EDURNE IS BACK! & THIS TIME SHE'S SERIOUS!

Currently in Madrid at the moment. Cheuca to be precise. Love love love it here. Anyway, this week sees the release of the fourth album by pop princess Edurne. In short, its a bouncy journey through the uber hinterland of glistening pop provided by some of Europe's finest pop producers. She's brought along some real pop legends to help out with this release. Those include Steve Anderson (Kylie Minogue, Elouise, Britney Spears), Jorgen Elofsson (Britney Spears, Kelly Clarkson, Paloma Faith, The Saturdays), Patrick Sarin (Margeret Berger, Darin) and Kid Crazy (Kim Wilde, The Veronicas). CV's of the songwriters out of the way, you can totally hear the thorough quality of the pop that these produce bring to the album. Initial thoughts on first listening:

Soy Como Soy (Steve Lee, Tina Harris, Steve Anderson)

Seriously, this throbbing electro party song is absolutely immense. It reflects the change in Edurnes sound and the rest of album (which is why it was picked as first single). I am flabbergasted why English singers didnt grab this song when it was still available. Rumour has it, its a Britney song. Edurne re-interprets the epic pop track and reconstructs it into a fierce pop song with her vocals that pretty much wrap themselves the massive choruses. As with all Spanish singers when they record songs not in their native tongue there's an uphill struggle to make the song their "own". This isn't the case with Edurne's Soy Como Soy. I'd have difficulty hearing an English version now (though I'd love to hear the original someday!). She's so determined to stamp her fiery identity on the track that there's no doubt about the spirit behind the song. Its all Edurne.

Tan artificial (Martin Ottensen, Antonio Sierra, Torsten Stenzel, Adrian Andrew)/Seremos dos o será un adiós (Per Eklund, Svante Halldin, Emilh Tigerlantz, Viktoria Sandstrom)

At first you think Tan artificial is a simple re-run of Cascada's rather brilliant Evacuate The Dancefloor but Tan artificial is more than that. Its powerful slice of pop that contains a mega chunky addictive chorus. This could be closely related to the love child of Kylie's In Your Arms & BPM. Seremos dos o será un adiós is nothing too special. It lacks the character of Tan artificial but as a nice pop ditty it certainly isn't pop filler. For some reason, the producers decided to autotune/vocoder her voice. Seriously. Dont do that. It destroys the song. Edurne has lovely vocals. Auto-tuning her is unnecessary & spoils the song.

Demasiados besos (Kid Crazy, Sam McCarthy)

Oh my!!!!! It starts off like Dr.Who's theme tune. I am going to be rather controversial here and say this is really the epic dance track Goldfrapp's Rocket should have been. It has everything: Dr.Who in the verses, Van Halen in the bridges & the Pointer Sisters in the choruses. All Edurne has to do is record Demasiados besos in English has she has a massive Europe-wide smash hit single on he hands. This is the kind of song that will have you dancing madly backwards regardless of the frowns forming around you. Drag up, step up and shake that booty.

Te Menti (Patric Sarin, Jaakko Salovaara, Alina Devecerski)

That powerful voice is swapped with a subtle cherrypop delivery which is both unnerving and wonderful. Te Menti is of course by the same people who gave us Margaret Bergers amazing Samantha. Herein, Edurne adopts her electro bubblegum stilettos and struts out on the mirrorball. If you like your J-Pop/K-pop you will adore this. Its fast, snappy and incredibly addictive. Beware! Te Menti is a dangerous potion of pop that'll have you coming back for more much in the same way Aqua & Lucky Twice did with their debut singles Barbie Girl and Lucky.

Siempre sale el Sol (Michael Szumowski, Josh Pyke)

Omg Omg omg! I love love this song. This a perfect 80s song. It has shades of the pure "sunshiness" that we heard on Kylie's I'm So High and Love At First Sight. Actually think of this track as a nice merger between those two Kylie songs. Not showing off here at all but Siempre Sale El Sol kinda sounds like a new track from Kylie's impending 11th studio album that I was lucky enough to hear a few days ago. Michael Szumowski and Josh Pyke are actually Australian. Prays and hopes someday down the line the two get to write with Kylie because this track is pure brilliance. Its subtle and catchy. The goodness of the song lies not in the production. No clever autotune studio tricks on this. Rather its more about the very simple and sweet melody and the amazing chorus that sells it. Edurne has to release it this summer. Michael Szumowski is of course from the band Indecent Obsession, produced Bardot's Poison and Josh Pyke has had massive success in Australia with The Lighthouse Song. Its songs like this that make keep Dontstopthepop. Edurne re-record this in English please.

Ojos que no ven (Christoffer Vikberg, Alina Devecerski, Jesper Jakobson)

This ballad actually shouldn't work. On first listening it actually doesn't sadly. But give it a second listen and it clicks. It sounds like Natalie Imbruglia's Torn merged into Jordin Sparks Battlefield/No Air. I shouldn't like that but I seriously do. The songwriters just get away with it. I think it would of benefit of another layer of production though. It sounds too similar to its demo original. The rnb baseline takes away something from the beautiful melody & glorious vocal. Still, a nice ditty and a ballad that works.

Conclusion: So there you have it. A very strong album by Edurne. Surprisingly strong considering the previous album was a seriously weak covers release. Think Agnes and think Kylie. The album is not without its issues though. Mostly picked up in the ballads. Culpable for instance. Originally by German singer Cherine Nouri, its the album closer for Edurne and it simply doesnt click. Nor does the rather awful Oigo Mi Corazón. Its bad europop at its worst. Not even Soraya Arneles would touch it. The person behind the song also wrote Mambo no.5. Red flag already raised Edurne! Can't believe she recorded let alone put it on the album. At best its "ba-da-bap-da-di-bah" chorus are perfect for Eurovision. Indeed, its a darn sight better than this years UK's entry but that isn't saying much.

The ballad Alguien como tú hits the right chord but its placed wrongly and should of been the album closer. Edurne should never ever try anything urban. Even with Jorgen Elofsson on No vuelvas a mi its a sound that doesn't work next to the stellar epic pop anthems on the rest of the album. All in all, the album is brilliant. Only 3 duds, one of which only suffers because I have the Cherine original in my mind. Highly recommended. Released today throughout Spain!