Mexican group Belanova's new single, "Nada de más," comes out August 2, apparently. You can listen to a clip below. It sounds pretty fantastic, but then again, I would expect nothing less for the lead single for their new album, Sueño Electro I.
Swedish singer Nanne's new album, En Rastlös Själ, comes out October 6. It's been preceded by the singles "Otacksamhet" and "I Natt Är Jag Din," with one more, the title track, to be released August 18. The cover of the album is at left and the single cover can be viewed here. Other upcoming Swedish albums you may be interested in: Darin's Lovekiller (August 18), Ola's new album (September 15--at least, that's what I read at one point, but Ola now says that it's only 28 days away), and Robyn's Body Talk Pt. II (September 6 internationally). You should be able to buy all those albums from Bengans, though Ola's album isn't listed yet and it probably makes more financial sense to buy Robyn's album from a music distributor in your home country.
The third proper single from the reformed a1, following on "Take You Home" and "Don't Wanna Lose You Again," is "In Love And I Hate It." It's out August 4 in Norway, but the group has been performing it live recently. If you want an advance feel for what it sounds like, here's one such performance.
You know "Champagne Lemonade," that great new song from upcoming British singer Ed Drewett which I wrote about a month ago? It's co-written by Tim Powell of Xenomania. Now we know why it's so buzzily fun. Unusually, for a song coming from a member of Xenomania that we actually get to hear, its only authors are Tim and Ed.
Ola's new single is both unexpected and expected; it's a departure from his usual sound, especially in the acoustic verses, but with all the references he's been dropping about it sounding different and the writers involved, it's not that surprising. The chorus is still pleasantly poppy, based around a stuttery recitation of the word "overdrive" and with more electronic instrumentation than the parts of the song that surround it, and decently catchy. It's kind of like a less joyous, more acoustic "Feelgood," and, to be honest, neither of those descriptors is what my ideal Ola song sounds like (weren't the joy and the electronic production some of the best things about "Feelgood"?). Still, I could see myself enjoying it on the radio, and certainly imagine having it stuck in my head. Less "frolicking on the beach in a music video" and more "sitting around a beachside campfire."
The third track on his new EP, "Still Remember," is by Ola, respected pop songwriter Alexander Kronlund, and Ali Payami, more famous for remixes, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn it was produced by KeiOne. It's got a slight R&B tinge to it (though it switches over to rock for the middle 8) and a nice little pseudo-sample. The lyrics are silly in parts, but it's enjoyable, if once again the mid-tempo side of Ola.
I'm glad to have the aforementioned two songs as nice little bonuses in advance of the album, but it's the EP's second track that will probably take the early playcount lead on my iTunes. Like Ola's Melodifestival entry this year, it too is by Alexander Kronlund. WithTony Nilsson also on board, it's much in the vein of what you'd expect a collaboration between those two writers to sound like: über-poppy, very "produced" in sound, uptempo, and--of course--catchy. It feels a little less like some reimagining of an '80s hit than some of Ola's previous tracks, but it does keep Ola in line with what I've always seen as the best thing about him: he's a vehicle for excellent teen pop, a spiritual successor to the songs we all loved in the late '90s and early '00s. "All Over The World" is certainly glossy pop, "cheesy," if you will, but it's not really all that sugary thanks to its pulsing production. That joy we were talking about earlier? It is--blissfully, thankfully--here, especially in a tension-building middle eight. Maybe not quite on the level of, say, "Forever," but it channel similar dancefloor euphoria vibes.
You can buy a physical copy of Ola's new single "Overdrive," an EP which includes two other new songs and a remix, here.
A few bits of news I mentioned on Twitter that I feel bear repeating over here:
Darin's new album finally--finally!--comes out August 25. Nearly a perfect birthday present. The more time that passes, the more time I'm inclined to think "You're Out Of My Life" is my favorite Melodifestival entry from this year, though that's not to say I would have wanted it to win. I realize that it's just a big sparkly '80s adult contemporary power ballad, but THAT'S WHY I LOVE IT. More songs that channel this style, please, Misters Nilsson and Janson.
As a brief recap, songs from this era include Darin's cover of Coldplay's "Viva La Vida;""You're Out Of My Life;" "Drowning," another Tony Nilsson/Henrik Janson song which we've heard Darin working on in studio (it sounds very much in keeping with "You're Out Of My Life," which I love); and "Only You Can Save Me," which he's performed live acoustically (the melody sounds lovely) and with more accompaniment. It could be premature to judge based on only a few songs, but we've yet to hear anything of the uptempo urban pop variety, so this could be pretty different from Flashback. Hopefully there will be at least a few songs that leave you wanting to dance; he has mentioned an uptempo song written by Tony and Henrik at least once. EDIT: at least one Swedish source reports his next single will be called "Lovekiller" and is released to radios soon. That would be an unfortunate coincidence given the release of the Style single of the same name, so I want to verify that there wasn't just some confusion on the part of the journalist before I say that that fact is 100% certain. Stay tuned... Edit 2: just confirmed that Tony Nilsson did write a song for Darin called "Love Killer," so the news about that being a single and at radios shortly must be true. Maybe it's that aforementioned uptempo song.
Ola's new single, "Overdrive," comes out this Wednesday. The digital single will include two additional new songs from his upcoming album, though he's once again tried to emphasize the album being varied in sound and that these songs don't represent it. I'm worried about "Overdrive," to be honest, but I'll be keeping an ear out regardless.
I feel as if I read this somewhere else a while ago, but since today's such a summery day, here's the possibly old news anyway: Timoteij's new single looks to be "Högt Över Ängarna," which is a choice I'm pretty happy about. Längtan has other options, sure, but the song is still great sugary girly pop.
This Saturday will mark the first semifinal of 2010's Melodifestival, so, as usual, I'm doing my Sunday-in-advance rundown of the artists and what we know about the songs (which isn't nearly as much as we'll know when rehearsals start or when song clips go up). Six of the eight artists are new to the contest and, while the proportion of new songwriters isn't as high, there are still quite a few debutantes in that regard as well. We do have three new-to-Melodifestivalen hosts, too: Måns Zelmerlöw, Christine Meltzer, and Dolph Lundgren.
(To be honest, there's not too much new here compared to my preview a few months ago, but I've added new information and thoughts where possible).
1.) Ola Svensson, "Unstoppable" (t & m Dimitri Stassos, Alexander Kronlund, Hanif Sabzevari, Ola Svensson) Former Idol contestant Ola really became popular with the release of summer single "Natalie," and since then he's continued in the upbeat boy pop vein, a sort of modernized teen pop meets strong pop beats sound. Strangely, the Melodifestival album and the single list the full name of his entry this year--his second time in the contest, after reaching the second chance round two years ago with "Love In Stereo"--as "Unstoppable (The Return Of Natalie)."
Unlike all but one of his singles since "Natalie," "Unstoppable" isn't written and produced by the team of Tony Nilsson and Peter "Bassflow" Boström. Dimitri Stassos is a frequent contributor to Eurovision national finals, often doing songs with a Greek flair (like Sofia's entries in Melodifestivalen and Soraya's Eurovision entry last year), but he did work with Ola on his less noteworthy debut album. His songs are often enjoyable but I'd still be a bit nervous if it was just his name in the credits; luckily, Alexander Kronlund, collaborator on Cheiron classics and of more recent work with Linda Sundblad, Sugababes, and Robyn, is backing him up, which has me excited. This song, described by its writers as modern, uptempo radio hit that is a harder sound for Ola, has buzz which it suggests it's as good as "Natalie." Though personally I'd rather hear it's as good as "S.O.S.", another Ola hit, this is still one of my most anticipated entries of the year. Please deliver, guys!
To watch: I should really embed his performance of "Love In Stereo" to give you an idea of his live vocals (passable but iffy), but I'll rep for "S.O.S.", one of the best pure pop songs of the past five years, any opportunity I get, so that's what's below.
2.) Jenny Silver, "A Place To Stay" (t& m Torben Hedlund) I wasn't previously familiar with Jenny, who had a career in dansband-style music back in the '90s, partly as a member of the group Candela. She then switched over to a fuzzier pop-rock sound--a little bit punky, a little bit '80s--as the lead singer of the band Holden, though she didn't equal her '90s success.
From the sounds of it, though, "A Place To Stay" is more in the style of its songwriter's musical career than Holden's: Torben Hedlund used to be a member of Bobby, a group which was certainly not afraid of synths (check out "She's History"). Had I realized that earlier, my excitement back in my first rundown would have been more significant. At least in the song's demo form, it was, in Torben's words, an "ambient dance/house song. He's also said the song is dark, minimalistic, melancholy, and hopeful, the sort of song suitable for the clubs and for making people feel sexy.
To watch: it probably doesn't indicate the style of her entry at all, but for an idea of Jenny's look and voice, check out a very recent performance of "Sweet Caroline."
3.) Linda Pritchard, "You're Making Me Hot-Hot-Hot" (t & m Tobias Lundgren, Johan Fransson, Tim Larsson) Linda, a contestant in the early stages of Idol, is likewise only in the early stages of her commercial music career, having released her debut single, an R&B cover of Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car." You can't say she's an established artist yet, not having had any substantial success in Sweden yet...
...but with these songwriters behind her, I'm very excited to hear her entry. The makers of Linda Bengtzing's "Alla Flickor" and "Hur svårt kan det va?", Alcazar's "Alcastar," Jessica Andersson's "Källa natter," and other modern Melodifestival classics (as well as a few less beloved songs), they're one of the sets of songwriters guaranteed to make me take notice. They say their song this year is uptempo pop in a Latin style; as I've said before, I'd rather they left off the "Latin style" part, but I'm still hopeful of quality, even though it's a replacement for the disqualified "Never Heard Of Him." Linda describes her song as a swinging, dance-inducing party song with a heavy rhythm. Linda has been preparing her debut album with the team that produced her lead single, which, sadly, isn't the Örebro gang who are behind this single.
To watch: it probably should be the music video for Linda's single "Fast Car," but I'm going with her singing another song from her upcoming album, "Rise Again"
4.) Pain Of Salvation, "Road Salt" (t & m Daniel Gildenlöw) Rock band Pain of Salvation is another act I hadn't heard of before, but then again, I'm not very tuned into the Swedish rock scene outside of chart hits. They're much darker and grungier than I prefer my rock to be, to be honest; I tend to prefer my rock anthemic, not unsettling. Not a judgment on their style of music, just a recognition that it doesn't often overlap with my taste.
The group's singer and songwriter, Daniel, describes "Road Salt" as a rock ballad, not hard but quiet, delicate but refusing to give up. He says it's about constant dejection and is tear-inducing.
To watch: I could have gone with some of their more typical, harder stuff, but since they say the song is quieter, here's "Undertow"
5.) Anders Ekborg, "The Saviour" (t & m Henrik Janson, Tony Nilsson) Anders Ekborg and "The Saviour" replaced the disqualified "Åt helvete för sent." Anders is a theater star making his Melodifestival debut.
Henrik and Tony wrote Ola's 2008 entry "Love In Stereo" and Tony has almost all of Ola's "Natalie" to now singles, as well as Elin Lanto's "Discotheque" and Johan Krafman's "Disarmed and Chain Reaction" (amongst other songs). They say "The Saviour" is a cross between Freddie Mercury and Pavarotti, with the subject matter of saving the world with music. Anders says it is grand and difficult to sing.
To watch: well, since the writers made a Freddie Mercury reference, here's Anders singing "We Are The Champions"
6.) Jessica Andersson, "I Did It For Love" (m Lars "Dille" Diedricson, t Kristian Wejshag) Lovely Jessica, a former Fame Factory contestant, returns to Melodifestivalen for the fifth time. The first two were as a member of the duo Fame, which won Melodifestivalen in 2003 with "Give Me Your Love" and took "Vindarna vänder oss" to the finalsin 2004. She hasn't been so lucky as a solo act, not making it out of her semifinal in 2006 with the fantastic Rachel Stevens-esque "Kalla Nätter" and making it to the second chance round in 2007 with the disappointing "Kom." I spent years praying for an album from her, but when that album finally came this past fall, it was all '60s-style retro pop--disappointing again, when Jessica by rights should be a great popstar.
There is positive buzz around her entry this year, a song which its writers (including Lars, a frequent contributor) and singer say is an emotionally-charged, big, beautiful, simple ballad about the pain and dejectedness of a love story. It's not necessarily in the '60s style, Jessica says. Still, I'd be more enthusiastic if this was another killer uptempo schlager or modern pop song (though Jessica has apparently been trying to distance herself from the schlager label).
To watch: Jessica awkwardly trying to make the short-shorts jumpsuit and chair routine work in 2006 with "Kalla nätter." She may be model gorgeous, but she was obviously uncomfortable, maybe explaining the song's failure to progress. She really does have stage presence in the right situation, but I think she may have been missing her security blanket of former Fame partner Magnus Bäcklund.
7.) Frispråkarn, "Singel" (m Hamed KeiOne Pirouzpanah, t Håkan Bäckman) Rapper Frikspåkarn makes his Melodifestival debut with a song by Hamed, who has worked on some R&B and hip-hop songs you probably wouldn't have heard of unless you listen to that part of the Swedish music scene. He often mixes in a significant electro element into those songs, though, and his work on Ola's "Sky's The Limit" and (yes, I'm mentioning it again) Adam Tensta's "80s Baby" gives me some hope for something at least kind of interesting. Rap is pretty far outside of the Melodifestival norm, though there always seems to be at least one rap entry this year, so it's always kind of tempting to view these entries as just the attempts of the contest's managers to show "diversity." Anyway, Hamed says "Singel" is a mix of hip-hop and R&B with crazy dancey beats and vivid lyrics and Frispråkarn says the lyrics are personal, about his lvoe life, and I'm decently hopeful we could get something with a decent instrumental backing, even if it will be no contest favorite and the lyrics might not be what I'd choose.
To watch: the music video for Friskpråkarn's single "Nästa tåg nästa buss." Decently catchy, no?
8.) Salem al Fakir, "Keep On Walking" (t & m Salem al Fakir) Singer-songwriter Salem is two '70s-ish, orchestral-souding, piano-based albums into his critically-approved career, with a third album due to be released in conjunction with his participation in Melodifestivalen. Salem says "Keep On Walking" is in his style, but since he's also been talking about a more electronic direction for this new album, it's possible some of that sound could crop up, too. He also describes it as hopeful and peppy and says it's about picking oneself up after one falls and still going on.
To watch: his Prince-like featured vocalist role on Staygold's great "Backseat" is buzzier right now, but I need to take another opportunity to promote what should have been his international breakthrough, the more delicate, magical "It's Only You (Part II)"
Overall, there's potential here, but too much up in the air for me to feel totally assured of the quality we'll be exposed to. Also, though there are some known faces, we also don't really have a big, A-level act here that all the others need to be afraid of based on name alone, which could potentially allow some good songs by less prominent acts to break through.
Pessimistic fears proven unfounded: Ola's "Sky's The Limit" is NOT a misguided attempt at R&B-ifying his sound--it's as poppy as any of his previous singles. The new single from the Swedish singer has the summery guitar strums of "Feelgood," some horns, and that typical Ola summer single sound, even if it's by some new collaborators (though apparently Bassflow helped out). Up-tempo, poppy in an electronically created but not electro way, catchy, summery...sigh. We don't have a new Rihanna single to make it feel like summer, but at least Ola has kept his side of the bargain up.
The single cover is, um, unforgettable. I do like the color palette, at least.
I LOVE the final single version of Frankmusik's "Confusion Girl." It's the perfect balance between Vince's quirkier side and the more mainstream intermediate version of the song we heard, with an end result of a fully charming pop song that's the best version of this track we've heard. The single is out July 12 in the UK.
On the Frankmusik front, a new song, "Dancing In The Dark," is streaming on his MySpace, along with previews of the remix version of Vince's album.
The lead single from Ola's new album is called "Sky's The Limit" and will be premiered via a performance on June 22 and released that same day, I think. It's written by KeiOne, Json, and Ola, which does make me a bit nervous--that could mean it's a step closer towards R&B, while I tend to prefer Ola as a vehicle for the pure pop songs of Tony Nilsson and Bassflow. Still, ideally it could mean Ola releasing something that stirs up more excitement about him (though in terms of chart success pop seems a surer bet than pop-&B in Sweden); plus, he's definitely spent time with Tony and Peter "Bassflow" Boström, so maybe we could get a great mix. I do love Adam Tensta's "80s Baby," KeiOne-produced hip-hop meets pop with just the right combination of hardness and breeziness; I'm just worried about how Ola's voice will match with this sort of music as well as quality overall.
Speaking of Peter Boström, he's just done a remix--or, as it's more accurately being called, a remake--of Mando Diao's "Gloria." I'm not going to put it up there with his best work on, say, Martin Stenmarck's singles, but listen to it 20 minutes into the 10-10:30 block here.
Since the sporadic nature of my recent posts meant I never did a fully rundown on the American Idol finale, I'd like to add that I am happy for Kris, not angry with the result (and hoping I'll end up wanting to buy his album--no one's going to agree with me and it's probably best for his commercial viability that he doesn't, but I'd love him to be singing songs like Ryan Cabrera's best work), but I stand by my earlier comment that I'm "hoping Adam ends up being the best popstar America has" (maybe you could qualify that with "male popstar," given the real lack of competition on that front--I'm not talking just about music, though obviously that's important, but all-out exciting popstarness--but even that caveat is probably unneccesary) "Kiss & Tell," which #1 Hits From Another Planet posted a few months ago, still gets frequent plays from me--I want Adam to make the glam rock which suits him so perfectly and which the U.S. could really use a dose of, but I also want him continuing down an electro-pop route like that of this old demo song, too.
...and, coming on the heels of the South African pop update, here's an update on Swedish singer Ola.
He's been working on his third album for a few months now. I wouldn't say release is imminent--he's still in the process of recording--but he's talking about artwork with his "people," so it's not a matter of being intangibly distant.
Keep in mind that, with no formalized tracklist, what songs will make it onto the album isn't yet determined. We do know, though, that he's worked with:
Tony Nilsson--if Ola wasn't working with him again, he'd be absolutely insane. If it was up to me, he'd probably do the whole album with Tony. Heck, if it was up to me, everyone would have Tony write for their album.
KeiOne--I think he did Adam Tensta's "80s Baby," which I love, but I'm not familiar with him at all; it looks like he's worked more with R&B in the past.
Ishi--mentioned here recently because of his involvement in Måns Zelmerlöw's new album (he co-wrote "One Minute More," "Find Love, "Saved Again," and "Home"), but more famous for his work with Lazee.
Patric Sarin--I've got a big post dedicated to Patric that's been sitting as a draft for quite some time that I may have to dig out, but rest assured he's done more than his fair share of amazing brilliant songs over the years (Darin's "Desire" and "Insanity" and Margaret Berger's "Samantha," "Will You Remember Me Tomorrow," "Robot Song" are just the tip of the iceberg).
Dilba--Dilba and Ishi worked together for at least one song.
maybe Michael Garvin, who wrote the lyrics for Ola's "S.O.S." and who I wasn't familiar with but apparently also co-wrote "Waiting For Tonight" and Natalia's "I've Only Begun To Fight"
He's also mentioned that, given his record label's (very, very positive) response when he played it to them, there's a good likelihood the lead single will be a song written by Tony Nilsson, KeiOne, and Ola himself. There's a song written by Ishi that Ola thinks is a strong contender to be a later single.
Additionally, he's recorded a song he really likes which he said was called "Lead me the way" (sic).
The Ishi and KeiOne connections (and Patric Sarin, to a lesser degree) make me think maybe Ola's going for a slightly edgier sound, with just a little more of that urban electro sound in it, but I think his record label and management has a good sense of where he gets his popularity from and will keep him very much pop. Plus, Tony Nilsson's involved, and I still have absolute faith in him. I just hope his songs make up more of the album this time around. Ola has established himself as a "summer single" sort of artist and he's got a fall tour coming up, so maybe we could hear a single as early as late this spring.
Apparently in his free time he's been seeing He's Just Not That Into You with Sarah Dawn Finer and talking about the financial crisis with Dr. Alban. The tangled webs of celebrity lives...
Give me love in stereo Give me more of the attraction 'Cause I'm dying for some more Woah-ohohohhh
Give me love in stereo Give me total satisfaction 'Cause I gotta have it all Woah-ohohohhh
You got the best of me You'll get the rest of what is left
Tony Nilsson and Bassflow (what, you didn't think "Feelgood" would be the only time they'd be appearing on this list, did you? Nor will "Love In Stereo" be the last...) do John Farnham's "Your The Voice" for Melodifestivalen. Bagpipes, a great catchy Swedish pop melody, one of my favorite songwriting and production teams working with one of the artists they do their best work for--all that would be enough to get me to love the song. However, should you need further proof that "Love In Stereo" was robbed of its place at Globen and is worthy of Melodifestival classic status, I offer up the following three points:
1.) You can do Charlotte Perrelli's three-part "Hero" point to the climatic part of the middle 8.
2.) You can have ridiculous debates about whether the song is one giant innuendo, a la "Det gör ont."
3.) It's amazing.
That's a pretty rock-solid argument if I've ever seen one.
Every little thing you do Is everything I want from you
It's obvious by now that I think Ola + Tony Nilsson + Bassflow makes for a killer combination. I've read Swedish media criticism of Ola in the past, arguing that he doesn't bring anything to the table, but I disagree: who else was going to release songs like "S.O.S.," "Love In Stereo," and this? "Feelgood," though very much in the boy pop niche Ola has carved out for himself, breathes a bit of fresh life into his style by taking it to the beach on a summer day. Musically, that means a quick-paced strummy guitar is brought into the mix of adorable electronic sounds, which here often take on the sound of rushing waves. The moment in the middle 8 where the song "goes underwater," a bit a la Kylie's "Love At First Sight" or "Wow," before coming back up with a crescendo results in a moment where Ola sounds exactly like I feel when listening to "Feelgood": he laughs. If you miss the halcyon days of Swede-produced teen pop, your search for your fix (though not mimicry) need go no further than Ola, who, thanks to the people behind him, is releasing music that does exactly what this song states: making us feel good. If he's not planning on getting Tony and Bassflow to do the vast majority if not all of his next album, he's crazy.
Swedish singer Nanne's new album, En Rastlös Själ, comes out October 6. It's been preceded by the singles "Otacksamhet" and "I Natt Är Jag Din," with one more, the title track, to be released August 18. The cover of the album is at left and the single cover can be viewed here. Other upcoming Swedish albums you may be interested in: Darin's Lovekiller (August 18), Ola's new album (September 15--at least, that's what I read at one point, but Ola now says that it's only 28 days away), and Robyn's Body Talk Pt. II (September 6 internationally). You should be able to buy all those albums from Bengans, though Ola's album isn't listed yet and it probably makes more financial sense to buy Robyn's album from a music distributor in your home country.
