"Oooh Ahhh I lost my bra, I left it in my boyfriends car!"
This song is like Marmite, either you adore it or you'll hate it. Truth be told, we hate it just a little bit but we love it so much more. Tamara Jaber was born on a Friday 13th and became a lead singer in the Pop Stars band Scandal'us.
THIS SONG STARTS OFF REALLY ROUGHLY but eventually hits all our buttons in and around our butts & dancing muscles.
Ooh Ahh is a bit like Gwen Stefani's Bubble Gum Electric or Vanys Drama Queen and for this reason alone DST(OZ)P! loves ourselves some Jaber! So she aint gonna ever perform a Aria from an Verdi opera. She knows this and embraces all her flaws and instead constitutes them to construct a rather randy pop toon.
Even the rap appears to be self-destructive in a true post-ironic post-modernis Betty Boo stylee. Pop that knows its pap can be hilariously brilliant when done well and we feel once you depress your judgement theres a chance that this song just make make you smile. For this reason alone, we commend you Tamara J!
Check out tomorrow for we will be entering the rather dreamy court of Deni-Marcia Hines, that other Australian showbiz family. Go to Really Saying Something, our sister site, for more new tracks by Australian acts.
TAMARA JABER Ooh Ahh
BEC CARTWIGHT On The Borderline
Bonus-All Seats Taken-reloaded
We've covered Bec before but as she's certainly a fixture in any OzPop Palace, we thought it proper to recall her wonderful contribution to Australian pop music.
Her self-titled album sounds very much like a poppier version of Marie Serneholts newbie. In fact, while one is Swedish and the other is Australian, the closeness in the girls vocals, sounds and blonde looks makes us just a little bit suspicious. Are they clones? Twins seperated at birth?
All Seats Taken, above, once released became a top 10 gold hit. Then in February 2003, she released her second single, On the Borderline. It entered into the charts at #30 and then moved up and peaked at #28.
While Warner have dropped her-she was in good company for they also dumped Dannii and Sophie Monk-, DST(OZ)P! feels for some reason deep down in our pop hearts that Bec will be back in the charts eventually.
DONT STOP THE (OZ)POP!
As this place dusts down catchy tunes of Australia, DSTP! has been renamed Don'tStopThe(Oz)Pop! to celebrate everything good in the realm of Australian pop music. So far DST(OZ)P! has danced down to Melissa Tkautz, Toni Pearen, Abi Tucker and Sophie Monk with many more still to come. So much more in fact that OzPop week might just be extended to a whole fortnight! Hurrarrrrrr!
TONI PEAREN Walkaway Lover
Sounding like the future of Eurovision, Toni Pearen's Walkaway Lover is a lost gem! Who is Toni I hear you ask! Another Australian pop princess that became a household name in 1989 when she landed the role of Toni Winsdor on the Australian soap opera E Street. Along with Melissa Tkautz, Toni was the future of Ozpop and they became the starlets of the Australian showbiz media.
In 1992/93, scoring 2 consecutive top 10 Gold hits in Australia with "In Your Room" (#10 in January 1993) and "I Want You" (#10 in April 1993). This was followed by two less successful singles "Walkaway Lover" and "Joy" in 1994. Her 1994 album "Intimate" was well received by critics but sold poorly.
Some might know her as Beth from Home & Away but these days she's earning her Gucci handbag money on Australias Funniest Home Videos. Sadly the music world has lost her to grannys slipping over and wedding dresses catching fire. A great great great loss! We love ya Toni!!!!
ABI TUCKER EveryBody(Idiot Free)
Bonus! OutSide These Walls-Demo
& now for something slightly different but ever so OzPop! Sounding like a cross between Kylie during her Impossible Princess escapades & Milla Jovovichs' sadly unitary album, Abi Tuckers material remains on the knife edge slice of the poptastic cake.
Some might remember Abi Tucker from her acting roles in shows such as Heartbreak High & The Secret Life Of Us. Note the very important product placement in Abi's bag!?
I personally remember getting my best mates much older sister to take me to a little showcase Abi was doing somewhere West London for BIG magazine which, if Smash Hits was the Kylie&Jason, was the Dannii Minogue of teenage pop publishing when I was growing up. She was grand but I was more impressed with the free pencil case BIG officials were giving out after the songs were performed.
This is not pure pop such as the divas we've had below however Abi's vocals convolves in between pop, tears and sillyness. In Outside These Walls she stipulates that she feels naked like a candle. Which is similar to Natalie Imbruglia when she was naked on the floor. Brilliant eh!
SOPHIE MONK Inside Outside
Bonus: Get The Music On
Following in the blonde bomshell sunshine line of Melissaand Kylie, Sophie Monk of Bardot is an OZpop pop princess! Inside Outside was her first solo record and stormed the Australian charts at no.5. Sadly the album didnt do that well but featured the brilliant Get The Music On which is featured here too. Sophie Monk seems to have taken down her hotpants and swapped them for Hamlet for she's taking Hollywood bit by bit with feasty roles in Date Movie & Click.
MELISSA TKAUTZ The Glamorous Life-Radio Edit
Bonus!
Read My Lips
The Glam Life-Extended mix
Its OZPOP! week at DontstopthePOP! We're celebrating all the weird, wonderful and sometimes forgotten pop/musical output of Australia. Most would immediately start and consequently end with a Minogue as their total rosta of Australian artists. This is clearly not the case. Some would throw in an Imbruglia or a Delta but these acts can't be described as pop producers. Melissa Tkautz however is as pure pop as they come. She started her career in E Street, a hit 90's soap opera that was probably the Australian version of Night&Day. However she's also acted in soap operas Richmond Hill and Home & Away in the late 1980s, and in mini-series The Girl From Tomorrow. During this time attended the Academy of Dramatic and Social Arts in Sydney, graduating in 1991.
Her first single was the smash hit single Read My Lips. She followed this with top-five hit Sexy is the Word in 1992, both tracks coming from her album Fresh!. That same year Melissa (sans Tkuatz at the time) won several ARIA awards, including 'Most Popular New Talent' and 'Most Popular Music Video' (for "Read My Lips").
A few months ago Melissa returned with The Glamorous Life-a song originally by Prince and Sheila E. While a considerable hit considering Inaya Day had also released the same song in that particular week, the album it was spawned from, Lost&Found, flopped due to problems with her representation.
To see the rather wonderful video for Read My Lips head over to CFBGOESPOP!
ROBYN Crash and Burn Girl-Dirty Mix by Jesper Dalbac
Now I know DSTP has posted quite a lot of Robyn stuff recently but we just can't help ourselves. She's so damn good!
Now Crash and Burn Girl is her last single from the Robyn album but it will be released in the UK if Robyn feels that it will done correctly. She's exhausted after two years of touring, recording and promoting a very successful pop album but hopefully she's got some energy reserves for a quick dash around Europe. She's certainly taking a 'rest' by releasing a new single with Christian Falk and Ola Salo of The Ark. How very Britney!
Crash and Burn Girl was a 'screaming release me' track from Robyn and has become a massive web-underground hit around the world. Now as it rips the commercial charts, Robyn has commissioned two brilliant mixes by Jesper Dahlbac & Cat5. While we've posted Jespers, thats not not to say the Cat5 remix isnt good. To be sure, the Cat5 remix has extra vocals laid over the original track. Strangely though, the Cat5 mix appears to be a semi-dub while the Jesper conditioning is more of a extended radio edit. For this we love. Sadly these mixes, for now, won't appear on any Cd release for the single is solely for radio/video play. Maybe this will change. Regardless, thanks Robyn, DontStopthePop will never EVER tire of ya!
DEEN Apsolutno Tvoj
By the way...Deen is an Arabic term meaning "religion" or "way of life".
Our most played albums at the moment are by Ann Winsborn, Severina, and Deen. We say this with so much pride of course. Deen or rather Fuad Backović hails from Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina. You might remember the blonde bombshell in pink storming Eurovision with In The Disco. In 2004, Deen also revealed his homosexuality on a talk show on the music channel Pink TV. And as you can see his gloves are FAR better than Rachel Stevens!
Deen was of course the lead singer of the Bosnian boyband 'Seven Up'. In their five years, the band enjoyed massive success in Bosnia and Herzegovina but also the neighbouring countries Croatia and Serbia and Montenegro. Deen as a solo artist crucially secured success not only in the homelands but amongst the diaspora of former Yugoslavia in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Scandinavia.
DONTSTOPTHEPOP feels that Apsolutno Tvoj is one of the best pop songs since pop popped out. It makes our bum whiggle and legs giggle even before the chorus comes in which is a rare thing for any song. Much better than In The Disco. Notice the overwhelming use of the vocoder which strangely doesnt destroy the song!
"Because OzPop doesnt have to be about a Minogue"
Along with our much prettier sister site RSS, DONTSTOPTHEPOP will be celebrating the music that comes from the beautiful land of Australia. On Don'tStopthePop you'll find Kate Ceberano, Christine Anu, Abi Tucker, S2S, Bardot, Tammin Sursok, Girlfriend, Marcia Hines, Deni Hines, Melissa Tkautz, Katie Underwood, Sophie Monk, Nikki Webster, Bec Cartright and so much more.
As you can see its a big list so we've dedicated a whole week to Australian pop/dance music. Get ya Myers credit card out, drag down ya Oxford street glad rags & rip off ya Sanity discount badges coz this blog is about to boogie down to Glammorama!
SHOLA AMA/CRAIG ARMSTRONG Someday I'll Find You
Originally written in 1929, Someday I'll Find You is an all time epic pop song. This versiion uses a harp to kick off proceedings! How dare one pop song be so good. The use of strings, the ghostly vocals by Shola Ama, the quartet of violins conducted by Craig Armstrong make Someday I'll Find You a soaring polemic of a pop anthem. Songs like this come by us very rarely.
Who is Craig Armstrong?
Craig Armstrong is the awarding winning composer of such film scores as Moulin Rouge, Ray, Romeo + Juliet and The Quiet American. He gave Madonna Ray Of Light & Massive Attack Protection. With The Pet Shop Boys he gave us the highlights from Night Life namely Closer To Heaven, You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk & of course the larger than life duet with Kylie Minogue; In Denial. Fans of the aforementioned song will hear similarities with Someday I'll Find You in structure and ambience.
Who is Shola Ama?
Shola attended Quintin Kynaston School in the early 90’s and was discovered when she was singing to herself at Hammersmith tube station at the age of 15. Her debut single, ‘You Might Need Somebody’, blasted Shola into the mainstream. And at 18 Shola released her critically acclaimed, platinum selling debut album ‘Much Love’ (1997) which gave her 4 top twenty hits and went on to top the charts around Europe.The disappointing sales of ‘In Return’ and low self-esteem knocked Shola into a depression that saw her drinking heavily and becoming addicted to drugs. In early 2000 her record label, looking at the undeservingly low sales of ‘In Return’, her second album, and negative press that was generating about her drink and drug dependence, dropped her. Four years ago she came back with Supersonic which was one of our favourite summer albums while driving through Florence.
Where is this song from and who is it by?
Its a weird song. It is a cover and written by Noel Coward made famous by Perry Como. It first appeared in 1930 in the feature film Private Lives featuring Gertrude Lawrence and Laurence Olivier. This version comes from the Noel Coward concept album that was to raise money for the Red Hot Aids Charitable Trust. The Album’s concept was to remember and celebrate the work of the British composer Noel Coward. Make a donation here
KELLE BRYAN Higher Than Heaven
Kelle Bryan was the youngest member of the 90's super band Eternal & with Higher Than Heaven she reached no.14. Her her solo album Breakfast In Bed was unfortunately never to be released along with her second single, I Wanna Know.
Fast Forward to 2006 and there are rumours that she is rallied after laying rest due to personal illness & will release Breakfast In Bed in the summer time. If this comes to pass it could be the longest gap between lead single and actual album. As you will hear Higher Than Heaven doesnt sound dated at all even if its seven years old.
According to Wikipedia..."In March 2006 internet site www.ticketmaster.co.uk began advertising an "Arena Tour 2006" which features Eternal alongside other acts such as Boyz II Men and En Vogue. At present only Easther Bennett and Kelle Bryan have agreed to perfom".....
ROBYN MEGA MEGA MEGA MEGA MEGA RARE TRACK!
OH MY GAWDESS! What have we here!
What follows is NOT on ANY album! It has NEVER been released on any format. What you will hear is a Robyn track like no other! You will her unreleased tracks like That Woman Is Me which was lost by Robyn and never made the final cut for My Truth, Robyns second album. Inside this warm sector of unrealness you will hear material never included on any Robyn album or Cd. What you will hear is an celebration of the past 10 years of Robyn! You will hear never released Robyn material depicting a hinterland of cities of neverwhere and dreams of Stockholm.
This is course to lay the red carpet for the revealing of the studio version of Dream On, the new Robyn single which will breathe very soon!
Its a big file because as it is a massive mega mix of unreleased stuff, rare mixes, strange performances, odd and rare material that has never appeared together in one particular mix...UNTIL now! Mixed by the rather wonderful Ola of Who's That Girl
ITS COMING...THEY ARE ON THEIR WAY!!!
A few months ago DSTP gave you a rough version of Dream On-featuring Robyn+Ola Salo from The Ark. The studio version has now been pressed and is about to be sent to radio stations in Sweden. There are provisional plans to release Dream On as an official single in the UK as a follow up to Christian Falks hit single Make It Right. This will hopefully launch Robyn in the UK. Keep your eyes peeled to Don'tStopthePop! for the radio mix of Dream On which will be posted very very very soon. We are also excited about some Robyn stuff DontstopthePop has recently dusted down but we're waiting on permission from the the powers that be before its posted! As for Christian Falk, get his wonderful two albums on Itunes or the other usual online music stores on which you should find other Robyn rarities like the beautiful Robyn song Remember.
For now however you can find Dream On in the News section at the Pop Trinity forums. You will also get some Verbalicious stuff. So go, sign up and join the madness at:

SEVERINA Adam i Seva
Heading over to Croatia now, Severina is of one our all time favourites. She's released over 10 albums in Croatia and will represent her country in Greece for ESC. Last year a hardcore sex tape of her with another married man found itself on the web which caused an outcry in Zagreb but a massive rise in album sales. A court case followed but she lost.
Named after the wife of the Roman Emperor Aurelian, Severina slices in between pop, disco, folk and cabaret. Her 2004 album Severgreen is highly recommended. Doesnt she have such wonderful gloves! Nearly outdoes The Stevens!
Anyway, Adam I Seva sounds like a beautiful lovechild of Me Against The Music and Cry Me A River. Enjoy!
TYLER JAMES Absolutely-EXCLUSIVE FIRST PLAY!
"Gucci shoes, beluga, caviar"
Flowing in the same stream of Ann Winehouse & Amy Diamond, Tyler James was once a star of the London cocktail lounges singing to an awestruck crowd of Londoners. I remember one particular night where I, by chance, heard his particular voice manage to soften the wild fashionista's on a friday evening out & making us pause which is a rare thing when the city just wants to party. It would was no surprise that Tyler James was soon signed to a major record company.
His entrance into the realm of pop music came in the form of songwriter for Gareth Gates flop poptastic second album. His solo material suggested a beautiful jumpy shake-rhumba-n-role slice of in-between pop, disco & reggae. As a result of this weird and wonderful sound, the UK music industry couldnt place him & the singles consequently flopped. The record company thought a cover of Your Woman would change things but when it crashed somewhere over no.40 the album Unlikely Lad was immediately pulled even if album promos had been sent to music papers recieving very strong reviews. This was totally unexpected. The album not only had brilliant reviews, 4 singles but also included a duet with superstar Amy Winehouse. It didnt make any sense to withdraw the album.
While Tyler James' flopped, his sound would be copied only a few months later by Robbie Williams with his delirious hit single Tripping. It was clear that Tyler James was simply releasing music that was ahead of its time.
HOWEVER!!! The record company released the album through Itunes and while your at it get the b-side Temptation as its absolutely brilliant.
As for this little song some will have heard of it before on Go Your Own Way but we prefer Tylers original demo version! Its/Hes Hawwwwwwwwwwwter!
KRISTINE W Follow Your Heart-demo
Kristine W is a legend in the US dance charts. She's had more no.1's than Madonna! She's as been covered by Atomic Kitten and Patti LaBelle while working with Elton John on his only interesting record he's done since like ever! She writes most of her material and has produced music for a wide range of acts. She is a mother, recent cancer survivor and talented saxophone player. Mainstream success however has, and it seems will aways, elude Kristine. Nevertheless, she doesn't care and has just teamed up with tribal disco supergroup DJ's Are Alive to produce the hardcore dance track Gimmie Some Love which is an stunning adventure in dance music. She's totally breaking the barriers of the rather boring realm of club music. Check her new MySpace locale at DJ's Are Alive where you'll hear the new single. Check out clips and updates also at the official website. Billboard has called this a supergroup like no other and with the likes of Scumfrog, DFUSE, Skribble, Static Revenger and the wonderful KW we couldnt agree more.
Miss W is known as a house diva on the gay club rounds and is a massive gay icon. However Follow Your Heart comes from an earlier time in Kristines career when she was dubbed to be either the next Janet Jackson or Whitney Houston. This retractment and confluent dance direction is a real shame because it is clear the her earlier material could have crossed all genres. Her current sound has led her into the real margons of pop credibility especially in the US strictly divided music industry. Follow Your Heart is a demo and included on the never properly released LP Perfect Beat.
So we celebrate Kristine W, the other "Madonna" that didn't 'Follow her heart'....
Distant Lover-Demo This is another song from the Perfect Beat sessions. It is so Janet Jackson it hurts!
Never Been Kissed This comes froms Kristines second LP Stronger! Very cute!
ANN WINSBORN VS ANNA SAHLENE LoveLight/Creep-Soundfactory Edit
We're going into a Swedish pop music overdrive! In the LoveLight corner you have the beautiful Ann Winsborn from Malmo and in the Creepy corner you have Anna Sahlene hailing from Söderhamn! Both sublime divas are of course from Sweden!
As you will hear that the two songs are quite different in lyric, melody and title but theres a particular rift that is exactly the same! So who was first??? Who cares! Both are brilliant pop songs! Creep in both its original form and the remixed version are our all time favourite Anna Sahlene tracks. LoveLight comes from the Pink Collar Crime LP which is in DONTSTOPTHEPOP 'you gotta buy it or you'll get a fist' list.
Both 'Anns' are very big in Europe with Anna Sahlene having hits in Sweden and Estonia while Ann Winsborn taking hold of Poland. Hopefully both will venture west and fly in the UK charts. Anna has worked with Eric Gadd, Carola, Robyn and Charlotte Nilsson. She was one of the backing vocalists who helped Nilsson win the 1999 Eurovision Song Contest in Jerusalem with the song Take Me To Your Heaven.
Get all the Sahlene/Winsborn albums you want at the brilliant Gemm WorldWide Music Stores
ANN WINSBORN Play Boy Play
Thanks to Sounds Of Sweden we discovered Ann Winsborn a few months ago. Come 2006, she's released on the best albums of the year! Pink Collar Crime has to be the best titles of any pop album like EVER! The album is the album Kylie should have given us after Fever instead of Body Language. With not one filler, the 17-track strong album goes from bubble gum pop, electronic lush to all out Europop dance music. The absolutely amazing Kiss of The Butterfly really has to be listened to for it cannot be described its THAT good.
Play Boy Play starts off like a dark robotic ballad-dont let that put you off!!!It then builds into a scary electro dash into early 80's pinkpop music and provides a strange futuristic realm of pop, rap, disco and electronica. If you like Infernal, Kylie and Europop you will adore this track even if its not the best song from Pink Collar Crime.
Thank you Ann!!!
DHANI Girl Talk
Dhani Lennevald wants to be a part of girl talk. He wants to know girls say about him. Whats the low down? Whats the gossip? Does he want to a part of the gossip or is HE the gossip?
An ode to becoming a man in the plight of girls uttering stuff about his manhood perhaps? Regardless, while the song munches down on the RnB facade, over time it has matured into a rather good pop-whiggle-da-bum record. Of course irony overpowers the context of the song, content and singer. Which makes this all the better!
By the way, Dhani Lennevald(first name John!) is the boy in the middle.
STEPS THE WEEKEND PARTS II & III
If you, like us, came pretty late to Steps or simply want to repurchase worn out/overplayed Cds go to Amazon, HMV or one of our all time favourite music stores' Gemm Music which has tons of odd stuff at very low prices. All secure and cheap!
Steps are crucial for any pop history of Britain. A cynic would charge them with blandness but their music spoke out for itself and coloured the charts that was, at the time, filtered with pop bands trying to be indie bands and indie bands pissed off at the pop bands trying to be like them. With so much anger and denial it was nice to see Steps providing the smile on the depressive and slouched body of the music industry. They were the rapture. Steps would see acts attemping to mimic them in the form of Scooch & when Steps left the charts a kind of tribute band came tohttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif the bridge in the form of the absolutely gorgeous band POP!. However for some reason the refractions never quite achieved the sense of absolute power that Steps secured over their three album history.
MUSIC:
Never Get Over You-Live-This track started it all! The LSL takes lead vocals with amazing results! Prefer this over the Buzz album version!
Sleazy!-Not as dirrty as Electric or the title suggests. A pop TOON!
Summer Of Love-Tour Mix-This is a brilliant version of an already brilliant pop song. If theres one song you download from DontstopthePop we'd say its this or Human Touch. We adore this version! Outshines the original!! U can hear a DBOP extended version over at DontStopthePop's sister site, the wonderful ReallySayingSomething. This track has never appeared on any commercial Steps Cd!!! Enjoy!
A Love To Last-This actually doesnt sound like a Steps song. Lyrically it is rather trite and we can see why the song was maligned from a proper Steps LP release but its a rather cute ballad that really wants to be dance track that sounds like a country n western singalong song. Calm, precise and strange.
I'll Wait For You-Ooooh what have we here....
Why-The b-side to Better Best Forgotten. Indeed!

STEPS WEEKEND!
THE TRACKS
Human Touch-From the Buzz Special Edition. Recalls early Sonia/Kylie
Words Of Wisdom -Early Steps Ballad. B-side on the debut single and written by the same team behind Scooch!
HeartBeatGarage Remix-Steps attempt to sound like Britney with brilliant results.
Human Touch-WIP Edit-A remixed version of this bonus track appeared on the Greatest Hits Cd/LastDance. We adore both versions.
To Be Your Hero-H confesses that he'll be never split the atom in two but "just like superman" he'll come to my rescue. The thought of H wearing his underpants on the outside makes us run to our Scooch b-sides but the girls finally come in to make this a Steps gem. This first appeared as a b-side on Loves Got A Hold Of My Heart release and was written by Dan Frampton and Paul Waterman, the son of Pete!
BONUS:
Bananarama-Last Thing On My Mind-The original version of the Steps hit single. Bananarama's original sounds somewhat like a Spanish christmas song sung in English. It clearly lacks that special effect on the Steps cover which always sounded like a hamster munching down on a metal chocolate bar. As you do.
THE COMMENT
Both myself and Robpop were never really Steps fans when the group sold out stadiums, stormed the charts and produced dolls to dance with Barbie and Sindy. It is only now we see that beyond the boringness of the vocalists, Steps were utterly seductive. This appeal only comes forth after the inclusion of intoxication. They are stunning after 5 drinks, they are everything you ever wanted after 6 and you take them home without question after 7. In the morning-after you freak at the monster you've strained your body with the night before but by then its far too late. You've been soaked and no towel will ever wash away the sticky feeling of joy that the band coffers to the listener. Thence, Steps were brilliant, lame and essential music for any lagging house party.
Steps also gave you orders how to dance in a uncomfortable Facist direction. Steps created an army of joyful and regimented disco troopers. They were the calm after the chaos that was the Spice Girls tornado. Like the 5 girls, Steps were the perfect 90's pop band. Ordered, bland and produced. I don't mean produced as in manufactured but rather constuctured by starch and stability. Spice Girls gave you abandonment while S Club gave you youth. Steps gave you orders, homework and expection. Its no wonder Kylie's comeback video, Spinning Around, stole this very method to appease her conservative fanbase. Out with the Manics and in with the toe curling bum slapping whiggle that the kids can do, practice and enjoy. Indeed, the Steps sound was not ABBA on Speed but tapped into a Kylie wavelength that Kylie herself was doing her best to repress with people like Nick Cave.
Steps were genetically modified to the extreme. The voices held absolutely no emotion. We know this when we hear the originals of the many Steps covers like Banarama, BGEE's and Diana Ross. They were thus tasteless. Tasteless but seductive. The absolute 90's British Pop Band. This era saw the rise of IKEA, New Labour and reality TV. It was all about YOU! and how YOU! could shape YOUR! space and living. All of this was of course prepackaged and generalised so the one could find something unique in the expanse of the uniformed everything. Steps must be commended for this. The distinctiveness of 5,6,7,8 was an error and they never repeated such difference ever again. Indeed Lee would never see equal exposure on a Steps single beyond the debut. The singles that followed became somewhat like one entire song that was quite apart from their first. They became generalised. The ballads, the summer dance hits and the samples; all monochrome, assimilated and ever so delirious.
Thence, DONTSTOPTHEPOP totally regrets never being a part of Steps Army. So now we're stepping back in time and dipping into the Steps realm that we missed out first time round. Steps you were great, the music scene is dull without you and while your solo efforts are grand DONTSTOPTHEPOP commands a reunion now!
Come back to Really Saying Something/Don'tStopthePop for tons more Steps classics!
I saw you crying, I saw you crying at the discoteque
For every disco romance, for every passionate pop strut, for every musical giggle there will always be Lady Melancholia ready to glow in the shadow of the mirrorball. Thus DontStopThePop feel it only necessary pay tribute to the ballad. Here you will find pop ballads and never bland emotional blackmail that ballads are sadly abused by serial offenders such as Westlife. No, the popballad might be void of thumping disco droplets and cosmic choruses but it has an equal foothold in the pop chimera if not stronger than its chirpy cousin. The PopBallad could be Britney's Everytime but it is not Sometimes. ABBA did well nurturing the genre quite well. It pulls at you, it takes you and it is naked. A few strings, a piano and a voice. It builds, it rips and you can do nothing but let go. For every high there is always a low but both drive in the same direction. Tears of joy, hurt and pain...whatever the reason we think that the other side to the pop journey must have its deserved limelight.
Thence......we present to you cryingatthediscoteque
THE CLEA PODCAST!!!!-includes Eanie Meanie
Hear a new song from Clea and see them perform live in Copenhagen! All completely free! Check out more special and free Clea special broadcasts on Itunes including their appearances on Disney Radio!
We adore the very deep and Smash Hits-esq comments about Clea's all time favourite things in the world....and admire the interesting comment about, and I quote, all the sexy women in audience. Ahem. Yes. Well. We love the new song.
SONNY JONES-with TARA CHASE Follow You
"Janet..Heather..Tracy!"
Poptarts get ready to hear yet another beautiful unification of rnb, poprap and poptastic pop genres! For this is German superstar Sonny Jones with Tara Chase! The video included the two running around a very metalic realm of modernity. It was all very Scooch/More Than I Needed To Know!
Anyway, any debut single that includes the boy backed in all white and flip-flops is always going to go down in DONTSTOPTHEPOP infamy! In years to come Sonny Jones will be known as the "the son of the Flip-flops" in true Lord Of the Rings style. Yes the song flopped but you can't blame those flip-flops for that.
Now we have no idea what ever happened to the popstar in flip-flops other than this song, the video and his german nationality but Tara Chase has a degree in biotechnology. Shes keeping it real ya see!
This is the cutest little record you'll hear all year! Its silly, its fluffy and its flip-floppy!
Some new things in popblogworld
TipTopPOP-This is one of the BEST popblogs out there. I wish I'd found it earlier!!!
PopTastic/IntotheGroove-Jess keeps em coming on strong. Check out brilliant new tracks from Katerine
ReallySayingSomething-Nu-Includes really, really, really rare girls aloud solo material!
SoundsOfSweden-Go and lick up some BimboBoy!
VERBALICIOUS New Kid-FIRST EXCLUSIVE PLAY!!!!!!!
"I heard she tried break dancing but broke her butt!"
Rap on a PopBlog?! No way!! Nah...this is Verbalicious! She's as pop as Betty Boo! In fact stay with the Betty Boo comparison! She's wired up to be the Betty Boos little sister: or rather the only girl out whose tried to grab the Boo crown and with just one single some might say she failed. But but but! Is this the new Verbalious single?! We don't know. It aint on the cd single which includes a brilliant b-side called Hey Boy nor is the leaked second single: the cocky The Next Big Me!
New Kid comes from places we can't trace and hopefully its a sign that shes on her way back! The single Dont Play Nice was one our fattests and most played songs that we had last year.
We dig the last few seconds of the song where Verbalicious mocks her very rapping essence and finishes off in a fit of giggles and, i quote..."blah blah yeh!"
Just brilliant!
DUKE White Wedding
Wow. Duke are amazing!
Duke will boldy take you to places where the nectar that produced Sweet Dreams Are Made Of These, the Fisherspooner Mix of Kylie's Come into My World, I Feel Love and Goldfrapps best moments, is in abundance! This is the sound of the "Mascara-flash" (non)generation. The boys from Spark*Pop will adore Duke! Check their website for more electropop bands!
If you liked Scissor Sisters before they they got all commercial you will absolutely adore DUKE. They stay on the safe line of disco, electro, bubblegum without going down the Goldfrapp-esq glamrock claps that seemed so fresh three years ago but now are tragically banal. Don't get us wrong DONTSTOPTHEPOP loves that particular thrash but it doesnt push pop music into and onto unknown zones rarely occupied by modern acts(...even if they name and thus declare themselves the modern...)
Duke ensure that pop is very much at the heart of their alternative electro fantasies. The world they paint is a hinterland where the Pop Idols usurp all the best parts of hip hop, punk, disco and bubblegum in one beautiful but nasty strut.
--BONUS-- UnderGround Disco!!! (FIXED!)
ROBYN Dig It-FIRST EVER PLAY!?
Dig It was a track for Robyns second album My Truth. Then it went under some rewriting and was given to some girl called Mandy/Cindy. We can't quite remember. Either way the girl didnt actually use the song. This really is being posted for Robyn fans who like to have their collection complete. Robyns version sounds totally unfinished.
Hope you like!
ROBYN Do Me Baby-EXCLUSIVE FIRST PLAY!
From the premier of Clea's new single DONTSTOPTHEPOP! brings you yet another exclusive in the shape of this unreleased Robyn gem from 1996! This is is not ANY Robyn Cd+album! In fact Do Me Baby is not on ANY Cd+album! Enjoy!
As you can tell the sound its very dated but its vocally amazing! Sadly this relatively poor recording is the only form it exists. What you hear now is the only recording of it! Its a silly track, dubious quality and has terrible raps on it but I adore it!
On Sunday we'll bring you another Robyn gem called Dig It which is sadly gaining dust in the archives...until now!
The posting of this track is actually to celebrate Robyn's many awards but also the launch of her new single Crash and Burn Girl over at MtvE.com!
PS-Zshare is back!
CLEA Lucky Like That-EXCLUSIVE PLAY!!!!
!!!!!CLEA GOES POPTASTIC!
We've heard bits from new the album and all we can say is..."POPTASTIC!" They seem to have gone all i5/Play with a bit of early Atomic Kitten thrown in for good measure. In other words this new Clea sound is everything a classic pop act should be. So it isnt as electrifying as as their first album but...just "kick back, relax" ...pop is still going on strong in the UK! CLEA are quite clearly DONTSTOPTHEPOP! favourites!
Lucky Like That is a strange nod-ya-head-whiggle-ya-ass pop toon that aint too fast or too slow. IT EVEN HAS A KEY CHANGE AT THE END OF THE SONG!!!!!!! HOW GREAT IS THAT! Its a catchier version of Atomic Kittens Its Ok. I can't really describe Lucky Like That for sometimes it recalls Human League, has a raggae feel to it and then it veers into PWL territory. All of which makes Lucky Like That a nice little pop ditty. Its certainly NOT an INSTANT pop anthem but rather is a bit of a sleeper song much like Sugababes' recent Push The Button.
