I.N.G Lucky Star or 外太空到地心 你就是

Why is it that song's dedicated to the concept of being lucky, whether it be in the infinitive or about the article, are always absolutely catchy. Evidence? Kylie's infamous I Should Be So Lucky, Britney's dedication to the fallen star in Lucky, Madonna 1980's electro monster Lucky Star, Clea's Lucky Like That and of course Lucky Twice's Spanish hit single Lucky. Well with Lucky Star the girlband I.N.G released one of the finest pop songs released in the "Central Kingdom"-this is the literal meaning of the China! And, with so many European acts on DSTP I thought it would be good to venture east. Indeed, DontStopthePop was always about pop acts from all corners of the world and its shocking that its never featured an act from Taiwan. Please please forgive me. The video includes tutus, some great dancing, planets and a skipping rope. I love it

Ok so, I.N.G are a girlband (Duh!). They consist of Ida, Nara and Gillian. As you can see the idea of taking the first initial to make the bandname deserves its own little footnote in the grand encyclopedia of girlbands (see R.a.e.n, T.e.a.r.s, Clea, N.K.D). Right so I.N.G started off well. Their hit single Lucky Star is an Über (yeah-people, I used the umlaut!) pop song and it has become an anthem amongst many Taiwanese teenagers. The album it came from didn't do so well even if it featured a Chinese version of Ilarie. However the Chinese pop scene is a hugely crowded place and I.N.G often faced major criticism for they were too similar to the huge Chinese supergirlband S.H.E. The knocks were bound to come but I think they're still together and are readying themselves to release another album.

Much has been made of the growing political power of China and I think you hear it in this song! What?! Yes! Hear me out. Ok Lucky Star is a cover-its written by a Swedish team. It came out a year or two beforehand in the UK and Europe as Karma Club. Their version is a bit mediocre. For sure its in English but it lacks any sparkle. Theres no bounce to the original. She - the singer - could be reading out the bus timetable for all it mattered. The singer on the original Lucky Star was probably thinking whether she'd left the kettle on back at home when she recorded her vocals for the song. The production is monotonous and even the production lacks something. The vocoders don't do anything and sound like a last-ditch effort to save the song. (NB: Seeing as this place isn't about negatives the remixes for the Karma Club version are absolutely amazing. In the delightfully named "Spank@TheOysterBar Mix" they use the exact melody of the Fever Tour version of Come Into My World performed by Kylie and mash that up with Donna Summers I Feel Love to produce a chilling and rather epic dance track of the sorts I've not heard in yonks).



But back to Taipei! So a year later and I.N.G come in and mutate the mere b-side of a song to pop brilliance. They've added some amazing sitars, the vocals are poptastic and in the backtrack I am sure I can actually hear bubbles. Its not in English but you sing along nevertheless. That, my friends, is the strength of a song I guess. But it just goes to show that occasionally production and writing great pop songs isn't always necessary about the writers or the studio behind the song itself. The act, the context and the background of the Chinese track also adds something-an X factor perhaps? People often say that its the production team and its writers that make the pop song go pop. Well in this case its not so. I.N.G slap the hell out of the original to expose one of the finest songs of 2006. It is this reason why I feel Lucky Star represents something brilliant and the political future of China. To be sure, its a rough metaphor but i think it kinda works. Simply put-something European simply wasn't as good as a pop product with the stamp 'made in China' marked all over it.

Official Site
Youtube Tribute
Coming up: The start of the Pop Awards!

WHATFOR Qui manquent à tes rêves.......

While the world is celebrating the brilliance of Britney, Dannii, Girls Aloud and so on, I thought I'd take a little moment to celebrate the French band Whatfor. Their first single Plus Haut was a hit but like many popbands formed from a reality TV show, the public went cold after the debut single, ignored the second single and the album vanished. However, Whatfor were perhaps the first and only camptastic mixed-gender band France has ever had. You get whiffs of Steps, Hear'say, S Club and of course the Young Divas. Why the last comparison? Well Whatfor were simply so poptastic that you could imagine the Australian girlband covering most of their material on their 2nd album (whenever that comes!). The significance of their first single Plus Haut (a number one in France) is that it might have been the only moment in France's recent chart history where a bubblegum pop band soared to the top of the charts. As you can see, its legacy is secured amongst the many youtube many Plus Haut "tributes" which you can check out if you really have the inclination and the time. This one is brilliant!

So what happened next? Well this is a bit difficult for me to extrapolate as I am no French speaker but they were dropped six months after the album flopped. This despite the fact that the second single was written by Swedish icon Carola (the song was also recorded, and bettered, by Rosa Lopez of Spain in 2006). Trust the Spanish to take a Swedish song and make it better! Like their first single, the cover too has received the "DIY-Youtube Tribute" treatment (see it here-i think this ones actually quite good)


In 2004, two of Whatfor's singers (Cyril et Erika) created a new band called Everton. Suddenly guitars were brought in and silly dance routines were unceremoniously chucked out! Nicholas Vitiello came out and released the brilliant cover of the discotastic 80's anthem Chercher Le Garcon under the name "Nicholas O".


He later then starred in many successful TV shows, films and on stage won brilliant reviews in the French take on Love! Valour! Compassion (this clip includes a nude Nicholas and some very raunchy moments from the stage show). I highly recommend the purchase of Nicholas O's single for it includes an amazing b-side called Tout N'est Pas Perdu which you can hear here. He is currently a successful comedian.....


After Everton did there thing, Erika dusted herself down, rejected offers to join a German girlgroup and released her album, parts of which you can here and here. Cyril went all boring and is now touring France with his soul, guitar and philosophy. Check out the elevator music here.


No, I am being too harsh. Cyril has simply gone all acoustic and in his new band (named Selli") he's having medium success! Shows at the Zenith no less. Thats the same place Kylie did her Showgirl tour so its pretty big. If you check out this clip you'll certainly hear he's got a good voice that deserves to be heard. His cover of My Girl is very sweet. And to the last member: Monia? Sadly I have no idea!

Key site: Amazon France, FNAC
Coming Up: The Pop Awards

PANDORA Finally releases On A Night Like This

Today is a quick update! So many things are happening at the moment but what stopped me in my tracks (which are mostly Ninja, Ola and PayTV at the moment) was the news that Pandora of Sweden was finally releasing her version of On A Night Like This. Like, Oh my Pop-days! Go to her Myspace to check the sublime piece of pop wonderfulness for yourselves. As such, I just had to write something on the release today. I just had to!

She was of course the original singer of the song which ended up being swiped by Anna Vissi and became a huge hit for Kylie. Well some seven years later, Pandora is releasing On A Night Like This but has drafted in United DJ's who were behind Pandora's huge European single Trust Me which is still in charts in Sweden nearly a year since its release! They've made the song all dramatic, throbbing and, with the new vocals, I sense a winter Ibiza smash will be its utter destiny. I love Pandora. She knows her pop, belts out On A Night Like This and totally re-owns the song. Diva pop at its finest!

Pandora official site

SOCCX HOLD ON Exclusive album review Track by Track Review

Soccx Hold On: released 26th of November

Soccx are about to launch themselves in France with the single Scream Out Loud released next month as the parent album Hold On follows shortly afterwards. To say DontStopThePop has been looking forward to this girlband release is an understatement and after many listens, I can acutely proclaim that Hold On is triumph! So here is my thoughts, track by track, on their album. In short, its tad wonderful! Or as they say over in France c'est merveilleux et j'espère que l'album aie beaucoup de succès!

Addict

This includes sirens, throbbing baselines and is a bit of a dancefloor confessional. The vocals are distorted to the max. This song is good. This could be a possible single and has the potential to be a huge hit in the US. Includes a ridiculous electro melody backed-up by a hip-hop drumline which reinforces the notions that Soccx are a bunch of pop addicts. Nice! DontStopthePop Rating: 4.9

Scream Out Loud Radio Version

I hear no difference between the club version (see below) and this mix. However it is somewhat different to the single version you've got on the CD singles. If that makes any sense! DontStopthePop Rating: 5

Kisses In The Wind

Ok this is one of the best songs of the album. Its a slow track but its brilliant. Its a sweet ballad that makes you wanna hold your paramour. This takes you back to your first love and has a ring of Swedish Eurovision about it. Confusing you? Sorry! Just imagine Kylie's Fragile mixed in with Ola's Who I Am and S Club 7's Two In A Million and you've got the vibe of Kisses In The Wind. This song is so catchy the hooks overflow into the next song forcing you to click repeat on your mp3/cd player the moment song finishes. You'll be repeating the chorus over and over. It has some brilliant instrumentalisation (a wonderful use of the xylophone for example) and streamlined vocals from the girls make it a clear future single. DontStopthePop Rating: 5

It Takes Two

The girls continue the slow groove and this song reminds me when the Spice Girls got Naked and '2 Became 1' on their debut album Spice. Its not one of the strongest songs on the album yet its cute and breezy. DontStopthePop Rating: 3

Without Eye Contact

Ooooh, now thats a bit better! The girls scream out loud that they will "shake their tails" and this is so Spinning Around it makes you get out those gold hotpants you've not used since 2000. There is certainly a 70's Sister Sledge vibe to Without Eye Contact but the lyrics are all about having yummy lovin' "front to back". Only they wanna "do it without eye contact" and this will be completed by "bringing out the Cristal". It seems Soccx get nasty when they've got a bit of bubbly down their necks. This sounds a bit like a cross between Stop by the aforementioned Spice Girls and Janet's Throb. As such its a winning song and is the best on the album. Feather boa? Flairs? Purple sequined boob-tube? Expensive drinkies? You've got Without Eye Contact summed up. DontStopthePop Rating: 5

Last Warning

The introduction is all spooky. This gives Danity Kane a real run for their money. The electrobeats on Last Warning are so hardcore you feel like it should be wrapped up in a brown paper bag. This could be the twin sister of their songs Addict and Scream Out Loud except without stomping vocals from the band. Instead, Last Warning is something that would fit quite nicely on any Timbaland produced album. DontStopthePop Rating: 4.9

Another Girl

Oooh, this is so cute. It reminds me a bit of the vocal effects used in that Akon track that pissed all over the charts a few years ago. Only Soccx keep Another Girl controlled and theres no novelty aspect to Another Girl. Its a slowie but its actually very catchy. The likes of Agnes Carlsson and Ricki-Lee would love this entire album but they'd surely make a big deal over Another Girl. DontStopthePop Rating: 4.2

Bye Bye Baby

This is a b-side from From Dusk Till Dawn so you should know it. This version is slightly, and i stress slightly, touched up with some more beats and electro beats. DontStopthePop Rating: 4.2

Get A Taste

Starts off "hey boy-why you looking all scared...I wont bite!". You think its a string/ballad sort of track but it couldn't be further removed from a slowie. This song has been on the Soccx website for ages as the introduction to the girls and their names. The introduction might make you ignore it at first. However, its one of the most interesting songs on the album. Its amazing, brilliant and sinister. You feel as if you've entered a particular opium den where the soundtrack is produced by the first Empress of India, the Neptunes (before they sold out) and a touch of nu-Bollywood. It finishes with the rather rude lyric that refuses to finish its conclusion. A sort of climax that surreally literally leaves Soccx speechless. This song could be huge in the US if the girls released it there. DontStopthePop Rating: 5

From Dusk Till Dawn

Finally a disco song! From Dusk Till Dawn could easily break the girls in the UK if released here. You guys should know this as it was the second single in Germany. DontStopthePop Rating: 5

Its So Hard To Do The Right Thing

You remember those slowish songs on those Christian Milian, Stacie Orrico and Christina Aguilera albums? Well this is so like those that you barely notice the song. I hate to say it but this song screams album filler so much so that you actually find yourself wondering whether you've filled in your tax returns thats before the girls even get to the chorus. This could be on the 3rd album of the American girlband Dream but seems out of place here. Very good vocals though. DontStopthePop Rating: 1

Hold On

Repeatly starts of with Gina G's famous refrain "just a little bit" which surely is a good sign. Another disco/dance song on the same stratosphere of From Dusk Till Dawn but throw in strange tribal beats, claps and uplifting lyrics. This track might not be a single track but its the strongest song on the album. Only cos its so strange and different you'll find nothing out there like their title track (which explains why its the title track). This song is genre-busting in that it refuses to categorized and neatly boxed-in. You think its rnb but then it turns into a brilliant club song and then I feel a bit of flamenco thrown in to really mess it up. This song needs to be heard to believed. You know the amazing title track by Sugababes Change? Well, this is somewhat like this. Only poppier and lot more wackier. This song is dramatic, a bit like doing the tango, passionate, trashy, classy and simply kooky. I love it! DontStopthePop Rating: 5

Bonus Track: Scream Out Loud Club Version

Perhaps this should be best described as the album version. And the difference to the radio mix that you have on your CDs? Not much. A bridge about "tasting honey" is slightly longer. Also no rap and nor strange "vespa" sound-effects. Still, one of the most best pop songs by a girlband in recent months. Scream Out Loud manages to dip its in fingers in electro, rnb and hip hop. This song knows its acutely catchy and absolutely owns the dancefloor. DontStopthePop Rating: 5.0

Conclusion

Hold On has taken some time to release but its well worth the wait. Its far more original and interesting than fellow other European girlbands (shakes me fists at L5, Monrose and No Angels!). If you wanted an album that followed in the footsteps of Hot Summer by Monrose then Hold On is just for you. To be sure, its low on pure pop songs like its first two lead singles but with only one filler Hold On is a fucking brilliant album! For a girlband faced with rumours of line-up "issues" and other set-backs, Soccx deserve to do really well with this CD. You can hear sweat and the vocals are pretty much flawless. Kisses in the Wind stands out as one of 2007's sweetest pop songs and despite being a ballad it will actually have you dancing. Hold On, the title track, is odd, confused and brilliantly disruptive. Soccx have clearly defied all the odds, stood their ground, followed their dreams and released an album that shows up their nearest rivals. Pass them the bubbly!

Singles: Scream Out Loud, From Dusk Till Dawn.
Songs that Should be Future Singles: Kisses In The Wind, Without Eye Contact, Addict & Get A Taste.
Stand Out Song: Hold On

Released: 26.11.2007

Preview it Here: Soccx (French Myspace)
Soccx Official Website (France)
Fnac
Amazon France
Soccx Offical Website (Germany)
Management
Booking

Today is the Melodifestivalen Day!-Results as they come in!

Around 4 pm we should know which songs are going to battle it out at Sweden's Melodifestivalen. To those who don't know, the competition often comes up with better acts and songs than Eurovision so as years go by its getting more and more popular. Rumour has it some of DontStopthePop's favourite acts are "involved" this year so fingers crossed to you all! I will be holding my breath!

As of typing (its being read out now!)

Alexander Bard has a song called Lay Your Love On Me (I think!)-could this be BwO?!

The song "Kebab Pizza" in title alone worries Dontstopthepop!

Other notable-English-songs are "When You Need Me", "Smiling in Love", "That's Love", "Line of Fire", "That Is Where I'll Go", "Empty Room", "Lullaby", "Love In Stereo", "If I Could", "Just A Minute", "Never Fall In Love", "Hero" and "I Love Europe"

(If I've made mistakes please inform me! It was done in Swedish so mistakes are bound to be made)

(I might have heard wrong but Bobby Llundgren had a lot of winning songs!)

PAY-TV FASHION REPORT (ElectroLush album mix) World Exclusive Legal Download!

"This is the Dontstopthepop report! Pay-TV are back!"
Legal Download of Pay-TV (ElectroLush Album Mix)
Click Here for New PAY-TV Site!

In 2005, pop changed forever. Pay-TV won history with their track Refrain Refrain. It was the first time a non-political political pop song appeared on the stage of a bewildered audience. Indeed, listening to its lyrics Refrain Refrain is first pop song in history that one could say is has moments of autopoiesis. Just as have remixes remixed themselves into a wonderful climax of oblivion, Pay-TV collapsed modernity, celebrity and western culture. This was the true sound of the underground and as such Sweden baulked at the trio when it was time to select a group to represent the country for that years Eurovision Song Contest. However by this time, Pay-TV had destroyed the lines of standardisation and the pop song was never the same again. We’d all seen the satire and truth that Refrain Refrain had consequently exposed and the aperture altered pop forever.

Since this moment, they arguably won Eurovision despite never appearing at the contest itself. A year later they won the Nobel prize for fashionable decorum and each singer achieved a Phd on the ethics of subjective pop rebellions in Spain, Germany and Sweden. Pay-Tv as a franchise can rival the likes of Opera, the oil industry and they bank-rolled the spending debts of God and Vishnu. Last year they considered re-recording their ode to the Blarite world “Miss Capitalist” in Mandarin for the Chinese government to consume and re-employ as a part of the global dominance of Beijing.

Come 2007 they are just about to launch their long-awaited first album. Today, DontStopthePop can offer a very very very special exclusive and legal download but only for a limited time. This version of Fashion Report is from their new album and far more electrolush than the original. For sure, it’s a remix but you won’t get it find it on any CD. Not even the Cd single includes the mix! You’ll get this no where else but here……

Download it and get ready to throb!!!

Coming up: The results of the Pop Awards, Petros, reviews and more Pay-TV!

PAY-TV FASHION REPORT World Exclusive Legal Download!

The stunning Single cover of the latest single by Pay-TV (by Pixie Von Flash)

Oscar Wilde once postulated that fashion was a form of ugliness so intolerable that we've got to alter it every six months. The Swedish trinity Pay-TV take this point and simply deconstruct our sociological "space" and its "paradigms" through their disco anthem Fashion Report. The single cover alone (seen above) taken by Pixie Von Flash does a lot to reorganise the norms of pop history, girlband mythology and disco anthology. However I want to concentrate on the song itself. In a time of war, glamour and conservative radicalism, Pay-TV observe the stationary fix of the world by observing the spewed mess of digital news media controlled by a handful of corporate companies. Neena Fatale, Chanelle Ferrari and Claudia Cash are Pay-TV. They front the worlds first post-modern girlband. This means they voice their embodiment. Their chorus is one that recoils in a post-feminist vista of the world. This is a world where saving the world is a capitalist venture and can only result in air pollution. They are right.

The Swedish trio declare decadence is "out" along with evolution and revolution, its Other-prostitution is rejoiced and stripped of her children. The sublime lyrics of Hakan Lidbo predicts, theorizes and travails the world and its wonderful ethical codes, political labels and designer mistakes. In the song we are presented dialectics placed directly on the dancefloor. This is the queer kind of strut that the likes of Judith Butler of the Departments of Rhetoric and Comparative Literature at Berkeley once demanded in her groundbreaking text Gender Trouble and The Politics of the Performative.

But I think Pay-TV go beyond these post-modern fusions.

In many ways, Fashion Report is the first meta-political resistance pop song. There are no other songs out there like this. It is anarchic yet refuses to enter into the the well-trodden trope of resistance songs that the likes of the Madonna's Hey You belongs. No, the dialectics, and indeed the rhetoric, contained in Fashion Report moves beyond the Other and exposes something else. Something classically quite apart from hegemony vs resistance. Fashion Report demands the dualism is somehow side-stepped.

Take for example the resistance movements organized in the 1960's based on sexual liberation. It is often described as the Sexual Revolution but we now know better. Simon Critchley of the New School for Social Research said in his brilliant text Infinitely Demanding that "where the sexual revolution [has turned] the culture industry into a sex industry - ask yourself, is there today anything less transgressive and more normalizing than pornography?". (p.124)
Fashion Report is Pay-TV's way of exposing this same juncture and provide something of a theory that refuses resistance while contemporaneously rejects hegemony.

Its also a fucking catchy pop song! They must be sent to represent the "OtherLostNations" at next years Eurovision immediately! DontStopthePop is very proud to allow its readers to exclusively legally download the track & in the coming weeks expect a lot more from Pay-TV here. A lot more! Spread the word people-they are back! Coming up Pay-TV-wise on this site, DontStopthePop will discuss the new album (its amazing!), chat about tea, do chaos, fake and shake it with the girls. This site will also feature more amazing mp3's from the group so keep your eyes peeled.....

Critical Links:
PayTV
Fashion Report (DontStopthePop legal download)
CDon
Simon Critchley

TRUEBLISS Tonight-The song that started it all...

It's only taken eight years, but the historic video for Tonight by TrueBliss has finally made it to the internet!

Why is this historic? Well you should all know that this mighty fivesome were the first band formed for the TV show PopStars. The song hit #1 and the rest is history. I personally think the video has stood the test of time but I'm probably a little biased...

Anyway I just thought this deserved to be shared with pop fans the world over and if you like it come and join the TrueBliss Bebo group!

And as a bonus here is their take on the S/A/W classic Getting Closer which was a hit for Haywoode and also recorded by Minogue Senior.

COSMO4 "Around The World" Track by Track World Exclusive Review

Cosmo4-Around The World album cover

Forget the long-awaited Annie Lennox album for today I hold in my hands something even more beautiful, poptastic and long overdue. Forget even the overpriced Spice Girls reunion tickets! Its the arrival of Cosmo4’s album Around The World that is making me go all wunderba! This album has taken ages to come out and as of typing its actually yet to be released...but the wait is finally over! After four singles spanning over three years, yes three years, the Swedish girlgroup consisting of Yasmine, Ulrika, Jenny, and Rudina are on the crux of releasing the parent album from which the singles were recorded for! I can't stress this enough though-the album isn't released yet; nor can I find any online stores holding the release but I will suggest you watch closely to CDon and their Russian record company Style-Records who are planning to release the CD very soon.

1.What’s Your Name

Ok everyone knows this one for the girls tried their best to represent Sweden with the ditty this year and were robbed by the ridiculous The Ark. What’s Your Name recalls the feisty girlpower of Wannabe, combines that with the Sugababes Round Round and throws a touch of Robyns Handle Me in the mix to produce a brilliant start to Around The World.

Critical lyric: “Cruising the land looking for somebody/Not a whimp with a tan/Not a boy thinking he's a man/True to the scale/I need a real Alpha-male”

2.Peek-A-Boo

Cosmo4’s second single. This is a bit like Please Stay and hasn’t dated one bit despite coming out early last year. Personally I’ve always felt anything with “boo” in its title will always be a DontStopthePop classic and thus the girls are already onto a pop gem before the song has even begun. Boo!!!

Critical Lyric: “It’s a game for two! It’s a game I wanna play, I wanna play with you!”

3. A Girls Gotta Do (What A girls Gotta Do)

Ooooh, very electroDannii meets Holly Valance in a dirty Ghetto-like Soho nightclub. This song throbs and thrusts!

Critical Lyric: “London to New York/Nightclubs to Sidewalks”

4. I Think We’re Alone Now

Yes! Oh Yes! It’s a poptrash disco cover of that 1980’s hit single by Tiffany. Yes I know Tiffany’s was itself a cover but Cosmo4 go for the 1980’s version and throw an amazing beat over the vocals and the thoughts of big hair, leg-warmers and dodgy videos are put to bed. Cosmo4 completely alter the song into a ethereal electro disco anthem much in the same way the current mixes of Robyn’s Handle Me have absolutely altered the rnb jam into something completely else. Remember when Girls Aloud did Jump? At first it was a bit odd but slowly and surely their take took on a life of its own. Well this version of I think Were Alone Now is a bit like that! You’ll frown at first but eventually completely forget the covers by Tiffany, Girls Aloud, the Click Five and The Rubinoos.

Critical lyric: “And we tumble to the ground….And then you say….”

5. Shop Shop

Wow! This is more like Peek-A-Boo and their two other singles. This is dedicated to the past-time of shopping. Layered with a doo-wop latino baseline it becomes an instant pop classic all about burning money. Remember when Supersister did Shopping? Well this is in the similar vein but a lot better!

Critical Lyric: “From London off to Hollywood, to Paris down to Rome again, oh baby don’t you know I will never tire, I just can’t get enough of it, I’m really really loving it, I can’t deny-ieieieieieie my desirrrrrrrrrre”

6. Adios Amigos

You know this song cos it was their 3rd single so I wont go on about it. All I’ll say is it’s a brilliant reinterpretation of Cher’s Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down).

Critical Lyrics: “I said adios amigos I gotta go, amigos bye bye”

7. Vida Loca

You might think this is another latino pop song. Well it kinda is but its so much better than anything J:LO has ever done. Well it just happens to be one of the catchiest pop songs of 2007 by a girlband. Coming in at 2:56 minutes it would be a perfect comeback pop song for Cosmo4. This is like What’s Your Name part two but probably a lot better. Vida Loca takes you directly to the beaches of Spain, Ibiza and Portugal and as such methinks the girlgroup should consider releasing something in that area rather soon. Around the World would be perfect for the iberian radios. Soundwise it sounds like Kylie’s Please Stay hooked up with Love At First Sight.

Critical lyric: “Vida Loca, ayeheoeoeoeoaoeo, aeoeoeohoyaoyaoya!”

8. Mexico

This was the first single back in 2005 and its simply odd. Wonderfully odd. It’s a bit Western, a bit like something from the LuckyTwice album and then out of the blue it has elements of a country album Jessica Simpson would do if she actually got round to realising how to record a catchy pop song. Despite being three years old (its been re-recorded for the album), it still holds its own purely because its such an unusual yet quirky pop song. You’ll hear nothing like Mexico.

Critical lyric: “In 1990 we took a little trip, went all the way from China to the mighty Missisip.”

9. Poor Romeo

Oh my Gosh! The Girls go hyper discoschlager! Nanne and Shirley move out of the way for the girls of Cosmo4 are walking through. This is the campest song on the album and demands to be released. The best way I can describe it would be if I compared it to Alla Flickor and the Jennifer Lopez early hit Waiting For Tonight. Girls Aloud would kill Xenomania for a song like Poor Romeo! This has to be the strongest songs on Around The World and reeks of smash hit single.

Critical lyrics: “Romeo! Oh my poor Romeo!”

10. What’s Not To Like

Ok, the girls slow things down. Is this their only ballad? Sort Of! Cosmo 4 turn all PussyCat Dolls with their attempt to go all rnb but sadly it doesn’t quite work. I am a pop boy so I might be a bit biased but after nine songs of pure pumping pop this song slightly jars. What’s Not To Like isnt a bad song but it doesn’t sit well especially after the brilliant disco song Poor Romeo. It starts off well as in it could actually eclipse the sublime ballad by All Saints Never Ever. The main problem of the song is it drags on a bit too long. It’s a fine song but it lacks the sparkle of the other tracks on Around The World.

Critical Lyrics: “Your looking at me, your liking my curves, I am telling you straight, you get on my nerves!”

Bonus Tracks:

11.Whats Your Name (Holter Remix)

Perhaps sensing that the Rnb stylings of Whats Not To Like didn't quite add up Cosmo4 included a discotastic remix of their already anthemic Eurovision attempt. And its good. Very good.

12. Peek-a-Boo (Soundfactory Club Mix)

Soundfactory are usually into hardcore throbbing beats but on this mix they refuse to go do a house mix and instead do something very different and I can even smell a The Knife influence.

Conclusion

Around the World is a very strong pop album. Historically one might say its the sort of album that could come straight after Spiceworld. Loaded with anthems that will go down in girlband history, Cosmo4 have recorded a cd that all pop lovers should own. Its taken them ages to get to this stage but the girls can relax now, its done and hold their heads up high. Sweden has done very well this year when it comes to girlbands (Caracola, PayTV, Miss Match, LuckyTwice) and one hopes that Cosmo4 manage to get this cd out for fans who’ll adore this cd. At the moment its getting released in Russia but I think Sweden, Spain and Germany would lap Around The World in their droves.

I’ve been told by the powers in charge that the CD might get some kind of Itunes release so keep your ears to the ground. Songs that demand to be released as singles are Vida Loca, A Girls Gotta Do and the mighty Poor Romeo. In short, this album has to be released!

Critical Links:
Cosmo4 Official Site
CDon
StyleRecords
Cosmo4 Official Myspace
GoMusic (A good Russian music store that will stock Around The World when its released)

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Coming up: something very cool from PayTV, Soccx, Caracola, LuckyTwice………….