Tag: The Fooo Conspiracy

Tim: Yes, and indeed competing in Melodifestivalen next year – although I think one of them’s leaving before then, I’m not sure of the details. Anyway, unlike yesterday, I’m giving this video a firm 0/10 for laziness, because it’s all gig footage.

Tim: Support act, as far as I can discern, most likely in an (as yet unsuccessful) attempt to break out of Scandinavia. But here’s the song, which is significantly better than the video.

Tim: The first verse didn’t particularly grab me, because aside from the shouty vague sort of rapping there’s not a lot on. That chorus, then, generated a proper ‘BLIMEY’ moment, and it’s very much worth waiting for.

Tim: And now I think about it, those sentences could equally be written about Shout Out To My Ex – another song that seems confident enough with its chorus that it’s willing to risk that people will look past the disappointing rest of it. Since it works here, I guess I can cope with it, but it would be nice if I didn’t have to.

Tim: We haven’t covered these guys in a while – not, in fact, since they added the Conspiracy to their name. Still, they’ve not gone away at all, and here’s their latest.

Tim: I rather like that, albeit with a caveat or two. The main thing is that I wasn’t really sold on it much until the last minute or so of that video – it was enough to keep me listening, but not much more.

Tim: But then, when the video changed to have several panes and everybody started jumping around with each other, and the music kicked up a notch, it suddenly became a whole lot more fun because it was clear what the song was about.

Tim: Yes, it was there in the lyrics, which on hearing a second time becomes obvious, right from the start with “we go wild”, but that never really came across in the music. Basically, put a great big donk on it and it’ll be great. As it is – hmm.

Tim: Just a few weeks after I got annoyed that boybands all sounded the same, here’s a new track without proper instruments.

Tim: With synths, clapping and shouting, I like this a lot, even if it is a tad hubristic (albeit correct). Video’s fun, because let’s face we’ve all at some point thought it would be fun to dick about in a deserted subway station.

Tim: NO NOT IN A SEXUAL WAY. OR A MURDEROUS WAY. Just in a FUN WAY, with lots of perfectly timed choreography (though I can’t help wondering if their feet at some point developed an allergy to the floor). However, I don’t like that they only showed the first part of them sliding down the escalators, and not the last part that would have inevitably involved them faceplanting the floor at the end and destroying their trousers, not that that’s something I’d know anything about because I’ve definitely never done that because it would be naughty and embarrassing. Um. Where was I?

Tim: Right. Song. Icona Pop shouting mixed with the occasional boyband “ooh-oo-ooh”, very enjoyable indeed.

Tim: No, a new one. This appeared last Wednesday, but I only saw it on Saturday, and I thought we should probably leave it until now because, well, check the title.

Tim: As a poor, crappy retail worker I have little love for Fridays, coming as they do not before the weekend but before the worst day of the week, but it’s still hard to hear this without feeling some appreciation for that particular day. You said recently that Rebecca Black had ruined Friday for all future songwriters; turns out that’s not quite true because this song has all the marking of a fairly decent pop song.

Tim: The rap/pop thing is interesting, in that it’s not really been done at all since, like you said, 5ive, way back when and pre-Big Reunion. Still works, though, so good work to them for trying to bring it back.

Tim: It’s catchy, it’s upbeat, and admittedly they’re probably singing more from the “we don’t have to go to school tomorrow” area than the “we don’t have to go to work tomorrow” one, but who cares? It’s a very enjoyable message which, well, a good 70% of the population can probably get behind. And if you can get that number on your side you can pretty much do what you want. World domination lies ahead. Or perhaps not. Probably not, really, because they’re a slightly above average Swedish boyband and not Richard III, but anyway, I’m drifting. Good track, well done to all involved.

Tim: The Fooo, who you may remember recently wanted to build themselves a girlfriend, have sensibly backed away from that idea and now have this, a cover of, yes, that Freestyler.

Tim: I was all ready to pass this up and say, yep, that’s a cover and it’s pretty much identical, fine, but then there’s a bit of extra melody on the chorus line which is pretty good, and there’s also a little of bit extra stuff they’ve thrown in after the chorus that makes it sound a little bit more up to date than the 1999 original.

Tim: Oh, come on – every X Factor week is ill-advised covers week.

I don’t know if this was a song that really needed a cover version, but they’ve done a very good job of it nonetheless – I wasn’t really ready for it to end when it did, and to be honest I wouldn’t have minded another chorus there, which must mean I like it.

Tim: A few things before we start:

• The Fooo (yes, three ‘o’s) are a Swedish boyband who’ve made a bit of a name for themselves by making songs and dancing to them in public places, as evidenced here, here and here.
• This is from their first EP, and is better than those other ones.
• Whatever you do, don’t get an image of a human variant of the Build-a-Bear Workshops in your head. That would be very disturbing, so don’t think of that.

Tim: There are. I mean, obviously, it’s just a turn of phrase, but what a very strange phrase. And weirdest thing isn’t the main “I’d build her just like you” line – that’s fine, and complimentary. The strange thing is that it’s followed by “I want to build a girl like you”. There’s no indication that she’s saying no, so it’s really just them turning her down in favour of a person just like her, but that they’ve made themselves. (Not sure I should have kept the plural pronoun thing going there, but never mind.)

Tim: Other lyrical oddities involve the eight American females going round and round for no apparent reason whatsoever…

Tim: Oh, I’m well aware of that; I’m just not aware of any reason for it at all. There’s also the statement that “I’m a bit of a nerd”, which is somewhat redundant given that they’re already asked for a bit of her DNA and are about to launch into a Spanish rap about bits of her heart.

Tim: Musically, though, it’s fine.

Tim: IF I COULD BUILD A GIRL, I’D BUILD HER JUST LIKE YOU, I’D STAY UP DAY AND NIGHT, etc.