Lopez Blogs

Alice, Edouard and Gaetan.

I fear that Edouard may be gone this week, even though he was growing on me. Gaetan's fanbase may be growing due to his crowd-pleasing showmanship, even if he can't sing for toffee, whilst Alice is smart enough to know the value of a fake romance...

Dare I say the profs (and Endemol) have also realised the value of keeping Yvane in to push up the viewing figures? Despite his non-voting rebellion, he managed to escape a final nomination this week. Also surviving the rattrapage this week: Julia and Harold.

After criticism of a less than inspiring line up of guests on the first two primes, TF1 is pushing the boat out on prime 3:

Florent Pagny
Lenny Kravitz
The Pussycat Dolls
Sheryfa Luna
Mathieu Edward
Madcon
Pauline
Daniel Powter

Let's hope it's a good one - particularly looking forward to Madcon, Sheryfa and Mathieu.

1. Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy ~ long before Christina was hand jobbing with the Candyman, Bette had tapped the 40s vibe from the Andrews Sisters with her many renditions of this horn blasted catchy little tune
2. The Rose ~ not the version from the film, but the rather ace version Bette has to whiz through on her tv show "Bette" at a funeral when she is late for the Oprah show. Brilliant!
3. God Help The Outcasts ~ from the ace disney film Hunchback of Notre Dame. Hey i'm a shameless whore for ballads from Disney cartoons...
4. Somewhere In My Memory ~ from Home Alone 2, this is a gorgeous festive ballad that should've been included on her fun Christmas set "Cool Yule"
5. Otto Titsling ~ the REAL highlight from Beaches is this bawdy vaudevillian romp through the invention of the world's first over the shoulder boulder holder. Hurrah!
6. One More Round ~ more than just a throwaway opening album track, this repetitive round of hand claps and harmonies latches onto your memory after just one play. It's insanely addictive and rather brilliant.
7. Gift of Love ~ another lovely ballad and horribly overlooked single from her Some People's Lives album. Smooth vocal and a rather dreamy chorus make this perfect for some idol winner to sing...
8. Slow Boat To China ~ Bette back with my favourite 70s crooner Barry Manilow on this cheeky little lyrical tradeoff. I'm a fanilow of the Manilow...
9. Mambo Italiano ~ why this didn't have some slamming remixes like some of her other ace dance tunes such as In These Shoes, To Deserve You and I'm Beautiful Dammit, is frankly beyond me.
10. Billy A Dick - another 40s gem from For The Boys. Though for years and years, I thought the lyrics were "Billy a dick billy a dick, tic tacs. When's that kit kat coming back?" Apparently those are not the lyrics.

Tomorrow: Back to the 00s with album review of Travis and Kaiser Chiefs...

They think it's all over : (the two-weeks-and-a-day holiday, I mean)

...it is now. Back to work tomorrow, prepare for happy-chilled-out-post-holiday mood to be smashed into a zillion pieces once more and after 5 minutes it'll feel like I've never been away.

Over the coming weeks I'm about to launch yet again into self-imposed early curfews, no after-midnight blogging (except at weekends) and alleged healthy lifestyle, diet, walking, aerobics, step machine, water, fruit blah blah blah, as major work is needed to overturn 5lbs weight gained in Nice. Still, what an enjoyable way to gain weight, with all that lovely food and wine. Aah memories...But weight loss costs, and here's where I start paying, in sweat!

..."If Only You" the hit single by Danny Saucedo, that is.

Too bad if you don't like that song and you live in Sweden, as it was that country's most-played song on the radio over the past year, played no less than 95,062 times and counting. At least it wasn't "Chasing Cars" or "I Kissed A Girl" or "No Air" which must have been played on every radio station in the world about a million times now.

I happen to like "If Only You" so I thought it was worth a mention here. It wasn't just an airplay hit in Sweden: during my trip to Riga in May it was all over the radio then as well.

Over recent months checking my Sitemeter stats it didn't escape my attention that one of this blog's big faves Vincent Pontare has been one of the most searched-for artists, and I was very interested to read that he, along with Sophia Somajo and Michael Zitron, wrote "If Only You". No news yet on any new material from Vincent, all we know is that he's been writing his second album and in the meantime became very popular in Germany with the wonderful "Miss Blue".

Let's just start this post by stating that I am most disappointed in the chart position for William's lead off single Changes. It debuted promisingly enough at number ten last week, but drops to thirteen this week despite a physical cd being available and the lovely Let It Go on the flipside. And I doubt (though am hopefully wrong) that it will bounce back this week either, now the album is in the shops. I mean what is wrong with pop England? First, as a nation, we (though not me. woo, go me!) totally abandon The Feeling to the lower echelons of the charts, and now can't even give William's lovely comeback single a decent top five ranking. Shame on you record buying public, shame on you. On the plus side, that is a rather lovely picture of William clutching a starbucks cup above. Sigh. What I wouldn't give to be that cup. (Note - i nabbed this picture from the very amazing Will Young Devoted forums. They are tres brill). And by the way, catch William's ever so good session at Radio 2 here...

So Let Go has finally hit the stores and the question on everyone's lips is "will it maintain the high quality of Friday's Child and Keep On?" Mercifully, the answer is yes... and then some. It's an incredibly accomplished piece of work that transcends musical genres to create a polished timeless feel that, unlike some modern pop albums, will stand the test of time well. Elements of jazz, soul and disco are fused together, and mesh well with William's distinctive vocal style to give the album a cohesive feel all the way through. By now, everyone knows the glorious comeback single Changes. As a precursor to the album, it does a stirling job of introducing the listener to the central theme of troubled relationships. It's a shuffling track that erupts into a hopeful optimistic chorus that refuses to accept that life can't move on and become better. It's a message that is perfect for everyone whether in a relationship or single or just aware of what is going on in the world beyond the front door. Some lovely sweeping strings and a confident piano lift ultimately a sad song into a chorus of euphoric levels. Rumoured second single Grace is a good choice for a single. It seems to be about a not very nice person, who draws people to them and then actually treats them like dirt. This song is the comeuppance for that person, and as malicious as the lyrics are, there is a certain amount of karma to them to. Musically, it's a midtempo strings led gem with some crazy trumpets in the middle 8 and some lovely backing vocals with a great singalong chorus that seems to have kidnapped the pit orchestra from his days on stage. And marvelous it is with it too... Won't Look Down is another sad song that leaps with absolute optimism and crescendoes into another near perfect chorus. There's a lovely line of falsetto in the chorus that is just dreamy. In fact, this would make a rather delicious single in it's own right :)

Following the gentle ballad Tell Me The Worst comes the first of the songs that hints at the much rumoured disco album William was making. I Won't Give Up is produced by The Freemasons (yes them of the brilliant Kylie pairing The One) and yet again is totally single worthy, and should produce some much finer remixes than the dubious Changes ones floating around. There are elements of disco hiding in the background of the song - just 'there' enough to be noticed, but without overpowering the entire tune. It's the type of instrumental that powered the more innocent and funky Mariah tracks like "Make It Happen" and "There's Got To Be A Way" - deep and dirty bass, elegant strings and a hand clapping chorus. This is going to be MEGA live. Disconnected starts with a nice acoustic guitar and some crackling, which I love in modern records - gives the feeling you are listening to it on one of those record players you read about in the history books :P This song, other than Let It Go, is probably the one that resonated with me most lyrically upon first listen. Anyone who knows me well knows it's been a tough year family wise which has strained Darren and I to breaking point. However, I think with all the great love affairs in the world, you can be far away from each other emotionally at certain moments in life but always end up back together because that's what love is. And that's what this song represents. In essence it's a love song about people "stuck in a space that's totally silent" instead of having the time of their lives. "Love should be easier" croons William and for that second you can't imagine why it isn't. By far the most romantic moment on the album even if it does tackle the difficulties within relationships. There is a very sweet moment where William sings "we've got to talk baby boy" and it's nice to hear something gender specific that actually enhances the tune and makes it incredibly tender. A lovely 4 minutes of music. Passion leads to pain on the lazy (in a good way) Love Equals Nothing - a gentle ballad on a par with the elegant Love Is Matter of Distance (musically rather than lyrically) while Love takes us back to the disco, with some delicious lower register being tapped on lines like "i let it take ahold of me"... Great horns permeating the chorus, with some electric guitar giving the song an added intensity.

I've already written about the eloquent and elegant Let It Go where hopes and fears are laid utterly bare for the listener to examine and relate to. In the Attitude interview, William states that it's about having your heartbroken and then breaking someone else's heart. It's one of only 2 songs not co-written by William, yet he desperately wanted it to be a single. Seems like it won't be now but actually it would have made a lovely comeback single. Perhaps the record company felt it would've been too similar to Leave Right Now? Are You Happy is one of those funky perky pop songs that marries downbeat lyrics with an upbeat tempo and melody. Abba are masters of this, but William certainly shows his emotional chops on this song. The album comes to it's fine conclusion with the Sia collaboration You Don't Know - a tune about rebuilding your life from the emotional tatters complex relationships can leave you in - and Free Your Mind, a morose ethereal ballad. The album as a whole is quite sad and contemplative, but within that there are many moments of optimism and hope. Definitely one of THE pop albums of the year...
POTENTIAL SINGLES: Changes; Grace; I Won't Give Up; Won't Look Down; Disconnected

These are not the best of times for Star Academy, with the French media reporting that viewing figures of both the weekly prime gala and the daily updates are plummeting in freefall, and the show doesn’t command the audience share that it once did.

Thankfully the hideous jury idea has been dropped this year and Star Ac has gone back to basics, with three nominees, one being saved by the public and one by the students, leaving one student each week to be eliminated. The students are also marked by the profs’ panel (Armande, Kamel, Anne, Dominique, Rafael and Philippe) during the prime.

This is not a full review but only edited highlights as I only watched about three-quarters of the prime, it feels as if it goes on for hours now and that would try the patience of even the biggest Star Ac fan!
The second prime of this series kicked off with the students, minus the nominees, performing "Superstar", the new theme tune.

Harold and Joanna duetted on "Ain’t No Mountain High Enough" and these two vocally are streets ahead of the other students, a situation very reminiscent of Star Ac 4 when Gregory and Hoda were clear front-runners from the beginning. But we know what happened to Hoda...anyway it was 14.7 for Harold and a big 16 for Joanna.

Bit of controversy this week as new prof, singing teacher Anne Ducros was clearly out to make a name for herself, refusing to mark Yvane for his rapped contribution to "American Boy" only for Yvane, Star Ac’s answer to Sean Paul, to demonstrate some showstopping freestyling and earn an average of 15. Ms Ducros is annoying me already. She is not Raphie and should stop trying to be.

A romance is always a good ratings grabber, and Alice would be yet another in a long line of blonde female wannabes inventing some love action to keep them in (SA5’s Maud & Jeremy, SA6’s Faustine & Brice, and at least half of the contestants who’ve ever been on Big Brother). Alice, nominated this week, shamelessly and embarrassingly milked her ‘romance’ with Gautier during her nomination song "Oh".

According to French internet sources, mean moody rock boy Gautier with the lip piercing and the permanent scowl would appear to be the ‘chosen one’ this year. To his credit he gave a surprisingly mature and assured performance this week, earning 15.5.

An extended - no make that interminable - version of "Rockollection" with Laurent Voulzy and the students.

Julia, Anissa and Joanna gave us "I’m Outta Love". They were also outta Anastacia, who cancelled her appearance due to illness, and on this one Julia was outta her depth, getting 13 with Anissa getting 15.2 even though I thought she performed better on "Mercy" with Duffy. Indeed singing with Duffy may be a good thing, as Julia also did better with her.

I find Edouard quite likeable now, and thought he sang well on his duet with William Balde on "Rayon de Soleil" and thought he deserved more than the 13.7 mark awarded.

Maryline could also be a dark horse and she got the tableau this week, did quite well too with 14.8.

Laure was average on her nomination song and her mark of 12.5 reflected that fact. Much more entertaining was Gaetan who makes up for lack of singing talent with bags of personality and 14 wasn’t a bad mark for him.

Mickels singing Radiohead got him 14; Ana got 14.3; and Solene earned 15.2.

Quentin, for such a young man, has a great feel for variete francaise, if his faultless rendition of "Partir" in duet with Julien Clerc was anything to go by. The profs thought so too, awarding him this week’s top mark of 16.2.

And so to the vote. The viewers saved Alice, leaving the students to choose whether to save Gaetan or Laure. For the first time in eight series, a student refused to cast their vote. Guess who: yes that student was Yvane ‘the rebel’, and he will probably pay for this. Or maybe not: he’s controversial, and controversy might just pull some viewers in.

Some medieval Breton rap for a Saturday night....and why not!

"La Tribu de Dana" was the big song in summer 1998, the first year I went to France on holiday, so what better reason than to commemorate the 10th anniversary of their hit, and my holiday, by featuring them tonight.

I don't know what happened to them, but I think this is one of the best French rap songs ever :)))

Neil Hannon is probably one of the most underrated musical geniuses of the 1990s.

Exhibit A: "National Express": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiBI3A2WcrE

Exhibit B: "Becoming More Like Alfie": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5o0dwRc0HE (my favourite song of 1996, folks!)

Exhibit C: "Something For The Weekend": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mrtYmogPik (can't find the promo so here's a live performance from TFI Friday)

Tracklister recently mentioned this and it seemed to set off a major chain of events in my memory bank. Ahead-of-its-time instrumental with some maximum-Moog action. And they were French, which falls very nicely into the EuropeCrazy remit indeed.

Because it's old, there's no video but if you go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzuUJPbnU6A you can have a listen and enjoy its wonderful-ness.

Here are a few songs which will always remind me of Nice!

Beggin' - Madcon: already one of my firm faves this year (and a major tip for my 2007-50) and seemingly the French agree. This. Was. Everywhere.

Disturbia - Rihanna: another holiday, another Rihanna song. The 53rd track to be released from her interminable "Good Girl Gone Bad" collection, but a refreshing electro diversion from the formulaic r'n'b which she was sinking into.

So What - Pink: Any break-up song which starts with the lines "I guess I just lost my husband/I don't know where he went" should not be taken too seriously, and this tongue-firmly-in-cheek comeback from Pink ticks all the boxes.

Just Dance - Lady GaGa: I didn't think too much of this track for a while but it finally won me over last week. Massive hit in France over recent weeks/months with huge hit potential - will this be another one to miss out in the UK?

Hot Summer Night (Oh La La La) - David Tavare: relying heavily on that old 2Eivissa "Oh La La La" sample, this has been one of the hits of the summer in France. At least they get the weather for it....

C'est Beau La Bourgeoisie - Kylian Mash & Laurent Konrad: gold-digging disco anthem. French dance music is on a real high at the moment and this bi-lingual track, all over the radio at the moment, is yet another example.

C'est Ma Terre - Christophe Mae: from forthcoming live album, another nice summery acoustic track from the former "Le Roi Soleil" star. I can only really stick him in small doses but this Afro-themed song certainly appealed to me last week when I heard it a lot.

Si C'est Une Ile - Jenifer: I found her new 'rock' direction a bit hard to take, but this is much much better than "Comme Un Hic" (which I hated, to be honest) but this guitar-driven song rattles along at a very nice pace and it grows on me with every listen.

Mes Insomnies - Louisy Joseph: rather good slice of reggae-flavoured pop from the ex-L5 singer. Sounded very good on the radio.

Entre Toi et Moi - Mathieu Edward: I may not have been a fan during last year's Star Academy, but I have to admit that Mathieu is now a real contender in the French r'n'b scene. This got a lot of video airplay on M6 and he is certainly a rather good looking young man too....

I Want You - Martin Solveig: like I said, French dance music is on a high and here is one of its biggest hitters.

Tomorrow Can Wait - David Guetta: ditto. Guetta is a real superstar of French dance music, this is also due a UK release and should take him back into the top 40.

Next Plane Home - Daniel Powter: slaying the one-hit-wonder ghost of "Bad Day" - this is getting major airplay in France and is a guaranteed hit.

Beat on the Brat - The Ramones: for reasons known only to myself and faithful travelling companion, this song will always be associated with Nice 2008. Enough said.

Rayon de Soleil - William Balde: the undisputed hit of summer 2008 in France, and still picking up a lot of airplay.

Comme Avant - Sheryfa Luna & Mathieu Edward: rather lovely duet from Popstars winner and Star Ac 7 runner up.

Gina Carano Pics

Aftonbladet reports this week that 3440 songs have been entered for next year's Melodifestivalen.

3440 eh! Surely they should be able to find something that Europe might like a bit more than the last two years' entries....

SVT are certainly going all-out to ensure that Sweden does better next year. In other news Aftonbladet reports that there will be an overhaul of the joker/wildcard system. SVT will now hand-pick big-name songwriters/producers (names quoted include Idol judges Anders Bagge & Andreas Carlsson, also Bloodshy & Avant) and they, rather than SVT, will choose the artist to sing their song.

Kim Kardashian Hairstyle

Gina Carano Maxim

Gina Carano pictures from the Maxim Magazine October 2008 issue.

Gina Carano is the competitor from the Mixed Martial Arts world and also known as "Crush" on American Gladiators.

Elizabeth Reaser The Family Stone

Elizabeth Reaser Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards

Elizabeth Reaser Chrysalis Butterfly Ball

Off to the big city today with faithful travelling companion for lunch and shopping. As usual this meant hanging out in numerous bookshops and record shops. My excitement went through the roof, when I saw BWO's "Pandemonium" on display!

In a previous post I happened to mention about vinyl records making a comeback and I saw more of them than ever today - even Joy Division's "Closer" which I bought all those years ago and still have in my collection. Have decided am definitely not getting rid of 14 year old hi-fi with turntable and double cassette deck and (temperamental/malfunctioning) CD player and may instead just invest in one of these micro hi-fi thingies with (non-temperamental, non-malfunctioning) CD player and iPod dock.

Aftonbladet reports that the new album by everyone's favourite Idol runner-up, Darin, will be released on 03.12.08, the title is "Flashback". It will be preceded by the first single "Breathing Your Love" on 13.10.08.

Poster Girl has kept us up to date as ever with what's going on in the Swedish music scene and she recently mentioned the return of Sebastian Karlsson. The video for his comeback single "My Getaway" can be seen over at Aftonbladet. The video has lots of close-up loveliness of the man himself and the song has builds in a kind of similar brooding style to Martin Stenmarck's "7milakliv" (the original, not the fab dancey remix thing) and if I have any criticism it's that it takes just a bit too long to get going, but I'm now onto my third listen and it's growing on me now.

Lena and Orup: "Nu När Du Gått" sounded really familiar and listening to it again I now realise why: "The Sweet Escape", anyone? Verdict on first couple of hearings: it's OK, nice pop song but not fantastic like it should have been. Maybe the album will be better.

This weekend: some stuff about Nice.

Kim Kardashian Gas Station

Kim Kardashian Mr. Chow

Kim Kardashian OK Magazine

The big gay icon:

1. Light My Fire
2. You And I
3. Don't Let Me Down
4. Lovestruck
5. Leave Right Now
6. Your Game
7. Friday's Child (Andy Cato edit)
8. Love Is A Matter of Distance
9. Love The One You're With
10. Switch It On
11. All Time Love
12. Who Am I?
13. Ain't Such A Bad Place To Be
14. Hey Ya (Bonus track)
15. Don'cha Wish Your Girlfriend (Bonus track)

• My initial review of Let It Go
• My 2006 review of William live
• XO usually has amazing things to write about William. check out here and here
• I'm sensing DanUSA will have something to say about it very soon...