Europop – Page 55

Dagny – Fool’s Gold

“Ooh, I do like a song that comes in strong.”

Tom: Our reader, Luca, sends in just-released gem — his words — from Norway. Luca also calls it a “climactic banger of titanic ambitions”, which is both a bold claim and an accurate descriptor of your mum.

Tim: Woah, what? Well that came out of the blue, but, erm, okay.

Tim: Ooh, I do like a song that comes in strong.

Tom: That is a pretty good chorus, though, isn’t it?

Tim: Certainly is – I will take that climactic banger, thank you.

Tom: It’s a chorus that sounds like it’d fit in perfectly as uplifting music for the end of a film. That chorus should kick in just in time the final sweeping track backwards, the big dramatic sweeping shot that leaves the main characters looking out onto an uncertain, but promising, future.

Tim: Yes – yeah, that fits. Lyrics would need a rewrite, but musically that sounds about right.

Tom: I know, that’s a specific description, but it’s rare for me to get such a strong image from a song. I think that’s a good sign.

Ingrid Michaelson – Hell No

“A decently fun solidarity-after-breakup song”

Tom: Our reader, Katherine, sends in this textbook example of how to ruin a pretty good song with a terrible video. So do yourself a favour: play this in a background tab.

Tom: That’s a pretty good song, right? Not about to hit number one or anything like that, but a decently fun solidarity-after-breakup song. There aren’t enough of them.

Tim: Also in its favour: doesn’t hang around. Knows how long it can last for, and makes the most of that time.

Tom: But then there’s the video.

Tim: Oh, we are watching. Hang on, brb.

Tim: Huh.

Tom: I know how good that video must have seen as a concept — but good grief, it doesn’t match with the song at all. There are so many ways this could have been done well on a small budget: but what you’ve got instead is a confusing mash that just looks amateur. It’s a shame.

Tim: Sort of – at the end when the chorus goes massive, then it sort of fits because there’s the whole “yes we’re having fun and enjoying life without him”; but you’re right, with the melancholic mood earlier in the song, yeah, just doesn’t go.

Roxette – Some Other Summer

“Listen to that intro! That’s such a good intro!”

Tim: I don’t know why, but I always get really excited when a new Roxette track comes along – I’d never think of them if asked what my favourite band was, but they do have a tendency to produce great tracks. So let’s push play and see.

Tom: Listen to that intro! That’s such a good intro! And it leads into a great song, too.

Tim: Still going with the repeat to fade, which is disappointing, especially when it takes up a full third of the song; on the other hand, that chorus itself is very enjoyable, the verses also entirely hit the spot, and all in all I’m put in mind of a Pet Shop Boys, BWO style track, and for that reason I like it a lot.

Tom: That’s a good comparison: this sounds a really solid BWO track, particularly that crash into a very different middle-eight — a middle-eight that was initially disappointing, but by the end: blimey, that’s well produced.

Tim: Yes, I’d have liked a lot more coming out of it than a standard chorus repeated and slightly building until the fade, mind, but the first two thirds: jolly excellent.

Tom: You know what? For once, I don’t mind that at all. That final chorus is switched around enough that I don’t mind. Although there’s got to be a better alternative to fading it out.

Aura – Love Somebody

“Alvin and the Chipmunks on backing vocals.”

Tim: Aura’s dropped her surname since her last release several years back, and we have what appears to be Alvin and the Chipmunks on backing vocals.

Tom: Oh, I shouldn’t like that. Why do I like that? What does it remind me of?

Tim: See, not only does that have a perfectly decent beat and verse, and very good chorus, but it also throws a bit of masturbation in there to make you sit up and pay attention if your mind drifts a bit.

Tom: Not something that gets referred to in songs all that often.

Tim: Which is good, because your mind shouldn’t be drifting – like I said, that’s a very good chorus there, much deserving of attention, even if the more attention I paid it the more it reminded me of Only Teardrops.

Tom: That’s it! That’s what it reminds me of! And now you mention it, it’s really obvious.

Tim: But who cares? GOOD GOOD GOOD.

Baby Alice – Naked

“Very similar style? It’s basically the same song!”

Tim: Cast your mind back six years, you might recall Piña Colada Boy; if you’re really unlucky you’ll recall their follow up Heaven is a Dancefloor

Tom: Yes (and it was an excellent), and… no, no I don’t, thankfully, despite the fact that I apparently had opinions on it.

Tim: Here’s their newest attempt to recapture the magic of 2010, which, according to a suspiciously PR-smelling Wikipedia paragraph, is “Baby Alice’s brand new summer song for 2016 and considered to be a follow-up to their hit single ‘Pina Colada Boy’ from 2010, with a very similar style”.

Tom: Very similar style? It’s basically the same song!

Tim: Two quick notes first: I’d like to thank them for not employing a male vocalist to sing “feel the air when I shake it”, because that’d be weird, and also I’d like to award bonus points for a key change, because I honestly can’t remember the last time I heard one in a summer dance tune.

Tom: When your song’s getting old after two out of three minutes, you do what you have to do. Despite that complaint, though… ah, hell, I like it, because it sounds like Piña Colada Boy only newer.

Tim: As for the rest of it: I actually really quite like it – it’s ear wormy, sure, but it’s not an unpleasant one; it’s light hearted, fun and most of all I’d look forward to dancing to this on a beach, with or without clothes on, and I think that’s what counts. It’s not a massive anthem that’ll be played for years to come, but it is a decent dance tune. BANGER.

Alessio Bernabei – Io E Te = La Soluzione

“Listen, world: this is how you do a big emotional pop song.“

Tom: Our reader, Canio, sends in this Italian track. “You and I are the Solution” would be the title in English; it’s the second solo single from what was, according to Canio, “the Italian 1D”.

Tim: Sounds fun, let’s have it.

Tom: Prepare yourself, because it’s a Big Love Ballad and I’m going to Type With Lots Of Capitals.

Tim: OH MY DAYS.

Tom: Now Canio said he wasn’t impressed with this, and I couldn’t disagree more. Listen to that chorus! That’s a brilliant chorus!

Tim: Oh, hell, yes yes it is.

Tom: Yes, it’s not pushing the boundaries of pop music at all, but I don’t care: that’s a chorus that could get belted out by any international star. Translate it and it’ll work on the international market, too.

Tim: I am so annoyed that the credits under that only list the video production team (worthy as they are, it’s a beautiful video), because I really want to know more about the team behind that. That’s the sound of an early Max Martin track there, and I want to hear more.

Tom: Basically, this passed one of my two Decent Pop Song Tests: I immediately hit replay so I could hear it again. It failed the “can I sing the chorus after one listen” test, but to be fair I don’t speak Italian so I can give it a pass on that. Listen world: this is how you do a big emotional pop song.

Tim: A Big, Big Emotional Pop Song.

Tom: Also, full marks for whoever’s doing the Big Sweeping Drone Shots in the video.

Tim: Excellent cliff-sitting action as well.

Sandra Lyng – Blue

“Just press play and don’t read ahead.”

Tim: No intro here, just press play and don’t read ahead.

Tom: Well, that’s confusing.

Tim: You see my initial thought was to start the post with “Before you ask, Tom, no it isn’t,” except, well, it kind of is. It’s one of the weirdest tracks I’ve heard in a while, to be honest, and I’m not sure what I think of it.

It’s not a remix, it’s not sampling, it’s definitely not a cover – the closest thing I can think of is Frankee’s F U Right Back (which isn’t, as it turns out, a song worth revisiting).

Tom: “Contains an interpretation of” is, I believe, the technical term. Unexpectedly, I really like it. I don’t think I would if it didn’t have that interpretation, though: it’s doing something interesting.

Tim: Throughout the first verse, I was thinking it was a really good track – for starters, “your army is who you are” is a great lyric. Suddenly, though, when I realised what was happening, I was brought waaaay out of it, and then I noticed the similarities in the melody that skipped me by the first time, and then…well, it’s almost a novelty (and one where the lyric video person somehow can’t spell “dee”).

Tom: The newly-written sections are the dullest parts, because of course they are. I’m treating this like a Live Lounge cover: it’s not something I’d regularly listen to, but I’m glad it exists.

Tim: I don’t know if I like this or not, I genuinely don’t.

Mia Renwall – Full Circle Rainbow

“Not quite poppers o’clock enough.”

Tim: Mia, briefly of the 2011 series of Finland’s The Voice, presents us with this, official song of Helsinki Pride this year.

Tim: And…to be honest, it’s a tad disappointing – yes, the chorus gets its gay on properly, and obviously the lyrics are all rainbows, but I can’t help feeling it’s not quite poppers o’clock enough for me.

Tom: Heck of a sentence, there, Tim. I’m not sure I’m really qualified to argue with you on this, particularly for the phrase “poppers o’clock”—

Tim: Popper’s o’clock.

Tom: —but yep: you’re about right there.

Tim: If we’re going in for a great eurodance anthem, as seems to be the case here, then I’d like the chorus levels moved to the verses (though I could be persuaded to give the first verse a little slack as a warmup) and the chorus itself shaking the floor.

Tom: Exactly that. And if you’re going to do a weird wobble-bass middle-eight, commit to it.

Tim: Also, let’s see if we can bin off the autotune next year, maybe? It’s close, but not quite the pink cigar I’d like.

Tom: Blimey.

The Lola O – TwentyfourSevenPartypeople

“I was hoping it’d become more shouty than it did.”

Tim: FRIDAY, so let’s drop into The Lola O’s nonstop party for a few minutes, turn the volume up loud and see if we like what we hear.

Tom: Well, that intro sounds like any 2000s pop-punk song. I was hoping it’d become more shouty than it did — but surprisingly, I enjoyed the time it took to get there.

Tim: Good, good – then in the end we have our loud and raucous vocals, yep; trumpets to get everything off to a good start, yep; being very very insistent that they are indeed TwentyfourSevenPartypeople just like that one person you always get a party encouraging everyone to do stupid stuff, also yep.

Tom: Is that really loud and raucous, though? It’s melodic. The volume’s not enough to count as loud and the music’s too tuneful to be raucous.

Tim: Hmm, I’d just about call it that. It is easy to make tracks like this too shouty and annoying – for me the border’s roughly just a tiny bit further than Icona Pop – but this fits just great.

Tom: As with so many things we review, Tim, you’re just more enthusiastic than me. For me, this falls into a twilight zone between “not shouty” and “shouty”, and I don’t think it can rescue itself.

Tim: I disagree – for one, that chorus is just excellent – the “we got loads of trouble” with the strong continuous beat underneath, and then the second half with the trumpet back again for all the triumph. Great stuff, love it.

Ben Mitkus – Kills Me

“A perfectly serviceable four minutes of pop.”

Tim: A Swede who’s big off YouTube, but unlike Samir & Viktor he has a decent voice, and debuts with a decent track to go with it. Have a listen.

Tim: And by decent track, I mean perfectly serviceable four minutes of pop, really – catchy chorus, decent beat, pleasant melody.

Tom: Hmm. It has that, sure, but my brain kept wandering off onto other things during it. The production seems a bit anaemic: maybe YouTube compression hasn’t been kind to the audio, but it seems a bit like it’s being played through a really cheap stereo.

Tim: To be honest, with all the layered vocals it sounds more a like a boyband track than a solo production, but that’s fine – frankly, anything that’s, say, a third-off-an-album One Direction track is absolutely fine by me.

Tom: Third and One Direction? It’s more of a Vamps album track at best, I reckon. There’s nothing wrong with it, but there’s nothing especially right with it either. Still, could be worse.

Tim: Indeed. So good work, keep them coming.