Elin is the gift that keeps on giving. She’s been around far longer than anyone gives her credit for and she’s really come into her own over the last year. Her tracks keep getting better and better and if she plays her cards right 2010 could be a great year for her. I’m hoping that Elin can do what Velvet failed to do last year and make it into the Finals at Melodifestivalen.
#38. Anders Fernette – Hungry Eyes
#37. Erik Segerstedt – Saturday Night
One of my highlights of the year was meeting Erik Segerstedt in Stockholm and getting him to sign this single!
So this is slightly embarassing to have Miley Cyrus appear on my favorite songs of 2009 but if you haven’t heard her EP – Time Of Our Lives then you’re missing out. Sure ‘Party In The USA’ became everyones guilty pleasure in 2009, but this track let me see her in a differeny way. I’d like to see her continue to record songs like this.
#34. JLS – Everybody In Love
#33. Michael Buble – Haven’t Met You Yet
The lone Canadian act on the list this year. I tried not to love this song for a long time and I finally had to give in. It’s just do damn catchy!
If I were giving out a best debut single of the year award this song would have a good chance at winning that title. Industry have had a great year in Ireland with 3 number 1 singles and likely a 4th later this month when their new single ‘My Mistake’ is released. The band are hoping that 2010 will bring their big break as they attempt to recreate their success across Europe. Rumour has it that their debut single in the Uk/Germany will be called ‘Kill The DJ” and that it will be released in March. With a title like that you know it’s going to be killer! Here’s to Industry in 2010!
#31. Ola – Skys The Limit
#30. Peter Gustafson & Ankie Bagger – Du Kan Inte Lure Mig
Jennifer Brown first came to my attention at Melodifestivalen 2009 with her ballad ‘Never Been Here Before,’ which failed to make much of an impact at the competition. Since then she’s been on a roll with her single choices. Mr. Running Man was definitely a highlight of 2009, but ‘Out Of The Ashes’ really resonated with me this year.
It’s no secret that I’m a massive fan of Evans unique ‘epic pop’ style. His songs are sweeping, romantic and dramatic tracks that can’t be compared to any other work being produced right now. Unfortunately the most we’ve heard from him lately were a few demos released to fans on his website. ‘By My Side’ gets me extremely excited for the possibility of a third album from him. Originally said to be released in 2009 the album never materialized. As soon as I have news about an album in 2010 I’ll post it here.
After threatening a comeback for over a year now, Uk based boyband A1 finally came through with new material. Only instead of releasing in the Uk the band have started off in Norway with their first single in 7 years! The track which was released for Charity off the heels of performance on Nowegian X-Factor ended p hitting the top 10 in Norway and has officially kickstarted their careers once more. The band have a big year ahead of them as not only will they release a new album but the band are officially taking part in Melodi Grand Prix in an effort to represent Norway at the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest. I was a huge fan of ‘Take You Home’ and can’t wait to see what happens at MGP.
Finally Will Young releases a single worth mentioning, after throwing a fantastic career away with a bunch of mediocre and bland song choices he finally releases one that reminds me why I used to like him in the first place. The track was to support his greatest hits album but I fear that it’s too little too late and that he won’t be having another Greatest Hits album anytime soon. It’s actually one of the rare songs where I like the verses better than the chorus.
#41. The Pussycat Dolls – Jai Ho (You Are My Destiny)
It was hard for me to choose between ‘The Garden’ and ‘Up All Night’ for my top Take That song of the year. In the end I’ve listened to ‘The Garden’ more than I’ve listened to ‘Up All Night’ and I’m a sucker for a great ballad. This track was never released as a single but can be found on their ‘The Circus’ album and is one of my favorites.
So 2009 is quickly coming to an end and it’s been a massive year for pop music. Many blogs have done a fantastic job of reflecting on various artists and events over the past year and they’ve all done a better job than I could ever do. So instead I’m just going to talk about some songs that stand out for me in 2009.
There are no rules to my chart, the songs may or may not have been released as singles, in some cases the songs were available prior to 2009 but may have been released officialy in 2009 or only came to my attention in 2009.
There are a ton of songs that are not on this list that were huge hits in 2009 and that I did enjoy a lot, but if the song isn’t on the list it’s because it grew ‘old’ or didn’t really stick with me throughout the year. Every song on this list received a lot of airplay from my over the year.
Alien Beat Club hail from Denmark where they came in second place in the Danish X-Factor. They’re the first of 2 X-Factor acts to show up on my favorites this year. ‘My Way’ hit the top spot in Denmark
#61. Jennifer Paige and Nick Carter – Beautiful Lie
#60. Industry – In Your Arms
The third single from 2009s brightest new stars from Ireland. The band are ready to break into Britian in 2010 and have worked with some of the best names in pop music for their debut album.
It’s unfortunate that things seem to have cooled down for The Saturdays after they burst onto the scene last year. Their latest album tanked spending only 2 weeks in the top 40. It’s dissapointing because while the album was a bit weak, there were some bright spots like this song which hasn’t been released as a single but is still one of my favorite songs on the album. I think it’s very unlikely that we’ll have another album from these girls again unless they can crank out one more commercially successful single this year.
This track was never released as a single and I’ve been sitting on it for a long time and over the last year the more I listened to it the more I enjoyed it. It definitely took a long time to grow on me but it’s managed to earn a spot on my list. I like that it has a unique sound and isn’t like any other song on the list.
Probably one of the worst peformances of Melodifestivalen 2009… I don’t know what they were thinking with the hair and the dress, it was all kinds of wrong. But if you close your eyes and just listen to the track you’ll hear that it’s quite a beautiful song and one of the most under appreciated of Melodifestivalen 2009.
For those of you that have never heard of Kim Lian you’re not the only ones. She’s celebrity from the Netherlands that has had a lot of success on television there which led to a debut single and chart success in 2003. Now unless you’ve been living under a rock somewhere there’s no way you haven’t heard of Linda Bengtzing my absolute favorite swedish star. This track is immensely cheesy but a rare treat to hear Linda sing in English.
SVT announced today that the 3rd Wildcard entry will be none other than ‘Peter Joback’ who they’ve tried to get into the competition for years now since his debut in Melodifestivalen back in 1990. The song ‘Hollow’ is written and composed by Anders Hansson and the amazing Fredrik Kempe who says “I really think this is my best song ever!” Better than Empty Room, Hero, La Voix?! Let’s just say expectations are running high with this one.
Peter Joback has been around for ages but I first heard of him in 2002 with the release of his second english album which spawned the hit single – Sinner. Since 1990 he’s released over 25 singles.
That means 3 wildcards have been announced and all 3 have gone to male singers. So we can only hope that Lena Ph is indeed the final wildcard announced on Monday.
If you don’t know who Peter Joback is check out Sinner below.
So I’m WAY BEHIND with these two track and not only has every pop blog featured this track but it was the Song Of The Day on ‘Popjustice.com’ and is now available on the UK iTunes Store. Hearing Linda Bengtzing sing in English is one of the biggest treats of 2009 and while she won’t be back to Melodifestivalen 2010 I’m betting we’re going to hear from her again in 2011. This song wins the award for best use of the word ‘Wacko’ in a single.
Speaking of songs that completely passed me by… I only JUST heard Nanne’s ‘Otacksamhet.’ I was pretty busy this summer and had no clue this has even been released. But it’s never too late for a little Swedish Schlager. So if you missed this track as well you can play catch up with me.
And I’d like to make a prediction right now that Elin Lanto is about to release one of the best music videos of the year when the video for her new single ‘Love Made Me Stupid’ is released. You can listen to her new single on her Myspace page. Turns out Elin Lanto was in the running for Melodifestivalen 2010 and we’ll find out very soon if she will be singing at the competition when the acts are announced.
Why didn’t Jennifer Brown sing this at Melodifestivalen 2009? I was never a fan of her song ‘Haven’t Been Here Before’ and never really gave her any attention until this summer with the release of ‘Mr. Running Man’ which I featured here on my blog. Now I hear a song like this and think why didn’t you send this instead?! I think a song like this would have easily made it to the finals! This song has just jumped to my most played track of the week.
There is no stopping the dynamic better known as SAME DIFFERENCE! The ink has barely dried and in 2010 you will be hearing brand new music from Sarah and Sean once again. They were cruelly dropped far too early before they were really given a chance to shine. Their High School Musicalesque debut single “We R One” was released to cater to the young tweens but their album was full of some quality pop tunes and after they were dropped a lot of people missed out on hearing the album.
The good news is that they have been signed once again and their new material is taking them in the right direction with a slightly more mature sound but just as fun and carefree as they’ve always been. New music, new websites and exciting news from Same Difference is coming your way soon… Stay Tuned!
One of my favorite songs from the last year is “Right Between The Eyes” which really takes you on a musical journey as it starts quite subtle and gently builds layer upon layer until a fantastic pop choir climax at the end. SIGH! This is why I love pop music right here, I dare you not to love this track.
Here is someone you probably never expected to hear from ever again! Flashback to 1998 when Jennifer Paige had a number 1 smash hit across the globe with the infectious ‘Crush.’ While she followed it up with 2 other singles and a second album due to poor promotion and mis-management she never saw much more success and parted ways with her record label in 2003. It’s a shame as well because despite what I thought was a boring first album, her second album ‘Positively Somewhere’ had some great pop tracks that deserved to be recognized.
After her career imploded Jennifer Paige stepped back from the spotlight but continued to write music for other acts until 2007 when she signed with an inde label and as a result she released a new album last year in several European c0untries releasing 3 singles which were actually quite impressive.
Next week her 3rd album is being re-released with a few bonus tracks including a new single which could be the song that finally puts her in the upper reaches of the charts again over 10 years after her first and only number 1 single.
‘Beautiful Lie’ is a strong effort from Ms. Paige. It’s not a ‘big comeback’ track by any means but it’s a fun song that will re-introduce a lot of people to her music and hopefully garner some interest in her album. Something about the songs feels a little dated to me like maybe it should have been released back in 2003? Does anyone else feel like that?
Either way the song is fun and if you read my blog you’ll know one of my all time favorite songs is from Nick Carter, so I definitely don’t mind hearing him in this track.
Speaking of the Backstreet Boys I’m pretty dissapointed about their new single. ‘Bigger’ has to be one of my favorite songs of the year and was the track I was most looking forward to from their new album. It was written by musical genius Max Martin and I could listen to it all day on repeat and quite frankly I already do What has me frustrated is that they took an amazing track and absolutely destroyed it with a horrible horrible video which is basically their home videos from a recent trip to Japan. Seriously?! That’s your music video?! UGH. Did someone from their camp pull out the old Westlife – I Lay My Love On You video and think… wow… Westlife really knew what they were doing with this video… let’s re-create it! Our first single bombed so I really think a home video montage would be perfect for this track.
So please don’t watch the video… just enjoy the track.
Last month Amy Diamond released her 4th studio album – Swings and Roundabouts off the back of the first single – ‘Up.’
For those of you that are fans of Swedish pop this is probably her least Swedish sounding album of her past 4 albums and as a result if probably the most disappointing; it’s definitely a departure from her first 3 albums.
I was a huge fan of ‘Music in Motion’ which has to be one of my all time favorite pop albums and is still on heavy rotation on my playlist. So when I ordered the new album I expected it to pick up where Music in Motion left off. The first thing I noticed when I checked the song credits was the lack of familiar faces. The songs on her first 3 albums were all heavily written by Tysper/Mack/Grizzly who, for example, wrote 9 of 16 songs on her last album. Her new album doesn’t have a single song written by her previous song writers and while the resulting sound is a touch more ‘mature,’ with the exception of ‘Up’ and maybe one or two others the 16 tracks on the album are pretty forgettable and leaves the album feeling sort of cheap and not in the good way!
I don’t really know what else to say… I was so excited to get the album and now that I have it all I have is an empty feeling in my heart.
The good news is that ‘Up’ is a great single and is an improvement on her Melodifestivalen track – It’s My Life.
So let’s just forget this album ever happened and listen to ‘Up’ on repeat for the next week.
After a year off the boys of Westlife are back! Some of you will be cheering while others are probably wishing they`d dissapear already.
The band debuted their new single on X-Factor tonight and it looks like they`re guaranteed a number 1 single with this one. The good news is that its a slightly new sound for the group, a bit rockier than their previous singles. The new album will be released November 30th and is rumoured not to be as ballad driven as their previous albums. The bad news is that despite rumours that they would no longer release any cover songs… the new single is indeed a cover of Daughtry`s `What About Now.`
That being said their performance tonight on X-Factor showed that despite waning success over the past few years… the band still have staying power and they`re not going anywhere. Check out the performance HERE.
So first off nobody probably reads this anymore, since I basically dropped off the face of the earth.
But so much has been happening in the world of Pop that I think it’s important to help do what I can to keep the momentum going and speading the word. So let me begin by catching up on a bunch of tidbits.
1. The journey to Melodifestivalen 2010 has already begun with the first 27 songs being announced, the web joker tracks online and tickets already sold out!
What do I think so far? I’m a little worried about the state of the competition in 2010. Judging by the song writers and the rumours it seems that 2010 is very light on established pop artists. So far it seems like we can expect big names like Ola, Sibel and Jessica Andersson but after that things seem to get a little cold. Not only that but the big powerhouse song writers don’t seem to be represented as well as they have in previous years. Henrik Wikstrom didn’t even submit any songs for 2010, ‘Pling’ is nowhere to be seen and the amazing Fredrik Kempe has only one song this year.
This has me asking… “What does this mean for MFest 2010?” It seems like they may be moving away from Pop/Schlager after the relative failure of the Swedish songs at Eurovision over the past few years. That being said I still have faith that the songs will be amazing and just think of all the new fantastic artists we may be exposed to once the songs are released. We aslo still have 4 Wild Cards to be announced and with rumours swirling that Lena Philipsson will make a return in 2010 we still have a lot to look forward to.
If I went through each of your music libraries I’d be sure to find a few guilty pleasures that we all hate to love. A few years ago Europe went head over heels for one such song when everywhere you went all you heard was the chant of “Ma Ya Hi, Mi Ya Ha!’ when O-zone was at the top of the charts with ‘Dragonstea Din Tea.’
Well get ready for a new guilty pleasure with the introduction of Crazy Loop the alter ego of a man better known as Dan Balan who coindicently was a member of O-zone. Not only is the song infectious but the video is surprisingly good quality and a lot of fun. If you haven’t seen the video check the link above. The track was released in the Uk digitally last week and can be found on iTunes now.
3. Industry – One To Watch!
There are a lot of hopes riding on the band ‘Industry’ who hail from Ireland. The band have already had 2 number 1 singles in Ireland and are about to release their 3rd single which should have no trouble making it 3 for 3. Their success in Ireland is due to a tonne of promotion, a charismatic band with great vocals. After the release of their poptastic first single ‘My Babys Waiting’ maybe thought they’d bomb and end up being dropped before a second single would ever be released. But with all the success they’ve achieved at home they’re hoping that success can be duplicated in the Uk. The band are finishing their debut album and have been working with song writers responsible for hits from Girls Aloud, Justin Timberlake, Rhianna and Beyonce.
Their new single ‘In Your Arms’ was written by Lee Hutton of the band and will be released on November 13th. I’m excited to see what is in store for the band and what their album will sound like. This is a band that can sing anything from upbeat pop, a soulful r and b tune or a sweeping ballad. If there is one act to watch for in 2010 it’s Industry.
Stephen Gately – Saying Goodbye
By now everyone is aware of the tragic passing of Boyzone singer – Stephen Gately. I don’t have a lot to say about it because I don’t really know what to say. Boyzone were one of the very first Uk acts I had ever heard of. I remember when I first discovered pop music I would sit in my room and turn on a radio show that played here called ‘The World Chart Show.’ They used to play songs that weren’t released in North America but were big in Europe. One day they played a song called ‘Words’ by a band called ‘Boyzone.’ I remember recording it from the radio onto a tape and playing it all the time. The album – A Different Beat was one of the first cds I ever bought. From that moment on I was always a fan of Boyzone. Sure they were never a ground breaking artist but you could always rely on them to deliver a great ballad that you could sing along to. In 1998 the entire world knew who they were when ‘No Matter What’ became an anthem of sorts and even led to some appearances in the US.
As cheesy as it sounds he was a role model in a way. With the release of songs like ‘No Matter What,’ when he came out in 1999 to overwhelming support from the public and most recently with videos like ‘Better’ which show him with a male love interest. He helped teach people that you’ve got nothing to be ashamed of, it’s ok to be yourself.
It’s been almost 2 years since Lady Gaga burst onto the scene with her debut single ‘Just Dance’ but with the release of her new album – Fame Monster we’re finally getting some new tracks and a brand new single. I’m a little dissapointed that they couldn’t be bothered to do a completely new album, instead opting to re-release her debut album with 8 new tracks. But with a new tour starting in December she needed to have enough new material to do a full show.
The new single ‘Bad Romance’ is really good! Look at the success she’s had up to now with her debut album it’s been out for over a year and her singles are still in the upper ends of charts across the world. How do you follow up success like that? Was her debut album a fluke? Is there anything else she can do to shock us? Well ‘Bad Romance’ proves that she knows how to write a great track and that she is definitely not a one-album wonder.
What has me frustrated is that they took an amazing track and absolutely destroyed it with a horrible horrible video which is basically their home videos from a recent trip to Japan. Seriously?! That’s your music video?! UGH. Did someone from their camp pull out the old Westlife – I Lay My Love On You video and think… wow… Westlife really knew what they were doing with this video… let’s re-create it! Our first single bombed so I really think a home video montage would be perfect for this track.
