Eric Saade – Page 2

Eric Saade – Miss Unknown

It’s so middle-of-the-road, almost generic.

Tim: Yesterday’s was a disappointment; let’s see what today’s brings. But I’ll warn you: while that official lyric video was vaguely creative, today’s one, while still official, has made the typical 14-year-old fan’s error of prioritising fitting in as many LiveText transitions as possible over even basic proofreading.

Tom: Oh, man. I’m no professional designer, but that is bloody awful there. So many errors, so many bizarre choices. (An electricity pylon? Really?)

Tim: Fortunately, though, that lyric video doesn’t put me off it all that much; unfortunately, the music does a good enough job of doing it that the video’s become somewhat irrelevant.

Tom: I find it difficult to write anything about it. It’s so middle-of-the-road, almost generic: for someone who’s put out cracking tracks before, this is just meh.

Tim: It is – it’s just dull. I don’t know if I was expecting too much, both from this and yesterday’s, but this barely sounds special enough for an album track. There’s still a bunkload of autotune on there, though at least not quite so much; the multitude of ‘eh-eh-eh-eh-eh-etc’ towards the end of the chorus are only vaguely less irritating that INJU5TICE’s ‘eh-oh-oh’s; it fades out without anything special happening towards the end; the lyrics are massively banal; anything else I’ve missed?

Tom: I don’t think there’s anything else there to miss.

Eric Saade – Marching (In The Name Of Love)

OH GOD THE AUTOTUNE.

Tim: Two new songs from Eric Saade dropped last week.

Tom: Well, pick them up then.

Tim: Very well, I shall. Let’s start with this one, and we’ll get to the other tomorrow. Sound good?

Tom: Crikey, that’s a long build. 90 seconds of lead-in to a not-particularly-heavy beat that doesn’t last all that long. It’s almost begging for some kind of dubstep remix, particularly with that much autotune on it.

Tim: Oh, the autotune. OH GOD THE AUTOTUNE. Why? He’s a very competent singer, he doesn’t need it for that. It can’t be to sound current, because that phase seems to have finally (and thankfully) died out. It’s just horrible, and I don’t understand why.

Tom: Maybe it just wasn’t that interesting without it? It almost sounds like a track from a soundtrack album: it’s trying to be all uplifting and euphoric, but it just seems like it’s trying too hard.

Tim: And as for the rest, it’s, well, alright – it’s a decent chorus (though the intro to it does get uncomfortably close to having a Flo Rida-esque “look at me, I’m so brilliant” vibe) and a nice dance bit following it. I just wish it didn’t sound quite so 2009.

Tone Damli feat. Eric Saade – Imagine

A good amount of flesh, lots of heavy petting and a church bell that’s three hours early.

Tim: I present a video with a good amount of flesh, lots of heavy petting and a church bell that’s three hours early.

Tom: I approve of precisely TWO of those things.

Tom: From the first vocals, I thought “this is going to be good”. And I was right.

Tim: Indeed you were. I like this a lot (and not just because of the flesh and heavy petting, though I won’t deny that does add a bit). One thing I really like is that it’s very much not generic, for a duet at least – when you get two people singing to each other about how lovey-dovey they are, more often than not you end up with some piano/strings ballad rather than a beat-heavy dance number like this.

Tom: Although it’s more “I’d rather be with you”, which is an odd lyric indeed when they’re actually singing it at each other. Have they considered actually getting together? They’re putting music ahead of pragmatism, really.

Tim: Yes, but when the music’s like this can you blame them? Besides, she’s theoretically still engaged, even if it does look like she’s gone on her honeymoon with this new chap, so it would be naughty if they did anything. They never even kiss.

Tom: Neither did Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman.

Tim: Erm, well I suppose that’s true. Um. Any particular point you wish to make with that?

Tom: Nope, just making a cheap joke.

Tim: Fair enough. Speaking of music type, as I was quite some time ago now, it’s struck me that while technically it’s her track and he’s just featuring on it, it feels more like an Eric Saade track than a Tone Damli one. I actually quite like that, though, so there’s no complaints from me. This is GREAT.

Tom: It is. Although I was a bit surprised when it came back after the middle eight; I’d actually assumed the track was ending rather than coming back from an encore. Not that I really minded one more chorus, really.

Eric Saade feat. Dev – Hotter Than Fire

Genius. Like it.

Tim: Lead single, out now, from Saade, Vol. 2, which comes out at the end of the month, and continues the ‘this is my sound’ dance theme that started with Vol. 1., leaving behind the pop stuff that got him started.

Tom: That starts with a bang. And they sing each other’s name! That’s a bit nicer than, say, Flo Rida just shouting out.

Tim: I like it. Did I prefer Manboy? Perhaps, but I’m getting used to this Eric Saade, and I actually don’t think it’s any bad thing at all.

Tom: I was skeptical this time, but that quiet build into the first chorus? Genius. Like it.

Tim: Good, isn’t it? He’s still got a decent hook, the lyrics are all family-friendly, there’s not a massive use of our good friend the auto-tuner, there’s a nice beat so it’ll go down well in a club, and what with the fairly well-known Dev on-board for this I think this could do rather well.

Tom: Agreed, and I rather hope it does.

Tim: He’s apparently in favour of Hearts in the Air being his first proper international single, which is a perfectly decent choice, but I reckon this ought to be be an excellent second release.

Eric Saade feat. J-Son – Hearts in the Air

We seem to have left Manboy far behind.

Tim: Don’t give up on this too soon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJDxvuOh2fk

Tim: Intro: dire. Verse: somewhat crap.

Tom: I rather liked the intro, but I’ll agree with you that the verse is terrible.

Tim: Chorus: good when it starts, heading for GREAT from the ‘why should I care what they say’ bit. But that’s all the positiveness I can really give this – it’s just nothing special. Unfortunately we seem to have left Manboy far behind, and that’s a big shame.

Tom: It’s just not got that sense of excitement about it – a lovely chorus like that shouldn’t sound like it’s being sung by rote.

Tim: Actually, scratch what I said about it not being special, because there’s the bridge. This s special, because it lures you in like an evil temptress, with a reworked second (a.k.a. best) half of the chorus, and then right as you’re gearing up for a great key change at 2:39 that will make this song alright, perhaps even downright good, it comes back. With a bloody awful rap bit. I had never heard of him before today, but right now I hate this J-Son bloke, for ruining our Eric.

Although I also hate him because it took me a good twenty minutes to realise his name is a play on Jason. Or at least I think it is, but then Jason isn’t actually his name – basically, it seems he chose a name that may or may not be a bad rewriting of something that isn’t his name but that took me too long to figure out even if it wasn’t there to figure out in the first place. I am entirely confused now, and hatred is all I have left.

Tom: Hey, it took me years to work out that “Flo Rida” was a pun on “Florida”.

Tim: True. Still can’t believe that.

Eric Saade – Popular

It’s big, it’s incredibly energetic.

Tim: Following last years slight cock-up where the people chose someone who didn’t qualify for the final, this year Sweden has a good Eurovision entry, who got almost 24% of the people’s vote (for comparison, the second placed song got 14%).

Tom: Interestingly, this has divided YouTube as well – there are a lot of dislikes on that video.

Tim: Last time we met him, you complained he’d gone ‘all plodding and melodic’. Well, no. No he hasn’t.

Tom: That’s true: this isn’t plodding, but sadly it’s not all that melodic either. “I can say / you will one day” “Be someone / before you’re gone”? It sounds like a nursery rhyme.

Tim: I don’t really want to point this out, but I’m a little surprised you missed the very first rhyme: “Stop don’t say that it’s impossible / ‘Cause I know it’s possible.”

This was, however, one of my favourites right from the start – it’s big, it’s incredibly energetic, there’s a decent tune there.

Tom: Whoa, hold up. There’s no decent tune there. It’s better than Kesha, I’ll grant you, and the the middle bit of the chorus with the synth arpeggio is decent – but the rest is a bit… well, energetically dull.

Tim: NO. I won’t let that stand. Although a lot of the times I’ve heard it it’s been alongside its main rival in the competition, Danny’s the entirely boring In The Club, so maybe it’s just a comparative thing.

Anyway, whatever you may think of the music, you can’t deny that it’s all backed up by a fantastic performance. Last year it was rain, this year he’s smashing glass – even if you don’t like the song, you’ve got to give him credit for being inventive with his staging.

Tom: I don’t like the song, but I cannot fault that staging at all: incredibly energetic with top-notch choreography. I can’t help but like him.

Tim: I hope this’ll do well, I really do. It certainly deserves to, and I, along with a vast number of other people, would be incredibly gutted if this didn’t at least make it through to the final.

Tom: I’m not holding my hopes up.

Eric Saade – Still Loving It

A surprisingly decent mix of several genres.

Tim: Last seen getting soaking wet and with a notable absence of raccoons, he’s fixed one of those problems…

Tom: …please say it’s the raccoons.

Tim: …by drying himself off – sorry Tom – and putting the first single off his next album up on YouTube.

Tim: Unfortunately, but not too surprisingly, it isn’t as good as Manboy.

Tom: He’s gone all plodding and emotional, hasn’t he? So much for having enough enthusiasm that you have to shower on stage.

Tim: If we’re honest, it could probably do with losing about thirty seconds somewhere along the line, and the first few seconds sound a bit like Day & Night. On a more positive note, if you don’t do some sort of involuntary dance-type movement after the bridge there may be something wrong with you, which makes it a winner in my view.

Tom: I was all ready to disagree with you there, and then I went and subconsciously nodded my head along after the beat. That technically counts.

Tim: Musically it’s a surprisingly decent mix of several genres; lyrically it seems slightly weird and almost pointless – you’re annoying me but keep doing it – but never mind that, because I still like the chorus and the closing bit very much indeed.

Tom: It’s a proper lighters-in-the-air moment at the end, isn’t it? It’s no Manboy, but it’ll do.

Saturday Flashback: Eric Saade – Manboy

You know what else no-one’s doing? Raccoons.

Tim: This really, really, really should have been Sweden’s entry to Eurovision 2010.

Tom: It’s Womanizer by Britney Spears, isn’t it? When he started his vocals, I muttered “Superstar, where you from, how’s it going”. Decent choreography though, although he seems to forget where the audience is half way through.

Tim: Perhaps, but this is Melodifestivalen, Sweden’s (vastly superior) version of Your Country Needs You, so he just needs to remember where the camera is. Also, you need to wait ’til after the key change before you can properly judge the dancing.

Tom: Ah, he’s been to the George Sampson school of stage performance then. (Not Daz Sampson, thankfully.)

Tim: Apparently, ‘everybody does fire’ and it’s quite boring.

Tom: He’s got a point there. You know what else no-one’s doing? Raccoons. No-one ever unleashes a hundred ravenous raccoons to attack the singer on the key change.

Tim: True, although raccoons would probably poo everywhere. Just not practical.

Tom: Neither’s rigging up a power shower above the stage, but they manage that.

Tim: Ah, but he practically had to beg them to. (Really, he did.) He probably wouldn’t have been so enthusiastic about unleashing rabid animals to munch on him.

Tom: Not sure about these lyrics either. “You can call me manboy” sounds like an odd way of saying “I have learning difficulties”. Can I do that joke?

Tim: Yeah, why not.

Tom: Hmm.

Manboy, manboy,
You can call me manboy,
I don’t care, I’ll show you how to love.

I’m not an expert, but I’d guess most women would prefer ‘man’ over ‘boy’. There’s not a whole lot of ‘showing how to love’ when your entire experience of love is the Victoria’s Secret catalogue. Or, if you weren’t born in an 80s sitcom, the internet.

Tim: Well I think that’s it. He pretty much is only a boy (19), so he wants the man to shine though. And, after all, what better way is there to prove manliness than stand in the pouring rain?

Tom:Raccoons. Fighting raccoons.