Category: Europop

The United – Come On! Come On! Happy With Smile

“That pre-chorus. That glorious key change. I can’t stop smiling.”

Tim: Yes. That’s right. This here is what you get when a European boyband decide to try their hands at J-Pop. I’d say “Interested?” but of course you are.

Tom: The word “problematic” is bubbling up from somewhere, but let’s see where they’re going with it.

Tim: Oh, and be warned that this is a pretty awful lyric video.

Tom: Hahahaha. That’s incredible. That pre-chorus. That glorious key change. I can’t stop smiling.

Tim: So there we go. It’s utterly ridiculous, as far as a European market is concerned – brilliant, but still utterly ridiculous. Stick it over with the rest of the genre, though, and it sounds about right, and to be honest makes me wonder why I haven’t delved around there previously. It’s fun. No, it’s a lot of fun.

Tom: Damn right: don’t forget there’s a big crossover between Eurobeat and J-pop. This is mashing the two together really rather well.

Tim: It’s an experiment, sure, but as far as I’m concerned it pays dividends. Well done to all concerned. Though, seriously – that title?

Emerentia – Silver Bullet

“Two for two.”

Tim: Wasting Water was one of the best tracks we featured last year, and Emerentia’s finally out with a follow-up.

Tim: And as far as I’m concerned, that makes her very much two for two. An ENORMOUS track, with, well, basically everything.

Tom: Agreed.

Tim: We get the verses out of the way pretty quickly, leaving us with a nice lengthy pre-chorus that is in some respects better that the actual chorus, or at least just as good but in a different way – we start out with an anticipatory melody and progressive drumbeat before going ALL IN and a bit shouty for the main part.

Tom: I’m not sure about that “yo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-ou” part, but that’s a minor quibble in what is otherwise a top-notch track.

Tim: When it comes back from the middle eight as the piano gets doused? That’s wonderful, it really is.

Frida Sundemo – Hanging By A Thread

“The loveliest thing about this has been almost entirely slaughtered.”

Tim: Frida, we may or may not have noted before, has a lovely voice. But that’s not the loveliest thing about this track.

Tom: That’s pretty calm and, as you say, lovely – and I’m not sure, but is that a downward key change for the final bit?

Tim: Do you know, I think it might be. Unorthodox. Upsettingly, the loveliest thing about this has been almost entirely slaughtered by SoundCloud’s compression, because it’s the big synth notes that I really love about this, that appear for a bit in the middle and then return to bring it to a close.

Tom: That’s not Soundcloud: they don’t do compression.

Tim: Oh. Then…

Tom: That’s the mastering on the original track, and yes — it absolutely buries that synth under everything. It’s an odd decision.

Tim: Huh. It is, because they’re wonderful, and fit in beautifully with the strings that run underneath throughout; it’s just such a shame they sound so awful. Well can we have it remastered please? That’d be nice THANKS.

Gerda Monroe – Understood

“Excellent production, excellent tune, shame about the video.”

Tim: This is some loud Swedish Danish (thanks to Bob for pointing that out) pop. Up for it?

Tom: Good grief yes. It’s been a rough morning. Shouting please!

Tim: “Hey, guys, I’ve got this great idea for a video, TOTALLY unique. I’m just gonna walk down a street or two, and it’ll all be done in one take. Yes?”
“Sounds good, if you reckon you can do it.”
“HELL YEAH I can.”
…
“Oh. Oh, hang on, she’s got distracted AGAIN. Oh, we can’t start all over for a fifth time, tell you what, just pull the camera up to the sky with her, and we can pretend it’s thoughtful or something.”

Tom: I’ve shot video like that before.

Tim: Fortunately, the same “this’ll do” attitude doesn’t apply to the music, which is really very good indeed. There’s the chorus, which is top notch, and the main hook, which somewhat controversially comes both before and after the chorus, bookending it marvellously.

Tom: I couldn’t quite get over that descending melody line in the hook: for some reason it grates, and I can’t work out why. It’s a nice enough song, but perhaps you shouldn’t have sold it to me as “loud”: I was expecting Icona Pop levels of enthusiasm.

Tim: Possibly, but there’s still the fact that there’s just so much of it – call it instrumentally loud, and in a very good way.

Tom: True, there is that.

Tim: Excellent production, excellent tune, shame about the video. Oh well.

5Angels – Kiss & Tell

“Yes, it’s a bit shit, but it’s also a bit fun”

Tim: Remember these Czech girls from last August? They’ve got a new song out about kissing, which is good, because a song about anything more than that would probably land people in very deep trouble indeed.

Tom: Crikey, Tim. I mean, you’re right, but… crikey.

Tim: Yes, it’s a bit shit, but, well, it’s also a bit fun, with the video and the ‘dance routine’ all taking place in a milkshake bar (because obviously they can’t go to a proper bar) and a fairly LOLsome story about fake-numbering.

Tom: Did you… did you just say “LOLsome”? Because firstly, it isn’t, and secondly, you just said “LOLsome”.

Tim: Sorry, granddad – I’m just speaking their language. The chorus is pretty good, and probably hits its peak at about the second or third time, because it’s take a while to get you in the mood but then does become a bit tiresome once you’ve heard it nine or ten times, with no variation towards the end of the song.

Tom: Yep. Even a broken-down middle eight can’t save this from the fact that it does Go On A Bit. Oddly, I think the return from the middle eight reminds me of a Kylie song, but I can’t remember why.

Tim: They still, presumably, have their ‘comparable to One Direction’s’ fan base we were told about last time (though I’ve since realised that could just mean that someone’s once written ‘Compared to One Direction’s fan base, 5Angels’s is practically nothing’).

Tom: Ha. Yes, that’s true.

Tim: They’ve been touring with Union J and are currently touring schools because, well, skipping lessons is naughty. Well done everyone, I’m sure they’ll be at the Grammys just as soon as they’re allowed to stay up that late.

Margaret Berger – Scream

“It’s like a robotic ballet dancer”

Tim: Tom, upon discussing Human Race a few months back you expressed a slightly disdain for restraint in dance tracks of that ilk; have this.

https://soundcloud.com/margaret-berger/scream

Tim: And I reckon that’s very good indeed.

Tom: There’s certainly less restraint there, but I’m not sold. Maybe it’s just a mood I’m in — perhaps I’d be more charitable on a different day — but I’m finding that anything that isn’t Properly Uplifting is just kind of washing over me at the moment.

Tim: Exactly the sort of thing we’d expect, with a big beat in a wonderful upbeat and singalongable chorus. Calming down quite a bit for the middle eight, which almost serves to provide a brief respite, in case one was needed.

Tom: You reckon that’s upbeat and — I’m not sure this is a word — singalongable?

Tim: It’s definitely a word, and yes, certainly the chorus. I’ve got it in my head as a right earworm.

Tom: It’s certainly got a beat to it, but ‘upbeat’ to me implies happiness, and this song just doesn’t. It’s like a robotic ballet dancer: the performance may be perfect, but it just doesn’t seem to have soul.

Tim: Fair enough. I’m sure someone will be along soon enough to put a massive donk on it, so perhaps that’ll help you?

Tom: You know, that might actually work.

Tim: Great track, and let’s hope she’s not going anywhere, as this year’s Norwegian Eurovision entrant damn sure isn’t going to be able to replace her. There’s no need to link to it.

Say Lou Lou – Everything We Touch

“You’re not bored for all of it?”

Tim: Say Lou Lou are a Sweedish pair who, somehow, we’ve never covered; not to worry, though, as we can make things right with this, by far their best number to date.

Tim: The press release’s two killer words are ‘quietly devastating’, and that’s a weird way to describe a song.

Tom: Yep. That’s the kind of language you use to describe an excellent novel or a terrible diagnosis.

Tim: On the other hand, I can ever so slightly see where they’re coming from, but not in a great way, because the only ‘quietly’ bit is the first verse which is basically quiet in the sense that I’m slightly bored.

Tom: That feeling holds with me through most of the track. You’re not bored for all of it?

Tim: Absolutely not – I reckon the rest of it is brilliant, and will take the devastating to be a good thing, because I suppose language changes and all that. The melody is great, the production is great, the vocals are great – this is a great track, really.

Tom: I’m just not feeling it: I can see what they’re aiming for, but it just seems to plod, and end in a really unsatisfying way. I can’t fault the vocals or the production — it’s just the track itself.

Tim: Suit yourself – I love it.

Celeste Buckingham – I’m Not Sorry

“More than anything, what a brilliant voice.”

Tom: This got sent into us with the simple, one-word commentary: “Slovakia”.

Tim: I was upset when I saw they weren’t doing Eurovision this year, thinking back to the lovely I’m Still Alive. Then I remembered the more recent Don’t Close Your Eyes and thanked every god I’d ever heard of.

Tom: Now, I’ve not heard of her before, but clearly someone has, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a densely-referenced Wikipedia article.

Tim: Blimey. Alright then, let’s hope it’s worth it.

Tom: And that’s quite the Big Belter, isn’t it? Great production, great message, not a bad melody — but more than anything, what a brilliant voice.

Tim: It really really is. When I arrived at the first chorus, I had yet to be swayed over, hadn’t paid much attention and was all, ‘yeah, this is dull, move on.’ Then it kept going, and that voice really drew me in.

Tom: I reckon there’s a missed opportunity for a full-on BLAST return from the middle eight; just building it back up doesn’t seem to work as well. But that’s a minor complaint for a song like this. The repeat-until-fade at the end surprised me: I haven’t heard one of those in a pop song for a long time.

Tim: Yeah – that would be my minor complaint to your return from the middle eight. Not a deal-breaker, but it’d be nice if there was a proper finish. A good song, for International Women everywhere.

Sval – Tidsfrist

‘I’m a sucker for a well-placed “heeey”.’

Tim: Melodi Grand Prix Junior is a Norwegian singing competition for kiddies, which in the past has been used to choose finalists for Junor Eurovision and MGP Nordic (sort of a Scandinavians-only Junior Eurovision), but nowadays is held just for the fun of it. Sval here won it in 2011 at the age of 12, and now, two and half years later she’s making a proper commercial debut.

Tim: And that’ll do me nicely.

Tom: I wasn’t sold on it until that chorus arrived – but then, I’m a sucker for a well-placed “heeey” sample.

Tim: It’s a good enough debut, and certainly an indicator of future potential. I like a good loud female pop singer, and while this isn’t truly massive or ground-breaking, or enough to get me properly excited to write lots of words about it, it’s certainly perfectly listenable.

Tom: Agreed. What’s it all about, then?

Tim: The lyrics, coming as they do with a perfectly acceptable lyric video, are all about her leaving it too late to tell someone she fancies him.

Tom: How breathtakingly original.

Tim: Indeed – just the tragedies of youth. Next, please.

The Mizuna Greens – Remember Me

“It aims for Coldplay’s lighters-in-the-air style”

Tim: The nice thing about SoundCloud embedding things having waveforms is that they provide hope. I did, for example, choose not to give up after the chorus on this one, safe in the knowledge that there was more to come. And it was worth it.

Tim: Sure, it’s a nice gentle ballad right from the off, but right now I want something big and bold, and this Swedish pair were nice to provide it, eventually at least.

Tom: It took a while, though — it’s a strange mix of two genres, really, although they gel together better than I thought they would.

Tim: Yes, there was a sense of “oh, do hurry up”, but those big beats that came in for the first chorus were a nice temporary stopgap. What I’m really saying is that the opening minute or so is nice if you like a quiet ballad, and the last minute and a half or so is great whatever you want. It’s all good.

Tom: I feel like it aims for Coldplay’s lighters-in-the-air style and doesn’t quite make it: that said, Coldplay are a pretty high bar to meet and they get as far as I’d expect any indie group to get.