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.

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K3-GIRLBAND LEGEND!

Legendary K3 Music

Borst Vooruit-One of the campest songs ever produced. Take the theme tune to Superman and weave it over Your Disco Needs You and you've got the campest song since In The Navy. Gayer than a Betty Midler singing in the San Francisco bathhouses. It has one of the most exaggerated productions ever known in the history of pop music. OTT!

Ik ben een klein geel visje (Help!-I'm A Fish)-Ok, you know this song. It was also done by Creamy (girl group from Norway) and Little Tree's (girl group from Denmark).

Superhero-K3 totally reinvent themselves with a rocking out pop song.

Leonardo-This song takes you Ireland. Brilliant use of the fiddle. Or, whatever that instrument is!

Verliefd-K3 at their best! This song starts off rather slowly but turns into a great pop song!

K3 hail from Belgium but are also absolutely huge in The Netherlands. Since launching back in 1998 they've released over ten albums all of which have scored top ten places due the fact that the producers have squeezed as much pop on the cd's as is possible.

Aimed at kids but also to pop lovers in general, K3 have their own German "younger-sister" band who have just covered K3's first hit released all the way back in the heady days of 1999. Such was the brilliance of K3 and their pop, Wir3 can still have a hit with a song thats over 7 years old. So K3 are Karen, Kristel, and Kathleen and they've had a string of T.v shows, clothing ranges, computer games, spin-off bands, tours, musicals and fames all centering around the girls. They started off as a camp kiddies pop band backed by the T.V station Studio100 but have grown up and moved on.


Although they have a kids as their key demographic, K3 have become poptastic polemic that stretches far beyond pre-teens. Indeed, Robbie Williams and, gulp, Pet Shop Boys have all gone record to announce their support for the band. One of their songs, "Tele-romeo", even sounds like a mash-up of Kylie's Turn It Into Love and PSB's It's A Sin. They've tried Eurovision (watch the rather nervous attempt here) and as the video for the original Heyah Mama reveals they are willing to get down on their knees to service a half-naked man on a beach. Noice!



So as I was saying! Unlike Wir3 who are clearly aimed at young'un's K3 have evolved into a Bel-NL superband with a drag show dedications and Dutch teenagers remixing their material to hardcore baselines. In fact there are a multitude of dedications to the girlbands you'd be here forever listing them all.



Musically, K3 must be placed at the extreme side of bubblegum pop. However they are willing to rock out in the catchiest way possible (check out their performance on Top Of The Pops for proof). This is why they are girlband legends. They might have reached just two countries yet the material they continue to put out is timeless and completely over the top. They take a bit of B*witched, some of Ace Of Base, schlager, S Club 7, lots of ABBA and add a touch of their own to produce a wild statement of sheer pop. This is the type of music that doesn't care that its never going to win awards or receive acceptance by music aficionado's. On the contrary, its so external to the world of Amy Winehouse, Kylie and Girls Aloud it resides on a planet of pop that cartographers refused to map. One of the most interesting things about K3 is that they are one of the few 90's girl groups still around!

Look a bit similar to Kylie's Your Disco Needs You performance? I thought so too!

Take their track "Borst Vooruit". It sounds like the Superman theme song fused in with Your Disco Needs You. As a result, its one of the campest polemics of pop I've ever come by. You feel as if your marching off into a rainbow war of peace, smiles and flowers. K3 present a world of brilliant togetherness which is helped by the "exaggerated" production, soaring strings and the sort of camp melodies you've not heard since The Village People stormed into the showers of the YMCA and the navy. Listen to Borst Vooruit and you'll see what I mean. When not marching into the Castro, you'll find doing a jig with their odes to the carnival like the cheerful "Ya Ya Yippee" and "Leonardo".

In the Navy!

Considering the dollops of pop found in the albums I'm quite surprised that the internet is pretty dry on the band! There is however a brilliant fansite on the group that details all their releases up until 2006. Besides the official website thats about it. So now, hopefully I can restore the balance and pay K3 their dues. Only because the girls have been doing it for for ten years and with nearly two studio albums released a year its about time I grabbed the girls and say "thank you". Ladies, gentlemen, pop-lovers, kids....raise a toast to K3! One of the oldest and still functioning girlbands in Europe!

You can buy all their albums at the brilliant Dutch website BOL.NL
Check out their Official Website

Next up on DSTP: more Latoya, Robyn and of course more girlbands!

WIR-3 Heyah Mama-WARNING!-GLOBAL SUMMER HIT ALERT!!

Heyah Mama has the potential to be this years Las Ketchup so learn the lyrics now and you can be prepared! Wir3 are a girl-group from Germany and they've just released what could be the summer hit of 2007. Its actually already been hit (but for their big sister band-but more them later) and is expected to squeeze its way in Spain, France and German-speaking countries of Europe. A full blown tour has already been penciled in and its promising to be an exciting few months for Vera, Lina and Linda. Influences? B*Witched, Ace Of Base, Amy Winehouse and er K3!

With a brilliant pop video to go with the rather catchy song, you might be hearing Heyah Mama in your corner of the world eventually whether you like it or not. Why eventually? Well Wir3 are actually a sister band of K3 from Belgium and Holland. Who (I hear you cry!). K3 are a very successful girlgroup who are aimed at kids but have some of the catchiest music ever recorded in the history of pop. Think Amy Diamond with a bit of Banaroo and you've got the superband K3 summed-up. They'll feature tomorrow as "Girlband Legends" so I won't go on and on but I will discuss them with reference to Wir3. K3 was an idea spawned by T.V station Studio 100 a Dutch broadcasting company with rights in Beligum where the girls are also very successful.

The brilliantly poptastic video for Heyah Mama by Wir3 with dance routines and primary colours galore. Flowers check!; butterflies check!; ladybirds check! addictive pop song? CHECK!

They launched themselves in 1999 and have never looked back. There are T.V shows, T.V films, musicals, games, clothing ranges, remix albums, dolls, films, and so on all based around the phenomenon that is K3. Tomorrow DSTP will paying respect to the Dutch/Flemish supergroup so more will explained then. K3 are such legends that they've go their own franchise of spin-off girlbands planned for 2007.

What!? Yes, Wir3 is the first of these spin-off groups and they've launched themselves in the safe market of Germany with a cover of K3's 1999 hit single Heyah Mama. Personally I prefer the newer version only because they've made it a lot more catchier than its original. Compare the two for yourself by watchin' this Dutch sublime news report on Wir3-K3-



The people behind the band are wondering whether to take Wir3 in English-Spanish markets or to bring out domestic versions of the band in each respective country. BBC, the people behind the Teletubbies and S Club are currently in discussion as are Scandic broadcasting networks. What is sure, Heyah Mama is one of the catchiest songs released this summer. Wir3 have recorded Heyah Mama in English so it seems that we can expect much more from the song. As I type, my boyfriend has translated a Afrikaans website and there's a "K3" for South Africa launching this summer too.

Thus, Heyah Mama has world domination in its sights! And what a brilliant song it is! Last year DSTP predicted Lucky Twice and their single to be huge in the markets it came out in. The platinum discs handed to the Swedish girlband the other day attest the songs' success.

The success of Heyah Mama is a lot easier to take a gamble on only because its already a hit and theres broadcasting superstructure to back it all up. Still, if the gray clouds are blocking your sunshine today just play Heyah Mama and you'll be feel the white sands in between your feet in no time!

NB: Wir3 are touring Germany on the same tour of SummerPOP-07 so if your in Germany and nearby go and boogie!

Buy both BeFour and Wir 3 at Amazon.de

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Tomorrow K3 take their place as a legendary girlband so expect some of the campest/poppiest songs ever recorded. Also more Latoya and perhaps something Robyn!

DONTSTOPTHEPOP DISCOVERS PETROS.......

Music:

Utopia-Sounds like what pop in 2007 should sound like.

V.I.P-The male PAY-TV? Petros channels his GLAM-Bitch side and produces a poptrash classic.

Petros is hot. Deeply connected to trashy electo and pure pop, his music flies far above much of the usual stuff that drenches myspace these days. If you felt Fisherpooner were too up themselves but loved the mix they did of Come Into My World you'll like Petros. The key-note track V.I.P collapses the sound The Flirts and Pay-TV into one monster pop song. We ain't taking about the singer-songwriter territory of Mika or James Blunt as Petros declares "we don't need your rock & roll" but instead "sex, drugs, techno". Fuck yes! A popboy that is finally ticking all my boxes.

Petros has eyed-up the best of scandipop and the long-lost dance-pop scene of America and produced something quite unique. Brilliant, quirky and timeless poptastic anthems. Another American lad tried to this last year and his name was one Simon Curtis. However Petros chews up Simon and spits him out. Indeed, the best Simon Curtis song Put Your Make Up On sounds very much like the average Petros productions. Petros lyrics arn't rushed yet spew out thick and fast, the music takes centre stage and the produced is overflowing with utter-catchiness. The line "the heir to the throne of the microphone" makes me giggle like a giggle-monster riding the giggle-ride at Giggleand. It seems Simon has a rival who has raised the bar, the glam and the music which means a competition might be on! (A bit of competition is always good in my books!)

So where to place Petros musically? I've already mentioned Fisherspooner but he's more catchy than that. I've mentioned Simon Curtis but to me his vocals seem more balanced and less falsetto. Personally I feel he's releasing music that J.C Chasez would cream his pants for. Theres also a little bit of Darren Hayes inside Petros.




Remember the Britney songs Breathe On Me and Before The Goodbye? Although they were criminally overlooked by Jive Records Petros recognises the Spears gems in his stunning song Utopia. This pop music but not as we know it people! Just as you think Utopia is a typical soft-core electro ballad Petros throws in heavy slabs of dancepop of the type I haven't heard since er like Evah!

Petros: a star thats well worth watching. Ladies, gentlemen, girls, boys, queers and dogs, this is pop but not as we know it!

Credit: huge thank you Petros for getting in touch and sending the album! Much appreciated!

Petros Myspace