*NOTICE… IF YOU DON’T LIKE WESTLIFE PLEASE READ NO FURTHER*
After raving about Westlife’s song – Something Right last week, I am disgusted to find this…
Something Right has officially been chosen as the bands third and most likely final single from their 9th album – Back Home.
The song has been re-mixed for the Uk single release and an official video clip has been released. The bad news is that it looks like they spend about $20 on the video. While the imagry is somewhat pretty… it looks like someone made it on their home computer.
When it comes to the re-mix they have utterly detroyed the years best pop song by adding a generic back beat to try and spice the song up and make it more ‘cool.’ The problem I have with that is that Westlife aren’t cool! That’s why I love them! I am really upset over this! I LOVE this song so much and I wanted it to be released so bad and now they’ve gone and ruined it! You can tell I’m mad because I used a lot of exclamation marks!
If you didn’t get this track when PPG first posted about it I’ll post it here again so you can hear the song in all it’s original glory. Then you can compare it with the cheap remix it has received on the new video.
Westlife – Something Right
In other Westlife news… on June 1st Westlife will celebrate their 10 year anniversary by performing the biggest show of their entire career. The band will perform at Europe’s 4th biggest stadium to a sold out crowd of 82′300 fans. The show, dubbed “10 Years of Westlife” has been described as a pop extravaganza! The show will of coarse be filmed and released on DVD. Westlife continue to be the worlds best documented act on DVD of all time with almost every music video and every tour having been released on DVD.
The band also announced that after their final concert they will take the next year off and that the band will not release a new album in 2008 and will concentrate on production of their 10th album for a release in 2009.
Today I’m taking you back in time to re-visit 2 successful Danish acts that just won’t quit!
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First I’m going to take you back to the summer of 1994! If you were alive back then chances are you used to sing along to this track. It was that Whigfield had an international number 1 smash hit with – ‘Saturday Night.’ Despite not having the same success that she had with her debut single. Whigfield remains active in the music industry to this day. She continues to release music as Whigfield. She has also written songs for other acts across Europe and in 2005 recorded a number of songs under the name ‘Naan.’
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As is with most acts that have huge initial success but can never re-create it, they tend to rely heavily on the song that made them famous in the first place. Acts are forever re-recording, remixing and re-releasing their original hit singles i.e. Pete Burns, Tiffany, Nikki French. So it’s only fitting that Whigfield re-record her original hit and a bunch of other ones that nobody remembers and throw it all together on a new album!
Here is the 2008 version of ‘Saturday Night.’
Whigfield – Saturday Night 2008
In other news…
Last year you may remember I posted news that ‘Aqua’ had re-formed! Although we may not have heard much from the band since their original press conference the band remains together and have announced 9 concerts in Denmark at the 2008 Gron Koncert to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy campaign.
This is the same show where Aqua last performed as a group back in 2001. Which seems like an appropriate place to launch a comeback.
The band are taking their time before making further commitments and plans as a band. At their press conference the band said they want to ‘test the waters’ to see how much interest there is in the band today.
Although Aqua are back together it hasn’t stopped band member Soren from continuing his current project! Soren is currently in a band with his nephew, Nicolaj, called ‘Hej Matematik!’
The band has released 3 digital singles to date and is about to release their debut album in Denmark. I wouldn’t know how to describe their music… It’s a little electro-pop meets funky R & B!? But as you can see in their album cover, they’re definitely looking good!
Hej Matematik – Du & Jag
For those of you that are interested the video for their second single features a cameo by all other 3 original Aqua members! As Soren and his Nephew walk through a deserted mall they pass a store window where the 3 other members of Aqua are standing in the window and watch Soren as he walks by. It’s neat to see them together again if only for a moment! You can see the clip to that video on youtube.
If you’re looking forward to seeing Aqua in concert this summer don’t get your hopes too high. They are planning to tour various cities across Europe but it will not be a world tour by any means and the number of shows will depend on how much interest is generated. Personally I would like to see a Greatest Hits album/dvd released with perhaps a new single?! I miss Aqua!
Here is a photo of the band from when they announced their reunion back in the fall!
Linda Bengtzing
Did Linda Bengtzing give us the album we all wanted? Full of Alla Flickors and Hur Svart Kan Det Va’s? The answer is no. But I think after listening to her first album no one really thought she would give us the album we all want her to record.
The album is definitely lacking in Schlagerificness but I’ve given it a chance and I really enjoy it! It’s missing some of the raw energy of the first album, but I really feel like she’s grown and the songs are more mature. I’ve officially decided that I like the album! It feels like a natural progression from her debut album. I think you have to respect her for doing the music she wants to do. If you don’t mind guitars with your pop music then this is an album you must check out!
Now that being said I think someone ought to hit her upside the head and tell her that she needs to give us a pure Schlager album next time though. I mean, what a tease! She enters Melodifestivalen with what could be one of her best songs so far and then gives us an album of the music she really wants to be doing. Put down the guitars Linda!
Me and Linda before the Melodifestivalen Dress Rehersal.
Linda awlkinig past me as she hits the stage for Melodifestivalen 2008.
In other Linda news PPG gives you an interesteing comparison of an album track from her debut album. Check it out over at
PopPosterGirl.
Ok so I know I just posted about Caracola, but they deserve another post I think. There are very few artists willing to release the kind of pop album that Caracola have just released. Many acts will put out one or two pop songs and then give us an album full of the music they really want to release.
Caracolas english album is simply called ‘This Is Caracola’ and there is not a single ballad on the entire album! It does feature english versions of some of their previous swedish songs. Some of my favorites are below.
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Caracola – Love Alive
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Caracola – Summer Night
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You can purchase their album Here.
Westlife
Ok so I know most of you guys have made it clear that you’re not fans of Westlife, but seeing as this is my blog… I’m going to continue to try and change your mind about them.
I used to be the worlds biggest Westlife fan… but after releasing crappy albums of covers over and over again, I really started to dismiss them alltogether.
But the band finally pulled it together for their latest album ‘Home’ which has been out for sometime now. While there are still some horrid covers on the album as usual… the band also has included some amazing original pop songs. The crowning achievement is of coarse the song ‘Something Right’ which will forever be one of their best songs of all time. It has been featured over at Poppostergirls site, so I won’t bother posting it unless there is someone out there that doesn’t have it still? The track was never released as a single in the Uk, but was a single in Sweden!
Their latest single in the Uk is ‘Us Against The World’ wasn’t pushing any boundaries and isn’t likely to make any new fans, but it features an unreleased track on the B-side called ‘Get Away.’ It’s nothing groundbreaking but it’s an upbeat sound that we rarely hear from the band. I’m not sure if I like the song as much as I like the first 15 seconds with the OooooOohhh!!
Westlife – Get Away
Not since Lisa Scott-Lee said that she would quit pop music if she didn’t get top ten with ‘Electric’ has there been so much at stake on a groups chart position.
If you haven’t discovered ‘Same Difference’ yet here is what you need to know. The group is brother and sister team, Sarah and Sean. They shot to fame on the Uk television show ‘The X-Factor’ which is basically American Idol except that there are no age restrictions and the contestants are split into solo guys, solo girls and groups.
From the minute they auditioned I knew that they were going to be my new favorite band. Simon Cowell said “You are possibly two of the most annoying people I’ve ever met.”
They made it all the way to the final night of the competition and ended up in third place! Now although they didn’t win Simon Cowell offered them a record deal anyways, but there is a catch!
On April 21st they will release their debut single. If the song doesn’t go top 5 it is very likely that there will be no further releases from the pop duo. Now I’m really dissapointed that the first single isn’t going to be ‘Nothings Gonna Stop Us Now’ which has instant hit written all over it. The first single instead will be High School Musical’s – Breaking Free.
So what does this mean? We need to get the single to be top 5 so they can release ‘Nothings Gonna Stop Us Now’ next!
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You can catch their new website
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Watch Their Audition:
Watch them perform Breaking Free:
In other fantastic news, after taking some time off from the blogging world Paul, from thezapping.com has decided to reclaim his throne and launch his new blog ‘My Fizzy Pop’
If you haven’t discovered the band Caracola you’ve been missing out. Not only are these girls cute, their music is 100% pure unapologetic, in your face pop. Their songs are very summey, the kind of song you want to blast from your car or at the beach.
After an album in Swedish, the girls have finally released their english album off the heels of their appearance in ‘Melodifestivalen’.
One of the things I love about Caracola is that they can actually sing live. Usually bands like this prefer to lipsync their way through a single or two and then proceed to get dropped by their record label.
Melodifestivalen has not been kind to it’s previous girl bands. Artists like Excellence, Bubbles and Cosmo4 have all but dissapeared. Caracola have been around since 2006 and judging by their intensive promo tour they have scheduled from now until September, these girls aren’t going anywhere!
Here is a photo of me meeting the girls last week in Stockholm!
Markoolio
So the first time I ever heard of Markoolio was last year when he did the ‘Varsta Schlagern’ duet with the brilliant ‘Bengtzing.’ The song is brilliant in every way and shot straight to number one for weeks.
I remember looking Markoolio up and thinking… who is this guy?! He looks a bit odd, and I got the impression that his album was really more tongue in cheek and really just a bit of a joke.
Well during my trip, I was out dancing when a Swedish track came on. All the Swedes seemed to enjoy it, they were singing along and having fun. All the foreigners sort of scratched their heads and said “What is this crap?!”
Well the song was immediately stuck in my head and I had to ask someone what it was. Her answer: Markoolio!
So here is the song… keep an open mind here… the chorus is extremely catchy and fun to sing along to. “REAGGAE!! INGEN SOMMAR UTAN RAGGA!” It reminds me a lot of DJ Otzi, if anyone remembers him.
Sibel
Who will i dedicate my first post to after my return from Sweden?!
Well I’ve got jet lag and I have to be up early for work… but I couldn’t go to bed without posting a little something for you all.
In total I brought back 68 cd’s from London and Sweden… that means loads of new songs for you all. (Although I accidently left half of them in Sweden… long and horrible story… but they’re being mailed back to me)
Sibel was a force of nature up on stage this year at Melodifestivalen. When I first saw her I thought… who does she think she is up on stage with these other great artists. But give this girl a long flowing dress, a wind machine and a dramatic power ballad and she will work it out! She really did impress me on stage, she was also extremely sweet in person
The album is full of sappy ballads but there are acouple tracks where Sibel turns things up a notch, one of those songs is ‘Walking Away’ which is very easy listening and has almost a country sound to it; very Carrie Underwood or Leanne Rimes actually. If you would like an album full of dramatic power ballads that aren’t quite as good as ‘That’s Where I’ll Go’ then you should definitely check out her debut album.
There isn’t much I can say that hasn’t been covered on every other pop blog around. I think the Swedes have done us proud this year. 2008 will be remembered as an extremely strong year for Melodifestivalen.
It was a year where anything could have happened. Charlotte was the obvious favorite, but Sanna was only 18 points behind. It truly was an exciting competition this year. Watching the show live at the Globen you really could feel the energy as each artist gave it their all.
When the dust settled Charlotte took home her second Melodifestivalen victory and will represent Sweden in Belgrade.
She will now go on a tour across Europe to promote the song and we will soon find out how the European public responds to the track. While the song is anthemic, catchy and has a lot of passion. There really is nothing groundbreaking or new with her song. It’s a formula that has been done before and it will be interesting to see how she does at Eurovision and to see if she can beat Carola’s placing from 2006.
My final thoughts are basically this. Whether you’re a long time fan, a casual observer or if you have no idea what the hoopla is about. Melodifestivalen is about great music written by the best song writers and performed by the best talent. It is a competition that truly gives everyone a chance, from the first time performers to legendary stars. This is a country that takes this competition extremely serious. The entire city has been living and breathing Melodifestivalen every day of the last week. It has been on the cover of every newspaper since the day I arrived. arrived.
The entire city has been so warm and receptive. Everywhere I go I would meet new people, share opinions on the performers and the songs and make new friends. Sweden has something very special with Melodifestivalen and it is something no other country has been able to truly replicate. If you’ve ever thought about making the trip here for Melodifestivalen stop thinking and just make it happen in 2009! You won’t regret it.
I’m off to London on Wednesday and I’ll be back home in Vancouver, Canada on Thursday.
My cd count is now up to 66 cd’s!! So you can expect some great new songs once I’m home and the blog returns to normal.
Finally… I’ve met a lot of people during the trip who actually read this blog. Talk about a small world! So I want to give a huge shout out to all of them and thank you guys for coming back, listening to the songs I post and leaving comments and feedback. You keep me motivated to continue posting the music I love.
