

Amy Macdonald - Run: Ah, amy. Mr Rock 'n' Roll was quite nice in a pleasant guitar pop/lilting vocal sort of way, but then she was horrible to a friend of mine so I sort of ignored her for a while. One heavily discounted album later and she tops the charts and picks this little gem as her next single. And it's very romantic indeed. There is something about her voice that I quite like, and this folky power ballad has a gorgeous chorus dipped in edible melodies that float into the ether and dance along the breeze. Or something. In other words, it's quite quite lovely.

Alanis Morrisette - Underneath: Oh Alanis. How you sometimes disappoint me. Had i not such vast knowledge of her back catalogue, I wouldn't have a clue upon hearing this that it was a new single. In fact, it seems to be a straightforward remake of Thank U and Everything. Very low key for a first single, the usual heinous and pretentious lyrical selection and quite forgettable. It's not that it's particularly bad, it just seems that Alanis has stopped trying. Well you would if you weren't getting it from Ryan Reynolds anymore...

Delta Goodrem - You Will Only Break My Heart: I really liked Delta's third album when it came out. I raved about Believe Again, although it succeeded more as an album track than a single for me. I tittered at poptrashaddicts calling her Dulta. When this popped up on my mp3 player yesterday, I didn't recognise it at first (much like the next track reviewed) and was shocked to learn that this dubby/reggae lite track was Mrs Bryan McFadden! Yikes! It's quite catchy actually and is growing on me again by the minute. I prefer uptempo Delta at the moment even if she does seem to veer into Leann Rimes territory from time to time...

Leona Lewis - Better In Time: I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that Bleeding Love was a fluke - one of those right song at the right time by the right singer type tunes. I mean heck, it was released way before Leon's effort and is STILL outselling it. But instead of putting out an album of weak covers, she puts out an album of largely weak originals with some outstanding tracks on. Luckily this song is very much in the vein of BL with an uptempo shuffle, and some lovely piano and violins drifting throughout it. It's no Bleeding Love, but she could have picked a lot worse to follow it up with (Angel for example!)

More excellent girl tracks: Duffy - Mercy (i'm so fickle, I'm already over Adele and appreciating Duffy more...); Kylie - Wow (with her best b-sides in ooo, ages); Oh Laura - Release Me (A stunning remix by the attic turns it into this year's EBTG-Missing)

Been a while since I wrote about what I was watching on the box so with it being catch-up week it was a good time to...catch up!

"Harry Hill's TV Burp" (ITV1, Saturdays) is still, IMHO, the best thing on British television even if it has got a bit lazy of late: still, he is fantastic at this, and every show will always deliver an amazing visual gag or ten.

"The One And Only" (BBC1 Saturdays) has now ended what will probably be its (sorry) one and only run, as so few people ended up watching it that the show's title possibly described its viewing figures. Basically it was X-Factor for tribute acts: Madonna, Britney, Kylie, Diana Ross, Cher, Dusty Springfield, Tom Jones, Rod Stewart, Robbie Williams, Lionel Richie, Elton John, Frank Sinatra, with the winner getting a 3 month contract in an American tribute show. The most fascinating and controversial contestant was the ginger-haired white guy who transformed himself into Lionel Richie; but the eventual winner was Dusty Springfield. My mum (a Dusty superfan) was none too happy with this impersonator's efforts.

"Dancing On Ice" (ITV1 Sundays) continues to be the usual over-presented drivel. Every year I try to like it, but every year it ends up driving me round the bend. Chris Fountain and Gareth Gates are my favourites this year, particularly "Fearless Fountain" who is very confident and daring on the ice. Of course every year there is a judges' "chosen one" and this year it would be Suzanne Shaw, famous only for being in Hear'say and for dating Darren Day. I think the words "no comment" come to mind at this point.

"Ashes to Ashes" (BBC1 Thursdays) is probably going to disappear off my viewing radar now, as the most long awaited TV show of the year turned into a very damp squib. Basically it's a remake of "Life On Mars" only without the great John Simm, but with a female-in-a-coma and Gene Hunt and his colleagues all transported back to 1981. It's too 'knowing' and it tries just a bit too hard whereas "LOM" was constantly full of surprises.

BBC3 is a channel which I don't watch as regularly as I once did (when it was BBC Choice, in the days of the sadly-missed "Liquid News" with the equally sadly-missed Christopher Price who left us far too young). Anyway BBC3 has got a new look which meant there would be no more of the memorable and loveable Blobs who appeared in the station's fun idents. They may only have been animated plasticine, but they will always be the Blobs to me. Hankies at the ready, it's time to say goodbye to the Blobs at this link:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/video/2008/jan/22/bbc32

I'm going to try and get more TV reviews on here a bit more regularly, although I don't watch as much as I used to...possibly cause I'm too busy doing this blog !! :-)))

Photos coming soon (no time to get them on here tonight)

Guests: Johnny Hallyday, Patrick Bruel, Isabelle Boulay, Jenifer, Pascal Obispo, Raphael, Peter Cincotti, David Guetta, Matt Pokora.

The finalists: Quentin Mosimann versus Mathieu Edouard.

Prepare for a completely biased and one-sided review.

Mathieu was out of his depth singing with supercharged Johnny Hallyday on "Tout La Musique". Unlike Quentin, who stamped his own trademark vocals on "Il Suffira d’un Signe" with Pascal Obispo.

Where would we be without good old "Casser la Voix" on Star Ac. Even Bruel sounds bored singing this, and Mathieu wasn’t great here either.

I like Jenifer of course, but "Comme Un Hic" does nothing for me at present. Possibly that will change. Does she ever not look good though? Quentin is a star.
Raphael and "Caravane" - another musical style more suited to Jeremy, whom I thought was the other obvious finalist, and another style for Mathieu to flop in. At best he is only a fifth-rate Corneille.

Oh no...that old reality show staple "Angels". Quentin in a pink suit surrounded by dazzling dancers in bright yellow neon dresses. Despite the distractions, this was subtle and rather nice, although I’ve still had a gripe all season about all the English-language songs.

Quentin, Peter Cincotti and David Guetta: "Love Is Gone". An absolutely amazing showstopper. Acer Ben’s already hailed this one and no wonder: an incredible blend of dance and jazz. Welcome to Quentin’s musical universe.

Nice to see Isabelle Boulay again, doing a medley with Quentin and Mathieu. This was probably Mathieu’s best effort tonight, and more suited to his vocal style.

Oh no (again) ..."I Believe I Can Fly", with Mathieu. I can’t listen to this without thinking of the mono-brow guy from Pop Idol 2 doing this in his audition. That was better than this, which was just weak.

"Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood" by the final 6 - Quentin, Mathieu, Bertrand, Claire-Marie, Jeremy and Lucie. Nice to see them all together again. Brought back memories of the Santa Esmeralda version of this song...some of us are old enough to remember that ;-)

"Vous". Bruel again. I’ve never been a fan but Quentin did well here too even if it’s not my kind of thing.

"Mon Frere" is yet another of those clash-of-the-titans songs on Star Ac. Yet again credit must go to the fab Kamel Ouali whose extravagant choreography and staging always lifts Star Ac above every other reality pop show on the planet. I thought both Q and M did well here.

All-new Matt Pokora!!!! Now reinvented by Timbaland and singing in English - "She’s Dangerous". Again this suited Mathieu quite well. Not sure how Matt’s international career will go, most people will probably think he’s a Justin Timberlake tribute act. It’s good, but it’s not "Elle Me Controle". But then, what is? Sorry I’m going off topic here, I’m supposed to be reviewing Star Ac...

Would Quentin be able to compete with Johnny Hallyday on "Marie". Do I need to answer that?

"Un Homme Heureux" - well I just think of Mathieu Johann and Maxim Nucci duetting this on Star Ac 4....this year it was another Mathieu, in duet with Pascal Obispo. Quite nice performance actually, but by this point Mathieu knew that he was beaten.

And finally - "Tant Qu’on Reve Encore" from Le Roi Soleil, a song with such a great emotional pull. So quite fitting that both boys closed the show with it. Mathieu a bit wobbly vocally though.

Now all we needed was the result....to say the drama was all too much for Quentin was an understatement. He fell to the ground! I definitely agree with Acer Ben about his over-the-top reaction! He must have wanted it so badly. Quentin won with 52.6% of the votes cast.

The difference between Quentin and Mathieu: star quality, charisma, consistency, justified arrogance and sheer talent. One had it all...one could only watch and learn. Quentin has put the ‘Star’ back into Star Academy. Now the hard work starts and we hope that he can deliver some great music in the future. Congratulations to a very worthy winner.

But what now for Star Academy? Ratings have fallen, and the introduction of the professional jury on the prime and giving them rather than the students the right to save contestants has destroyed a major part of the show which made it special in the first place. An 8th season has been confirmed - but two very familiar faces won’t be there. Profs Matthieu Gonet and Raphaelle Ricci have both confirmed they are leaving the show. Only time will tell how long this show will survive. Oh and TF1 - can we have the old start time back (beginning of September) pretty please? Merci!

Not long now till the annual back-slapping celebration of the past British musical year. At this point I will attempt to predict who will win awards: bear in mind I usually and inevitably get them wrong. And remember just because I'm predicting the winners doesn't always mean I like them!

Best British Male Solo Artist: Jamie T/Mark Ronson/Mika/Newton Faulkner/Richard Hawley. Prediction to win: Mika.
Best British Female Solo Artist: Bat For Lashes/Kate Nash/KT Tunstall/Leona Lewis/PJ Harvey. Prediction to win: Leona Lewis.
Best British Group: Arctic Monkeys/Editors/Girls Aloud/Kaiser Chiefs/Take That. Prediction to win: Take That.
Best British Album: "Favourite Worst Nightmare" - Arctic Monkeys/"Spirit" - Leona Lewis/"Version" - Mark Ronson/"Life In Cartoon Motion" - Mika/"Beautiful World" - Take That. Prediction to win: "Life In Cartoon Motion" - Mika.
Best British Breakthrough: Bat For Lashes/Kate Nash/Klaxons/Leona Lewis/Mika. Prediction to win: Klaxons.
Best British Live Act: Arctic Monkeys/Kaiser Chiefs/Klaxons/Muse/Take That. Prediction to win: Take That.
Best British Single: From a shortlist I reckon this will be a straight fight between "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis and "Valerie" by Mark Ronson featuring Amy Winehouse.
Best International Male Artist: Bruce Springsteen/Kanye West/Michael Buble/Rufus Wainwright/Timbaland. Prediction to win: Kanye West.
Best International Female Artist: Alicia Keys/Bjork/Feist/Kylie Minogue/Rihanna. Prediction to win: Rihanna.
Best International Group: Arcade Fire/The Eagles/Foo Fighters/Kings of Leon/White Stripes. Prediction to win: Foo Fighters.
Best International Album: "Neon Bible" - Arcade Fire/"Long Road Out Of Eden" - The Eagles/"Because of the Times" - Kings of Leon/"X" - Kylie Minogue/"Echoes Silence Patience and Grace" - Foo Fighters. Prediction to win: Foo Fighters.

I'll be back here on Wednesday night with the results.

Today the BBC announced the contenders who will compete for the increasingly dodgy honour of representing Royaume-Uni at the Eurovision Song Contest in May. The contest, formerly known as "Making Your Mind Up" is now retitled "Eurovision - Your Decision" which is a bit of an incorrect description as there will be three head-to-head duels with a jury - not the public - deciding who will go through to the final sing-off.

The three categories are:

1. The solo/soul singers: Michelle Gayle versus Andy Abraham. Now I know she's had hit singles and all that, but she will still always be remembered as her off Eastenders and has been out of the limelight long enough to merit the 'hasbeen' tag. Her song is called "Woo" (!) meanwhile Andy was the singing binman from X Factor, the finalist who wasn't Shayne Ward or Journey South. His song's called "Even If" and both acts here are promising uptempo soul-pop.

2. The girl bands: LoveShy versus The Revelations. LoveShy are the two remaining members of Clea, the band formed out of all the "Popstars: The Rivals" girls who weren't Javine or Girls Aloud. Their song is "Mr Gorgeous" the title sounds just camp and cheesy enough to appeal to the voting demographic.....whilst I know nothing about The Revelations, a trio with a song called "It's You". One of them is Swedish, which might be reason enough to love. Or maybe not.

3. The Joseph-reject versus the Maria-reject: You'll have guessed by now that it's a bit of a casting-show fest this year. Rob "the builder" McVeigh will sing "I Owe It All To You" described as a power ballad. Oh dear.....meanwhile Transylvanian-Maria, Simona Armstrong, Romania's most famous musical export to the UK since the Cheeky Girls, will sing "Changes". Shamelessly obvious attempt to get the Romanian vote.

I haven't heard any of these songs and will probably try to avoid them until the 1st of March, when one of Europe's most embarrassing national finals will take place. Who knows? They might surprise us. But then again, probably not.

Three random things sprung to mind after I listened to the sophomore set by The Feeling this morning that I need to get off my chest before I launch into my rather obsessive review:

1. The Feeling were one of the reasons I started blogging two years ago today - I had fallen deliriously in love with Fill My Little World just as Sewn was breaking big on the UK charts. I needed a bigger forum to vent my love for this aces new band, and thezapping did just that. I then went on to write about them and their singles and multiple cover versions (Dr Pressure, Video Killed The Radio Star, Fat Bottomed Girls, Walk Like An Egyptian, Don't Give Up, You're So Vain) a ridiculous amount of times as well as seeing them in concert 6 times. That's truth. That's love.
2. I was mildy disappointed but ultimately not surprised by their chart position of number 9 for the single I Thought it Was Over. After a promising debut on downloads alone at number 12 last week, I did expect it to go higher. (Don't forget to check out J'Ason's always excellent chart analysis). However, the guys have always charted around this position with their singles with the exception of Sewn, which went higher. I think perhaps people are waiting for the album to come out as it follows on so quickly from the physical release. I'll be VERY surprised if they don't debut at number 1 on the album charts this coming Sunday...
3. As i listened to the album on the way to work this morning, I pondered whether it would suffer the same critical malaise that the Scissor Sisters did with Ta-Dah. Most critics and bloggers weren't enamoured of the second album saying it was too similar to the first yet lacked the "spirit" of the first album. I think if those criticisms are levelled at Join With Us it would be unfair. Firstly, the Scissor Sisters made a debut album that was edgy and different to anything out there at the time - they aimed to shock and delight. By comparison, the second album seemed tame and muted, though in my opinion contained some great melodic numbers. The Feeling never claimed to be different or groundbreaking - they just concentrated on putting out songs that were well crafted, lyrically interesting and melodically sound. The public adored it and as is detailed in my review, the second album works with these strengths and develops them.

If "12 Stops & Home" was all about the yearning need for love and alienation felt by society's outsides, then The Feeling's sophomore effort "Join With Us" is a rattifying call to arms for all those individuals out there who have felt a little lost, a little disconnected or a little lonely. It is of course the tour de force of intricate piano work, soaring melodies, the most glorious harmonies this side of Wilson Phillips and Dan's luscious deep vocal stylings that make it easy to want to join the masses and wave your freak flag high. Kicking off with the electro tinged lead single "I Thought It Was Over", the album starts with a tune that positively fizzes with pop goodness. Indeed it's a song that stands up alongside such recent classics as Take That's Shine, Scissor Sisters Laura and their own Fill My Little World as a prime example of excellent pop knowledge and song composition. Opening line "You were there when the wall came down" is the first of occassional political references backing up their love tunes and despite being a rather peculiar metaphor, it works well within the concept of not just the song, but the album and the band. The Feeling are all about expression and the obscure lyrics used to illustrate the point are just part of the band's charm. This continues with the second track Without You, a song about loneliness on the road. On first glance, it's a seemingly Hall & Oates inspired blue eyed tune mired in melancholy and sadness. Marry it up with the fact it was written after the Virginia college shootings and it's an eerie reminder to people that relationships matter because you don't exactly know when something might take them away.

Now, i was a little concerned about Join With Us ending up on the album - it's been a live favourite since the very beginning and is so ingrained in my consciousness as a rowdy live number, I was worried about how it might translate in a studio environment. Happily, it loses none of the energy or appeal of the concert fave and zips along through the earnest (but would be cheesy in anyone elses hands but The Feeling) chorus and the orgasmic climax of "Ring Ring Beep Beep Ahuh". A marvelous moment of pop.

Like it's predecessor, your enjoyment of the album will depend on whether you appreciate the sound the Feeling have so lovingly recreated. If you love it, this is an effortlessly likeable album full of highlights with rarely a dud note. Rumoured second single Turn It Up showcases their ability to be musically adept in composition yet still highlight their Queen-esque ability to be bombastic without being overbearing. Don't Make Me Sad has some delicious harmonising going on and the piano melody tinkling throughout is almost artistic and poetic in form. And just in case people think these are throwaway pop efforts, there is a yearning and underlying complexity to tracks like Loneliness and Connor, both of which tap deeper into the soul of Mr Gillespie Sells in a more rewarding way than any newspaper interview ever could. It's the final track that gives you a taste of what's to come for album three - The Greatest Show On Earth could almost have been titled Everything But The Kitchen Sink so chock full of musical styles and afflections is it. Hammering organs, hazy instrumentation and a crazed sounding front man all make this one of the feeling's more daring efforts and a fitting closer to the album - and any live show.

So clearly, overall I am rather enamoured with the band still and can't wait to see them perform the material live. Join With Them? It's practically a given.

Essential Link: The Feeling website
Essential Link: D'Luv's interview with Dan
Essential Link: My Live Lounge post from last week

Apologies for the lack of activity on the blog this past weekend.

Retro Saturday: none last night, purely because I was in Melodifestivalen mood and decided to watch my MF DVDs from the last 3 years instead. Normal service resumed next week.

Star Academy: Delighted that Quentin won - I thought from the beginning that he had real star quality and raw talent but the test now will be how his career is managed. I'm still watching the video clips from the final and will post my review in the next couple of days.

Brit Awards: yes it will soon be time for Britain's biggest music awards show. Preview and predictions will be on here tomorrow night. I'm trying to be interested, honestly I am, but the fact remains that British music is not exciting me at the moment in the way that European music is. That's not to say there isn't any good British music at all - there always is, if you dig deep enough - but there is too much focus on hype-over-content at the minute.

It may come as a surprise that much of my favourite music for the last 25 years has come from British 'indie guitar bands' but I'm particularly disappointed at the tedious crop we have here in the UK at the moment, to the point where I don't really want to hear that kind of music anymore, as long as it's being played by the Arctic Monkeys and all those dire Libertines soundalikes. Rant over.

Because I need to catch up, there will be lots of posts between now and next weekend - which will also be a big, busy one as it's national finals "Super Saturday".

Quick plug here too for Planet Salem, which I've been updating regularly although there is now little or no news about the magnificent Salem Al Fakir at the moment. Still, one of the joys of doing a fansite is that you never let the lack of news get in the way of 24/7 appreciation/love/obsession, call it what you will. :-)))

I have mentioned this German band (which sings in Spanish) before on my blog and thought I'd do a little video-feature on them today. "La Histeria" is of course their latest song and it has really grown on me now:



Probably they're thinking - why change a winning formula? The new song bears a remarkable similarity to their hit from last summer, "Vayamos Companeros" with an equally sun-soaked video:



The song that brought them to my attention two years ago was "El Temperamento" which was another summer hit and you can guess by now what the video will be like...

I know a few people out there didn't really enjoy tonight's Melodifestivalen, but I did, although I still feel I haven't yet heard the winner.

Anyway I (foolishly) made predictions in my previous post but was quite amazed that I got all four qualifiers right, even if they were in a slightly different order.

A surprising sighting of Måns Zelmerlöw to open the show (in a very dodgy cardigan!), but the real opening was Ola with the night's first song "Love In Stereo". Although he looked very good (getting shallow here!) his vocals did not quite match his good look and this seemed to set the trend for the early part of tonight's show.

Visually, Lasse Lindh reminded me of Fame Academy's Alistair Griffin, but unfortunately his song was a non-starter due to his nervous vocals.

Little Nicole Fuentes - a.k.a. The Nicole - delivered some entertaining choreography on "Razborka" which I actually found quite memorable in spite of it being vocally hellish. Borka-borka-borka and get your booty on the floor. As you do.

By the time we reached Alexander Schöld, I decided that I was in love with him. His upbeat guitar-schlager-pop was always going to be popular with me, although he too fell foul of the vocal curse which blighted tonight's contestants.

Prior to the contest I had decided that "Just A Minute" by Rongedal was my favourite of tonight's songs. Two identical brothers dressed in matching red suits, but what they lost in visual appeal they made up for in professionalism and confidence, what had been lacking tonight up to this point.

I have never liked Sanna Nielsen, but credit where it's due - she delivered a simple ballad with the right amount of subtlety and avoided her usual overpowering vocals.

What do I say about Andra Generationen? Bonkers, Balkan, brassy. Tonight's comedy turn, another in a (disturbingly) long line of joke entries at ESC this year. This again made me smile, but thankfully it didn't go any further.

Finally, the top of the bill this evening: (Andreas) Johnson and (Carola) Häggkvist. Thought at one point that she was going to strangle him. She still dominated this duet and I thought she could have taken lessons from Sanna Nielsen tonight in how to keep it simple. Amazingly though, for a Carola-hater like me, that I actually found this more bearable than I thought it would be.

Anyway I got my pre-contest prediction right, even if it was in the slightly wrong order.


Sanna and Rongedal to Globen.

Ola and Andreas/Carola to Andra Chansen.

Major shock that Queen Carola didn't automatically qualify to Globen - has the bubble burst at last? (Nooo....too much to hope for) anyway I enjoyed this week's show a lot more than last week, although it's a long way from being classic Melodifestivalen and is certainly falling short of the expected standard. But nevertheless, credit to SVT for putting on another well-staged spectacular, although I've decided that the poor set this year is also letting the artists and songs down.

Next week: BWO!!! Yay! Hope they deliver a great performance. Fingers crossed :).

I'll be watching tonight's show of course but in the meantime here's my thoughts on the one-minute clips of the studio versions at http://www.svt.se/:

1. "Love in Stereo" - Ola
A kind of distant relative of "SOS" although not as instantly catchy, but it sounds like a good pop song and I'm looking forward to the live performance.
Prediction: Qualifying to Andra Chansen.
2. "Du Behöver Aldrig Mer Vara Rådd" - Lasse Lindh.
A pleasant enough song, in the current musical style of the likes of Keane or Coldplay, although will probably be an also-ran tonight.
Prediction: Non-qualifier.
3. "Razborka" - The Nicole.
Fun and feisty stuff from what looks and sounds like a Britney clone. Will the voters be saying 'Gimme More'? Probably not but I could imagine this being a fan favourite.
Prediction: Non-qualifier.
4. "Den Första Svalan" - Alexander Schöld.
Uptempo and nice pop tune, again not too memorable but will probably need to see the live performance to judge it better.
Prediction: Non-qualifier.
5. "Just A Minute" - Rongedal.
I could be brown, I could be blue....oh wait, wrong song. Based on short clip it was the most instant song for me however they're not such a treat visually. I can see Mika firing off the lawsuits...
Prediction: Qualifying to Andra Chansen.
6. "Empty Room" - Sanna Nielsen.
A ballad from her for a change, I'm not really a fan of hers but would expect her to give a strong solid performance to lift this song out of the ordinary.
Prediction: Qualifying to Globen.
7. "Kebabpizza Slivovitza" - Andra Generationen.
Hey haven't we had enough joke entries this year? This week's comedy turn but all in all just a waste of time.
Prediction: Non-qualifier.
8. "One Love" - Johnson & Haggkvist.
For two acts with their pedigree in this contest I expected better. However they just need to turn up tonight and will qualify. I like him, I don't like her, and would hope that she doesn't monopolise what is after all a duet!
Prediction: Qualifying to Globen.

Will I be right or will I be wrong? All will be revealed later tonight.

Oh Laura perfectly captured my personal emotions during the gloomy month of January with their beautiful ruminations on all things love, life and longing. Their debut album (brilliantly titled A Song In My Head, A Demon In My Bed) is an exquisite journey through lost love, damaged relationships and painful emotions. It’s Aimee Mann, Bjork, Tori Amos and Indigo Girls all baked on high and covered in a bittersweet frosting. Debut single, Release Me, is almost painful to listen to so stark are the emotions laid within, with Frida’s vocals positively shivering with hurt and desperation over a melancholy piano background. It’s mesmerising and intruiging and I can’t listen to it without getting goosebumps all over my body. The rest of the album is equally triumphant in this respect. Mournful Call To Arms and accusatory It Ain’t Enough are well told tales of relationship woes that highlight the woeful inadequacies and seemingly shallow observations that Kate Nash and the new ilk spit out. Not all songs are of a slow tempo ~ tracks like Black and Blue and Fine Line pep along with the guitar driving the tune forward and clever lyrics like “we were perfect lovers, you were Bobby I was Pam, but Bobby found another, so he told me second hand”. All the work contained within the album is astonishingly adept at telling different stories, perspectives, emotions and feelings - however, a moment of stunning beauty and clarity appears in the immaculate Raining In New York. On first listen the minimal percussion juxtapositioned with her haunting voice made me literally sit up until she reaches the poetic chorus, strings gently build up and you are awash in a world where devastating pain has never sounded so lovely. I knew instantly this was a work of art that would soundtrack aspects of my life for years to come and I had to know more about the band. Luckily, those lovely people who make up the group were more than willing to oblige a chat and natter about all things Oh Laura...

1. Welcome Oh Laura! I'll start with the most obvious question - your music seems to have this haunting, ethereal quality that showed up a lot in Julee Cruse's soundtrack to Twin Peaks. Did Laura Palmer inspire your name?


Very much so. We were watching Twin Peaks when we wrote and recorded most of the songs that are on the album. Perhaps most obvioulsly songs like Black And Blue and Thunderbird Motel.

2. Success seemed to come very quickly in Sweden with the single Release Me. Were you prepared for how quickly everything took off?


We were not the least bit prepared for that actually. Still, it was good fun. It happened in a few weeks time and most of it was online through our website and mySpace so we have yet to be chased through the streets of Stockholm. All in due time…

3. England seems to be warming to your charms. What have your experiences over here been like so far?


We love the UK. Real friendly people, aparently with good taste in music. We’ve been doing a few radio shows and one or two club gigs. More to cone this spring.
So will there be any chance of seeing you at the festivals in England this summer? V Festival or Glastonbury seem ideally suited to you...

We’d be absolutely thrilled to play some festivals and we probably will too. Since we’re swedish we already own top class camping gear so we should be alright as far as mud and rain goes.
And you were on the lovely Dermot O'Leary's radio show in early January singing a Paul Young cover. How did that come about?)
You’d have to ask our manager. To us it all seems very cloak and dagger. I guess it helped a bit that Dermot’s girlfriend is from Norway. And perhaps that he likes us.

4. It seems the media is always keen to label new bands as the new "whoever" - your sound is quite hard to pigeon hole though. How would you describe your music to people who have never heard it before?


It’s about Frida’s voice, the lyrics and the melodies. But as for the actual sound you’d have to make up your own mind. Is this a trick-question?

5. Crikey! Not at all. I think i summed up my feelings in the review of the record. To me, there seems to be two slightly obtuse influences on your music - Swedish group Abba, and sibling duo The Carpenters. This might seem quite bizarre, but both groups were well known for creating these bitter sweet heartbreaking songs that were accompanied by beautiful melodies and vocals and there is a lot of that on the album. Agree or not?


Sustained. We actually didn’t listen to either ABBA nor The Carpenters while making the album, but the comparison works fine just the same.

6. My favourite song at the moment on the album is Raining in New York. It's incredibly beautiful. And sad. How do you get through the song without crying?!


Sometimes we don’t. And thanks.

7. What sort of music are you listening to right now?


Cherry Ghost, Kate Bush, Lucina Williams. Frida’s really intona swedisch singer from the 30’s called Sara Leander. It changes all the time I guess. ”The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” was on the other day. As was some old Acid Jazz record called ”Mother Earth” I think. Weird thing that, Acid Jazz.

8. One of the other 13 Acts to Watch in 08 is Isabel Guzman, who i believe you know quite well! What's the story there?


It’s a real short one actually. She’s married to Jocke, our guitarist. She’s making a kind of electronic pop and you really should check her out. Our bet is that she’ll be the next big thing to come out of Sweden.

9. If i were planning a trip to Sweden where would be the best places you could take me?


Stockholm, obviously, but you’d have to see the northern parts. No man can claim to know beauty before he’s been there.

10. Finally, what's next for you guys? What's coming up in the coming months?
And thanks so much for your time!
A pleasure mate! We’ll contine our promo work in the UK and there’s a swedish tour coming up in late march. We recently shot a video for ”Release Me” so that should start to seep out soon.

And with the thought of Oh Laura seeping out, I'll leave it there. Check out the album. It's truly beautiful and inspiring. Essential links below!

Essential Link: Oh Laura website
Essential Link: Oh Laura myspace
Essential Link: Purchase A Song In My Head... from CDON
Essential Listening: Oh Laura - Come Back and Stay (Paul Young Cover)
Essential Listening: It's raining in new york (Below)

• Ferras - Hollywood's Not America: there is something so vintage and loveable about this track. Whether it's the lovely piano tinkling away and driving forward the familiar yet new melody or the fact that it's a good old fashioned parable about good versus evil I'm not sure. As with my Idina comments yesterday, it's not particularly groundbreaking, but it is rather comforting from first listen. Parts of it remind me of Daniel Powter, bits are very Elton John and some of it is very "Give Me Some Love" by James Blunt. All of it, like Ferras, is utterly delicious and more-ish. Me likey.
• Jesse McCartney - Leaving: Mr "Co-wrote Bleeding Love" isn't exactly in need of cash at the moment, but returns with a new ditty anyway. In a way he's taken the same route as Shayne Ward did with If That's Ok With You - produced an utterly addictive reggae-lite lilting track with bouncey backing track and catchy chorus (can't stop singing the "g flat, g flat" line!). It's no "Daddy's Little Girl" (his finest 3 minutes), but it smells like a smash to me.
• Jim Verraros - You Make It Better: Where has all the innovation gone? This is by no means a bad song, but it's so by the numbers pop-rock that it suffers compared to the two above songs by lacking either the emotion (Ferras) or fun (Jesse) to set itself apart from it's peers. It chugs along pleasantly enough, but i just expected a little more "oomph" from Jim. Plus if you want a song about making it better, you can't beat the epic "better" by the very lovely Tom Baxter...
• Blake Lewis - Got To Get Her: Yes, yes I know that How Many Ways is the "official" second single, but while I'm waiting for that to be officially released with a hideously cheap video, I'm busy playing this riff on Putting on the Ritz. Because it's just marvelous. From the horns to the faux rap to the beat boxing to the gloriously OTT production, everything about this song works for me and gets me in a tizzy each time i hear it. And I firmly believe, much like Simon Curtis, Blake would be served a lot better by promoting his debut album in England and Europe if the execs in the states haven't the good graces to see quality work when it lands on their laps.

It's Valentine's Day.

Either "the day of love", or just a cynical commercial marketing opportunity for card/chocolate/champagne manufacturers to boost their annual profits. Depending on your situation, take your pick!

Whatever, if you're celebrating it, enjoy!

Was reading an old interview with superstar-in-waiting (if there's any justice) Paul Steel and he mentioned another singer-songwriter named Aaron King, who also comes from his home town of Brighton.

It was enough to make me visit his MySpace page (www.myspace.com/aaronkingmusic) where there are a few demos to listen to. I'd describe Aaron as a musical cross between Paul Steel and the late great Elliott Smith, which I think is a good enough recommendation.

Yet another one to add to the growing list of great keyboard-playing-singer-songwriters out there who deserve to be stars!

Bit of a change this week: as MF is in full swing, I thought I'd do a list of some of my favourite MF songs since the year 2000. It's longer than the usual playlist but with good reason!!!

"Anropar Forsvunnen" - Hanna Hedlund (2000): The kind of schlager which is always popular at MF but never wins. Good fun.
"Bara Du Och Jag" - Balsam Boys (2000): One of the most bizarre combinations ever - Swedish rapped verses with a fab chorus by Svenne & Lotta. No-one ever mentions this forgotten gem but I always liked it.
"Allt Som Jag Ser" - Barbados (2001): the only song I liked that year and I was rather annoyed to say the least when it didn't win and "Lyssna..." did. No offence to Friends, but I liked their other MF entries better than that one.
"Varlden Utanför" - Barbados (2002): No complaint with the winner that year (Afro-Dite) but I really loved this one, and always hoped that one day Magnus would get to represent Sweden. I live in hope...
"Adrenaline" - Mendez (2002): This one is IMHO one of the best MF songs EVER!! An absolute classic which I played long after MF and still love it.
"Aqua Playa" - Afro-Dite (2003): Have been playing this a lot again lately. Ooh-aah baby!
"Not A Sinner Nor A Saint" - Alcazar (2003): Another absolute classic and what I thought was their best ever MF entry.
"Bye Bye" - Barbados (2003): Another goodie. Didn't think I'd like them anymore after Magnus left, but this proved me wrong.
"Mr Memory" - Shirley Clamp (2003): What a good year 2003 was...the year we were introduced to Dame Shirley at MF!!
"It's In The Stars" - LaGaylia Frazier (2004): This was rather soul-disco-tastic and not really an MF-type song but again it lived on for a long time in my CD player long after MF was over.
"Paradise" - E-Type (2004): Yes laugh if you must but I do like E-Type's type of dance music and this was a very good example of it.
"Min Kärlek" - Shirley Clamp (2004): Lena deserved to win of course but this I think you will agree is a modern schlager classic.
"Alcastar" - Alcazar (2005): Not as good as "Not a Sinner..." but it's in this list because I love them and I'm biased.
"Refrain Refrain" - Pay TV (2005): Great lyrics.which themselves are a parody. A very different kind of MF entry again.
"Lev Livet!" - Magnus Carlsson (2006): Ooh I really loved this and still do. No-one ever deserved it more, and was denied more, than Magnus. Sadly I think his time may be over to represent Sverige :(
"La Chica de la Copa" - Pablo Cepeda (2006): Mendez-meets-Ricky Martin - that formula couldn't go wrong for me but again it's maybe a little dated now.
"Kalla Nätter" - Jessica Andersson (2006): MF always needs her and it's missing her this year. Anyway the song was great, but maybe the staging of it (and the outfit) wasn't.
"Temple of Love" - BWO (2006): Some very memorable entries that year. This really got me into BWO and fingers crossed that their entry this year is a goodie :-)
"Kom" - Jessica Andersson (2007): More glitterball-tastic-ness. I didn't really like her when she was in Fame but loved her solo MF stuff better. Fab disco-schlager.
"The Arrival" - The Attic (2007): another one which lived on for a long time outwith MF because it's a very very good dance track.
"Cara Mia" - Måns Zelmerlöw (2007): Need I say more? A classic.
"When The Night Comes Falling" - Sebastian (2007): I love love love him and hope that he will bring us lots more good music in the future. I may just have worn out the section of my MF 2007 DVD when this song comes on ;)
"Live Forever" - Magnus Carlsson (2007): It's still a mystery to me how this didn't qualify.

2008....the best is, presumably, yet to come!!

Just want to say thanks for your kind wishes after last night's posting. Today I had a day off work, and it was just the boost that I needed, including a great lunch at our favourite Mexican restaurant. It was like a real spring day and according to the forecast there is more to come, so that can only be good news. Feeling much better tonight and more positive. The good thing is that when you hit the bottom, the only way is up and that's where I'm going now.

Well, bugger me (please. But be gentle. Slide in from the left) - you wait for the stars from your favourite ever musical to do something new and three new projects hit all at once (ish). Idina is of course most famous in England for her stratospheric salary for reprising the part of Elphaba in Wicked for it's hugely successful British launch. And of course, since then she had a (strangely, non-singing) part in Enchanted. And her album "I Stand" is a perfect extension of both those projects. All shreds of wickedness are gone, and Idina has teamed up with Glen Ballard to produce an album that is as uplifting as it is schmaltzy. But i am so in that place right now so it is working for me. Frankly, I was a bit worried about an Idina album. Her last effort in 1998 left me cold and her "radio remake" of the pivotal song in Wicked "Defying Gravity" sucked the emotion and power out of it like a vacuum. However, I always find that when my expectations are lowered, the ultimate payoff is higher and I was trilling along to this in the car to godforsaken Blackburn yesterday like a little canary. Positive reinforcements abound throughout the album - title track practically drips woman power as does the utterly gorgeous Brave (which would be a far better American Idol/X-Factor winners song than anything else put out in the past few years) and her powerhouse vocal soars here more than anywhere else. Gorgeous (also available in some kicking - yes i said kicking - dance mixes) is Idina's "Beautiful" - commentary on societies obsession with looks wrapped in a joyous melody and philosophical lyrics. There are more intimate moments as well with My Own Worst Enemy and Forever, where Idina opens up her soul as if she were hawking a self help book on Oprah. Ultimately, it's a great vehicle for an amazing voice and while nothing ground breaking, it's sometimes enough to have some good old fashioned pop/AC music to stir the emotions and lift your spirits.

Essential Link: Buy "I Stand" from Amazon

OTHER WICKED ALUMS:

~ Oliver Tompsett (who replaced the equally edible Adam Garcia as Fiyero in the London production) has released his debut album Sentimental Heart. I'm still waiting for my bloody copy to arrive, but from what i've heard on his myspace, I think I am clearly going to enjoy his pop-rock stylings. More when i hear it!

~ The writers strike is over! I think?! Which means good news for original Glinda, Kristin Chenowitz and Pushing Daisies which has been renewed for a second season. No news on whether any new episodes will air this season, which is a shame as I think there is no other show on the air that could probably produce a most lovely and whimsical valentines day episode as this probably would...

Essential link: Oliver Tompsett's website
Essential link: Buy Sentimental Heart
Essential link: Pushing Daisies website