Lopez Blogs

Om det är någon som missat så var det sista semifinal igår i den svenska Melodifestivalen. Nu återstår 2:a chansen och finalen om två veckor. Enligt min mening var denna veckas resultat något av en skräll. Agnes var den enda självklara finalisten och resten var döljt i ett dunkel. Skrällen var Opera-Marlena. Det var väl knappast någon som vågat tro att hon skulle knäppa Sarah Dawn Finer på fingrarna.

Den svensk-norska alliansen i form av Anna Sahlene och Maria Haukaas Storeng floppade fullständig. Det var ingen överraskning. Sångerskorna har båda ypperliga röster som passar bra ihop men vad hjälper det när låten är medioker. Jag blir smått sur över att det är lovligt att förse nån med ett så uselt bidrag! Hade man åtminstone dragit upp tempot så hade det kanske varit något bättre.

Star Pilots borde hamna i skamvrån. Hur mycket får man egentlien kopiera en låt utan att det får staffliga konsekvenser? Det hjälper inte att gruppen har en medlem från Österbotten. Närpes-Johan Becker borde bättra på sin musikhistoria så att vi slipper fler plagiat i fortsättningen. "Waiting for a star to fall" är låten man kopierat. Den var en hit gruppen Boy Meets Girl 1989. Lyssna här på refrängen och bedöm själva: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY2WxSNuU_8

Övriga länder som blev klara för final igår är Lettland. Intars Busulis ska sjunga en låt i obestämbar genre som heter "Sastregums". Den ska tydligen framföras på ryska i Moskva. Här luktar det röstfiskeri för man vill väl imponera på det forna "hemlandet". Det här är en riktigt usel låt så Lettland behöver alla sympatiröster de kan få. Kroatiens representant heter Igor Cukrov med sången "Lijepa Tena". Det är en smäktande ballad med spanska gitarrinslag och balkantongångar, som jag ju är så svag för - i motsats till alla som tycker att schlager ska låta som Carola. Kommer att hamna högt på min favoritlista.

Spanien vänder blicken österut och satsar på Soraya med sången "La noche es para mí". Här finns mer av arabiska tongångar än det finns flamenco-gitarrer. Ganska okey pop-låt som kunde ha representerat både Turkiet och Grekland.
Portugal går i vanlig ordning sin egen väg och låter sig inte påverkas av omvärlden. Flor-de-Lis och "Todas as ruas do amor" flörtar inte med andra musikaliska strömningar. Detta är bidraget för de som gillar dragspel, gitarr och flöjt. Tyvärr lär nog Portugal åter en gång tävla om jumboplatsen i Moskva.

That rather nice "Broken Strings" by James Morrison & Nelly Furtado is currently top of the German singles chart this week. Highest new entry at no.5 is "The Colour of Snow" by Polarkreis 18, the follow-up to the brilliant "Allein Allein" (which is still no.7). I like this new song too.

Another major star with two songs in the top 20 is Peter Fox, who came to my attention with his rap on Miss Platnum's "Come Marry Me" a couple of years ago. "Schwarz zu Blau" (no. 3) is quite a dramatic and rather good track, whilst "Haus am See" has been around a lot longer and is still no.9.

Reamonn have been around with their big anthemic rock ballads for a few years and are still very popular - "Million Miles" is a new entry at no. 23. Nothing too original about this, but it's OK.

I remember Max Mutzke when he did ESC with "Can't Wait Until Tonight". I didn't know he was still around, but "Marie" is currently in the top 30.

Those in search of cheese will find much to enjoy in the current works of Tim Toupet and Michael Wendler.

After MF I decided to go to Latvia and watch the last hour of their national final. From what I'm reading, things are not too good in Latvia at the moment, and I couldn't help but feel a sense of gloom whilst watching the Ventspils 'extravaganza'. By the time I tuned in, we were on to the 'superfinal' which was between three songs - "Sastregums", "Dynamite" and "Angel of Mine". The first was a rock-type non-song which seemed to be sticking two fingers up to the accepted ESC norm. Swedish-written "Dynamite" didn't do much for me, and "Angel of Mine" I found quite disturbing and creepily staged.

It did end, eventually, following folk singers, Russian dolls, and the Polish and Lithuanian entries being wheeled out. (These had somehow passed me by in recent weeks). Anyway it was Intars Busulis and "Sastregums" which will represent Latvia at ESC this year. What happened to the glory days of "My Star"? Or even "Hello From Mars" for that matter ? :)))

(goes off to YouTube to watch "My Star" and other assorted Brainstorm/Prata Vetra videos to console myself and drool over Renars)

Divas, foregone conclusions and allegedly the best semi-final line up of the year?

Ummm......not quite. For Melodifestivalen continues to throw up surprises week after week. Despite what seemed like a showstopping performance (if IMHO some disastrous styling), Sarah Dawn Finer didn't make it to Globen. But she will get there of course, only via Andra Chansen.

It was a strange one tonight in Malmo. It kicked off with Petra Mede performing a version of "Lyssna Till Ditt Hjarta". I thought her dress was lovely tonight too.

Song 1: "Love Love Love" - Agnes. I've never really liked her, if only for the reason she deprived my beloved Sebastian in "Idol" - but that turned out to be a good thing of course. Anyway tonight I love-love-loved her gold catsuit and she really put on a good show.

Song 2: "Higher" - Star Pilots. Laugh if you must, but this was my favourite of the night, and was for me the most memorable song of the night but then I've always liked "Waiting For A Star To Fall" lol. :) Anyway the staging and singing was a bit dodgy at times, but you can't keep a good dance-pop song down.

Song 3: "Du är älskad där du går" - Susanne Alfvengren. Another Pling/Bobby/Wikstrom effort in the same vein as Shirley's song from Week 1. A bit dull, and no surprise it came last.

Song 4: "Killing Me Tenderly" - Anna Sahlene and Maria Haukaas Storeng. What have the Swedes got against Anna? This "Goldeneye meets Simply The Best" Bond-inspired duet was OK I thought, but clearly the public thought otherwise...maybe they thought Maria had too much, um, "front" :)

Song 5: "Sweet Kissin' In The Moonlight" - Thorleifs. So you've got new-dansband (Scotts) so how about some old-dansband? Not so much old, more prehistoric schlager which was more 1959 than 2009.

Song 6: "Moving On" - Sarah Dawn Finer. She teamed up with the all-conquering Fredrik Kempe to produce a big showstopping performance complete with wind machine. There is no doubt she is a very good singer with a lovely restrained vocal style. The outfit was so-not-a-good-look though, and was she taking tips from Maria H S on just how much to "reveal"?

Song 7: "Esta Noche" - Next 3. Isn't that reggaeton style so 2007? Or even 2006? This came 6th, but it certainly wasn't better than Anna and Maria's duet.

Song 8: "La Voix" - Malena Ernman. When I heard the sound clip earlier today I just knew this was going all the way to Globen. I liked bits of it and hated other bits of it. Personally I can't really stand this pop-opera mix, and isn't that so 2007?

Top 5: Malena/Star Pilots/Agnes/Sarah/Thorleifs.

Melodifestivalen flashback reached the 1990s - some real stinkers tonight!! Of course they also showed some of the most famous 1990s MF songs and this culminated in tonight's interval act, none other than Darin, singing Jan Johansen's "Se På Mej" from 1995. Excuse me for feeling a little emotional, but I had a little lump in my throat watching this and I thought he was just lovely, although admittedly he struggled towards the end.

Duels: Star Pilots vs Agnes / Sarah Dawn Finer vs Malena Ernman.
Result: Agnes and Malena to Globen, Star Pilots and Sarah to Andra Chansen.

Now there's a shock! I thought SDF had it in the bag but apparently not. She did get the international jury vote tonight.

Yay for Star Pilots though, plagiarism or not, who cares!!

Andra Chansen next week. One duel after another, maximum confusion (and inevitable disappointment) guaranteed.

How do I even work it out this week? It's going to be very very close, and very very tough to predict but here goes:

To Globen: Sarah Dawn Finer / Malena Ernman
To Andra Chansen: Anna Sahlene & Maria Haukaas Storeng / Star Pilots

A lot has been written in various places about how good this week's semi-final is, however I'll reserve my judgement till I've actually watched it. I agree though that Sarah Dawn is in with a very very good chance - maybe it could be the year of the ballad?

Although I always enjoy MF - the show is always bigger than the sum of its parts I guess - I'm coming to terms with the idea that this year's contest hasn't been as great as it could have been. I ask myself how many of these songs will I listen to after the contest is over? Very few, I reckon.

(I'm also feeling less confident now about Måns winning the whole thing.)

Ting a ling, ting a ling.....I'll be back on here later with some thoughts on tonight's extravaganza.

Did you really think that you could keep Mendez down?

I just thought I'd do another in my occasional series of some of my old Melodifestivalen favourites which didn't win but which have always been special to me :)

I have no complaint with the 2002 winner - the fab "Never Let It Go" by Afro-Dite - but "Adrenaline" by Mendez was very lively and likeable and I still play it a lot. With backing vocals by Pablo Cepeda who had his own 5 minutes of MF fame in 2006 with "La Chica de la Copa", which I also rather liked too.

Sophie Ellis Bextor - Can't Fight This Feeling:
There is something utterly butterly magnificent about Sophie Ellis of Bextor-Jones. Part of it is her wonderfully british pronounciation of words like Darn-sar. Part of it is her effortlessly glittery pop tunes. And part of it is that she has bagged the hottest buffster from The Feeling (in my humble opinion - take a bow, and take your pants off Richard Jones!). So her fall from grace (ish) is quite disheartening. Back in 2001, SEB-J was the toast of the pop world. Single after single nestled in the top ten from her gorgeous debut album. Fast forward 8 years (past when The Feeling were the most played act on radio to their woefully ignored second album) and while she still churns out top notch pop, the public have cooled towards her. Trip The Light Fantastic was THE shimmering disco epic of 2007, but sadly did not reach the sales high of her debut. Last year saw a couple of songs seep onto her myspace, most notably the delightful Heartbreak Makes Me A Dancer and a new SEB album has been rumoured ever since. This isn't exactly a new SEB song (a remix of the track has been doing the rounds for a while), but part of the Junior Caldera album - however, it's a return to a more club-oriented sound for LaBex, who indeed launched herself as a featured vocalist on Spiller's Groovejet. It's ever so slightly ravey for my tastes, but I'll take my Sophie where I can get her. She sounds as lovely as ever, and I do enjoy songs about the giddiness of falling in love against somewhat euphoric beats. So not the best Sophie Ellis Bextor Jones single ever, but much like an average episode of Buffy, still miles better than a lot of crap out there...

BWO - You're Not Alone:
There is no denying that once they established their glorious "Steps for a mature audience" sound (is that heresy? Or merely a more polished Hear'say?) on the excellent and brilliantly titled Prototype, that BWO have been stuck in a bit of a rut. But like the ruts you sometimes get stuck in with your partner, which includes satisfying sex at least twice a week (I'm talking metaphorically, not dazpantally here. Our sex is always mindblowing), it's quite a nice rut to be in. The Bods are one of my favourite pop groups of recent years, with an outstanding run of euphoric sounding singles under their belt - none of which have even bothered to tickle the UK charts :( Their newest single, post greatest hits, has been described as an epic gothic electro ballad that marks a new direction for the band. I'm not sure how new this direction is, because the track sounds vaguely similar to Will My Arms Be Strong Enough. However, not very slowly at all, I have fallen in love with the song with it's brillo-as-ever-talky Marina middle eight and an amazing choir at the end, which Martin's voice compliments quite nicely. Plus I always appreciate a good key change, weird strobe light sticks and Marina-ettes as backing dancers (in the melodifestivalen performance anyway). As a ballad, i suspect like Open Door it will work best for me in that format, but when i finally get to hear the uptempo version, I will probably love that equally as much. So not outstandingly different, but much beloved by me all the same. Amazing album cover that looks like they are auditioning for the rumoured V remake. (Darren and I l-o-v-e V). Sadly if that were to become big here, most pop kids would look at it and scoff that it had some old dude on the front :( Cretins!

• Check out XO's view on the single cover...
• For all your BWO needs, there is of course electronordica...

...it's all about MF in Malmo, the one I don't particularly care about as I don't have anyone to cheer on this week so I'll be watching as a neutral and you never know, maybe some of the songs might surprise me!

Regular readers will know that I haven't been updating this blog as often as I'd like, so this weekend I'm determined to bring it back to some former glories with charts updates and stuff. Probably Sunday if I'm organised enough.

Jag är nu hemkommen från Budapest och kan konstatera att jag måste ha varit ungrare i ett tidigare liv, eftersom jag trivs så bra i den stan! Att jag varit där typ 50 gånger underlättar givetvis. Däremot är jag ganska besviken på schlagerklimatet. Det bästa som gick att hitta var en affisch med Alcazar som ska hålla konsert 6 mars.
Eftersom jag missat den 3:de svenska semifinalen så har jag inte så många kommentarer att komma med, utom att EMD verkar urtråkiga. Däremot har Ungern gjort ett nytt försök att hitta sitt bidrag. Det är Ádok Zoli med "Dance with Me". Hur låten är har jag inte lyckats reda ut men han ser ganska snygg ut. Norge har gjort sitt val och ingen är väl direkt förvånad över att det blev Alexander Rybak och "Fairytale". Den låten har seglat upp som en potentiell vinnare i Moskva. Oj oj - då blir det två dyra Eurovisionsår efter varandra. Hoppas jag kan boka in mig hos någon kompis i Oslo för att spara in hotellkostnaderna....

Det finns ju ganska många Greklandsvänner och för de som inte vet, så var det förutbestämt att artisten skulle heta Sakis Rouvas. Ni kommer väl ihåg hans låt "Shake It" som blev trea i finalen 2004 i Istanbul. Årets låt heter "This is our night" och kan väl kallas en disco-pop-låt utan grekiska influenser. Sakis verkar dessutom ha goda kontakter med ryssarna så han ligger bra till på betting-listorna, dvs tvåa efter Norge.

Min egen lilla vecko-favorit är Georgiens 70-tals disco-dänga med Stefane&3G. Låten heter "We don't wanna put in" och är något överraskande för att komma från Georgien. Här finns inga tillstymmelser till etno-tongångar.
Viktoria och Daniel får väl också betraktas som veckans favoriter eftersom de äntligen ska slå till och gifta sig. Jag tror jag ska tipsa dem om att åka till Budapest eftersom kan man låsa fast sin kärlek i parken utanför Hotel Le Meridien. Mycke praktiskt för dem att bo just på de hotellet. Jag kan garantera kvalitén efter 5 nätter.

The Guardian reports here that one of my favourite old rock bands are reforming for a European tour this summer.

This trend of bands reforming got a bit tedious after a while, but this has got me genuinely excited. I saw them live in 1997 and would really like to see them again :)

EDIT: Possibly the best blogger post ever...
EDIT2: SPECTACULAR leaps to #44 on the Billboard 200!!
I know I said I was going to do some more singles reviews today of "exciting" songstresses like Lenka, Laleh, Marit and Eloise, but I just wasn't in the mood. Plus like a proper numptee, I realised I had already written about Lenka singing the glorious Trouble Is A Friend and Marit chirping about The Chase here. Eloise deserves a post of her own such is her magnificence, and Laleh, well I'm sure i'll get around to her at some point. Instead, here are 5 albums that I was aware of and listened to when released but for whatever reason got shoved onto the "discard" pile until I was drawn back to them with a vengence this past couple of weeks (and no, Lady Gaga isn't on the list!)....

Ladyhawke - Ladyhawke: Why on earth I metaphorically shoved the Ladyhawke cd to the back of the closet is a mystery. A mystery that may never be solved. I listened to her album on a whim a couple of weeks ago when I was hankering for an ear burst of the glorious My Delirium. Beyond that anthemic fist pumping classic, I found that I had been missing out on a whole bunch of equally beautifully produced, 80s inspired pop tunes that are positively shimmering with 80s allusions, yet still sound fresh and inspired. So this isn't Stefy 2.0 at all then. Magic is a ballsy pedal to the metal type singalong track that just rattles along like an out of control rollercoaster, while Another Runway and Crazy World are delicious 80s throwbacks dripping in nostalgia. However, current favourite has to be the soon-to-be-rereleased Paris Is Burning ~ like most of the tracks here, it's steeped in 80s influences but still innovative enough to sit alongside popstars du jour such as Little Boots and LaRoux. Utterly cracking.
Coldplay - Viva La Vida: I've always had a bit of a cool relationship with Coldplay, possibly because i think it borders on child abuse to call your child Apple for crying out god's sake. However, when I put my ridiculous prejudices aside, I begrudgingly admit that Mr Martin is one of Britain's best singer songwriters. I'm STILL obsessed with the title track and think that it is one of the best songs to come out of Britain in the past five years. Those strings, the soaring chorus, the near perfect vocal delivery - it's all cosy enough for radio but epic enough for huge stadium performances too. And so I thought I would give the album a bit of a try. The hallmarks of their previous albums are there (emotive lyrics, strong melodies, gentle rock rhythms) but are mixed with a more experimental Coldplay than we've previously seen - african and latin influences, mixing up the structure of songs, instrumental tracks, kitchen sink, etc. It's all entirely pleasing, and as I may have mentioned before, I'm rather taken with the XO track listing which mixes the best from the album with the best from the Prospeks March EP. Genius...
Pink - Funhouse: The thing about Pink is she is always there isn't she? Solid, reliable, churning out fairly regular albums and hits, so I don't always give her time she is entitled to this far into what has been a fairly decent career. It's the lovely new single Please Don't Leave Me that has drawn me back to this album - yes, So What is a great thrusty pop song, but it always seemed a bit gimmicky to me (though the remixes are aces) and that put me off the album a little bit. Retitle this album to it's rumoured original ("Heartbreak is a motherf***er!") and it perfectly sums up the range of emotive pop song and rock balladry contained within. The eventual title track is demonically destructive - there's bitterness in the breeziest of her pop tunes, and that I like. Mean puts most of Kelly Clarkson's most recent album to shame with it's southern fried chicken rock roots and an amazing vocal performance. And the entirely romantic Glitter In The Air evokes gorgeous imagery and is simply more powerful for it. I'm kicking myself for not having the whole album on repeat earlier :(
Cyndi Lauper - Bring Ya To The Brink/Donna Summer - Crayons: Frankly I wasn't sure that Donna could top the mighty SAW produced album Another Place and Time. And I'm not sure Crayons does, but my yen this month to revisit Donna has made me realise what an upbeat, unapologetic, in your face album this is. Similarly, the latest dance epic from Cyndi is perfectly designed for the clubs and puts many of her younger peers to shame. Neither album is deliberately rooted in the past and neither do they pander to current trends (except when Donna gets a bit vocoder-ised which can be slightly annoying) - instead they mix the sounds they are most comfortable with from their respective pasts with intoxicating rhythms, beats and melodies that make for two should-have-been career revitalising sets. Play Cyndi's gyrating pulsing synths of Into The Nightlife with it's cheeky flirtatious lyrics alongside Donna's fun, frothy and respect commanding Stamp Your Feet and this twofer whammy makes me even more incredulous of some of today's leading electro-dance ladies successes. I know DanUSA, XO and Chartrigger all liked these in the past, so I am once again chagrinned for not enjoying these on the whole mostly super albums earlier...

Other more recent albums I'm still loving: Take That "The Circus"; Lily Allen "It's Not Me, It's You"; Same Difference "Pop"