Following in the footsteps of ChartRigger(in other words we're stealing their idea), DontStopthePop thought this weeks v v v poptastic Swedish chart demanded some special love and attention. Straight in at no.2 is pop idol winner Agnes Carlsson with her exuberant ditty Kick Back Relax. This is an amazing position considering previous attempts by Agnes have all suggested it might be over for the girl from Vanersborg. Interestingly, not only is the song too cute for its own little boots but its an old Clea track. Its quite sad that a track that has saved the career of Agnes coulda been used to keep Britains only bubblegumpop trio afloat. Still, Robpop tells me Clea are huge in Hong Kong-so there Girls Aloud! You can hear the track over at PurePop.
Preventing Agnes from reaching no.1 is the yummy Martin Stenmarck who some will remember was Swedens entrant to Eurovision in 2005. The song in question reminds me of a slower version of Kelly Clarksons Since You've Been Gone which probably explains why its been such a big hit. See the video here. A special mention should go out to the song that's swept through the Nordic clubs this summer and has been no.1 in every country where its been released. It is of course the Swedish trancegroup, Basshunters and their anthem Boten Anna. See/hear it here. Personally, I think any video that contains the singer in a pedalo should go to no.1 just because...
Right behind Agnes lies the disco princess Pandora & her collab with United DJ's. Pandora's albums are a must for any europop whore but chart success in Sweden has always eluded her. Until now...which is nice. Hear a Pandora track from her most recent album 9 Lives here.
Meanwhile, Scissor Sisters spray their disco spunk right behind Pandora's trancetrash anthem at no.4 with fellow Americans Justin and Rihanna smooching together at numbers 10 and 9 respectively. Kudos to the clubpop act Cascada whose Everytime We Touch spent its 21st week on the chart (no.5) whilst their second offering, Miracle, looms large at no.18.
Swedens Poptastic Top Ten:
1. 7MilaKliv by Martin Stenmarck
2. Kick Back Relax by Agnes
3. Trust Me by Pandora & United DJ's
4. Everytime We Touch by Cascada
5. I Don't Feel Like Dancin' by Scissor Sisters
6. Natural High by HammerFall
7. Boten Anna by Basshunter
8. I'll Never Let You Know by Basic Element
9. Unfaithful by Rihanna
10. SexyBack by Justin Timberlake
STOCKHOLM? THE FUTURE OF POP MUSIC?
Robpop predicts the future? Its Lucky Twice and another catchy tune from Sweden
Now I don't like to trump my own horn but when its on behalf of my fellow blogger I have no hesitations...
Some three months ago Mr.Robpop brought the song Lucky by Lucky Twice to my attention. Later on it appeared on this very blog which was the first time the song ever made its appearance on the internet. Many loved its poptastic chorus while others throught it would go nowhere. However mid-september it has finally run aground on the holy shores of popjustice where its been described as "the most poptastic thing you will hear all year". Moreover, a video has finally been made and I have to say its rather decadent.
I have no information about the band but they're probably from the Nordic countries (I'd say Sweden). Robpop has always had a certain eye as to what could be huge and with Lucky Twice he's done it once again...love ya boy!
ROBYN/TEDDYBEARS GirlieStyle
TOMBOY Gays In Space
SHINE YOUR SILVER BOOTS NOW! URANUS IS THE GOAL!
So I've given up on London Fashion Week. Primarily because I accidently forgot most of my timetable. I think I might still be suffering from jet-lag and sun-burn. I am also coming down with a cold which is real odd seeing as it was such a warm day today. I am still feeling fabulous though...
Tomboy is a fellow Danish diva and has followed in the glitter platforms of other Norsk pop acts from ABBA, Army Of Lovers, Alcazar and Diskofil by believing in using the stage to deliver a crusade of absolute fabulousness. And boy is this guy is fabulous.
His 2006 album came out in summer and includes the camptastic single Ok2BGay. If you thought Ta-Day claimed the title of 'gay album 2006' then you haven't heard this.
MODELS, FASHIONISTAS, GLAMBOI'S! The Bitch is Back!
PAYTV-Top Model(Demo version)-Is that a Donna Summer sample?
Girls Aloud-Model-"ova era luv!"
Jimmy Jason-Fashionista-This is so fabulous and my anthem.
Kate Ryan-Spinning Around-Taken from the poptastic Kate Ryan album!
Mikey Avalon-Fashion Glam-This is soooooooooo good!
Amanda Lepore-My Hair Looks Fierce-Amanda, you DO know a lot about clothes!
Carmen Electra-Power From Above-The first Original PussyCat Doll/model turned singer. Produced by Prince. A must to download.
Naomi Campbell-Ride A White Swan-Okay she's the Queen A of models. Her music career was dreadful. I love it when i get stoned though. This girl can sing!
Milla Jovovich-Gentlemen Who Fell-This is too classy for words. You like Nerina Pallot? You'll love Milla. Fifth element indeed.
Waste Your Time On Me-IDREAM-Already posted on DSTP. Written with a model in mind. Most probably.
The Ark-Tired of Being An Object-Love this.
Ella has returned! After an unsteady dash back to New York, London greeted me with a free ticket the gig Scissor Sisters-who were great-and a delovely summery September Sunday morning. I missed the Wicked aftershow party but this week consists parties, parties and parties. First is the Biba(think kaftans sweetie) relaunch on Tuesday designed by the quirky yet mundane Bella Fraud (nay Freud). Then on Wednesday is Christopher Kane’s party at the private members’ club 43 South Molton and if I can blag a ticket, the Armani show which will be helmed by the saucy Italian and Bono as its got something to do with the Red Campaign. All of which means its London Fashion Week! It was said at the New York fashion soiree that London has lost its Uber touch in recent years(which was rich coming from NYC!). Despite truth in these words, I beg to differ; theres something in the wind that is getting the city noticed once again.
Christopher Kane is of course symbolic of this renewal: only 24, he has just graduated from Central Saint Martins with fantastic designs that got the boy noticed by Will Baker and Donatella Versace. A little bird has told me that he’s now Kylies muse(or should that be the other way round? you never know with her) so expect to see him a lot more in the future.
As pop is always influenced by fashion I’ve taken the executive decision to dedicate todays post all about the controversial element of the fashion industry: the models! Last week the traditionally boring fashionistas of Madrid took an unusual step of difference by banning overtly skinny girls from their catwalks. I personally feel that if we are allowed to smoke things that give us cancer, drive cars that have the risk of wrapping around trees or bareback(ask your gay banglejangle) then it shouldn’t matter if women believe that their sense of beauty, career and health involves destroying their insides. Feminists might argue that it is gay men, or men in general, owning women as objects/subjects to the extent that they starve themselves to provide a fantasy of what a woman should look like. More, these girls are not autonomous at all and material retards of an over-materialistic realm. To a Joan Armistrading cassette they declare ‘burn the bras!’ but they don’t realise that these models don’t have tits so bras are thrown away with the forks, knives and such other items that us ‘normal’ folk use to eat. Yes, these girls do provide a fantasy: for designers, for us and to the world of impossible impossibility. Yes they are killing themselves but hey death is life and if they are dying as a fantasy then I say its fantastic! How would you rather die? Sitting in-front of the TV with a beer belly or while strutting down a catwalk looking fucking fierce in Dolce&Gabbana. (My arguement is basically put to song by the brilliant Swedish act The Ark in their epic track Tired Of Being An Object)
The Kate Ryan song isnt about fashion but was all over the NYC catwalks. I must have heard it 10 times. Which is pretty impressive as shes from Belgium. Kate Ryan in the US! Is she the next best thing? I think not but after Cascada you never know...
Kylie is also the fashion Queen of the year...
Oh Madonna can go fuck herself. Seriously. This girl is really over...
I'm loving ever'ie damn posting over at Club Contact. I need a Russian lover now!
The Scissor Sisters are all over blogworld. Well just Here and here...
This person thinks you can hear Bach in Kylie...
The original singer of the song Torn was Danish! That one passed me by...
New album from Jesse...
The new Girls Aloud/Sugababes singles leave me rather unimpressed...
Norwegans rivalling Sweden and Denmark! Who'd have thought? XO has the lo-down..
Kylie and George Michael are in fact the same person. Shocking...
TimberCocks new album is reviewed. Its revealed to be a rather good romp...
The Swedes dont stop to breathe do they...
Jessica updates her essential family of blogs...
SplitChick gets all Aussie...
Loving the PurePOP! blog at the moment...
POP LEGEND MARIANNE FAITHFUL HAS BREAST CANCER!
Love goes to her family and we hope she gets back to form asap! We also hope Swedish pop singer Nanne Gronvall is also doing well for she too is undergoing treatment for cancer at the moment.
JENNY/VELVET City Of Angels
Thanks to SoundsOfSweden, DontStopthePop went on a huge spending spree over at Cdon. One of the albums that really stood out was Velvets stunning first album Finally.
There is like one dud track amongst many strong ones. The dud one isnt really filler but it doesnt quite muster the strength when next to such brilliant pop songs. Its very rare that albums contain such strong songs without being classified as being too desperate to be seen as ubercool (yes we love our Goldfrapps & Nelly Furtados but they can be seen as trying a bit too hard at times).
What DontStopthePop is getting at is that we just love acts that do pop so effortlessly that it makes you smile inside and dance like a fool without fear of looking like a fool. Discodare indeed.
&...Velvets album does that to us. Its a very hard thing to achieve. Kylie did with Light Years but Madonna completely missed the mark on Confessions. Girls Aloud did with What Will The Neighbours Say but not Chemistry. Whoever said pop was easy to do? Well it isnt! Making ten songs with a guitar and drumkit is what we'd describe as easy but by no means can you get away with such antics if you want release a good pop LP. Thankfully Velvet did and we highly recommend Finally if you havent already!
Not only will you get a storming cover of Livin' Joys Don't Stop Movin' but a great reworking of Eddie Grants 80's hit about a street in South London, Electric Avenue. Other standout tracks are the Eurovision attempt Mi Amore, Doin It, the highly yet subvertly addictive track DJ Take Me and the club friendly anthem In And Out Of Love.
To purchase Finally try this rather sublime place, or check out this online resource and if you need more convincing check out SoundOfSwedens offering. Remember these blogs are to promote new acts and Velvet needs all the help they can get so get ya credit card out and buy! Treat yourself cos you'll be dancing to it all year.
DANNII MINOGUE I Can't Sleep At Night(Acoustic Lounge Version)+
Emma Nildotter: For All Time
Bette Milder: Stuff Like That There
Dannii Minogue: I Can't Sleep At Night(Acoustic Lounge Version)
Want some of Dannii's salt on ya chips?
So its been a beautiful weekend consisting of relaxing, sipping on chilled wine, reading old childhood books and picnics in the park. Therefore the music today reflects that mood and we can't anything more chilled than this new version of Dannii's electro track I Can't Sleep At Night. Most will know of it as the single that was bumped off for Perfection and So Under Pressure.
Despite the photo to the left suggesting otherwise, she has not resorted to opening a fish n chippie although the thought of cod in Danniis brand of batter does seem rather fabulous. In fact, Dannii is currently busy promoting her recent greatest hits pacakge and is about to release another single any day soon. I'm very fond of LoveFight. She's also planning to be in a movie called East Of Richmond(or something like that). All of which means Dannii's far too busy to open up a greasy spoon. Sadly...
Also included today is a bit of pop background. Emma Nilsdotter is a Swedish singer whose featured on many lounge poptastic albums and this song is illustrative of her sound. Many will not have heard of her but believe me you'll have her in your CD collection without probably realising it.
How so I hear you sceam?
Shall I tell you?
Burst the bubble?
Well, shes actually the vocalist on Britneys Toxic. Yup! Britney sings only a number lines on her anthem while Emma takes hold of the chorus, bridge, difficult middle 8 and high notes in the verses. She is not merely the backing vocalist on the track but dominates on the song. It should really be Emma Nilsdotter featuring Britney Spears.
Much has been made of Beyonce and her recent absorption of other female acts. To me though Christina Aguilera has also been plundering though the back catalogue of other singers and their styles. Her new album, with specific reference to the excellent new single Candyman, sounds a lot like Bette Midler. Check out Stuff Like That by Bette/Dixie and the rest they say..is plagiarism. Well sort of...basically it gives us a reason to rekindle the brilliance of Bette's back catalogue and that can't be such a bad thing can it?!
In other news:
A DontStopthePop reader is in the last ten to become a member of a brand new poptastic boyband! And he needs your help! So register and vote for Mister Camptasic Rob over at The Edge. And if you need any other reason to support Rob check out his TrueBliss t-shirt! Consider a world without TrueBliss and you can kiss your Girls Alouds, Kelly Clarksons and Will Youngs goodbye. If it wasnt for Truebliss-and thus Rob-anthems such as Since You've Been Gone & Money For Nothing would be nothing but a dream. So get voting! Your Rob/Disco/Music Needs You!!
Paul over at The Zapping showing us all how its done. While many blogs prioritise style over content The Zapping proves a cute template aint always gonna float the boat. Check out the excellent The Little Mermiad demo and reviews of the musical Daddy Cool. Sparkpop also seems to get that specific balance brilliantly right and have celebrated their one year birthday with a pure, clean but colourful make-over. Another blog that keeps it "fetch" is Jessica's classic blog Into the Groove.
Although the new Pay-TV single is a different shift of gear, the lyrics are as sharp as ever and it will go down as yet another Swedish pop gem. You can also check it out at SoundsofSweden.
And lastly this brand new blog looks interesting.
AGNES CARLSSON Kick Back Relax
From the sunny climbs of Spain, DontStopthePop returns to Sweden to celebrate the new single by Agnes Carlsson which premiers on Swedish radio very soon. Agnes, star of the Swedish version of Pop Idol, is set to release yet another album in October which this little summery ditty is taken from.
Originally Kick Back Relax was recorded by a girl band from Britain called Clea who are doing very well in Asia with their Trinity album soaring up the charts in South Korea and Hong Kong. The "original" is one of my favourite Clea songs so its nice to see some other act considers it pretty fab too!
But, back to Agnes! In a few weeks you'll be able to buy her hot new album which is simply titled 2006. As for this song, the lyrics are v. odd, make little sense yet calm the frayed nerves of a hectic week. I loved the Clea version and I love this even more so!
Oh and remember to buy the single when it comes out over at CdOn!!
Words: Pop Idol, Sweden, Clea, Popstars: The Rivals
NATALIA Último Adios & Loco Por Mi & bonus
Natalia was one of our first postings on DontStopthePop and this marks the last while in Spain. So who is Natalia I hear you ask? My boyfriend-from Malaga btw-has followed her career since she began with her debut album back in 2001 (doesn't that seem like a lifetime away?) and is thus a huge huge huge fan. If memory serves me well the CD included tracks recorded in London with hitmakers Metro (otherwise known as Brian Rawling and Graham Stack). Natalia is the one the right btw....
Her second album included the famous singer Lucie Silvas and saw Natalia covering Highway To Hell. For me, its the best album shes done. She's even cracked the UK charts with her urban disco track I Love This Game. All of which is pretty impressive considering that she finished 14th in the Spanish version of Pop Idol. She wasnt even in the semi-finals yet her chart success rivals the winner Rosa Lopez.
After taking time out she has returned this year with her pop polemic Nada Es Lo Que Crees which has got the blog IndieGirl/PopBoy typing out superlatives which it justly deserves. The lead single went to no.3 in Spain, a shocking position considering it wasnt even released in any physical format, and although it sounds a bit like Britneys Toxic and Girls Aloud No Good Advice it still holds that special essence that marks it out as a traditional Spanish pop song. The album consists of a total of 12 tracks some of which are co-written with Anders Wollbeck, a flurry of Swedish hit writers, and the team behind Kylies Confide In Me (Brothers In Rhythm).
Download Here:
So today we have three tracks for your delight!
Último Adios-written by the same stable behind Britney's Breathe On Me and Kylie's Confide In Me, Último Adios (The Last Goodbye) sounds very much like Rachel Stevens epic dance-ballad track I Will Be There from her second LP. Now this song was originally put aside for Kylie yet it ended up on Natalia's album. It is still, in its English form, being touted to other female acts so you might hear of it again. I've heard the original English demo version and its absolutely stunning.
Loco Por Mi-Sounds a bit like Sugababes Overload, Britneys Toxic and Girls Aloud No Good Advice. In other words pop at its finest. A MUST!
Highway to Hell-And now for something highly ridiculous. Taken from her second album, Natalia's cover of Highway to Hell is so fun you'll smile whether you like it or not. In fact, her third album is so cool its freezing and lacks the charm/giggles of her second that along with this little slice of pop heaven includes many more kitch moments. Consider her second album a a good laugh while the new one is for posing. Still, hope you enjoy! To buy her CDs check out El Corte Ingles.
Words: pop idol, losers, winners, Rachel Stevens, Swedish songwriters, Britney Spears, Spain
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In other news:
-Congrats to all who have done well at their exams this year! Have fun at uni!
-In an odd turn of events, a Swedish act has "covered" a British girl group. The acts in question are the Swedish Pop Idol winner Agnes and Popstars losers Clea. The song is Kick Back Relax which is being released by Agnes at the end of September and looks to be another huge single for her. To listen to the new version by Agnes click here and to read the DontStopthePop review of the Clea "original" click here. The " " are being used as its not really a Clea song because their version was never released so.......
-Absolutely loving HomoElectrics recent posting of the Hindi ABBA. The duo were once featured on Radio 4 and I've spent literally years wondering whether I was dreaming or not.
-Absolutely loving Mika thanks to Gaypop. Check him out and try to catch him on tour when he visits your nearest local stage. The track Grace Kelly is everything I ever dreamt of and more! The male Amy Diamond? Billy Brown certainly sounds like something that could be on the much older Amy Diamonds' fourth album...
