LENE ALEXANDRA-EXCLUSIVE LEGAL DOWNLOAD!

Exclusive Download "Sexy, Naughty, Bitchy Me"

WOW! There is so much pop I wanna talk about at the moment. Its making me all wheezy. Originally I wanted to feature some another act but then this landed on my popdesk (that exists in my mind!-i don't I have a popdesk). But I wish I did! Suddenly Lene pipped the post and took priority. Her album, "Welcome to Sillycone Valley" is a wonderful pop album of Norwegian wit & comes with the cult singles "My Boobs Are Okay" and "Hot Boy Hot Girl".

It contains glorious pop songs like "Catfight" that essentially puts the girlpower legends Spice Girls and Shampoo to shame! Lene channels her inner Eminem and comes up with the wonderful line "better step off-i am about to let go-breaka couple of nails-pull the weave out ya dome". Dome=head. Don't you see? Its dreamy! Then comes the schlager pop electrolush track "Sugar Daddy" dedicated to the story of, say ooh Anna Nicole-Smith? Imagine her life-story put to the brilliant disco beats of Kylie's best pop moments. Again, let me direct you to the lyrics of the bridge: "sometimes he's away because of his business trips-and then i miss, miss miss miss-but i am so lucky to have a pool boy to kiss kiss kiss to-[insert sound of poolboy groaning]".

Yes. Its high camp but its distinctly tongue-in-cheek and deeply ironic. It also paints a picture of society. As such, its a highly intellectual piece of pop music. You can totally see why I just had to allow Lene take priority position. A part of me wishes she could be the next President of Europe. Or simply enter Lene next year? We should all enter Lene! She'd love it. For Eurovision '08. Bring Lene to the UK now!

Anyway, next on the Cd is the her glorious cover of the girlband classic "Nasty Girl". The Vanity6 monster anthem was recently covered by Inaya Day but Lene's version completely out-nastifies all versions in existence. She wants her inches and she aint too shy to proclaim her size-queen lust. People of Dontstopthepop, buy this album! Its brilliant! Her "Sexy Wonderland" takes you back to Ace of Base's brilliant ode to Motown "Always Have, Always Will" while "I'm Just A Tease" evokes Britney back when she was still drinking her soda pop. Except the fun only starts when she "shakes [her] tit-tit-tities".

So today, Dontstopthepop is very proud to feature Lene and her brilliant "Sexy, Naughty, Bitchy Me" which is available on this site as an exclusive legal download. Yes! Its all legal+with full permission. So, go show your thanks, love and help Lene buy some more Cavalli handbags & buy the album. You can buy it here (through CDon) AND here (where you can also hear it!!).

Go Buy It/Official Site

Coming Up: Pop from Japan and something special from Sweden.

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

KYLIE X & Dont Stop The Pop!

What seems years ago now, I spoke to two girls who worked at EMI France. They've soon moved on to glam jobs in the fashion industry but back then it was rather juicy to get all the gossip ala France. We giggled about the new Kylie album and ruminated ideas about Kylie's new album. They didn't know much so most of it was speculative. What were her producers, writers and so forth. And then we played the title game. I said what about "Kylie-X"? Cooooooooool. We giggled some more and that was that. Then an email came a few weeks later that "Kylie-X" was now the nickname the album was given amongst certain staffers. Then I posted news about the work-in-progress title on this blog and it was picked up on Kylie's famous unofficial messageboard SayHey. For evidence check it out for yourself on this very site (note my tragic grammar) and on Say Hey itself. That was about February 2007! Oddly, the title is actually X!


According to reports coming out from Popjustice and Kylie.com, the new album by Kylie due for release in November is to be titled Kylie X. This is odd. Very odd. The name came from a chatty friday afternoon in Paris. It took off in the offices of EMI and online but I never thought it could ever actually be the title of Kylie's tenth album. At the time the tabloids were saying the name was Lessons. Personally I am waiting until I have the album in my hand before I truly believe the title is actually called Kylie X.....only because its incredibly unfathomable that a coffee break could have resulted in something as cool as this. Titles must come from somewhere and announcing them usually comes six weeks in advance of their release. Don't Stop The Pop, it would seem, called it as early the 3rd of February. Am I permitted a little scream of delight. Strange & rather surreal delight too! Now I am fully aware that titles can change and one awaits official confirmation of the title. But if Kylie's tenth album is called Kylie X-how fucking glam is that! If it isnt-who cares as it looks to be a rather great album!!

NB: The tracklisting currently going around does not include Steve Andersons Flowers. So at the moment I am just a tad suspicious of the latest information surrounding the latest details and its aforementioned title. It needs proper confirmation....

EDIT: Its called KYLIE-X! OH MY! Kylie.com has confirmed it. But I won't believe it until I hold the cd.

Sources: Kylie.com
Pictures: Kylie.com & Neighbours

JAY NORTON WITH EVERY HEARTBEAT (AMAZING/LEGAL DOWNLOAD!!!)

With Every Heartbeat by Jay Norton (zshare link)

Sometimes some singers just stop you in your tracks. Jay Norton is one of those singers....And what a way to celebrate the success of With Every Heartbeat with an amazing cover.......

This previous week or so has seen my normal computer decide to disco strut off to Ibiza and simply crash out, my body collapse to the floor and generally being ordered to sit out the rest of August in bed with loads of lovely legal drugs (thanks docs!). Oh did I forgot to mention that I am moving out of London? So yeah its pretty much a very stressful time in la casa at the moment. Sorry about the heart-to-heart but it hopefully explains why I've not been around as much as I usually am. Enough with such emotional dithering! Let us move on already! In music, things are entering what one could describe as an renaissance! Or "Pop-jouissance" as readers of Jacque Lacan would say.

From Robyn (UK no.1) to Monrose (German no.1) and over to new and exciting acts like Isabel Guzman and B-tween, one cannot deny that there’s certainly something in summer sunshine. However all these acts are girls and none hail from the U.K. This is so not right is it?

Well, on the anniversary of this blogs' article on With Every Heartbeat, DontStopthePop proudly announces a British talent that I think must be signed for his talent is so exquisite and so rich that it would be criminal not to see Jay Norton on a major record company by the die is caste. In other words, sign this man now!!!

Jay's live cover of the song

Along with Isabel Guzman, Jay Norton is definitely one to watch out for. Tracing Robyn and Tyler James, Jay brings something totally new and unexpected to the field of music. Take his interpretation of With Every Heartbeat. Currently riding high in the charts under the auspices of Robyn’s delicate vocals, the original slithers between a girlfriends plea, surrender, joy, nothingness, utopia and desperation.

I hate to break it down to gender but with Jay, the message of the song completely alters. Suddenly the ballad becomes unhinged, raw, heartbroken and, rather than Robyn’s amazing “over-wroughtness” Jay promises severity and a sense of future sobriety instead of the secure closure that we feel in Robyn’s original. Its as if Jay Norton’s epic vocals have eroded Robyn’s sense of something and has ripped it apart while at the same time ensuring his lovers happiness. To put it in other words, with Robyn you feel as if she is slowly smiling and telling herself, that despite the hurt, “she don’t look back”. Robyn is gonna be Ok! However in Jays take, there is no recovery and the heart is still broken by the end. The boy is broken and sacrificed.



When I first saw Jay Norton perform this I was stunned and contacted him. The next day (er, today!) he’d recorded an mp3 of his version of With Every Heartbeat and has very kindly allowed DontStopthePop share this amazing version with you tonight! Just as Robyn herself completely changed Since You’ve Been Gone on Radio 1 the other day, Jay has done something quite beautiful to an already epic pop song. Andreas Kleerup, the man behind With Every Heartbeat has heard Jay’s cover and has already given the thumbs up.

So what makes me a tiny bit more proud about Jay than say perhaps than I would do otherwise?

He’s from the same town as me-Liverpool! Just 19, Jay is unsigned at the moment but as you’ll hear on his myspace player the kid likes to bounce about with styles, sounds and genres. His song This is Not Real Love it’s a beautiful electro dance ballad of sharps and reminds me of Robyn’s most sensitive moments. Then on When You’re Cheating, Jay simply sits with his piano, some stunning vocals and just allows his anger peacefully erupt into rage. Such is the strength of his demo’s, you almost kid yourself and think your listening to 2008’s Brit/Grammy winner of Best Album. Well, perhaps you are. Pop readers of the blog will love his bloody brilliant tribute to fellow Scouse act Dead Or Alive on his saucy cover of You Spin Me Round (Like A Record) which Jay has updated as Pants Down.

Ahem.

This song/mp3 is so fresh it was only just recorded today people so enjoy! Jay, thank you for allowing readers of DontStopthepop this amazing mp3. Fingers crossed the next couple of months are gonna be your year! I also think its a major credit to the songwriters behind With Every Heartbeat, that the track is taking off on a life of its own in different modulations and corners of the UK. Well done Robyn/Andreas (again!).

Critical links: Jay Norton Myspace
Andreas Kleerup myspace
Robyn Official Website

Coming up: Ok, so DontStopthePop should be back to its normal self soonish! Can I just say pop is sooooooo good at the moment!

B-TWEEN-DANGERZONE

Here the song on myspace

Readers of DontStopthePop!!! Christmas has come early! Today the blog is featuring a song that isn't even out yet but I suspect it will be huge. And its with full permission of the writers-the very talented Gustav who has kindly allowed us all to shimmer in the brilliance that is Dangerzone. This is so fresh and new, the girls themselves have yet to officially announce themselves on the pop scene. However they are on the verge of their international breakthrough....Indeed with the assistance of the same people behind the brilliance that is the Spanish pop princess Edurne, B-Tween have pop domination in their sights...

B-Tween, who consist of Martina Ståhl and Alexandra Pettersson, are simply sublime and produce the kind of catchy pop this world requires right about now. On Dangerzone the girlgroup have infused and incorporated the sounds of September, BwO and ABBA into one perfect blissful pop song. I am so glad that the powers that be have allowed this download for us! Feeling the love! The song makes go all fuzzy at the edges and this happens very rarely.

In fact I can remember them they are so rare-the first time I heard Kylie's Can't Get You Out Of My Head, Robyn's With Every Heartbeat and another song by another Swedish act that I can't talk about at the moment but hopefully they too will appear on DSTP soon!

Last year DontStopthePop predicted the success of LuckyTwice. Last year it was also the first place on earth to talk about the then completely unknown song With Every Heartbeat. It even called it the "Song of the year". That was back in October 2006!!!!! Now its 2007 and I am going all fuzzy over two particular songs. This one and the other one that will also hopefully feature later in the week!

Written by Fanciz Jernberg and Gustav Efraimsson, Dangerzone is a sort of post-modern take on "I Will Survive" re-coded for a brand new generation. Its message of liberation is a old one but they've managed to make your butt wiggle and wash the man out of the hair at the same time! Which is often tried but often falls flat on its face. I've got a funny feeling Dangerzone might be huge. If not this particular song then definitely something else originating from the house of B-TWEEN.

E.M.M.A-back in the day

So who are they? They hail from Sweden and were previously in one of my most loved girlbands'-E.M.M.A! Like Raen and Clea, E.M.M.A came to their name through using the letters of their first names. They released three poptastic albums and produced ultra catchy gems like Hollywood Boy, SMS and Det bästa av allting är du. I would go so far as to say September were in fact influenced by E.M.M.A but perhaps thats too controversial for a Tuesday evening.

The M and the A splintered off and created B-Tween. However, on B-Tweens new material you can clearly hear the sound of their old girlband filtering through their new beats....so perhaps when I say they've "incorporated" September and BwO its a misplaced statement. They've simply re-energized the sound of E.M.M.A that the uninitiated might understandably misrecognise as the sound of September. That is not the case. The sound of September is rather like the sound of E.M.M.A.

With Dangerzone, B-Tween are just reclaiming what was theirs in the first place and with amazing results. Am I splitting hairs? Oh I think I am! Sorry. Forgive me, I just can't get over how great Dangerzone/B-Tween are! Oh and i am so glad that the girls have agreed to give ya'll a little tidbit from their new album! And its all with permission!

So its with a very huge smile that DontStopthePop can claim to be the first place to feature the girlband thats is B-Tween. Moreover, DSTP has declared itself ourselves as proud fans! The last time I ventured a "this will be huge" it was for With Every Heartbeat and Monrose's Hot Summer. With Robyn's song doing rather well and Hot Summer entering the Billboard Euro charts of no.10, Dangerzone/B-Tween could be on your radio sooner than you think! Remember where you heard it all first!

There isn't a site for B-Tween yet but you can check out their myspace here.
I'd like to thank the girls and Gustav for allowing this song to be shared!

*Coming up later this week-an interview with B-Tween and part two of the interview with Robyn!*

ROBYN With Every HeartBeat-The New Video (as subtle as the song...)

So here the new video for With Every Heartbeat. The original one was done by the very talented mister Fredrik Skogkvist which you can still check out on his blog. It was actually revealed to the world on the old Dotmusic site but the link has been ever so fragile. Working sometimes and then not at all. So thanks to Tommie its here in all its glory. Lovely!

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

KYLIE-LESSONS [KylieX] tracklisting [?]-meh!

Kylie album news-We've spoken to writers (think Danish!!) involved with the album and shes still recording it so the tracklisting that's currently going through the internet...is FAKE.