No way, not in this world I'm gonna fall for someone cheesy like yourself, find somebody else

Swedish music update:

Jessica mentioned Darin doing a cover of Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" a few days ago and linked to a trailer for Idols which featured it (you may have to wait for an ad to play first). In typical Darin style, it sounds great; I imagine I'll like it more than the original. In all likelihood it was produced by Johan "Kermit" Bobäck. Apparently said cover, which puts an electronic beat beneath the song, will be released on Friday and is a new single.



In further Darin single news, Scandipop announced that "Breathing Your Love" will be released in the UK in November. Still a fantastic song (it took the #6 spot on my Favorite Singles of 2008 countdown).



Kim-Lian (a Dutch singer best known for the great "Teenage Superstar") and Linda Bengtzing (who like Scandipop I have to say is my Swedish diva of choice) have released the video for their much-anticipated (well, by maybe a couple dozen people online) collaboration "Not That Kinda Girl." It's way more poppy than I anticipated given Kim-Lian's move towards a somewhat harder pop-rock sound and comes across to my ears like a mix of Pink's "So What" and Lady Gaga with a big helping pure pop thrown in (though in retrospect I have to agree with a commentor who pointed out an "If U Seek Amy" similarity in the beat in the verses and with EurovisionEssex who called it "Katy Perry schlager"). We're not talking something that's going to get taken to the US or UK here, but if you love your Swedish pop (which I think we can at least partially count this as, given the Linda connection--though it's the lead single from Kim-Lian's upcoming album--and its songwriters), you'll probably enjoy this. It may not be schlager, but hey, at least it's got those schlagery "ah-hah"s and, if Linda still loves rock, she could do worse than to release songs in this vein. Plus: Linda in English! Not that she's ever needed it to make the amazingness of her songs apparent, but it's a nice treat.

(Before you say anything, yes, we all know the outfits are ridiculous.)



I really like Sweden's entry to this year's Junior Eurovision Song Contest. Sure, it probably won't do well, but to my ears, "Du," written by thirteen year old performer Mimmi Sandén (yes, another of the Sandén sisters) and co-written and produced by Alexander Kronlund and Ali Payami, does an admirable job of taking a pinch of relevant-to-contemporary-R&B-pop-radio production and mixing it with Swedish pure pop. I've had "ah oh ah" stuck in my head since the Melodimen wrote about it.

Oldish news: Basic Element's next single "Baby Baby" features work from Empire Music (Alcazar's "Burning," West End Girls, Star Pilots). They've previously collaborated on "Out Of This World" from their album Empire Strikes Back.