Hey all! If your reading this-hi! I am still here! I've been on holiday for a bit. Returned a few days ago and I had no idea what to blog about so I thought I'd do the final pop news for 2008. Usually as the year comes to an end, the world of pop is filled with drivel such as X Factor winners releasing trite covers of once brilliant pop songs and Cliff Richard medleys somehow dominating the radio waves. Not now! Not December 2008! This year it seems the place is abuzz with lots of pop-deliciousness. For every dull Alex winning X Factor in Britain you've got the exciting discovery of the Melodifestivalen acts in Sweden or the birth of the new girlgroup Queensberry in Germany.
Don't get me wrong. I like Alex. I think she can sing but the only interesting things about X Factor this year were the dodgy appearances put in by some American singers, Ruth Lorenzo being absolutely amazing and the awful treatment of Dannii Minogue. If a show depends on the bullying of a judge as its running narrative and the ever so shocking mimed performances by Ms.Spears you know that its just a bit shit. The show simply isn't fun as it should be.
Thankfully pop has the form of Clea and LoveShy. & they've returned. Thank fuck! Well kind of! Thanks to their managers Denise & Simon, the release of previously unheard material is now available online. Rather than download Alexandra's new single, go and check out the poptastic single Power Of Music. The subject of the song is about the ability of music to unite the world. Forget United Nations, Gordon Brown and the credit crunch. Just download LoveShy's Power Of Music and all problems will be consequently lifted from ones shoulders.
While your there you might as well as download their single that was so nearly pressed: Gotta Love For You. Its a mighty fine cover and comes with a WideBoys Remix. As you listen to their Jomanda cover, one can actually build-up a small LoveShy album. If they'd continued to release more of this quality pop-dance stuff, I believe Booty Luv would have had a great set of rivals in the form of the LoveShy girls.
Yeah I am biased but I loved Loveshy. Sigh. But you know what...they're great & these batch of releases symbolize that. They really refused to stop the pop-even after their demise! These girls seem to have really loved giving us pop lovers what we wanted: Pop! You see and hear that with the release of Trinity but the other stuff on Itunes from the girls illustrates that too if not more so. Well, step back in time to when LoveShy were Clea! They had a little song called I Surrender. It was anthemic and became a single for Kate Ryan this year. Clea released I Surrender in Sweden but nowhere else. Until now. Not only have the LoveShy tracks come out but so has the I Surrender Mini-EP.
With all this pop brilliance I might be in pop heaven! Yet the girls have given us one extra little gem which truly is like the bonus present one finds after the christmas tree. The icing on the cake. The taking of the biscuit: the Dance Remix EP is pure pop bliss. It comes with remixes of Stuck in the Middle and Lucky Like That. All pretty much unreleased, every damn remix is special. You have the Cutfather and Joe mix of Stuck In The Middle. Cutfather and Joe! They're legends! There's also ODB on another remix, a trancetrashtastic remix of Lucky Like That (The Floorshaker Remix) and the ubercool Pool mix of the same said song. All of which making the Clea/Loveshy Itunes experience highly fabulous and bad for my credit card. Its all there on Itunes! And available internationally too!
Staying within the realm of Clea, one of their key songs Sprung has been covered by Queensberry (listen here). Its looking Antonella will be the girl in the band. You see this year, the final member of the band was decided not by telephone votes but by cd sales. Germans, Austrians and Swiss had the choice of purchasing three versions of Queensberry's first album Volume One. Each album included vocals by different contestants: Antonella, Kay-Kay and Patricia. The one with the most sales goes in the band. Simply really. I am thinking the remaining two can team up with another Popstars contestant and create a new trio ala Bisou/Clea/Liberty X. The cover of Sprung isn't bad. Not as good as the two originals by Clea but its worth checking out. Antonella doesn't quite say the lyric "smell of eggs cooking in my kitchen" properly and instead it sounds like she's saying "the smelly bags cookin in me kitchen". Yummy. The Queensberry album is full with covers but taken altogether, its a fine body of work.
Soraya of Spain has a new song out on Itunes especially recorded for the compilation album Fama! A Bailar! The song, Hasta El Final, is a camp re-working of Fame & well worth purchasing.
Isabel Guzman is currently finishing her new album as I type and the first proper debut single should be with us by March!
Robyn wrapped up her seminal year with a beautiful performance of Be Mine and With Every Heartbeat at the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony (see here). To me it sounds like she's putting this period to an end. And what a great way to tie it all up. It seems like a millennium ago that Robyn premiered the song back on SVT circa January 2005! (See here). What a journey!
ITS POP NEWS!-THE LAST ONE FOR 2008!-THE RETURN OF LOVESHY/CLEA!
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5 comments:
Great news! It doesn't seem to be on U.S. iTunes yet, but maybe it'll come on Tuesday when the store updates...and even if it doesn't, it looks like it's in some digital stores that let you buy regardless of country, so I'll just get it from there instead.
I wish more acts would be willing to let fans buy some of their unreleased music when they split up. I know it'd be difficult, what with writer royalties and all when maybe the writers will want to reuse tracks (if the acts themselves aren't the writers), but there are so many acts I'd love to hear more from, even just demos.
I hope your holiday was fantastic.
How fantastic! Loveshy are fabulous and your X Factor comments are spot on. It's great to have you back.
oh how dull and overwrought is alex. the snot that came from her when she won was outrageous, and then crying during her winner's performance? Ugh. Plus the thing she does with her fingers on the microphone when she is singing? It's like she's playing the flute. I bet she's an excellent self pleaser :)
Yeah PPG, be patient with this stuff. I think there will be even more LS/Clea material coming online. Perhaps this explains the small Itunes Itunes!
Yes i agree with you with regards to unreleased material. For sure, if there problems with quality then they should be under the bed...forever. But if its a good demo and the song isnt gonna be used by another act in the near future..then, hell why not! Thats why i love Loveshy/Clea. They dont stop. Despite stopping. Big up to them!
Mike: I am so glad you agree with me on X Factor. This series has been highly dubious. It needs the Loveshy Girls. As, like you say, they're fabulous!
Paul: your wonderful. I am pleased!
Clea / LoveShy are the shittest girl group ever. They really are utter shite.
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