Lopez Blogs

I'm having a Swedish pop day today. It can't fail to lift my mood :) I'm horribly horribly behind with some of the latest pop gloriosity from Swedish fellas - they really are currently setting a high high standard for blokey pop and while the rest of the world may not always pay attention, they are often playing catch up. Here are some of the current essentials...

• Eric Saade ~ Popular: I've written about this, done a complete breakdown of the video and still almost three months later it remains one of my very fave tunes of the moment. Of course Eurovision 2011 has a lot to do with that, thanks to a blinding performance (above) from the young fella, stomping dance moves, a tune that won't quit and a highly respectable third place overall. Kudos young Eric. The world IS now paying attention and the manboy is prepping his second solo effort for June. Absolutely magnifico :)
• Danny ft Freja ~ If Only You: Not only did young Danny look an absolute dreamboat reading the Swedish Eurovision jury results (in an Eric t-shirt! Bless times a million!!), but he is starting to take the UK music channels by storm with his very good indeed clubby meets brillo pop track, If Only You. Vocally he's teamed up with Freja to create an ambient yet thumping club sound that resonates with a modern pop audience. It's a worthy follow up to his incessant In The Club track and frankly one that's likely to do better. A full video breakdown of that smutty accompanying visual coming later this week. Oh my! *fans self*
• Ola ~ Riot: This track was a definite stand out for me on Ola's 2010 album and it still sounds funky and fun a good six-seven months later. It's now finally being released as an official single with an accompanying video. You could argue that it's a bit like Key-dollarsign-ha, but that's part of the appeal of the track - a guy doing a bonkers pop concoction that is just scintillating and salacious from start to finish. There's a rather bonza behind the scenes video too about the recording of the accompanying visual and as soon as the official version is out, i'll be giving it the breakdown treatment. Aces. 
• Jonas Oakland ~ Where I Belong (2011 Remix): I adore little Jonas Oakland. He's like the Swedish version of Simon Curtis - not so much musically, but independently making his own way in the business we call show. He's launching the next phase of his career with a remix of brillo pop tune Where I Belong and lucky old Scandipop has an exclusive clip for you to listen to before you can officially download it on Wednesday of this very week! Amazes. It sounds absolutely mega and I for one will be spaffing my 79p on this essential track as soon as it's available. Splendid!
• Mans Zelmerlow ~ well foxy Mans doesn't actually have any new music out at the moment, but with Eric's Popular doing so well on UK iTunes (no. 38!) it just makes me want to listen to Hope and Glory and remember how insanely excellent that tune was. And I'll leave you with that :) 

Our third favorite track "Riot" from the latest Ola's album gets release as the next (already fourth) single.
Fantastic news as we consider this track pretty fine choise to keep trying international career - current goal for Ola Svensson.
"Riot" is modern radio-pop track with heavy electronic arrangement and Ke$ha-style filtered Ola's vocal, sweetest pop-goodies and very catchy work.
What is even better - Ola is shooting video for the song and after series of scary pics from shooting he also presents "behind the scenes" video intriguing even more - charming mummies, dancing robots and Ola in mirror jacket (oh, it's completely gorgeous, isn't it?!), that's what we're gonna get very soon.
Oh and kudos to those who'll guess dancer at 3.08, guy was involved in some Melodifestivalen performance this year but I can't remember in which one.

Did you think the story around one of the best pop-singles of last year Ola's "All Over The World" is over?
Since 8 months after first song's release we can finally watch video for it that was shot both in New York and in Sweden.
Video is pretty qualitative work, with not so unique plot around friends gang wandering around NY, sitting on the rooftops with beautiful night city on the background and having wild parties. Very nice video to pack this brilliant single with and send it all over the world.
Don't forget to also check Ola's fresh interview where he's singing "All Over The World" in acoustic here.

It's always heart-melting when huge artists make some charity activity releasing new music to help those who really need it. This Autumn Idol-show has made successful shot when show participants released song "All I Need Is You" that reached #2 of Swedish chart and a bit later we've got another release from whole bunch of the loudest names of Swedish pop - Ola, Darin, Alcazar, Jessica Folcker, Sarah Dawn Finer, Plura, Velvet, Hanna Hedlund, Martin Stenmarck, Lasse Berghagen, Anna Maria Espinosa, Claes Janson, Dolly Dolores, Jasmine Kara, Anna Sahlin, Kim Fransson, Promoe and Jakob Hellman. Something incredible? Whole project was initiated by Tess Merkel from Alcazar in collaboration with SOS Barnbyar organization to help kids who lost parents or who live in financialy especially problematic terms. The song "Ta Min Hand", very kind hopeful a bit funky and a bit gospel-breathing track, was written by Christopher Dominique and Mårten Edh and released physically and digitally.
Company around "Ta Min Hand" was also supported by big concert in Kungsträdgården and performances on TV and radio, so below you can watch official video for this song and performance in Efter Tio.

For all those who complained (me too!) about only 10 tracks on this year album from Ola Svensson we've got few pleasant bonus-surprises (3 to be more exact).
A week ago Ola released re-edition of his latest album "Ola" and apart from original tracks and acoustic version of "Unstoppable" that was released earlier on Ola's single "All Over The World" they included:
1) Very nice acoustic-version of "All Over The World" that was also performed by Ola before and as first acoustic experiment with "Unstoppable" turned to be great the same we can say about new acoustic remake (and lovely again!)
2) Buzz Junkies remix for "All Over The World" - powerful club-track serving great for dancefloor and radio with it's strong beat and not less tasty strings part
3) Brand new track "Princess" - modern track mixing electro-sound and Swedish pop melodics right in that way you could expect from Ola's album.
You can enjoy whole pack right below and remember that soon we're gonna get new video for "All Over The World".

Feels like I wrote about this song thousand times but being one of the best songs of this year it deserves one more mentioning as Ola's single "All Over The World" is finally released and on the road to get love of international public.
Single contains not only this amazing song written by Ola and hit-team of Alexander Kronlund, Tony Nilsson and Mirja Breitholz but Spring-single "Unstoppable (The Return Of Natalie)" in acoustic version (you can't find it on iTunes but people claim that it appears on physical version, smart decision!). Ola doesn't stop appearing on TV whole year so here you can see performances of both tracks and Ola seems to be vocally on fire these days.

I was up at 5am this morning. Not in a just rolled in from the clubs sort of way, more in a pounding headache, bright light bright light sort of way. This was not fun. However, I have taken some Naproxen (amazing), played some Miss Kookie and am now on my way to get a revitalising Starbucks so I can feel even more perspicacious. Ooo and new Professor Layton has arrived so that will keep me occupied until X-Factor (read Mark's choices for guilty pleasure songs here)... In the mean time here are some amazing swedish pop tunes you really should be checking out!!

Swedish pop amazingness, etc.

• Eric Saade ~ It's Gonna Rain: I knew this would happen! Back when Eric's poptacular debut album arrived, the stand out track was the HungUpByABloke-esque It's Gonna Rain and I had to treat it as a single straight away and it rocketed to no. #2 on my playlist (even though Eric in his wisdom had gone with the ballad Break of Dawn). I felt that ballad song would be better suited til Christmas so have held off playing it. Yet now that Eric has a nice live concert montage video (click here) and is performing the track all over the place (and looking dead spiffy in a suit - above), I'm in love with the gloriously uplifting dance number all over again. Definitely a contender for one of my top 5 pop songs of the year. So get ready to be obsessed all over again. Thank you.
• Ola ~ All Over The World (acoustic): If Ola were massive in the UK (and he really should be, but what can you do), he would be performing this song as a deliciously tender piano-ballad on the results show of The X-Factor and have it rocket to the top end of the charts. It's an absolutely heavenly toned down reinterpretation of the solid disco-pop number that was the highlight of his Overdrive EP and more recent Ola album. Amazing how Ola can make this joyous uptempo romp sound so delicate, fragile and heartbreaking. Someone give that guy a hug...

• EMD ~ There's A Place For Us: YAY! Despite all the financial wranglings, I do get to see one of my favourite History Boys (Ben Barnes) back in Narnia. Even better, Swedish super-boyband E(rik)M(attias)D(anny) have recorded an entirely anthemic theme tune for the forthcoming Voyage Of The Dawn Treader flick. It's a very stately, traditional type ballad - much like you'd find on a Westlife album - and has some glorious use of strings and horn laden throughout to make it sound very uplifting and regal. Can't wait to hear the studio version. PS, don't the boys look handsome above? Love their little sway as the track fades out near the end then comes back in as a sweeping instrumental. Oh and little Danny is back in Melodifestivalen this year. YAY!
• Darin ~ Microphone: This should absolutely have been the type of song Shayne Ward came back with to blow the cobwebs of his sadly faltering pop career (where the ecky thump is his latest pop video?) It's such a strong statement of independence and one of the few uptempos on Darin's amazing Lovekiller album. He performs it with such passion too, as evidenced in the video below (despite some sound problems). Oh - and a dance routine? What more could I ask for?! (End note - do check out Scandipop and Swedish Stereo for always comprehensive and brilliant swedish-pop updates that put mine to shame. I thank you!)

Top 21 songs of the week:

21 ~ A1, In Love & I Hate It (NE)
20 ~ Le Kid, We Should Go Home Together (NE)
19 ~ Nadine Coyle, Insatiable
18 ~ Maroon 5, Give A Little More
17 ~ Elouise, The Winner Takes It All
16 ~ Gravitonas, Religious
15 ~ James Blunt, Stay The Night
14 ~ Charlotte Church, Back To Scratch
13 ~ McFly, Shine A Light
12 ~ Joe McElderry, Ambitions
11 ~ Brandon Flowers, Only The Young
10 ~ Westlife, Safe
09 ~ JLS, Love You More
08 ~ Jessie J, Price Tag
07 ~ Pink, Raise Your Glass
06 ~ Robbie Williams, Shame
05 ~ Deborah Gibson, I Love You (NE)
04 ~ Shayne Ward, Gotta Be Somebody
03 ~ Robbie Williams, My Heart & I
02 ~ Take That, The Flood
01 ~ Andrea Lewis ft Simon Curtis, Talk To Me (2 weeks)

Coming soon: X-Factor! New boyband albums (in order of brilliance - A1, Big Time Rush, The Wanted)! Joe McElderry! More video breakdowns!

3 weeks ago Ola's new album debuted at #3 of Swedish chart (unfortunately not #1 that it deserves but still good result for label that just started its work) so we keep geting pieces of Ola everywhere.
Week ago we've got ability to see him with amazing Shirley Clamp in tv-show Doobidoo where they performed Lisa Nilsson's classic hit "Varje gång jag ser dig", loveliest performance of two loveliest artists!
Also recently Ola has uploaded new photosession to his Facebook page and now it's out in video with "All Over The World" as soundtrack, this is as enjoyable 1:30 of your time as whole new music video could be. Check it!

Vendela Hollmström won Scandinavian show Camp Rock 2 and we can already check debut single and video of this young and very sweet artist. As there's nothing a lot to say about Vendela for now, let's just enjoy this beautiful song. But if you want a bit more stuff regarding Camp Rock you can check soundtrack "Fire" recorded with Ola's participation and watch Vendela Palmgren's song "Här är jag" with What's up! (when Eric Saade was still in) from previous season.
Talking about young talents I can't be silent about coming collaboration of Arash and Thomas G:Son who (together with Robert Uhlmann and Johan Bejerholm) have written song "Allt Jag Vill Ha" for Josefine Ridell - girl who will present Sweden at Junior Eurovision Song Contest-2010. Song is described as midtempo Beyonce-inspired ballad. Year before Sweden has recruited another hige international name - Alexander Kronlund who have written song "Du" for Mimmi Sandén.

Oh there has been a smorgasboard of quality releases from Europe this past week or so. I've been itching to write about them, but needed time to give them their due and let them marinate with me for a little while. Or some such shit. However, heed my warning kiddies - it's important not to get behind during this fiercely competitive last quarter of 2010. There is going to be such a high volume of mammoth new albums for your enjoyment, so do please try and keep up :)

The boys:

• Ola ~ Ola: I've always been partial to a bit of Ola, but for some reason he's never been up there with my swedish boypop majesty (Darin, Mans Zelmerlow and now of course Eric Saade - talking of whom, can we please have the excellent Charlie Mason penned Upgrade as a single at somepoint with some deliriously brilliant robotic video?). No, much like Danny and Magnus, he's delighted me with his output but i've never been totally obsessed. Until now. Everything about his latest album comes across like a glorious declaration of independence - the charming versions of Ola on the cover (nerdy Ola is my fave) and the varying styles of music contained within the album that mesh wonderfully together. There's the ones we already know about - soaring, uplifting pop epic Unstoppable, Jason Mraz-esque (a perkier I'm Yours) Overdrive & international-hit-in-waiting All Over The World; alone these would be enough to send your pop sensibilities wild. Yet of course there's more - the Dr Luke produced Riot comes across as a Ke$ha type tune (if Ke$ha had an iota of class of course), and has an absolutely banging chorus. It's effortlessly fun and has massive potential to be a smash single in so many territories, given the right opportunity. YTG is just out and out pop at it's finest and guaranteed to put a smile on your face, if only for the year's most outlandish lyric "hold it in your hand for every bitch to see" (his heart you filthy urchins). Beautiful Rain is one of several ballads, but stands out for being slightly more uptempo and having a beautiful electro-torch song type arrangement that sounds just lovely. Of the other ballads, Still Remember absolutely has to be a single despite being on the Overdrive EP (they really put so many great tunes on that one EP, and this one has really grown on me since my first review!)... A fine fine collection of songs that has elevated Ola from tres bon to magnifico in my eyes :) See Scandipop review/interview also per favor...
• Bjorn Johan Muri - Airwaves: fade to grey because the visage inspired (to an extent) Bjorn solo album is finally here! I sort of feel that Bjorn hasn't had the record company support he deserves after the amazing Yes Man single so I'm pleased an album is finally here (though ridiculously hard to get outside of Norway). Yes Man is still a definite highlight and a deserved success in his native Norway (surprised Joe McElderry hasn't nicked this song too) and his later singles, Circles and Once Upon A Time sit much better within the context of the album than they do on their own. It's like they finally make sense. Bjorn often comes across as a cheeky chav of a performer, but his music is firmly 80s based with big drums and beats weaving through his songs. The title track definitely needs to be a single - and is similar to the increasingly engaging Once Upon A Time (that rap is still entirely needless). There's also a gorgeous ballad duet Nobody Knows which really highlights what a great vocalist Bjorn is. It falls apart a bit towards the end but is bought back together with his pleasing debut single The Beauty Of Who You Are. Certainly a good debut and I'm eager to see how Bjorn develops...

Ola singles: Unstoppable; Overdrive; All Over The World; Riot; Still Remember
Bjorn singles: Beauty Of Who You Are; Yes Man; Circles; Once Upon A Time; Airwaves

The groups:

• Ace of Base - Golden Ratio: Blimey. La base are putting out albums about as quickly as Debbie Gibson (her last one was 2003; theirs 2002). never mind, they are back and overall, it's exciting to have them in the 2010 pop landscape! And not only because Ulf has become a style icon for DILFs everywhere (rar, etc). All For You was/is a delightful reintroduction to the group that perhaps echoes their Beautiful Life sound rather than The Sign, but wonderfully welcome all the same. The (new) girls take most of the vocal responsibility on the album, which is a bit of a shame - i'd have liked it spread around a bit more, but the tracks that work (and there are many) are quite marvelous. If you want the sound of The Sign, then you could do a lot worse than the enticing Bla Bla Bla (lyrically a modern day Reynolds Girls "I'd Rather Jack") or the previously leaked Mr Replay, with it's superb chorus (but dreadful rap). More dance inspired goodness a la All For You comes in the form of the title track (which is a little bit Poker Face/Cascada attempt to do Lady gaga sound, but very good with it - though the pronounciation of ratio leaves something to be desired :P); Black Sea (which is all sorts of immense, a proper pop classic in the making and should absolutely have been the first single, but oh well) and Doreen (another incredibly strong pop creation that simply soars from first listen). I'd have placed Vision In Blue at the end of the album myself - it's a pretty song to end on and quite charming. This could be milked for singles for months. No wonder Simon Curtis cites them as one of his main influences for his upcoming album. Immensicles.
• Infernal ~ Fall From Grace: A bold album title that could backfire a bit, as there's nothing on here that is quite as brilliant as Redefinition or Punk Disco. However, following a couple of listens, it's actually a solid pop album that should sustain their loyal following for a good while yet. Love Is All remains a strong, if not outstanding pop-dance single that bubbles along nicely. New single Alone Together has shades of Abba with Please Yourself era Bananarama and that can only be a good thing. it's a much stronger option than Love Is All and a decent reminder of how great they can be. The rest of the album weaves together a pop tapestry of danceable numbers including the scintillating title track and frankly quite bonkers Weird How You. There are flashes of brilliance in the final four tracks of the album when the duo pull out the stops to complete their journey on a flaming high. Nice to have them back :) More Paw photoshoots please :P

Ace of Base singles ~ All For You; Black Sea; Golden Ratio; Doreen; Vision In Blue
Infernal singles ~ Love Is All; Alone, Together; Bite The Bullet; Fall From Grace

Ola Svensson has just started his own label Oliniho releasing new album "Ola" on it and having loads of plans to make album huge (internationally as well) already demonstrates some nice ideas of its promotion like tour documentary cut with new song "Beautiful Rain" as backing track to it (soon it can be released at planned Ola's DVD). And I should say it works really great with this video, I even feel sorry I haven't given this song proper massive listening as this nice mix of U2 vibes and contemporary pop with utterly tasty chorus sounding really internationally. Oh and did you see that crazy fans crowd trying to touch Ola? This is so true picture! When I've visited two Rix-Fm concerts in Sweden two years ago both time I was almost trampled both times during Ola's performance, now it's time for Ola to get this success on a world level!

Swedish general selections are over with the victory of reigning political block and nationalistic block Sweden Democrats getting to Parliament that caused loads of scandals and demonstrations against. You could also read many negative words on different artists' blogs and twitters and even find stars like Ola and Erik Hassle being engaged in company against Sweden Democrats (check this video). But let's put attention on a more positive side of it. SVT recently has organized show-event Demokratifesten in Göteborg involving artists like Charlotte Perrelli, Magnus Carlsson, Sanna Nielsen and Anders Ekborg so don't forget to check performances. If duo of Charlotte and Magnus wasn't new for audience (as whole Summer this couple was promoting their single "Mitt livs gemål") with Fleetwood Mac's cover "Don't Stop", Anders Ekborg first time appeared on such a huge event with his new single "I Do Believe", Sanna Nielsen was just as lovely as she can be with Tears for Fears' "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" and it's a lot, check yourself!

One of the most anticapated Swedish pop-releases of the years has arrived and you can already listen all songs from Ola's album "Ola" released on his own new label Oliniha below.
Range of different styles and directions explored by Ola's is impressive and execution is very high, you can see some very respectable names in songwriters list - Tony Nilsson, Alexander Kronlund, Dimitri Stassos, Linda Sundblad, Sharon Vaughn, Per Aldeheim, Ali Payami and many others. Ola has co-written all songs.

Let's check what's this disc is made of right now!!! Album starts from one of the best pieces "All Over The World" - Ola's version of Agnes' "Release Me" and Alcazar's "Headlines", amazing example of how great can strings and dance music work together. "Unstoppable (The Return of Natalie)" is another already well-known track that became #1 hit this Spring, Alexander Kronlund worked before on Britney's "If U Seek Amy" and you can hear it in this track but with much more power, energy and expression. "You're That Girl (YTG)" is previously unheard track that was co-written with Linda Sundblad and it turns album to completely new direction, clapping verses with morning in the city mood and light retro touch, very charming positive track. And here comes "Riot" (I guess my favorite on this album) - modern pop-track with electrified arrangement and computerized vocals and perfect pop-tune with double chorus that's gonna drive any pop-fan crazy. "Overdrive" turned to be another #1 single of Ola but later - this Summer, it's warm nice guitar pop track that you easily start to sing along with. "Beautiful Rain" is another modern-pop track with gorgeous arrangement perfectly mixing guitars, electro-synths and hard beats, built by perfect pop-principles, double chorus with repetitive finish and tasty middle eight. Ola doesn't slow down temp with "Busy Doing Nothing" - catchy midtempo-track with attitude and nice twist in melody easily falling into your memory. "Still Remember" was released a bit earlier this year, nicely produced, emotional but not depressive ballad that you could expect to hear on Darin's album but Ola makes it on his own. "Let It Hit You" is comeback to midtempo with tasty beats and computerized vocals, probably not hit but as not single track quite nice. Album's finishing with the most beautiful and touching ballad "Twisted Memories", Sharon Vaughn is real expert in writing very emotional ballads with torn feelings and eyes full of tears so it's gonna be amazing point of her discography and perfect finish of Ola's album.
In his recent interview to scandipop Ola revealed that after international success of "All Over The World" he's gonna make it next single and actually they plan to make four more singles. Impressive for just 10-tracks albums but there's really great tracklist to choose. What would you choose as new singles? If "All Over The World" is already planned for release I would prefer specially revamped "Twisted Memories" closer to Christmas, "Riot" next Spring and "Y.T.G." as Summer single.
Also check Scandinavian version of "Camp Rock 2" soundtrack that Ola recently recorded with Mohammed Ali and Endre Nordvik.

1 All Over The World (Alexander Kronlund, Ola Svensson, Tony Nilsson, Mirja Breitholz)
2 Unstoppable (The Return of Natalie) (Alexander Kronlund, Dimitri Stassos, Hanif Sabzevari, Ola Svensson)
3 You're That Girl (YTG) (Alexander Kronlund, Linda Sundblad, Ola Svensson, Lukas Hilbert)
4 Riot (Gavin Jones, Ola Svensson, Tony Nilsson)
5 Overdrive (Sharon Vaughn, Dimitri Stassos, Ola Svensson, Mikaela Stenström)
6 Beautiful Rain (Alexander Kronlund, Ola Svensson)
7 Busy Doing Nothing (Per Aldeheim, Ola Svensson, Tommy Ljungberg)
8 Still Remember (Alexander Kronlund, Ola Svensson, Ali Payami)
9 Let It Hit You (Alexander Kronlund, Timothie McKenzie, Ola Svensson)
10 Twisted Memories (Per Aldeheim, Sharon Vaughn, Ola Svensson, Tommy Ljungberg)

Autumn has just started and we've already got whole bunch of planned exciting album-releases, I should collect all of them in one post.
- Magnus Carlsson's new album "Pop Galaxy" will be released already on September 22th but before we'll get another single "The Best In Me".
- It's just few days till new Ola's album "Ola" (September 15th).
- Erik Hassle's EP with 4 new songs is planned for the end of September.
- Nanne Grönvall's album "En Rastlös Själ" is ready to hit shops on October 6th.
- After 6 years Stephen Simmonds releases new album "Anomie" in October.
- Jennie Berggren's album "My Story" release was moved to October 13th.
- A little bit earlier Ace Of Base will release album "The Golden Ratio" on September 24th with first single "All For You" planned to be released already today.
- Caroline af Ugglas after huge success of previous year is back with new album planned for September 22th publishing as well book "Hjälp, vem är jag?" (Help, who am I?)
- EMD's album "Rewind" release was firstly carried from August 25th to the end of October but now you can find its release in some shops marked with December 31th.
- Albums from Linda Pritchard, Titiyo, Tove Styrke, Lisa Miskovsky, Love Generation, second EP from Gravitonas and Christmas album from Måns Zelmerlöw are to be expected.
- Sanna Nielsen's just released her last single "Part Of Me" and ready for new release of Christmas album with Shirley Clamp and Sonja Aldén, this time due to title "Vår Jul" (translation of English title of previous album "Our Christmas" that obviously says tracklist won't be different in common) it's gonna be in Swedish.
- Amy Diamond after 5 studio-albums is ready for compilation "Greatest Hits" that will be out on November 3rd.
Not enough to be excited? It's alright, it's just the first days of Autumn ;)

It's just 20 days till new Ola's album titled... "Ola"(!!!) will be released on Septemer 15th and we've got cover and tracklist already today. As you can see below it's just 10 songs but I have no doubts it will be totally great stuff at least 4 of songs was already released and they are not less than good but mostly amazing and I'm not leaving hope (or should I?) that "All Over The World" wil be released as single as its clearly one of the best pop-songs of this year. How come we don't have tracklist of EMD's album that's released already tomorrow?

1. All Over The World
2. Unstoppable (The Return Of Natalie)
3. Y.T.G
4. Riot
5. Overdrive
6. Beautiful Rain
7. Busy Doing Nothing
8. Still Remember
9. Let It Hit You
10. Twisted Memories

This post should have gone up yesterday, but then I got all distracted by the X Factor. Then I got distracted by all the palava about the X Factor autotune malarky. Crikey. And then I spent far too long gazing at the new Robbie Williams single sleeve for Shame (which I shall probably be writing a lot about on Thursday). Then Darren came in looking all sorts of fine, so I know where that led. Then i woke up with a gunky eye and here I am. Better late than never are my six songs for Sunday. On a Monday. Perhaps you can save them for next Sunday. Waffle over...

Six Songs For Sunday:

• CJ Baran ~ Boomerang: You may or may not remember CJ Baran as one part of power pop group Push Play. They made some nice tunes. CJ looked quite nice in a suit. They split up (I think). Fear not, because CJ is actually shining as a solo star. He has managed to put together a collection of stonking tunes that are not only reminiscent of a Dr. Luke sound, but have a definite electro-pop vibe (drenched in funk and disco) about them that just sizzles. BOOMerang is an essential getting ready to go out tune guaranteed to get you singing along and put you in a proper bonza mood. The "boom boom boom" refrain in the chorus is a slice of genius and a semi-rapped middle 8 with wiggly synth noises is incredibly addictive. And if that has whet your appetite for more, be sure to check out his response ditty to California Gurls on youtube. Amazing.
• Mans Zelmerlow ~ Et Maintenant: Oh Mans. You speak French too! Is there no end to your charms?! The dishy Swedish pop star belted out a gorgeous broadway ready version of the French standard this weekend in Sweden. He was backed by a full orchestra giving a grandiose to the proceedings often missing in these popstar performances for tv shows. Even if you don't understand what he is singing about, he imbues the performance with such grace, passion and elegance that it is mesmerising. The dramatic ending is all sorts of wonderful. And yes, that is Marie Serneholt looking on in the first few seconds. Heavenly.

• A1 ~ In Love and I Hate It: A1 are back! Again! This is their third single since their reform as a trio and possibly their best yet. It's definitely their cleverest title so far and that has to count for something does it not? It has a very gentle, acoustic built verse before a sparkling chorus comes flying in and builds into a powerfully propelled not quite ballad with enormous singalong potential. The boys (collectively and individually) have proved they can throw out an amazing pop tune or two and this is a worthy addition to the collection. Some clever lyrics reflect the juxtaposition of the title song (matching love/hate; agony/ecstasy) and the general instrumental perkiness is a nice antidote to the futile situation the boys find themselves in. The voices sound great, the tune is fantastic and it's upped my anticipation levels for a fine new album from the lads.
• Ola ~ Fire: It's pretty relentless when you are a Swedish popstar. Darin's output this year is crazy. Eric is on single 4 from his 3 month old debut album. And Ola has barely finished with his latest EP and he's contributing to the Swedish version of the Camp Rock 2 soundtrack with the funk-hop vibed Fire. It's perfectly in keeping with Ola's recent output so sits nicely in his discography and he looks great singing along with Mohammed and Endre in the video. It's Disney with an everso miniscule pop-cool edge and I love it :)

• Westlife ~ Viva La Vida/You Raise Me Up: Oh Westlife. 11 years on and I still adore you. Despite the woeful lack of promotion of their fine Where We Are album, the boys have been ploughing forward with a series of immense concerts that has culminated with a Steve Anderson produced acoustic set in Dublin. Sadly I wasn't there, but that is what the power of youtube is for! Their cover of Viva La Vida put a different spin on recent versions by Darin and Pet Shop Boys, but perfectly showcased the boys vocal control and was soundtracked by a glorious & sumptuous string section. Mark's vocal is quite spinetingling and as they come out of the instrumental middle 8, the song just flies, soars and majestically floats around the arena. Oh, and their acoustic reading of You Raise Me Up had me goosebumping like crazy. This HAS to be released on dvd :)
• The Hoosiers ~ Who Said Anything (About Falling In Love): I've heard all the buzz and great reviews around the new Hoosiers sound and so of course I had to delve in and try it for myself. Thanks to XO, I have an instant favourite from the album. It's not brilliantly representative of what is on the album, but it is a dramatic pop tune built around some luxurious keyboard riffs, a gentle shuffling beat and then a delicious string section in the chorus. It's vaguely reminiscent of Tears For Fears and if The Feeling have a tune as delightful as this on their next album, I will be over the moon :)

Top 21 singles of the week:

21 ~ Eric Saade, It's Gonna Rain
20 ~ Darin, Can't Stop Love
19 ~ Kylie, All The Lovers
18 ~ Brandon Flowers, Crossfire
17 ~ Same Difference, Shine On Forever
16 ~ Alesha Dixon, Drummer Boy
15 ~ Ace of Base, All For You
14 ~ Sophie Ellis Bextor, Not Giving Up On Love (NE)
13 ~ Maroon 5, Give A Little More (NE/PIC)
12 ~ Gabriella Cilmi, Love Me Cos You Want To
11 ~ McFly, Party Girl
10 ~ Eric Saade, Masquerade
09 ~ Gravitonas, Religious (NE)
08 ~ Scissor Sisters, Any Which Way
07 ~ Bright LightX2, Love Part II
06 ~ Maroon 5, Misery
05 ~ DeeDee, Balls
04 ~ Kylie, Get Outta My Way
03 ~ Kelly Rowland, Shake Them Haters Off
02 ~ Amy Meredith, Lying
01 ~ Darin, Lovekiller (3 weeks)

Coming soon: Gravitonas. Robbie Williams. Gary Barlow. Boybands. McFly.

Sommarkrysset keeps presenting some great hits of this Summer along with amazing performances. Firstly I should mention premieres of new Darin's song "Microphone" - one of the greatest tracks from just released album "Lovekiller" (Darin also presented his last single "Lovekiller") and comeback-single of Patrik Isaksson "Mitt Stockholm" - quite pleasant melodic song in usual Patrik's style. Lovestoned promoting currently single "Rising Girl" in Sweden has provided joyful performance of the song. Folk's favorite Ola who's ready to release his next album has sung his Summer hit "Overdrive". Fabulous schlager-diva Sanna Nielsen obviously beloved by the crowd presented her Summer single "Devotion" with choir and Celine Dion's "That's The Way It Is". Broken Door performed their hit "Angel" behind girls providing the most weird angelic choreography that could be imagined if real angels came down to dance at Gröna Lund stage but however it didn't make the song less brilliant and I should notice that soon band will release new single "In the Shadow". Rock-band Johnossi has also decided to perform well-known hit of this Summer "What's the point" as Oskar Linnros with "Från och med du" and Kikki Danielsson with "Let this light shine forever". Flo Rida was invited as foreign guest and being very well met by public performed David Guetta's produced "Club can’t handle me".

Darin - Microphone
Darin - Lovekiller
Johnossi - What's The Point
Patrik Isaksson - Mitt Stockholm
Flo Rida – Club can’t handle me
Sanna Nielsen - Thats the way it is
Lovestoned - Rising girl
Oskar Linnros - Från och med du
Ola - Overdrive
Broken door - Angel
Sanna Nielsen - Devotion

Creative activity of Eric Saade this Summer is quite high to hardly follow all of events he participates in and it's obviously effective as his album keeps in Top-20 since its release in May and currently its at #5. Surprisingly third Eric's single "Break Of Dawn" didn't succeed quite well and as debut "Sleepless" has spent only one week in chart but one position lower - at #45 and though his team released new mix version of the song being made not less than Le Kid it didn't help a lot. You can check Le Family remix below and convince yourself it's a really worthy track.

Right now Eric starts promoting his new single - effort to comeback to his Manboy-pop with a song "Masquerade" written by Eric with Anton Malmberg and Tony Malm of Le Kid. In my opinion it's not as successful choice as "It's Gonna Rain" but still it's a good radio-pop song - modern, catchy, well-produced and finally it works very well with just released video. Plot of the video continues previous video for "Break Of Dawn" with Eric playing role of servant fallen in love with the noble girl and coming to masquerade ball rushing all of his passion right on her. Surprisingly noble family's not so enthusiastic about this schlager-orgy right in front of all the guests and right after Eric's losing his head on a ball he's losing it literaly in the end of the party.

Last week Eric was also honoured to present his new single on tv-show Lotta På Liseberg and as always performance turned to a huge entertainment for obviously happy audience with nice choreography and costumes.

And finally great news! You have a chance to visit Eric's concert virtually. Set of concerts is organized by Aftonbladet's awards Rockbjörnen and right here you can book your free ticket to Eric's concert that will be held on August 18th at 21 of local time. Among other performers who will also arrange such virtual concerts that you can get tickets for are Mando Diao, The Ark, Salem al Fakir, Ola, Robyn and Anna Bergendahl.

I have to say that I am really enjoying doing these video breakdowns a la Adam Tyler's brillo Friction on Monday... and it seems that is all I will be doing this week, what with the Maroon 5 video airing tomorrow and something amazing being released (finally) on Friday :) So once again the review of The Like/The Pipettes gets pushed until it's probably so irrelevant that i'll be reviewing their respective third albums. Oh well, lets have a looky at what is going on at ye olde youtube today...

Hugh Sheridan ~ Speak Love:


Sigh. Shouldn't Hugh be a lot bigger in Australia by now? Are people (other than Aaron) not really seeing what I am seeing? He's a jolly good looking lad, decent voice, catchy tunes with a pleasing throwback to the classic motown sound... Perhaps releasing the title track from his album (a lovely romantic dreamy ballad, slightly reswizzled for the masses) in conjunction with a third series of his hit show Packed To The Rafters will give him an additional boost. I hope so. It's one tv-popstar I wouldn't like to see fall by the wayside (even if his video is bloody disabled from embedding, grrr)...

• It's Hugh! He's all hazy at first, but soon comes into focus and I must say he is looking rather lovely. Oh look, at about 10seconds, he actually notices that we are here waiting for him to sing. He does. Lovely obliging fellow...
• He's got incredibly white teeth, and then as evidenced at the twenty second mark, quite nice eyes too. Very blue. Whenever I talk about eyes, i'm reminded of Cordelia in Buffy saying "my eyes are blue, Helen Keller". Classic
• Now lots of people have eyes! Who knew?! I suppose eyes are the windows to the soul... one woman (the third to be shown at about 33 seconds) could do with some help in how to make her eye liner blend more subtley...
• The whole video starts to become very Love, Actually The Musical. There are people holding hands and writing messages of love on glass. Which is very romantic, but like scattering rose petals across a bedroom, a bit of a nightmare to clean up! I am romantic but practical :) Oh and Love actually does remain one of my very favourite movies!
• From about one minute onwards, there are more messages and Hugh singing in a very impassioned way. I really do like his duffle jacket/coat. It's quite amazing isn't it?
• It's a really simple but effective video for a simple yet endearing song. More and more people walk past Hugh until he has quite the congregation behind him. The song remains the focal point but the visuals are pleasingly thought out. At around 2m45s everyone starts to write on the glass as the song kicks into it's final stages.
• Give you hope. Keep smiling. May you find peace and happiness. World vision. Hope you are ok. It's all platitudes and a little bit cheesy, but the lyrics of the song make the visuals work and that's what a good video should do...
• The video finishes with Hugh writing "speak love" on the glass, walking off and continuing to look sickeningly attractive. Git :)

Ola Svensson ~ Overdrive:

As previously discussed, Ola has had a rather brilliant and underrated (at least globally) run of singles in his native Sweden. He's back with a new track that in my opinion is rather overshadowed by the excellent All Over The World on his Overdrive EP. But hey, at least there is a nice video to go with it and it's definitely rating quite high on the charm-o-metre...

• Good god. Scabby BB11 fever is taking over the world. Ola clearly lives in a squat. He is in a mattress on the floor and the place is a right tip. Still, according to ace film Worried About The Boy, that's how Boy George got his start so perhaps it is a popstar right of passage?
• He's obviously not a morning person as he looks well moody and tired. Still, this is balanced out with some gratuitous shots of his naked flesh and you can almost hear people booing (not me, I hasten to add) when he puts his sparklingly clean vest on!
• Dear God! although it's not entirely obvious, at 22s he has obviously gone for a piss! Now we all know these things take place first thing in the morning, but does the video have to make it so implicit? I like to think that toxins are just osmosed out of pop stars pores as rose petals. I do not need reality shattering. bad, ola, bad.
• A PISS! He actually went for a piss! I am still not over this!
• His kitchen, though in dire need of a dousing in Ajax, is quite ok. Well I like the colour of the kitchen cabinets anyway, and the empty pizza box made me very peckish indeed...
• At 45-50s we learn that Ola has a very itchy left arm and an amazingly magical disappearing coffee cup. How frustrating would that be - your lughole is just ready for some deep bean tastes and then the bloody thing isn't in your hand anymore. This clearly explains why Ola is in a bit of a paddy!
• I am shocked that Ola lives in a towerblock. That isn't me being snobby - usually popstars live in swanky apartments or mansions (at least in the world of pop video). bravo Ola for appealing to the masses (though a lick of paint inside wouldn't hurt - the place looks like the lifts stink of widdle)!
• Gosh, what is going on? Ola is running for his little life through a nice field. Look at him go! He is possibly being chased by a werewolf or a rabbit or something equally as terrifying. And! In a very tenuous link alert - he is wearing a hooded outerwear jacket just like Hugh! Incredible!
• Heavens! From 1m20 til 1m40 he is still running as fast as his legs will carry him - he sort of falls over a car parked under a bridge in the car. The man in the car comes out and gets a bit fisty (ie, shakes his fist not the other type of fisty - although to be fair, parked in a field, under a bridge. Total suspish!). In a subtle as the weeing in the bathroom moment, Ola most probably gives him the finger. Charming :P
• Finally, Ola has a sit down on a bench. He is probably all tuckered out. And who wouldn't be?! Serendipitously, there is a fella next to him playing guitar and he is playing Overdrive! How incredible is that?!
• At around the 2m mark, Ola goes into what I assume is a quaint local antique shop, picks something up and then leaves without paying! This video is full of Ola being ever so naughty! No wonder a few seconds later he is run run running as fast as he can!
• Oh really, this is making me exhausted. The guy is fit as (in exercise terms, in other fit terms, well yes, i'm becoming marginally attracted to him)... At 2m45s he is bent over (oo nice) gasping for air. I was practically heaving just watching him run!!
• There is even more running. I think this is for two reasons - one; to distract from Ola's hair. It's ok, he pulls it off, but it's not the best style he could have and two; it is a deep metaphorical analogy that he is in "overdrive" and therefore must proceed at a million miles per hour. The visual representation of his inner turmoil is an increasingly valid form of art expression in today's society. or some such twaddle!!
• No, that is completely wrong. Actually he is building up speed so that at 3m50s he can break through the wall with his "overdrive". Essentially he is the hulk, but blonde and skinny. The song is still quite good though...

And there you have it. Tomorrow - a full breakdown of THIS!!

Today new Ola's video for his last single "Overdrive" was premiered by Aftonbladet. Very summerish nice and simple video showing day of Ola - waking up in his bedroom (yep, we watched it recently in videos of Eric Saade and Erik Grönwall), walking on the street and running-running-running - around the city, somewhere outside at meadow, on the beach finally being stopped by the wall (that seemed to be really hurtful for both Ola and wall). Enjoy!