Lopez Blogs

Summertime is a bit of a lie. The living isn't "easy". It's a constant menagerie of hayfever drugs, moist body parts and burst sewer pipes at work. On the plus side, it's also shiny enough outside for me to occassionally wear shorts and show off my stunning calves. Really, they are one of my best features. Them, and me bum :P One of the best things about this already crappy work week is that a suprising number of pop legends have decided to release or test out new music. Here are some of the amazingositys that have slung their way onto my mp3 player this very morning...

Same Difference ~ This Is The Night: By all rights, Same Difference should be preparing for their fourth single from their stellar album "Pop" by now (Better Love Me should have followed If You Can't Dance and All Roads Lead To Heaven into the charts). Fate has conspired against them though but not dampened my fave twosomes love of all things poptastic. A clip of a new song has graced their Bebo page (wtf is Bebo?!) and it's rather marvelous in the extreme. It's a dance drenched pop tune that sounds a little bit Dannii classic in the opening chords and then morphs into fully fledged noughties disco with a hint of Alcazar. It's as single worthy as anything from Pop and a full version needs to be released immediately. I cannot live in a world where SD are not entirely massive. That is all.

Benny Andersson Band ~ Story Of A Heart (Full Album version): It really is as close to an Abba return as the world is probably going to get. The Benny/Bjorn penned tune has been floating around in it's radio edit for a while. That in and of itself is a timeless piece of pop balladry - gorgeous strings, crashing piano chords, whimsical pipes, a stunning melody and typically devastating lyrics. Even without the added beauty of the album middle 8, this is pop magic and one of my favourite tracks of the year. The added middle 8 gives an additional emotional wallop to the tale of parted lovers, particularly the wistful "never giving up i looked for you everywhere/time went by and sadness took the place of despair". Sniffle. Just heavenly. I hate to say it, but if it's not a hit for BAB then it would make a stunning comeback vehicle for, uh, Celine Dion :/

Ola ~ Sky's The Limit: It really is you get what you pay for with Ola. You are pretty much guaranteed some feel good pop which will have the tweens screaming for more. For the adults you have the slightly tongue in cheek brilliant piece of art that is the cover. Actually, there is more than that and to dismiss this as a tween anthem is unfair. It's extremely summer sounding (it's hard to define that, but it just sounds like it should be heard in the summer) and keeps the electro influence to a minimum but still allowing this to give the song some extra oomph. Sometimes the simplest pop is quite difficult to create and this is delightful, straightforward, guitar strumming magnificence without being too generic. Me likey.

Sugababes ~ Get Sexy: I'm conflicted by the new and too soon Sugababes single. I just feel they abandoned their last album too soon. Like SD, they should be on or around the fourth single by now - Every Heart Broken should have been massive in March with You On A Good Day/Teardrops just lingering in the top twenty for most of June. This should be propping up the 4th quarter releases - but that isn't the real problem with the song. On one level it's actually quite amazing. The verses and accompanying beats are some of their best since Freak Like Me wowed - particularly the "silly boy" and the mega lyric, delivered with ferocity "Just shut up and watch me walk". It's the chorus I have an issue with - the right said fred nod doesn't really do much for me so it affects my enjoyment of the tune. However, it's one of their best dance tunes since Red Dress, their best single since About You Now and averages out at 7/10. Which is one higher than I gave it this morning, so I think I am liking it more each time I hear it.

Other new tracks:

• Arctic Monkeys ~ Crying Lightning: I completely concur with Adem :P
• Whitney Houston ~ I Didn't Know My Own Strength: I'm saving my opinion for the poptrashaddicts single selection of the week. But i'm lengthy so Mike might edit me (i'll add into his comments if he does :P)