Turn and walk away tonight

Songwriter update (because yes, I am a total songwriter nerd-in-training):

Jessie J (pictured), the British singer that Worrapolava has championed, was signed a few months ago. That's not news. What is news is that she's had Dr. Luke and Claude Kelly (working together, Kelly Clarkson's "My Life Would Suck Without You," Britney's "Circus") writing for her.

Claude Kelly (in addition to the songs mentioned above, Leona Lewis's "Forgive Me," Lemar's "If She Knew," Linda Teodosiu's "Love Sux") has also been working with Jordin Sparks, who, in addition to working with Lucas Secon (the Pussycat Dolls' "Hush Hush," Sarah Connor's "Under My Skin," Martin's "Show The World") on that song I posted about earlier this year, has apparently gotten at least one song from Ryan Tedder (Leona Lewis's "Bleeding Love," Timbaland feat. OneRepublic's "Apologize") too: Popjustice revealed last week that the lead single for her second album is a Tedder-penned song called "Battlefied." Check out PJ's post for details.

Moving back to Claude Kelly for a moment, as I mentioned earlier, he's also done several songs with the Backstreet Boys recently. A video of him talking about them was posted, but it's since been set to private. In it, though, he mentions "Bye Bye Love" (an up-tempo club-friendly song which features the line "I think I want to stay single, so bye bye love," as revealed earlier), "Don't Try This At Home" (which they sang a cappella at a sound check; it's a "heartbreak record"), and "What I Know Now" (he calls it a "pop urban hybrid;" listen to a non-BSB featuring demo here). He's also working with Wynter Gordon and, somewhat surprisingly, American Idol's Jason Castro.

Ryan Laubscher, the main man behind Alex Roots, has clips of demos for several artists on his official site (click on "Music"). The most noteworthy ones in terms of artist names that I hadn't previously heard elsewhere are Amy Pearson's "Contagious," the title track from her second album (it's more upbeat and electro/dance than I was expecting); Tina Barrett's (formerly of S Club 7) "I'll Be Your Woman;" Alex Roots's "Prisoner" (which sounds like it could potentially be epic in its final form), and Christophe Willem's "Si je tombais" (there's a Pixie song, too, but the full version of that has been on his MySpace, and I think it might just be a demo available for purchase).

Fred Ball of Pleasure (see: his work with Bertine Zetlitz, his producer project Pleasure's "Out Of Love") has done "forthcoming" work with Sophie Ellis-Bextor (that he'd co-written a song with Ina Wroldsen, lately of work with the Saturdays, called "Synchronized" was already known, so this could be referring just to that or to more), Little Boots (not sure whether it's songs we've already heard or not), and Paloma Faith (whose name is popping up all over the place).

Speaking of Ina Wroldsen (as mentioned above, she was the glue that held the Saturdays together in terms of songwriting), I only just found out that she co-wrote the song Lucas Secon (who also co-wrote it) has had listed as Pixie Lott's second single for ages, before we even found out what the first single was, "Gravity." Her recent work also includes a song for Lindsay Lohan called "Stuck" (though given the limbo that project's in, I wouldn't hold your breath to hear it), songs for Leona Lewis called "Thank You Thank You" and "Your Heart," a song for Kat De Luna called "Break Me," and a song for Hayden Panettiere called "Top Up."

Xenomania (Girls Aloud) are keeping busy, with news coming out over the past month that they'll be working with Leona Lewis, and Shayne Ward, both of whom are British X Factor winners.

The most recent X Factor winner, Alexandra Burke (pictured), appears to be working with some big names for her debut album: RedOne (Darin's "Step Up," Lady GaGa's "Just Dance") Stargate (Beyoncé's "Irreplaceable," Rihanna's "Don't Stop The Music"), Brian Kennedy (Rihanna's "Disturbia," Chris Brown's "Forever") Timbaland (Nelly Furtado's "Maneater," Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack;" possibly just met, but maybe worked with), the Freemasons (remixes of Beyoncé songs, Kylie Minogue's "The One"), Claude Kelly, Savan Kotecha (Britney Spears's "If U Seek Amy," Shayne Ward's "No U Hang Up"), Soulshock & Karlin (Alesha Dixon's "Breath Slow"), and probably some people I've left out. In other words: big budget, brand name songwriters--taking Alexandra to major international success is obviously what her management is aiming for.

Do you remember the brilliant Dolly Rockers' song "How Did I End Up With You?" I posted a week ago? Popjustice wrote about it shortly after (and posted a clip of the studio version) and revealed (well, clued me in) that the songwriter behind it and the majority of the project is Ray Hedges.

On the subject of girl bands promoted on PopJustice, Girls Can't Catch's debut single "Keep Your Head Up" is written and produced by Chris Braide (the Saturdays' "Chasing Lights," D-Side's "Invisible"). The live version has shown the song so have a lot of potential, but the clips of the studio version we've heard so far are lacking punch; they sound like demos. Hopefully there's still time to improve the production on them.

I'm sure I forgot something I meant to mention, but that'll do for now.

So we'll be grownups for a minute and admit that we're just not in it

One more "rising artist I was introduced to by another writer" post, and once again, one I've mentioned in brief before: Pixie, a young British singer who I first heard about when Trixie of Karinski.net posted about her. Her launch is still being prepared for this year, but in the meantime, we've got several songs on her MySpace to entertain us.

"The Fall" is my slight favorite of the group and evidence that in Pixie we may have a new source of quintessential British pop...even if it does take Danes behind the scenes. Written by Jonas Jeberg, Mich "Cutfather" Hansen, Ruth-Anne Cunningham, and Pixie, it's playful pure pop--and by that I don't mean '90's sounding pop, electro-pop, '60's styled pop, or anything other than just pop--that skips along, cute as can be, while Pixie sings some pretty good lyrics about the end of a relationship. I've been humming "turn it up, turn it up for the people that say/we're movin' on and we'll be OK" since first hearing it.

"Boys And Girls" and "Mama Do" have a little bit more of that '60's influence, but it's been diluted; even if it hadn't been, though, Pixie's clear voice, even when she tries to deepen and fuzz it up here, gives the songs a decidedly more contemporary pop flavor. "Boys And Girls" is another catchy mid-to-up-tempo song, while "Mama Do," written by Phil Thornally and Mads Hauge, goes for a more dramatic mid-tempo approach, full of elongated words and "oh oh oh"s, and is the song where that '60's style is most played up; if Pixie's other songs are a bit too youthful for you, "Mama Do" is still one to check out--it's the one you can most imagine one of the female neo-'60's soul British singers performing and requires her to do smoky sass rather than pep.

All in all, they add up to a mainstream friendly sound, one which, with luck, the label backing that's apparently there, and the songs from the great songwriters she's working with* will see Pixie doing well for herself before the year is out. Hopefully the album is the great solid pop album it could be.

*Some of these songwriters are (though obviously not all of them will end up on the album):
-The Underdogs (Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown's "No Air," Stacie Orrico's "More To Life")
-Tim James and Antonina Armato (Hoku's "Another Dumbe Blonde," Aly & AJ's "Potential Breakup Song," Miley Cyrus's "See You Again" and "Fly On The Wall")
-Cutfather and Jonas Jeberg (where to begin? Separately or together, The Saturdays' "If This Is Love," Jordin Sparks's "One Step At A Time," Christine Milton's "Superstar," and many more)
-Brian Kennedy (Chris Brown's "Forever," Rihanna's "Disturbia," Jennifer Hudson's "If This Isn't Love," Jesse McCartney's "It's Over")
-Greg Kurstin (Lily Allen's new album, Kylie Minogue's "Wow," All Saints' "Rock Steady," Britney Spears's "Rock Me In," Sophie Ellis-Bextor's "Catch You")
-RedOne (Darin's "Step Up," Lady GaGa's "Just Dance," and--well, you all know him by now)
-Steve Kipner (Christina Aguilera's "Genie In A Bottle," 98 Degrees' "The Hardest Thing," The Script's "The Man Who Can't Be Moved" and "Breakeven," and, umm, Natasha Bedingfield's "I Wanna Have Your Babies")
-Toby Gad (Fergie's "Big Girls Don't Cry" and Beyoncé's "If I Were A Boy" [ugh], but much better includes Sita's "Happy" and the Veronicas' "Untouched")
-Arnthor Birgisson (I think--Pixie referred to an "Anthor" once and my guess is she meant Arnthor Birgisson, another "where to begin?" writer; Samantha Mumba's "Gotta Tell You," Shayne Ward's "If That's OK With You," Jennifer Lopez's "Play")
-Evan "Kidd" Bogart (Rihanna's "S.O.S.",Heidi Montag's "Body Language," Blake Lewis's "Surrender," Brandy's "Right Here (Departed), Sean Kingston's "Take You There")
-Karen Poole (and another "where to begin?"; Jamelia's "Beware Of The Dog," Kylie's "Wow," Will Young's "Switch It On" and "Let It Go," Groove Armada's "Song 4 Mutya (Out Of Control)")
-Stuart Chrichton and Tommy Lee (Jamelia's "Beware Of The Dog," D-Side's "Pushin' Me Out" [just Chrichton], DJ Ella's "Shine Like A Superstar," Delta's "In This Life")
-Kara DioGuardi (too much to mention--Hilary Duff's "Come Clean," Kylie's "Spinning Around," Kelly Clarkson's "Walk Away," Paris Hilton's "Screwed," Enrique Iglesias's "Escape" and "Don't Turn Off The Lights," loads of Ashlee Simpson songs are just a few)
-Phil Thornally and Mads Hauge (done-by-many-people-but-eventually Natalie Imbruglia's "Torn")
-Teddy Riley (of New Jack Swing and Blackstreet fame)

It's no exaggeration to say that's an impressive line-up; she's obviously a big project and priority for her label.

There's nowhere to buy Pixie's songs yet, but you can visit her MySpace here.

Next up: that German song, maybe, or a British b-side that's a few years old.

A good beat never hurt no one

I was going to try not to have any more interruptions of my countdown until it finished, but I can't help it--I need to take a moment to talk about some things I'm listening to.

Remember Johan Krafman and his Ola-meets-the-Bassflow-remixes-of-Martin-Stenmarck song "Disarmed"? Well, he's uploaded another Bassflow-produced song onto his MySpace. It's called "Chain Reaction" and, though it's not instantly as addicting as "Disarmed," I'd eagerly buy an album in this sound.

Speaking of songs you can listen to on MySpace, I also noticed today that the full radio version of Jeanette's "Undress To The Beat"--a kind of Holly Valance-esque song (I say "kind of" partly because that's not a perfect comparison but also because I don't want you to get your expectations too high) I mentioned my interest in a little while ago--is playing on a MySpace site here. It'll need some time for me to decide its long-lasting value, but I'm willing to give it that time. Its co-writers include Johan "Kermit" Bobäck (Cyndi Lauper's "Into The Nightlife" and "Echo," Elin Lanto's "Speak 'n Spell," Darin's "Seasons Fly") and Måns Ek, I think.

Do you ever wonder to yourself how you've been missing out on an artist all this time? That's how I'm feeling about Swedish artist Kocky (the artist name for David Åström) at the moment. I've always known of him, for sure, but I've never really paid proper attention to him, so yes, it's all my fault for not picking up on him earlier. It's his connection to Rosanna, whose new music I've been excited about since Robpop wrote about it some months ago, that got me to check him out now. I'll be writing more about him in the future as I digest everything, but I just wanted to give you the heads-up--he may have multiple moments of amazingness. Basically, HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE. Check out his MySpace in the meantime.

"4-Ever Juvenile," a Kocky single, features Tinchy Stryder, and Frankmusik is reporting that his first "proper" single (apparently "3 Little Words" wasn't it) will be "Better Off As Two," will come out in March, and will have a rap from Tinchy added in. A supposed tracklisting for Complete Me has popped up on a British CD retailer site as well as a supposed release date, June 22. A March release date, as had originally been reported, probably would be too quick, so I can live with the wait. The tracklisting:

1.) 3 Little Words
2.) Better Of As 2
3.) Confusion Girl
4.) When You're Around
5.) Complete Me
6.) Boyfriend
7.) Your Boy
8.) Wonder Woman
9.) Vacant Heart
10.) Done Done
11.) Run Away From Trouble
12.) Olivia

My first reaction was "oh thank goodness, 'Vacant Heart' is on it." My second was "aww, no 'Questionable Times.'"If "Boyfriend" is "Gotta Boyfriend"--and it might not be, I've got no idea--I think I've heard versions of all but "Your Boy" and "Wonder Woman," but that's fine; this is Frankmusik, so much of what we've heard will probably have been tweaked anyway and his album should be made as great as possible, so I can hardly hold him sharing songs with us early against him. Plus, there's always b-sides to look forward to. The kind of but not totally ballad title track is uploaded on Frankmusik's MySpace at the moment and it's worth your time.

I've now had two different lines from Daniel Merriweather's as yet unreleased material running across the top of my blog, if that's any indication of my interest in the soul singer's upcoming Ronson-produced material (though oddly neither from his new proper lead single, "Change"). I adored "Stop Me," so I'm hoping he'll end up with something to rival that cover.

I've been meaning to mention here on the blog and not just in comments elsewhere that I really like "Boys And Girls" and "The Fall" on young British singer Pixie's MySpace. "The Fall" is catchy light-on-its-feet British pop and "Boys And Girls" is a little heavier, with verses kind of influenced by that popular '60's sound, but with a bit of electro-without-actually-being-electro crunch in the chorus to cancel that out; let's put it this way: I'm exhausted of that sound, and I love it, so it's not really in that style. She's got some great songwriters behind her, so hopefully her teen pop will end up with a great year both in quality and commercial success.

While I'm on a MySpace roll, I might as well write about Jasmine Baird, who I've loved for quite some time...once again, since DSTP introduced me to her! I need the full version of "The Truth" like you have no idea. I've got absolutely no idea how to describe it, beyond AMAZING. It's got a huge opening, maybe somewhat '80's a la Cyndi Lauper but modern, too. Listen to it on her MySpace here. I'd really love for it to be her who releases it--it's the sound of a brilliant songwriter and artist creating a new space for herself in the world of pop.

Different is Dangerous's list of 2008's best remixes has me listening to the Designer Drugs remix of Mariah Carey's "I'll Be Lovin' U Long Time" over and over again. It has so much more energy, sparkle, and ...vroom reworked like that.

You know what someone really needs to turn into a proper pop song? "Heavy Leather," this made for TV commercials and shows song. It's got this deep bass groove, kind of a little bit like a Goldfrapp song or Christina Aguilera's "Keeps Gettin' Better" (though it's older than that song). Listen to it in the background of this video clip or this video clip. Someone turn that riff into a real song, please.

Daggers have uploaded a less joyous synth filled ballad to their MySpace. "Death It Feels," "Money," and "Lost In The Distance" are still this synth-pop group's key tracks for me, but when are they going to conquer the world like they deserve to? I'd go groupie for these guys.

Courtesy of Worrapolava, I've been playing Adam Ant's "Playboy" today. I've always loved "Goody Two Shoes" (which was just written about by the much-missed CFB Goes Pop girls), but I think I may feel a proper listen to the greatest hits of his I own coming on soon.

If you're interested in what albums I'm excited about in the coming year, you couldn't do better than read #1 Hits' and MuuMuuse's lists of the albums they're most excited for--together, they cover everything I would have included that we definitely know about (well, I'd probably throw on a few more artists participating in this year's Melodifestival).

The list could go on, but I'll cut it off there for now. Oh, wait, one more thing: Kelly Clarkson's "My Life Would Suck Without You." As I've said elsewhere, I'm nervous about how this song will hold up in the long run for me, but right now I'm playing it a lot. Dan Priddy's electro "The Truth" fits in that same category, though I'm playing it a lot less than the very easy to listen to "My Life Would Suck Without You."