Category: Europop

Tove Styrke – Even If I’m Loud It Doesn’t Mean I’m Talking To You

“I’m in two minds about it.”

Tim: Tom, I’d like to apologise in advance, because I’ve a feeling you won’t be keen on this (though I’m happy to be corrected), but I’m in two minds about it so I think a discussion is worthy.

Tom: “Hey Mickey, you’re so fine, you’re so fine you blow my mind, hey Mickey.” Repeat.

Tim: Hmm. Good point. Collection of other thoughts in no particular order, though: it’s loud. It’s shouty, almost to the extent of being a bit of a racket. It’s like Icona Pop but with even less melody. It has aggression and ATTITUDE and a clear message, much as previous Tove track Brains Out did.

Tom: So here’s the strange thing? I do actually like this. Because it’s not tuneless-loud; it proves that you can do this type of song without just screaming. It’s got a really, really brilliant hook and instrumentation. It is, for want of a better word, incredibly catchy. And I like that.

Tim: Good, because so do I. Other thoughts: he video is a bit ‘out there’, with big bright graphics and slightly racket-y dancing. That middle eight, or certainly the second half of it, is very good indeed. I find it to be a grower, because I’m liking it a lot more now than I was when I first heard it, though I think if I didn’t like it I’d just dislike it more and more with every listen.

Tom: I suspect it may be the opposite for me: as it goes on, I’ll find it grating. But on first listen, I reckon this is one of the strongest tracks we’ve had in a while.

Tim: And finally, I know it’s just the record label’s name, but I like the way the video ends with the word ‘epic’. Nice confident statement, for a very confident song.

Saturday Flashback: Mohamed Ali – Unbreakable

“A not-quite-as-amazing Amazing.”

Tom: I realise that this comes from someone with one of the most generic names possible, but: Mohamed Ali? Really?

Tim: ‘Fraid so. But, remember Niko, whose entry to Latvia’s Eurovision selection contest Here I Am Again was very similar to a Swedish contestant from the year before? Well I heard this recently, which was Denmark’s runner-up last year. Before you listen to it, though, remind yourself of Danny Saucedo’s amazing Amazing, from Melodifestivalen 2012.

Tim: This is, basically, a not-quite-as-amazing Amazing.

Tom: I thought, initially, that you meant it’d be the same song — and it’s not, but I see where the comparison comes from.

Tim: Right – the above comparison is a little unfair, because the melody is its own, but still: male vocalist, toned-down piano, strings and drum instrumentation behind the verses, a hopefully anthemic line to a suddenly EDM chorus, and genre-shifting breakdown with fancy staging. Hell, even the monochrome outfits pretty much match.

Tom: Yep, you’re right there. It’s certainly a different song, but drawn along the same lines.

Tim: I said not quite as amazing, because it isn’t: partly because it’s missing the incredible clothing lights (though I suppose the flames sort of make up for it) but what’s it’s really missing is the big “oh-oh-ohhhh” line that the other had.

Tom: It’s missing a Big Anthemic Moment. Which is a shame.

Tim: On its own, it’s not a bad song; it’s just, well, when it struck me, I can’t avoid that comparison, which, yeah, is a shame.

Nause – Another You

“They don’t do ballads. Except apparently they do.”

Tim: I heard this last week, and was a tad confused. You see, Nause, as you may recall, are a Swedish house production team. They don’t do ballads.

Tim: Except apparently they do. A lovely ballad, in fact, although very short and entirely out of character.

Tom: Good grief, their fans’ll be up in arms about this one. I keep waiting for the drop, and there isn’t one.

Tim: But then that one you brought yesterday made me think ooh, hang on, this could easily be half a dance track, couldn’t it?

Tom: Right! It’s only 2:40 — it’s as if they released the raw audio that they were about to remix.

Tim: Slop some great beats and synths and that sort of stuff underneath, and you’ll have a brilliant dance track, just like yesterday. So I really hope it’s forthcoming, because that’d be great.

Sophie Elise – Lionheart

“You know the word ‘Brilliant’? Yeah.”

Tim: You know the word ‘Brilliant’? Yeah.

Tim: There aren’t many songs when I could honestly say ‘I don’t know how you could make this better.’ This, though, may well be one of them.

Tom: This is going to sound like a backhanded compliment, and I don’t mean it that way: this is incredibly well produced.

Tim: Sophie is a Norwegian fashion blogger turned singer, and I’d say that’s a good move based on this – the verses are great, the chorus is fantastic, the lyrics are of the great ‘I’m incredible’ variety, the instrumentation underneath just never lets up, and there’s really nothing I can find fault with here.

Tom: The YouTube comments constantly complain about autotune — it turns out the Norwegian word for that is “autotune” — and I think they’re rather missing the point. Whoever did the instrumentation and production for this should get as much credit as Sophie, because that’s astonishing: her voice is just one more instrument in an incredibly deep mix.

Tim: Top work, it really is.

Danny Rossing – Remember

“What a summer track it is.”

Tim: As I’m writing this, I’m lying by a swimming pool with the sun blazing down on me and my skin’s in danger of turning bright red. This is an excellent accompaniment.

Tom: It’s cloudy here and I’m sneezing thanks to hay fever. I get the feeling I won’t be so optimistic.

Tom: Oh, I take it back. That’s lovely.

Tim: Isn’t it? What a summer track it is. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t entirely appreciating them until now, when it’s actually summery.

Tom: Even without the sun, this is really good: even that clicky, stuttery break works for me, and that’s odd: normally, I’d find it gimmicky. The combination of ballad-type vocals and staccato synth and percussion complement each other far better than I’d have thought.

Tim: There’s also that middle eight that sticks out in either a ‘wait what’s going on’ way or an ‘ooh, this is great’ way, and for me it’s the latter. Yes, it kind of breaks the track, but I think it’s in a good way. Basically, I think this is a great tune, and his decent vocals on top only help that.

Galavant feat. Mary Jane Smith – World of Dreams

“CHOON.”

Tim: Galavant, a Swedish pair; Mary Jame Smith, of Swedish singing duo Smith & Thell who we’ve covered a couple of times. This here’s new track, suitably BANGING for a Friday, and it’s the extended mix so you won’t miss much of note if you skip the first minute.

Tom: Oh man, that is a hell of a one-minute build, though, even if it’s a bit disappointing when it ends.

Tim: Much as with yesterday’s track, I’m a little stuck about what to write here. Not because I find it generic, because I really don’t, but because I’m not really sure where to start. Or if I can sit down still long enough to actually type about it.

Tom: How about: YES. That is how you do full-on dance music, people.

Tim: Because this a proper banger of a CHOON, needing to be spelt that way because it really is. Lyrically there’s basically nothing to it, aside from the dreamy promise of another where everything’s amazing, and really with all that’s going on here I have no trouble believing that.

Tom: Agreed. I was full-on chair-dancing by the second minute.

Tim: It’s one of the best dance tracks we’ve had, at least so far this year, and as I write this I’m about to start packing to go on holiday, and I’m not sure I can think of a better accompaniment. BRILLIANT.

Hector Lopez – Love

“That… that goes a bit Jedward at the start.”

Tim: Last weeks we had a Stockholm Pride song; here’s a full on Europride song, which is a thing I didn’t know existed but apparently does. So there.

Tom: That… that goes a bit Jedward at the start. “Heart is jumping” sounds a bit like the intro to Lipstick, surely?

Tim: Spectacular? No. Groundbreaking? No.

Tom: Much like that video: the editor really needs to buck their ideas up a bit. Slow crossfades, white flashes and odd cuts? Must try harder.

Tim: Enjoyable and on-message, though? Absolutely. With decent vocals, good production, and above all a very danceable tune, I will accept this as a tune.

Tom: Yes. It is certainly a tune. It is not, however, a CHOON — although it gets a bit close during that final reprise.

Tim: Only problem is that it’s so generic there’s not much more to be said about it. Erm. Yeah, that’s it.

Cars & Calories – To The Extreme

“Just very specific parts I dislike.”

Tom: To the “EXTREME”? I’ll warn you, Tim: if that’s the chorus hook I’m going to have issues with this.

Tim: We’ve written about Cars & Calories before, and had generally very positive things to say about them; you’ll be please to know that I don’t think this’ll change that much.

Tim: Bad bit out of the way: the first verse, with not much to focus on except the auto-tuned voice, which I find incredibly 2009 and rather unpleasant.

Tom: Yep, I pretty much tuned out for that. It’s monotonous, and not a good way — it picks up a bit on the pre-chorus, I’ll give it that.

Tim: Right — 45 seconds in, other stuff happens and that’s all forgotten. The melody picks up, the instruments kick in properly, and then a bit later that chorus melody hits properly and blimey is it something of an earworm. A good earworm, and overall a good track.

Tom: Oh, and that’s where we disagree. The combination of inane lyrics and autotune just grates really badly for me. And that’s a shame, because you’re absolutely right: overall, it’s a really good track. It just has very specific parts I dislike.

Tim: I’d like an album next, I think. That’d do me well.

Thomas Stenström – Slå mig hårt i ansiktet

“Hit Me Hard In The Face”

Tim: Another from the inbox, and apparently Thomas lied all the time when he was young and had emotional weirdness, and he now feels a bit guilty. This song, whose title translates as ‘Hit Me Hard In The Face’ is about that.

Tom: Strong title.

Tom: Well, there’s a lot of clapping there. The video is, sadly, terrible: it looks like someone amateur lipsyncing along to a professional’s track. There’s a reason most music videos are filmed either in fast or slow motion, or at least with some actual tech skills.

Mind you, the fact I’m calling it “professional” does speak well for the track.

Tim: The main repeating lyric in the chorus is an extended version of the title, and is “Hit me hard on the face so I can feel that I’m alive./Shoot me here and now, because now I can die.” Basically it’s a song about wanting to feel something, to the extent that it says “I just want to feel something” three times, and wants to pulled over a gravel path. (And also, yes, you can hear the English line “the lion sleeps tonight”.)

Tom: Hmm. I quite like that, as a theme.

Tim: Something of a downer, you might say, but I think you’d be wrong because actually I think it’s a great track.

Tom: Agreed: that chorus is really rather nice.

Tim: The hand claps and instrumental backing of it actually make it seem a very happy track, which I’ve just listened to four times in a row, and the only thing that annoys me about it is the 22 seconds of silence at the beginning of this video because I have to wait each time. Aside from that, it’s all great.

Saturday Flashback: Ace of Base – Life Is A Flower

“It’s just such a happy track.”

Tim: I woke up early this morning, and after a while my mind wondered to what song we could write about today, and then my alarm went off, and a massive smile appeared on my face. Because it’s this song. This wonderful, wonderful song.

Tom: Let’s see, it was 1998 when this came out. I’ve got a particular memory associated with this: Ingoldmells, of all places, on a double-decker bus with some friends. I think someone was throwing paper airplanes out of the slightly-open rear window.

Tim: That’s, er, yes, quite a particular memory. I myself offer a different story: I can’t remember now who it was, but a while back someone mentioned that this was their pick-me-up track, their go-to track for when they’re feeling a bit low, and I didn’t think much at the time, and then a while ago I was in need of a track like that, and I remembered it, and WOW. Because it’s just such a happy track.

Tom: Apart from that middle-eight: I don’t know why, but it never really worked for me. But yes, it’s a classic for good reason.

Tim: Oh, multiple reasons. The lyrics: not only is life a wonderful flower, but “we live in a free world”, and just “carry on smiling, and the world will smile with you”. The music: that lovely flowing intro, the strings underneath. The background chanting at the end. Even the video, with the flower dye (God, I’d love it if that were a real thing). I just find it near impossible to listen to without smiling; if I do find myself not smiling, well, I listen to it again. And again. And again, for good measure.

Tom: And if you get bored? The US version, which has different lyrics, different instrumentation, a different key and — crucially — a fixed middle eight. It’s not better, mind: it’s just different.

Tim: Oh. Oh, my. I don’t…oh. Huh.