Lopez Blogs

Hurrah! It's holiday time! Brillo pants and marvimussolini! This is very good news for me indeed as I am very burnt out at the moment and absolutely need a break - work, parental insanity, blogging. Damn you self imposed personal expectations! Hopefully, I shall come back recooperated and refreshed, and as gorgeous as ever. Gives me time to do a bit of life prioritising and work out where blogging fits into my insane schedule at the moment :) I'm sure it will continue in some form or other! In the meantime, here is something semi-gleeful and my latest charts :) Enjoy!

GLEE ~ LOSER LIKE ME:

To be honest, i'm hot then i'm cold with Glee, i'm yes then I'm no. Darren Criss (above, celebrating his recent 24th birthday) certainly has been a redeeming factor this 'season' for two very good reasons - one, he is quite "the fox" and two, every song he attempts just absolutely sparkles with sheer magnetism from start to finish. So why he doesn't feature heavily on the inevitable first original Glee song is a bit of a mystery. Frankly, I'm a little bit disappointed with it. It's not that it's a bad tune - it's got a sterling pedigree (co-written by Sir Max of Martin no less. Jiminee!) and has enough pep to it to power the Cheerios for another few seasons yet. It's just somewhat lacking. I wanted something that would wallop me with it's genius, like when I first heard Baby One More Time or Sound Of The Underground or That Sounds Good To Me (actually I'm joking about the last one). Loser Like Me (have a search around the web, you're bound to find a link to it!) instead is reminiscent of Breaking Free from High School Musical or On The Wings Of A Dream from Spectacular. Nothing wrong with any of those tunes of course and LLM zips along with enough enthusiasm, spunk (steady!) and motivation to launch Bring It On: The Musical on a broadway stage. So as I said, I genuinely do like the track, I was just expecting a little bit more *ooomph* from it. And actually, I remain loyal to Britannia High as clearly this song can't top the still deliriously cheerful and brilliant Start of Something, as seen below. Ooo this was quite a concise blog for me wasn't it?!


TOP 21 SONGS OF THE WEEK:

21 ~ Britney Spears, Hold It Against Me
20 ~ Rochella Danishei, Michelle
19 ~ Westlife, Beautiful Tonight
18 ~ Shayne Ward, Obsession
17 ~ Tove Styrke, High and Low
16 ~ Danny, in The Club
15 ~ Love Generation, I Dance Alone (NE)
14 ~ The Wanted, Gold Forever (NE)
13 ~ Same Difference, Karma Karma
12 ~ McFly, That's The Truth
11 ~ Neo, Underground
10 ~ Kylie, Put Your Hands Up
09 ~ Deborah Gibson, Snake Charmer
08 ~ Take That, Kidz
07 ~ Sanna Nielsen, I'm In Love
06 ~ Maroon 5, Never Gonna Leave This bed
05 ~ Le Kid, Oh My God
04 ~ Lady Gaga, Born This Way
03 ~ The Feeling, Set My World On Fire
02 ~ Andreas Johnson, One Man Army
01 ~ Eric Saade, Popular (2 weeks/VIDEO)

Is it actually possible to literally suffer from exhaustion?! Because if so, I think I am. I have just had absolutely no energy the past few days - and not just in a tired way, but in a way where everything that I normally do takes a vast amount of effort, and then leaves me absolutely pooped all over again. (Despite all this I still managed to be co-erced into entering a mechanical bull riding competition at the local gay bar last night - and won. It's all in the thigh gripping!) So to cheer myself up I have regressed into a world of shiny, sunny pop (have I really regressed? Isn't that my world anyway?) and been watching things like the still brilliant Britannia High clip above. Which just proves two things - i) Matthew James Thomas could still be a magnifico pop star & ii) there is more energy and enthusiasm in that clip than anything in the "back 9" episodes of Glee. And there will be much more adoration of slightly outdated but current pop in tomorrow (ish) boyband post... But for now, some songs that caught my attention late this week...

Something for your Sunday:

• Olly Murs ~ Please Don't Let Me Go: I actually really do like the new Olly Murs single. I think he had his moments on the X-Factor, but was often marred by a bad song choice. Getting the song choice right for his first single then was absolutely crucial and I think he happened to get this spot on. A shuffling reggae beat pitches him somewhere between Paolo Nutini and Jason Mraz, in an incredibly infectious and summery lilting tune. His vocal sounds quite nice and there is some entirely pleasing piano tinkling in the middle 8. Hopefully he has retained enough of his X-Factor fanbase that this will do quite well for him, especially as I hear he is working with Preston on his debut album (whose debut album I still desperately need to hear!) So ultimately quite surprising (as is nothing like the songs he performed on the show) but a pleasant addition to an increasingly good summer of 2010 pop soundtrack...
• Samuel ~ I Heart NY: This has been floating around forever and a day (well at least a month or so) and I've only just gotten around to listening to it. My bad - this is quite a delightful tune filled with enough quirks and surprises to make it feel new and special, yet familiar enough that you feel you can sing along after just one listen. And it's definitely one of those songs that invites you in to it's created community with chanted vocal snippets, an engaging singalong chorus, enough attitude and swagger ("i was made to grow up and be famous/so i'm trying my best to stay shameless") to give it a real confidence and just completely wonderful from start to finish. It's definitely the anti-California Gurls (still shudder at that spelling) and all the better for it! You can buy the EP online here and listen to a mean cover of Ellie Goulding's Starry Eyed on his myspace here...
• Elan Lea ~ Right Anyway: Two things to get out the way - firstly, there is no getting around the fact that young Elan is a bit of a looker. Secondly, I discovered his earnest charms thanks to my twitter buddy Pip, who got to interview him earlier this week. Elan is one of those people with gorgeously smooth vocals that can make anything they turn their voice to sound heavenly. This single is no exception - set over lush piano chords and some complementary drums, it gives the song some energy and charisma; a raw feel that really brings the tune alive. Sign up to his webpage and you also get a free download of another album track - the equally lovely Strangers For The Second Time. Definitely one to watch...

Top 21 songs of the week:

21 ~ Ola, All Over The World (NE)
20 ~ Bjorn Johan Muri, Circles
19 ~ Gravitonas, Kites
18 ~ Adam Tyler, Friction
17 ~ Gabriella Cilmi, Hearts Don't Lie
16 ~ Kelly Rowland, Commander
15 ~ JLS, The Club Is Alive
14 ~ Scissor Sisters, Fire with Fire
13 ~ BrightLightX2, A New Word To Say
12 ~ The Bang Bang Club, Chemistry
11 ~ LeKid, Mercy Mercy
10 ~ Chanee & N'Evergreen, In A Moment Like This
09 ~ Dirty Disco, White Room
08 ~ Magic Numbers, Pulse
07 ~ Simon Curtis, Beat Drop
06 ~ Eric Saade, It's Gonna Rain
05 ~ Brandon Flowers, Crossfire
04 ~ Darin, Can't Stop Love
03 ~ Kylie, All The Lovers (flash mob in Madrid video above!)
02 ~ Same Difference, Shine On Forever (Photo Frame)
01 ~ Maroon 5, Misery (1 week)

Hello everyone. It's getting to that busy time of year, when people are frolicking with office co-workers in furtive corners, wearing elf ear hats on public transport and drinking a pint of sherry each morning just to make it through the last two days of work before I break up for work til 2009. The sherry also helps heal the pain that Pushing Daisies (the Norwegians episode was brilliant - there was snow outside the piehole!) and Britannia High are both unlikely to return next year. The finale of Britannia High aired on Saturday and was like a mini S Club concert, as evidenced by the rather perky and fun rendition of one of my songs of the year Start of Something above (Look at that dance routine PPG!). It has become rather quirky and fun in it's own way in the last few episodes and i'm hoping that inappropriate crush Matthew Scott Thomas can launch his own pop career off the back of this :) In fact Britannia High as a pop group are definitely this year's S Club to Same Difference's Steps. Here's Matthew singing the gorgeous Proud...

THE FESTIVE CHART COUNTDOWN:

Oh my god! Alexandra is number one? With Hallelujah? I totally didn't see that coming? Oh what a shock. Oh i have to sit down. Etc, etc. What I am thrilled about is the Jeff Buckley version doing so incredibly well :) For more on the official Christmas chart, check out D'luv and for more on previous festive number ones, be sure to read ADH. Now here's my Christmas week chart, along with a rather lovely video of the festive chart topper Jason Mraz with Winter Wonderland...

21 - McFly, Do Ya
20 - Alphabeat, What Is Happening
19 - Mariah Carey, I Stay In Love
18 - Darin, Breathing Your Love
17 - Alesha Dixon, The Boy Does Nothing
16 - Madonna, Miles Away
15 - William Young, Grace
14 - Marit Larsen, I've Heard Your Love Songs
13 - Britney, Womaniser
12 - Leon Jackson, Creative
11 - Take That, Up All Night (NE)
10 - The Killers, Human
09 - Girls Aloud, The Promise
08 - Lily Allen, The Fear
07 - Take That, Greatest Day
06 - Britannia High, Start of Something
05 - JLS, Hallelujah
04 - Lenka, All My Bells Are Ringing
03 - Same Difference, We R One
02 - Leona Lewis, Run
2008 Christmas Number One - Jason Mraz, Live High Live Mighty (3 weeks)
2007 Christmas Number One - Shayne Ward, Melt The Snow
2006 Christmas Number One - Take That, Patience
2005 Christmas Number One - Shayne Ward, That's My Goal
2004 Christmas Number One - Deborah Gibson, Christmas Without You
2003 Christmas Number One - William Young, Leave Right Now
2002 Christmas Number One - Girls Aloud, Sound of the Underground
2001 Christmas Number One - Deborah Gibson, What Makes A Hero?
2000 Christmas Number One - Steps, It's The Way You Make Me Feel

New Spectacular Preview:

Ah finally, the musical fruits of the forthcoming Simon Curtis movie are starting to show up online. Unfortunately, other than backing vocals, this isn't very Simoncentric but does give you a good idea of what the movie will be like. There are fairgrounds, freestyle dancing, choreographed dancing, chaste smooching (near the end) and more flashes of Simon in uncomfortable looking gold (for more spectacular Spectacular previews with Gold Simon, click here). It's building up my anticipation factor nicely - the song is a catchy little number, exactly what I was hoping for. I can't help but feel though, that when Simon takes the mic and centre stage, his tunes are going to blow this musical sky high.

Britannia High - episodes 2&3:

After a disasterous ratings start for episode 1 (3.3million - more people watched Antiques Roadshow!! Well, England is an increasingly aging population...), the second show in this rather addictive new series had a lot to prove. Coming after the F1 racing event, it boosted the viewing figures to 5.7million and tackled the serious issue of adult illiteracy to song and dance. As you do. (Note to producers - surely you could have got Fan"can't spell my own name"tasia to guest on this?) Anyway, Danny is the lead character for this week's show. He is still dating gabrie, er I mean Lauren and rather than knuckling down with his studies, is more intent on being the class clown. The little scamp. Still it's hard to get annoyed when he sings pop songs like I'm The Man (above) which have brilliant lyrics like "I'm the fizzy in your pop". Quite. The musical numbers continue to be quite enticing as a whole actually - following on from the positively peppy theme tune (Start of Something) and the positively percolating pop of Watch This Space (an ace jewels and stones remix of this is doing "the rounds"), there is the aforementioned I'm The Man, and the quite melodramatic (Meatloaf would have a field day with this, such is the passion and melodrama) Changing Man. The songs work because they are an extension of the script and further the storyline - Danny sings along to Changing Man because he realises he has to step up to the plate and face his inner demons. This was the episode with Girls Aloud in (well Nicola and Kimberley) and they acted their little socks off. And by acted, I mean don't expect any National Television Awards anytime soon lasses :P Still they were playing themselves, so one can't expect too much...

And so I finally get to last night's episode. As Jez is my favourite character by far (he is such a style icon and has good popstar hair - see pic at bottom of post), I was quite looking forward to his episode. It kicked off with a birthday party in a roller disco and an S Club worthy singalong called Wake Up, which frankly deserves to be top 5 for at least 2 weeks. It was a rather poptastic and glorious start to the show, which i watched with Ruthiepoos (although she was in her home and I was in mine, so we shared our opinions by text). The exchange went something like this...

Me: Ah a dance routine at a roller disco. Remember that please for my birthday next year...
Ruth: Stop giving it away. I paused it and now am a minute behind you...
Me: I've never seen anyone devour a burger so very quickly. I think I have an inappropriate crush on Jez.
Ruth: Me too!
Me: Ruth, that makes you the worst lesbian ever, although he does have a hint of Ellen about him if you squint your eyes...
Ruth: I just think he's really cute.
Me: I'd soon ram that cuteness out of him...
Ruth: :O
Me: BB is being really unreasonable. Oh no, i think the posh dad just outed Jez over a game of pool.
Ruth: Posh dads are never bothered by gay sons because they all got buggered senseless in boarding school and kind of enjoyed it.
Me: Oh! He is singing a very sad ballad and it is quite beautiful.
Ruth: :*(

And so it went on. If you haven't seen the show, then that above exchange is a little bit shit really, but trust me at the time it was powerful stuff :P And don't call this a banterview. I don't want D'Luv suing my ass. Anyway, the song at the end ("Proud") was incredibly lovely and typical Gary Barlow ballad stuff. Boys singing at a piano always get to me. Magnif. PS - why Adam Garcia has only been in one episode so far is beyond me. The show needs some slightly older totty on it and lord knows the headmaster ain't fulfilling that role...

Ah the weekend where time goes back an hour thanks to daylight savings, and Darren and I visited a spookified Warwick Castle in preparation for Hallowe'en. To be fair it would've been better in the dark, but it was a most pleasing if freezing cold day out and the chocolate mice we bought at the end of it were delicious. What was not delicious was the fifth installment of the Saw movies. Though really, 5 movies in did I expect anything different?! Anyway, thanks for all the comments this week - we both are feeling lots better :) Now on with la blog...

THE X-FACTOR:

Frankly, I'm probably too annoyed to write properly about Big Bad Week (as Glossy calls it - no spelling error) or Ray Quinn Week as everyone else calls it. It wasn't a particularly good week - it never is. Why the producers think it is a good idea is beyond me! Dermot has now just become a hugging post for people (frankly the only reason I would go on it is to hug Dermy), and the judges scripted responses were more predictable than ever. Eoghan who was particularly vocally weak and did some very questionable dance moves in his 3rd horrific outfit in a row was once again praised. Alexandra who was criticised for copying Whitney in week one and Mariah in week two, blathered on about how she was stamping her own identity on this week's number, then does a carbon copy (including the dance routine and outfit) of Christina's Candyman, yet no one is scripted to pick up on it so it is classed as original and brilliant. Austin was actually very good this week (though his clothes looked way too big for him), but his needy desperation is reaching Lisa Scott-Lee levels. JLS i thought did a decent job this week, but tops by miles were the aforementioned Austin (with Mack The Knife), Ruth with a stunning version of Summertime and of course quirky Diana with Smile. Note to Diana - those hand gestures around your face during each song are starting to become a parody. Ditch them quick smart!

Now, the reason i'm so annoyed - first of the cloyingly manipulative emotional Heroes single is entirely dreadful. I'm all for charity records, but surely sometimes they should be quite good? This really isn't - save your pennies and donate directly to the fund instead. Secondly, no Scott Bruton wasn't particularly good tonight (or ever) but he is by far the most likeable contestant on the show and didn't deserve to be in the bottom two. That should've been Daniel and Eoghan, by far the two weakest most irritating contestants. At least one of the bottom two was Daniel and I was convinced he was going to go home. Until... he dedicated his last song to his dead wife, and started crying at the end of it. I mean, how do you compete with that?! Poor Scott didn't stand a chance. I was screaming when they showed his mom "for god's sake have some compassion and die, so your son will get through!!!" Of course that was the wine and medication talking and I wish no ill towards Momma Scott. But Daniel - for shame. He lives to be huge (he's HUGE!) for disco week. May God have mercy on us all...

BRITANNIA HIGH:

Colour me obsessed with the comeback of pop. What with Same Difference blazing the Steps sound comeback, Britannia High is bringing back everything S Club/I Dream. And yes it may be cheesy, but it has dance moves, an amazing soundtrack, uplifting motivational bits and of course a not very ugly at all cast (that features a clone of Jon from S Club, Maxie from Skins with an increasingly acceptable perm and Adam "Duets with kylie/Fiyero in London's Wicked" Garcia. Gorgeous!). Episode one kicked off with the free download single Start Of Something (kudos to writers Gary Barlow and Eliot Kennedy) complete with full dance routine and colours so bright across each little scene that i fear for my retinas. The rest of the episode was typical Kids From Fame type drama leading up to a full stage performance where in a Dirty Dancing-esque moment the nervous girl finally manages to do the lift. Hurrah! Tear in eye, etc. It's not going to be for everybody, but it is filling the whole in my soul left by the end of the 1998-2002 pop era. Bring on next week when Nicola GA is featured. Boss!

TOP 21 TRACKS OF THE WEEK:

Sigh. Still totally obsessed with Girls Aloud then. And "Human" by the Killers. I think the complexity of that track has gone over some reviewers heads. I find it utterly captivating. Plus numbers 3 and 4 have become my new latest obsession...

21 ~ Lily Allen, Everybody's At It (NE)
20 ~ The Feeling, Won't Go Away (NE)
19 ~ The Feeling, Join With Us
18 ~ William Young, Changes
17 ~ McFly, Lies
16 ~ Regina Spektor, You Don't Know Me
15 ~ Rongedal, Europhia
14 ~ Sugababes, Girls
13 ~ Infernal, Whenever You Need Me
12 ~ Alphabeat, What Is Happening?
11 ~ Miley Cyrus, Fly On The Wall
10 ~ Lenka, The Show
09 ~ Pink, So What
08 ~ Jason Mraz, Make It Mine
07 ~ Darin, Breathing Your Love
06 ~ Alesha, The Boy Does Nothing
05 ~ Marit Larsen, If A Song Could Get Me You
04 ~ Take That, Greatest Day
03 ~ Britannia High, Start Of Something
02 ~ The Killers, Human
01 ~ Girls Aloud, The Promise (4 Weeks)

Coming monday - sugababes vs girls aloud. And not in a walk this way type scenario!
AND FINALLY: Please vote for lovely James Leon "Never Been Cool" and leave a review if you are feeling the mood. He might get playlisted on US Radio :)

It has been an insanely busy and tense week for my gorgeous little dazpanteloons and I. First off, Darren's abcess on his spine has returned and is now infected so he is on a waiting list for surgery (because i changed jobs last year, the new private healthcare doesn't cover pre-existing conditions! How ridiculous!). Marvelous. Then a recurring kidney problem I have has flown back with a vengence giving me all sorts of stomach type problems. Excellent! So we decided to just ignore that, make use of our annual Tussaud passes and visit Thorpe Park in Surrey. I must point out that my sing-a-long-a-mix cd that played on the way down was uniformly excellent with contributions from Prefab Sprout, They Might Be Giants, McFly, Bonnie Tyler and, er, Rolf Harris. The park was absolutely rammed to the brim with boys in bri-nylon tracksuits that were positively crackling with static electricity and girls in bright coloured tutus and leg warmers. It wasn't so much clang clang clang went the trolley, more clang clang clang went the sovereigns. Chavtastic. The highlight and the lowlight was the brilliant Stealth (above) which rockets you off at 80 mph in 2 seconds to fling you over the loop. Marvelous you might assume except it suffered a "technical fault" which meant instead of going over the loop, it hovered precariously at the top, then rolled backwards rather jerkily to stop just before where it started. There were screams, vomit and yes, piddle. Only 1 of which came from me :P Ok, on with the X Factor wrap up and highlights of the week....

THE X FACTOR:

God, you think Michael Jackson week would be a real chance for the acts to actually put on a performance. You thought wrong. It was possibly the most sinfully boring show of the X Factor ever. 9 ballads, 1 incredibly gaudy and ill advised rock number (druggie Rachel who must have been high to pick Dirty Diana) and a safe as a seat belt, by the numbers dance routine (JLS). It's the oldest (Daniel - still huge, and still got me wondering what the Brookstein he is doing there) and youngest (Yorkshire Pud boy with goddawful hair and unforgiveable clothes styling) who are way out of their depth and don't deserve to be there in the slightest. Even last week's good acts (Alexandra - given a carbon copy version of I'll Be There Mariah style to sing; and Laura murdering the first half of something so dull I can't even recall what) had totally lost their shine, though to be fair sounded way better than most. Austin Drag-Artist pretended he had come up with the David Cook version of Billie Jean until Louis Walsh outed him. Girlband (please read DanUK's rather entertaining view on the first few minutes of the show!) upped the vomit factor with Heal The World saying they chose the song because it has a beautiful sentiment. Ruth had the wind machine on again, prompting Darren to wonder if she gets particularly sweaty and needs additional cooling down? The highlights were a lovely restrained version of She's Out Of My Life by lovely Scott (hope they haven't stripped the funfactor from him now though) and a stunning version of Man In The Mirror by barefoot Diana (even if it is remarkably similar to the Natalie Gauci version on Australian Idol). God I am positively dreading Ray Quinn, er, I mean Big Band week next week.... bring on Abba week I say!

WEEKLY ROUND-UP:

• Girls Aloud appeared on the X-Factor to sing their infernally catchy (but with crap remixes and an even worse upcoming album sleeve) single The Promise. It was all very nice, though frankly the evil one (Cheryl) seemed to be trying far too hard, and sounded a bit ropey. Sarah looked hammered as usual, Nicola sounded amazing and I keep forgetting Kimberley exists. Still my number one single though. Oh! And Dannii (who i swear is drunk through most of the live shows) has a brilliant look of disdain on her face (she is probably agreeing with Mike PTA's view of Cheryl) on her face at 1m53s...
• The third in the Wicked series by Gregory Maguire (A Lion Among Men) is taking me a surprising amount of effort to get into. Perhaps the sheer brilliance of the first two books had my expectations set a little too high, and this one just hasn't grabbed me as instantly. I shall of course remain with it. I am nothing if not, if not loyal...
• There is a plethora of perky pop around at the moment. Of course Britannia High finally starts next Sunday, and tonight is the final live performance of Hairspray: The School Musical which has been mightily entertaining on Sky One (check out the video for You Can't Stop To Breathe as i call it. I mean have you ever tried singing along?!) And I finally heard the full length Same Difference single and i can reveal that it is as amazing as the clip makes out it will be with a goose pimply key change that will have extra lights and fireworks when performed live to enhance the brilliance of going up a note. Stirling.
• Sugababes and Pink albums leaked this week and both are quite good indeed. I expect that Adem, Aaron and XO will have some wise words about one or both of the sets at sometime in the near future?!
• Finally, there are a number of great new christmas albums (Kristin Chenowith, Sixpence None The Richer, Faith Hill) and songs (Lenka!) out there already, but i shall be saving my reviews of them until the 30 days of Christmas posts start to pop up from 25th November 2008. You have been duly warned...

TOP 21 SONGS OF THE WEEK:

21 ~ Annie, My Love is Better
20 ~ The Feeling, Join With Us
19 ~ Leon Jackson, Don't Call This Love
18 ~ William Young, Changes
17 ~ Rongedal, Hello Euphoria
16 ~ Infernal, Whenever You Need Me
15 ~ Take That, The Greatest Day (NE)
14 ~ Alphabeat, What is Happening?
13 ~ Miley Cyrus, Driveway
12 ~ Lenka, The Show
11 ~ Britannia High, Start of Something (NE/Video)
10 ~ Darin, Breathing Your Love
09 ~ Alesha Dixon, Boy Does Nothing
08 ~ Regina Spektor, You Don't Know Me
07 ~ McFly, Lies
06 ~ Pink, So What
05 ~ Jason Mraz, Make It Mine
04 ~ Sugababes, Girls
03 ~ Marit Larsen, If A Song Could Get Me You
02 ~ The Killers, Human
01 ~ Girls Aloud, The Promise (3 weeks)

In some respects, it's been a bloody awful week. I started running every day before work, and my leg muscles have seized up from lack of proper stretching, so I am walking around like I couldn't catch a bull between 'em in an alleyway. Also my most favourite ever person at work is leaving. Which is just so bloody tragic I could cry right here on my packard bell keyboard. Oh my effing god, my keyboard is Hewlett Packard! I didn't even know. And finally the American Kath & Kim was very disappointing (though the American Brett - now Craig - is much hotter than the ozzie version!) Still, all this stuff was perfectly balanced out by some good stuff this week - A Lion Among Men (the latest book in the Wicked series) was delivered not once but twice by Amazon (buy the second book that wasn't charged on ebay! It's a credit crunch people!!); My running is already making me look less like a bloated pork pie; Darren had his beautiful long locks cut and looks even more buff and handsome; and there is an amazingly huge amount of brilliant new music floating around the ethernet on an almost daily basis. Check out this week's contributions below (hint - links will take you to the music)...

Darin ~ Breathing Your Love: Ah 2008 has been a good year for love. If it's not bleeding, then it's breathing and my favourite elfin faced turned hottie Swedish pop dude has returned with a song that is part r'n'b clubster (the type Chris Brown does) mixed with those electro vibes that made Insanity so irresistable. Add a dash of europop and a dollop of rave and you pretty much have this "grab the one you love and shimmy down with your bad self" down. It's very glorious indeed. Two things - one, it makes me wish people who mattered paid Shayne Ward's career more attention. Secondly - I'm still a sucker for the amazing Darin tune B What U Wanna Be. Still convinced that would be an ace Gareth comeback ve-hick-cal! More Darin on PPG...

Ace of Base ~ Wheel of Fortune 2008: Ooo look. You wait for one amazing swedish anthem to come along and then two come at once. Yes Ace of Base are back and frankly I thought I would have a major le sigh moment over their "re-imagining" of their classic track (James Leon's fave AOB track fact fans) from their debut album because quite honestly old tracks reswizzled to try and recapture former glories do not work. Kudos then to the Acers for making this sound like a new track. Love the "i'm in love with you, i like your style" moments. Now bring on the new stuff.

Alesha Dixon ~ Boy Does Nothing: A very lovely friend of mine pointed out today that Popjustice has been rather brilliant. And you know what? He was quite right. From their flip flopping over the new Christina single to giving us a taste of S'Diff, they have been on top form lately. And one of their latest "heralds" is this perfectly bonkers piece of Mambo Number 5 sampling xenomania ragamuffin styl-ee pop lusciousness. Alesha does a fine job of creating a fun "get off your arse you lazy fucker" type anthem, that actually when i am out running, I start shaking my hands in the air in despair to the "he does nothing the boy does nothing" so into the song I get. Check out the ace of base (not the group the expression) middle 8 which i can TOTALLY hear Girls Aloud singing... and it's adem approved/auspop approved :)

Killian Wells ~ Flatline: Ah Killian. He has amazing cheekbones. Quite good popstar hair (I haven't discussed popstar hair in a while, PPG - we should definitely start doing this more often!) and very decent dress sense. So all in all a good start. Luckily the music is ridiculously catchy too. Check out Flatline on Killian's myspace page. It samples his favourite song "I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight" and is a solid pop tune that transforms the sample into a modern and catchy chugging dance tune. It's quite a clever sample actually as it keeps the familiarity of the original tune and works in a new tune on top that is equally as addictive. Two more important future potential popstar things - one is that he was in a Kelly Rowland video and to be fair, one of Kelly's better songs. Two - he is remixing songs from his debut album to add a bit more magic and swizzle. Can't. Wait.

Britannia High ~ Start of Something: Another PJ covered track that is available for free, gratis, nothing on the BH website. Yes this is the Gary Barlow involved series which is a bit like Kids From Fame but without the bow legged cello girl or the scary haired piano man. This first single is like a much chirpier version of Alphabeat (if that's possible). Basically it's S Club meets High School Musical meets Same Difference meets Hairspray. In other words, it's entirely too sugary and catchy and therefore everything I adore about pop music. Plus they say bitch and cheesy within 2 lines of the second verse. Marvelous. I do not like the bloke from the amazing Skins curly hair though...

And in other major news, Take That are premiering their new single "Greatest Day" on radio 1 at 8.15am on Monday morning! How freaking frilling!

Top 21 songs of the week:

21 ~ Daniel Powter, Next Plane Home
20 ~ Miley Cyrus, 7 Things
19 ~ Leon Jackson, Don't Call This Love
18 ~ Infernal, Whenever You Need Me (NE/Vid)
17 ~ Rongedal, Hello Euphoria (NE)
16 ~ Alphabeat, What Is Happening
15 ~ Lenka, The Show
14 ~ Miley Cyrus, Driveway
13 ~ Darin, Breathing Your Love (NE)
12 ~ Alesha Dixon, Boy Does Nothing (NE)
11 ~ Annie, My Love Is Better
10 ~ William Young, Changes
09 ~ The Feeling, Join With Us
08 ~ Ben Folds/Regina Spektor, You Don't Know Me
07 ~ McFly, Lies
06 ~ P!nk, So What
05 ~ Jason Mraz, Make It Mine
04 ~ Sugababes, Girls
03 ~ Marit Larsen, If A Song Could Get Me You
02 ~ The Killers, Human
01 ~ Girls Aloud, The Promise (2 weeks)