Sometimes I post because I've heard a song I love and think other people will love, too. Other times, though, my posts are self-indulgent professions of love for songs I have no expectation that other people will love, except maybe a few people if I'm lucky. This post is one of those latter cases.Yes, Swedish singer Anders Johansson is often seen as a one-man Westlife (though to say that with a totally negative connotation would be to forget about songs like "Something Right," "When You're Looking Like That," "World Of Our Own," and "Amazing," on which Anders provided backing vocals). Yes, commercial success has been eluding him lately. Yes, his latest single is, like "Alone," a cover of an '80s ballad. Let's not forget, though, that "Alone" was his best single in years: who knew Heart's power ballad would lend itself so well to the one man boy band style?
Apparently under the new name Anders Fernette (though I've yet to see radio stations referring to him with that name), he's just sent out his latest single to radios. What is it? A cover of this:
Listen to a clip of Anders's version here.
Setting aside for the moment that if anything has a Dirty Dancing connection I'm legally obligated to love it, I'm surprised at how much I'm enjoying his cover--it's not amazing, but it is a good listen. It's been popped up a bit and had a mid-tempo beat put underneath it; the end result sounds sort of like something that Swedish boy band E.M.D. might do. Considering that that group has generally failed to impress me, you might expect that to be a condemnation, but it's not: this is just on the "good" side of the spectrum of that style. I'm a fan of Anders's voice, too, so to be honest that probably helps elevate the song for me: he's done some good up-tempo pop-rock songs and some dull ballads, but give him a good ballad and he brings something to it many artists don't.
I'm not quite sure when "Hungry Eyes" gets its single release, but I'll let you know or update this post when I find out. If you're new to him, my favorite of his original songs is probably "Is He The One."
