06 Hey Ya by poppostergirl
The side of Niklas--he's Swedish, of course--I appreciate most is oriented towards commercial pop-dance. If you've ever thrilled to Velvet's "Fix Me" or "Chemistry" (or that demo "Superlove") you've appreciated his work. He's done some more ballady pop-rock, too, though, with songs on the Bratz Rock Angelz soundtrack and the Dutch girl group Band Candy's album. What I find so unusual (and frustrating), though, is that, in a time in which Swedish songwriters' names pop up on album around the globe, his body of released work seems...limited.
Today's song is by an act that Niklas was closely involved in, in the way that the Von der Burgs are with involved with September. If you love the idea of an album in the style of Velvet's "Mi Amore" (though that's not one of the Velvet songs Niklas co-wrote) or Arash's female-fronted songs, you'll enjoy Starclub. You might know the voice, Daisy, for her post-Starclub song "Everytime," which ditches any of the vague Latin/Indian/Middle Eastern/whatever influences that Starclub songs might have for a more pure dance sound. Anyway, the project resulted in the release of a few singles, "Chiki Chiki" being the most known, but almost all Starclub's songs, even the ones that never made it out of Eastern Europe, are summery fun. "Hey Ya" is no exception, though it was a tough choice to decide which song to feature; from "Electric Kiss" to "Perfect Ten" to the remix of "You Believed In Me" to "Play It Real" to "Sunshine," Starclub doesn't lack for songs that put a little grin on your face, make you bob your head (or swing your hips) just a bit, and imagine yourself in your own little beachside cabana.(I've seen this song referred to as "Hey Na," but I'm pretty sure Niklas called it "Hey Ya" and that's what it sounds like to me, so I'm going with that [plus, I was too locked in with the Last.fm playcount to seriously consider changing the title].)
In other Niklas Pettersson news, he's got a song called "I Learned The Hard Way" on his MySpace that has Velvet providing the vocals, though given Jenny "Velvet" Petterson's history of singing demos, it's probably best not to expect it to be a Velvet song. It's catchy pop-rock. Maybe even better, though, are the other two songs. "Say It Again" is slinky electronic pop, while "Feel My Love," more on the dance tip, is also very much worth listening to.
