A Media Luz: The Carola penned album track!
Beautiful Night: The disco anthem supreme!
Rosa Lopez, Eurovision singer, Pop Idol winner and now disco diva. A star in Spain where she broke records for sell out shows and album sales. So much so that she had a nervous breakdown after the initial burst of musical fanfare. Now shes back with a huge disco album that has wiped the nay from the sayers.
If theres one country that has taken Swedish talent it has be Spain. Every pop act coming out of Spain at the moment is working with Swedish producers and writers with sublime results. The album by Rosa Lopez is proof of that interesting relationship. Nearly every track has been written in Sweden with the pop maestros Bobby Ljunggren, Anders Wikstrom, Tobias Lundgren, Fredrik Thomander and Mats Ymell. In other words her Me Siento Viva album is a discopop frenzy that is punctuated by her stunning cover Diane Ross’s Upside Down.
Now, one of the songs I’ve selected today was written by Swedish legend Carola. Yes her of Framling, Invincible and Genom Alt fame. If you still don’t know who I’m talking about she represented Sweden at this years Eurovision in Greece. It sounds a bit like Cher's Strong Enough.
For your added enjoyment I’ve added the brilliant sort-of-Spanglish track by Rosa titled Beautiful Night. It includes waves of electro keyboards, disco slicks and is that a sitar I detect? To me this song wouldn’t go amiss on the first BwO album and has shades of A Teens but then again it was written by Fredrik Thomander; the guy behind Firefly and Sugar Rush.
Words: Disco, Carola, Divas, Eurovision. A-Teens, Scandipop, Spainpop!
-----
Wondered what Anders Wollbeck, of Alcazar & Negotiate With Love fame, did with Rosa's rival? No? Yes? Well wonder no more as shes the next DSTP feature!
ROSA Beautiful Night and A Media Luz (A Kiss Goodbye)
DONTSTOPTHEPOPS SUMMER HOLIDAY JAMS!
Its summer. Its hitting 45 in the shade. V noice. And while sipping on Eurotastic cocktails in pink speedo's, glancing at the pruned chicos and glammed up puta's, the music which underscores the holiday frenzy is just as important as your sun lotion, condoms and ridiculous looking Ray-Bans. Hence this very sun-drenched thread...
This post is to bring the summer jams to a very cold cold August experienced by the Northern Europeans. What follows is the ridiculous, banal, hot, new and rather poptastic anthems direct from the beach. We hope that when you hear these tracks you'll be taken straight to the crystal clear waters of Espana, the mirrorballs the Costa Del Sol and away from the clouds of home. Smell the sun! Enjoy!
If You Wanna Dance With Me-Rhea: This was the song Dannii should have recorded. When this plays the reaction is huge. A very strong debut from songstress Rhea who sounds somewhat like Kylie and Holly Valance. If You Wanna Dance With Me is a DSTP favourite. VERY POPTASTIC!
Lucky-Lucky Twice: Now this is THE summer hit of all the Spanish clubs. What do you get if you combine September, Da Buzz, Kate Ryan and bWo? This! Follows in the traditional of poptastic containing Lucky...Lucky Star, Lucky and of course the mighty I Should Be So Lucky.
Rosa-Mas: Can you feel it? Do you feel love? Yet another song to interpret Donna Summers 1970's iconic dance polemic I Feel Love. Mas is a stunning pop song taken from an equally poptastic album by the Spanish winner of Pop Idol, Rosa Lopez! Some might remember Rosa from her Eurovsion attempt "Europe's Living In A Celebration" but in Spain shes a legend. DSTP! will cover her soon in the very near future.
Estoy Bailando-Shimai: Shimai are two very famous drag queens in Spain. V big. You dont need to speak Spanish to love this track. The backing track sounds somewhat like Septembers Satellite's which is also huge here. Check out their rather camptastic video here!
Que No Daría Yo-Rebeca: Another song that you really don't need to know Spanish to adore. This song was originally set aside for Eurovision and has become a huge summer discoteka hit. Rebeca is of course a pop legend in Spain. DontStopthePop will cover hersoon. Her video for this includes Kylie's dancers from the Showgirl tour and lots of homoerotic touching. Nice! See it here!
Un Monde Parfait-Ilona Mitrecey: BEWARE OF THIS SONG! It is REALLY poptasticaly annoying! Released in Italy around 2004 Ilona's smash hit just wont die. It was no.1 in France for months in late 2005 and has returned with a vengence this summer in Spain. It HAS been released in the UK but flopped. While quite tragically addictive, in a Whigfield way, it has always caused many a smile for three summers now so for this reason alone it deserves a special mention. What is more the video is ultra cute! See it here!
Some Summer Thoughts:
- Paulina Rubio live at Malaga's Fiesta of Music with a huge indian head-dress. "Malagaaa!". See it here!
- Loving Pay-TV's new single, So Simple by Stacie Orrico and Velvets album.
- El Corte Ingles has absolutely everything. The Spanish Harvey Nichols.
- The Ferias of Malaga, Seville and Granada. Such lovely+beautiful people.
- Churros: A Spanish treat only properly available in Andalucia. V bad for the hips!
- My neighbourhood on blogworld, national newspapers and Rupert Everett as my neighbour!
- SwissAirlines: first class like it was once on British Airways. Sublime!
- The LayDown restaurant in Madrid. You eat in one huge bed. Then at midnight watch the performative artists do their thing infront of you as you all cuddle up. V uber! A must if you ever visit Spain. See...
- The new Toni Collette-yes the Toni of Muriels Wedding and In Her Shoes-album Beautiful Awkward Pictures...
THE GREEK DIVA MEGAPOST!
Alas its time Dont Stop The Pop grabs its sunnies, jets off into the Spanish sunset & so naturaleeeeeee it seems right to celebrate Greece's multidude of pop divas. And boy do they have many...too many for one little blog like this to cover. Anyway, we hope you like what follows and have a great summer!
Natassa-Katazitite(Ojos Asi)
Natassa Theodoridou is a Greek pop legend. In fact she is THE Greek diva. Not the Vissi as some might assume for only Natassa can claim the hugely impressive achievement of having her have first 3 albums achieving platinum status. No other female Greek singer can claim this! Her single Katazitite, English title Wanted, was huge in 2001 and a Greek cover of the Shakira classic Ojos Asi.We love it cos it reminds us when Shakira was actually quite good.
Marianta Pieridi-S'agapo
THIS IS AMAZING! Soundwise Marianta amalgamates certain polemical traits of Greek folk music with interesting Swedish electropop. Think The Knife, PetShopBoys, Kylie, folk music and er Robbie Williams. However we've gone with her PetShopBoys/electro sounding track rather than her other hits. So in other words, shes rather versatile and thus interesting...WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS TRACK FOR YOUR SUMMER DISKO PLAYLIST
Nansy Alexiadi-Ksero Pia Eimai
Hot on Mariantas heels is the poptastic electro Nansy who has been listening to a lot of EMI-Kylie and early Madonna. For this we love! When we sniff this we get whiffs of Sophie Elis-Bextor, Jamelia at her best and a strong sense of Alexis Strum. In others words, EXCELLENT!
Elena Paparizou-Heroes
Where does one start with Elena! Already achieving her popstar badges of honour with her band Antique the Swedish/Greek singer has entered the stratosphere of the Greek pop world. The rest of the world beckons with an English album ready to drop come September time. This is a track taken from it.
Kalomoira-Mistiko
Now if anyone who is stealing Elena's thunder in the Greek charts is pop princess Kalomoira. Her albums are so poppy you actually need a bath to remove the bubblegum from your naughty bits. The swine! Seriously tho, it was very hard to select song as everything she's recorded is so good. So heres another one.
Despina Vandi-Jambi
When describing Despina Vandi its so easy to slip into a torrent of superlatives. One will try to refrain from doing so but don't spark too hard if you see one or two...So Jambi is Despina's European smash hit from her Garden Of Eden LP released earlier in 2006 which took Despinas total global sales over the million mark. Jambi looks like it will also be released in the US a market that has always shut out Greek performers. Will Despina beat the odds and break the land of 50Cent, Missy Eliot and Usher? Only time will tell. Born in Germany but brought up in Thessaloniki, Despina has studied philosophy and is widely accepted as the only Greek singer with the real potential to break international territories. Already Jambi has proven her supporters were right as it has swooped the charts of Europe and possibily beyond...
Kaiti Garbi-Stohos
It is pretty hard to pigeon hole Kaiti. Sometimes she does a bit of rock, then she'll release folk album, followed by pop and dance record. Despite her ever changing sounds her chart sales are huge and is a force to be reckoned with in the Greek music industry. Kaiti has collaborated with Natassa and Elena and is a stable favourite in the singles chart in Greece. She is very close friends of Anna Vissi and is part of rivalry that sees the newer Greek singers Despina+Elli pitted against Kaiti and Vissi. Strangely enough though Kaiti reached the EXACT same position as her best friend when in 1993 she was asked to represent her country at Eurovision.
Peggy Zina-Pouthena
This sounds like the James Bond theme we'll never get! Amazing introduction! If one wants to look at female Greek singers who don't just target Eurovision as their career ladder one only has to refer to the pop princess Peggy. In 2005 she walked away with Greece's ARION Award for Female Singer of the Year leaving the mouths of Elena and Anna firmly open due to the general perception that it was just a two horse race. She is currently on a pretty successful tour of the US, Australia and Canada!
Purchase all of these artists at GreekShops, Amazon, CdOn, Gemm Music Store and HMV Online.
NUSA DERENDA Your History
Did anyone mention ABBA? We're serious now! You'd think after Pandora's I'll Be Gone DSTP couldnt find a track more ABBA-licious. Alas, we have in the form of Nusa Derendas rather amazing Your History. It sounds like the song that Alcazar always wanted to record but their rationality got the better of them.
Nuša Derenda's full name is Anuška Žnideršič and marks our first Slovenian singer on this blog. You might remember her when she was robbed of a Eurovision win in 2001 in Copenhagen with her stunning Energy. She came 7th. Much like Gina G's Ooh Ahh...
Your History comes from a special CD given away at Slovenian festivals in 2001 so its quite rare in its English form. Her albums are a must and we'd highly suggest the Na Stiri Oci LP as it not only includes her Slovenian dance hits but also a Eurovision medley which contains the Danish win Fly On The Wings Of Love, the British win Puppet On A String, Isreals proud win of Diva! and the Swedish wins Waterloo and Take Me to Your Heaven altogether for 6 minutes of utter camptastic bliss
Words: ABBA, Eurovision, ABBA, ABBA, ABBA, ABBA, did we mention ABBA?, the Winner Takes It All, One Of Us, ABBA, ABBA, ABBA
PANDORA I'll Be Gone
Did anyone mention ABBA? How good is I'll Be Gone? Too slick for its own boots. Its like rnb/hiphop/James Blunt never existed...
So Pandora is like a legend at DontStopthePop towers for shes the original singer of On A Night Like This and her albums never contain a filler. Shes sold over 5 million records and in Australia has had a Barbie named after her. Need we say more!
9 Lives, the LP where I'll Be Gone comes from is one of the best pop albums released in the last 18 months. Other highlights include Chapter One, Don't Worry, Best Friends, I'm Confused, Runaway and the brilliant A Love Like This. Basically the whole album is proper mint! Check out some other Pandora stuff over at SoundsofSweden & buy the album at CdOn. If your American and thus can't use Cdon please buy the album on Pandora's rather fabulous website Pandora.se
Words: Abba, Scandipop, catchy melodies, great backing vocals, nod-ya-head, uplifting lyrics
MAGNUS CARLSSON Discodåre/Disco Fool
"Give me Wham and Chic and BeeGees, Donna Summer and Alcazar, thats all I want!"
This is the gayest song that ever lived. Gayer than Kylies Your Disco Needs you and this Danish favourite over at the Popjustice boards. What song do you know actually pays tribute to Wham, BeeGee's, Donna Summer, Alcazar and Gloria Gaynor? It shimmies right next to, say Scissor Sisters recent efforts, and upstages Jake Shears & BabyDaddy et al...Yes you did read that right, UPSTAGES the Scissor Sisters! See him perform the song here totally live. As you will hear his voice is absolutely stunning.
Discodåre in English roughly translates as Disco Fool. The basic "plot" of the song is that Mr.Magnus feels like his flat is like a cell and hes just waiting to go out(or rather come out). All he wants is Donna Summer, Alcazar, Chic and Wham. Once at the disco he confides that he knows every song, he's smiling and happy. Then the weekend is over and, while music is his best friend, its monday once again and life is shit. Tuesday is also boring. He watches a boring movie and while he does this he hums I Will Survive. And then the whole body starts to tickle once again and hes dancing under the mirror ball...
Discodåre is the 3rd single taken from the new & rather fabtastic solo album by Magnus Carlsson, the himbo of the bands Barbados and Alcazar. It covers all the usual Eurovision/schlager friendly stuff expected of Magnus but also enters into new zones of artistry in the form of stunning tracks like Det största av allt and Som om inget hänt and the ever cute Jag ser dig, jag ser dig, jag ser dig. If you like Nanne Gronval you'd like his album. Purchase it here and have a little listen to it here through his wonderful website.
ELLI KOKKINOU SeX
SEX(French version)
Its hard not to overdose on superlatives when talking about Elli Kokkinou: which is why we've decided on her track SEX as DontStopThePop's first posting after months of Danskepop. From the cold Nordic winds of Denmark we're getting all hot and bothered with Elli, the Greek diva of Athens.
SEX is an amazing track. Very minimal yet not. Very ethnic yet very not. It is a dialectic. Slightly etheral yet its a boombastic dance track. It condtradicts itself. Vocally lost yet lyrically limited. With pop songs generally loaded with vocals, SEX demands the listener to imagine as Elli leaves the instruments to dominate the song. The sexiest part of sex is not doing it but rather the thought of it and the construction of this vacant yet polemic pop song reflects the thought/silence of sex over and above the actual act. If Britney's Breathe On Me had illicit sex with Holly Valance's Kiss Kiss you'd have the bastard child of Elli's SEX. Those who like Despina's Jambi will adore SEX. The two are evil sisters!
Elli is best friends of another Greek diva, Despina Vandi and is a sworn enemy of Princess Elena Paparizou. This is alledgly because Elena has been known to do naughty things to get songs that Elli has already recorded. We think the track in question could be the My Number One which explains the fall out.
However the Greek gossip columns have said Elli wouldnt have used the song for Eurovision because the show wasnt in her "style" as she's already successful. While Elena won Eurovision & has become a huge Greek success story with sales nearly approaching Elli's it will be Kokkinou who looks very likely to break out to Europe. We know this as Elli has recorded, not an English version of SEX, but in French which is being primed for French radio. Here is a very good live version of the French mix of SEX recorded at Greeks MTV music awards where she won best female singer thus beating Anna Vissi, Elena Paparizou, Despina Vandi & new Greek pop princess Kalomira .
Elli Kokkinou is a huge gay icon as you can probably guess why but her fanbase is huge. Her megastar status was confirmed when 50Cent, yes that 50Cent, supported her! I was planning to actually to see her live this year on what was going to be the event of 2006 when Elli and Despina decided to tour together. Imagine if Kylie and Madonna performed together and you should get an idea. Sadly it was cancelled due to missed deadlines over constructions on new stadiums. Damn builders!
Greece, like Sweden, has a thing for pop divas and follows them religiously. Which is always a good thing seeing as the nearest thing the UK has had to a female pop star was Louise who we think is stuck behind a huge pile of Argos 2002 catalogues somewhere in Leeds. Greece has Natassa, Anna, Helena, Kalomira, Peggy Zina, Eva Milli, Mirianta, Mari Litra, Kaiti Garbi and Despina! Far too many Divas for just one country to keep to itself me-thinks! So in the interest of European Union solidarity, DontStopThePop celebrates the diva that Elli! Let your star shine bright and strong forever! Also keep up the Elena P bitching! We love a good handbag fight!
Words: diva, Breathe On Me, Kiss Kisa, pop rivary, sex, diamonds
GUESS WHATS PICKING HUGE AIRPLAY IN DENMARK?
Artist: TomBoy
Song: Its Ok To Be Gay
Video features: Infernal, a gay dog, bottom sex & pink poo
Website: www.tomboy.dk
Features the lyrics: "now remember, there's a big difference between kneeling down and bending over"....
Ella's Favourite Bit: When Infernal come in. I love them!
Ella's Wish: For it be no.1 everywhere in the world. Yes its shameful but I'd prefer this than watching some rapper diss women or songs about hips that dont lie.
Ella's Promise: This is the LAST post about Danish music. For I am off to Denmark, New York & then to the Maldives. Back in September & have a great summer!
Ella out!
