Discover me

Songwriter update:

I reported earlier that British (but with an American deal with Lava Records) singer Jessie J, who may now be going by Jessie, was working with Dr. Luke and Claude Kelly. We've since had the opportunity to hear what must be at least one result from that collaboration: Miley Cyrus's "Party in the USA," co-written by Luke, Claude, and Jessie. Hopefully, though, we'll hear better things sung by Jessie herself on her debut album, supposedly due out this year. I'm skeptical about that actually happening--the buzz behind the singer, more formally known as Jessica Cornish, needs more time to build.

Lucas Secon, the co-writer of songs like the Pussycat Dolls' "I Hate This Part," Martin's "Show The World," and Sarah Connor's "Under My Skin," is working on a new song with Britney Spears, according to his latest MySpace blog. He says he's also the producer of the lead single for Toni Braxton's new album, Pulse, which was written by him and Makeba Riddick. "Get Loose," a Toni track which leaked late last year, is still a great listen. "Resuscitate Me," which he reports is the "Say It"-following second single from Booty Luv's second album, is co-written by him as well.

Sharon Vaughn, co-writer of Agnes's "Release Me," has a song on her MySpace called "Penny on the Sidewalk" which sounds like it's being sung by Fredrik Kempe, the Swedish opera and pop singer who, despite two solo albums, is best known recently for his songwriting work. It could be an old song , but if you've missed Fredrik's voice or are completionist about the work of Kempe, Vaughn, Per Magnusson, or David Kreuger, its writers, head over there. If you're only a fan of Kempe's up-tempo, poppy productions, though, it's not for you. The (female) voice on "Dreamers Don't Get Much Sleep" also sounds familiar, though I can't quite place who it is.

Fibes, Oh Fibes!'s album 1987, released this week, features songs by Spandau Ballet's Gary Kemp and Pontus and Petter Winnberg (the former being one-half of Bloodshy & Avant), among other talents more known to Swedes.

Swedish singer and former Alcazar and Barbados member Magnus Carlsson continues to work on his upcoming pop album (to be preceded by a holiday album this year, last I heard), Pop Galaxy, due in February of next year (you have to raise an eyebrow at that choice). He's continued to record with Pitchline (Velvet's "Come Into The Night" and "Take My Body Close") and Hitvision (and as mentioned before, Emil Hellman of SoundFactory contributed to some of them); some of the possible inclusions are called "Addicted To You" and "Last One To Stand."

Allison Iraheta, the fourth place finisher on the last season of American Idol, has worked with Toby Gad for her debut album, planned for a fall release...but really, who hasn't worked with him at this point, especially out of the Idol contestants?

Fred Ball (of Pleasure and work with Bertine Zetlitz) has contributed as a writer and producer to Girls Can't Catch's upcoming album.

Pascal Gabriel is working with Ladyhawke (on her second album), Example, Goldfrapp, and Marina & the Diamonds (we may have heard some of the resulting creations already).

The tracklist for the Saturdays' second album is out; Ina Wroldsen, co-writer of the majority of their first album, has done "No One," "One Shot," "Baby Baby," "Denial," "Wordshaker," "Open Up," and "Deeper." She's also contributed "Discover Me" to Girls Can't Catch's album, "My Hands" and "Heartbeat" to Leona Lewis's (earlier her two Leona contributions were called "Thank You, Thank You" and "My Heart," so I'm guessing they've just been renamed), "My Man," "Get Up (Stronger Man)," "Punching Out," and "I Had Him First" to Jade Ewen's, and "Before The Rain"'s to Alexandra Burke's. She's also got a song called "Not For You" which is listed as a Kylie Minogue release, but I don't have the Kylie knowledge to know whether that's a song that's come out already or not (it could also be the same song as Natalie Bassingthwaighte's "Not For You," also by Ina).

#42 Ladyhawke, "My Delirium"

I won't eat and I won't sleep for you, yeah-ah-ah-ah-ah

No rest till I get through
'Cause I'm holding out for you
Am I the only one who's insa-a-a-a-a-a-a-ane?

One of the instant highlights from Ladyhawke's great debut solo album, "My Delirium" is more top-quality music from Pip, who on this track receives some help from top pop songwriter Hannah Robinson as well as Pascal Gabriel and Alex Gray. It's a transporting track with instant appeal as well as rewards it doles out only with time. The partially animated video, a dreamy cross between a-ha's "Take On Me" and Thelma & Louise, may have been done mainly to allow Ladyhawke to avoid doing much performing for the camera, but it's a perfect match for the song.

Find it on: Ladyhawke

#52 Ladyhawke, "Back Of The Van"

'Cause you set me on, you set me on, you set me on fire

New Zealand singer Ladyhawke, born Pip Brown, has not only been praised so much that it's becoming cliché, it's been written so many times that she's much praised but actually lives up to the hype that even that claim is becoming cliché. It doesn't make it any less true or necessary of stating, though--she released what might just be the best album of the year. "Back Of The Van," a mid-tempo ballad, is a good illustration of what makes her '80's synth-pop sound so special, even in an era where mining the '80's for inspiration has become commonplace. Stevie Nicks and Pat Benatar are reference points often used, but Adem did the best job I've seen yet of picking words that sum up what makes Ladyhawke so special: she sounds like a disco romantic. "Back Of The Van"'s gorgeousness sweeps you off your feet and spins you around through a world where the '80's are made modern, immediately relevant, and wistfully, lovingly alive.

Find it on: Ladyhawke

#70 PNAU feat. Ladyhawke, "Embrace"

(That's not Ladyhawke in the video, by the way.)


On a night like tonight,
You saved my life

I know talking about American clothing retailer Forever 21 is hardly going to win me any cool points, but if you were an American who knew of some place where you could hear Ladyhawke mixed into Eric Prydz's "Pjanoo" mixed into this song, you'd spend half your shopping time there, too. Part electronic music, part dance, part pop, "Embrace" is the sort of song to get both hipsters and pop music fans excited. Catchy and swathed in synths, it's also a song with a beating heart, a fact never made more clear than when Ladyahwke sings the line that gives the song its title, "Still got time for someone/Be my embrace now." It's the sort of fully fleshed out exciting sound that I'd kill to hear on the dancefloor, but, failing that, even a bargain-priced clothing store meant for teenage girls will do.

Find it on: PNAU

Try to find some more stars

While I'm engaging in pointless ways to evaluate an album, the tracklist for the Alesha album, The Alesha Show, looks pretty great. Special shout-out to track 12.

1.) Welcome To The Alesha Show
2.) Let's Get Excited
3.) Breathe Slow
4.) Cinderella Shoe
5.) The Boy Does Nothing
6.) Chasing Ghosts
7.) Play Me
8.) Hand It Over
9.) Do You Know The Way It Feels
10.) Can I Begin
11.) Italians Do It Better
12.) Ooh Baby I Like It Like That
13.) Don't Ever Let Me Go
14.) I'm Thru
15.) Mystery (hidden track)

I hope the cover is as awesome as it should be.

In other news, why on Earth did no one tell me Martin Stenmarck had recorded a new English language song? Granted, it's for charity--the Scandic Sustainability Fund, run by this hotel chain--but still, any Martin at all is always more than welcome. It's called "A Million Candles Burning" and you can stream it here or buy it from Swedish iTunes (if you're from Sweden) here (possibly the best thing about this whole project is that whoever came up with the remix name decided to call it the "Sustainable Mix." Brilliant). It's at #2 in the Swedish singles chart, but that means absolutely nothing in terms of how popular the song actually is. Maybe of more meaning is its entry into Sverige Topp 40 (which mixes albums and singles, so I really don't what it actually means either), which combines sales and TV and radio play, at #17.

I know I'll probably never get around to actually writing about it like I should, but the new Sugababes album is great. Really, it is. And I've still not written about the fantastic Ladyhawke album yet, have I? Needs to be done. Albums that I found (to steal a phrase) worthy were pretty scarce in the first half of the year, but that's been changing over the past few months luckily. So far, I think I'd put Ladyhawke, Sugababes, Kate Ryan, probably Will Young on the list, though there are a couple of albums I've only just bought/got that I'll need to properly listen to a few more times before I make a judgment call (and I may be forgetting something).

My favorite album of the year so far, though? It's never been challenged since March. I've never done a proper write-up of it and I don't think I could even come close to doing it justice if I tried, but that may not stop me from trying at some point in the next few months, if I can ever figure out how to put into words my adoration of it, how exciting I find it. It's an album I'll recommend to anyone and everyone (recommendation was in fact how I first listened to it), but, oddly enough, it's not an album I can ever envision myself listening to with someone else unless it was in the most intimate of circumstances.

What is it?



In other news, Darin and David Jassy wrote American boy band (and My Fizzy Pop post subjects) V Factory's new single "Love Struck." Listen to it here. I could be completely wrong on this, but doesn't it even sound like you can hear Darin on the backing vocals sometimes? Speaking of Darin, you can also watch a video (in Swedish) of the making of the video for "Breathing Your Love" here.

According to an interview, he's got a record contract in France now.