Tag: Jenni Vartiainen

Jenni Vartiainen – Eden

“A bit like an Apple Watch”

Tim: Remember Jenni Vartiainen? Feel free to remind yourself if not, but basically: good pop with big instrumental backing.

Tim: And, conveniently, not much has changed. True, it’s not as big as some we’ve heard before, but this is still a great track.

Tom: Hmm. My attention kept slipping from it: I’ve tried to listen three times now: each time after about a minute I realised I wasn’t listening any more.

Tim: Curious – I have no such problem. I particularly like (as I suspect I’m meant to) the sense in the chorus that there’s something coming, and yes, I’ll find out if I just wait a bit, but I’d rather not; when it does coming along, though, much like an Apple Watch, the outcome is positive enough that all is forgiven.

Tom: See, I think it’s a bit like an Apple Watch too: vaguely specified, a bit confusing and disappointing, and no-one’s actually going to buy it.

Tim: Ah. The middle eight has all the ‘wait, wait, wait’ going on as well, although to be honest it almost takes it a bit far, giving a slight sense of ‘oh, hurry up’, but then the closing section comes along and, yeah, it’s all still worth it. Aye-aye-aye etc.

Tom: I’ve tried to listen two more times, and it’s just slipped away again. I’m not convinced.

Tim: Well, I am. It’s lovely.

Jenni Vartiainen – Junat Ja Maiset

This is what happens if an artist relies on the music rather than a dramatic outburst on Twitter.

Tim: Last time we met Jenni was a little over two years ago, and we were very impressed. Since then, there’s been nothing until this, just out as the lead single from her upcoming third album.

Tim: And what a comeback track that is, and something that Gaga could really take lessons from.

Tom: Oh, you’re so right. There’s so much going on, and all of it’s good.

Tim: Strings and drums all over the place, very much demanding of attention, rather than a song that could easily come from a five year old album. A smoke-filled atmospheric video on mountains and in caves, rather than some crappy backstage footage-laced lyric one.

Tom: To be fair, there’s a proper, suitably arty Gaga video out now – but that doesn’t change the comparison about the track. Crikey, change the lyrics to English, add a bit of electric guitar and you’ve got yourself something close to a Gaga track here.

Tim: This is what happens if an artist relies on the music to get attention, rather than a dramatic outburst on Twitter, and it’s vastly better for it. It’s brilliant.

Jenni Vartiainen – Eikö Kukaan Voi Meitä Pelastaa?

“Ain’t that just a chorus and a half?”

Tim: Or, alternatively, Can’t Anyone Save us? (ish).

Tom: I think that beat’s the same one as the ‘demo’ on the old Casio keyboard I had when I was five.

Tim: Give it a sec before letting the standard snarkiness kick in, please.

It’s from the same best-selling-of-2010-in-Finland album as En haluu kuolla thingy (she likes the long titles, it seems), and my word ain’t that just a chorus and a half?

Tom: Bloody hell. Talk about a complete change. From Casiocore to full orchestral Broadway production.

Tim: It reminds me – quite a bit, what with the big piano stuff they’ve got going on under everything else – of Didrik Solli-Tangen’s My Heart Is Yours and, much as with that one, I love it. Google seems to fall down a bit when translating Finnish, but this song’s really just about the music, I think, and wow is that some proper music.

Tom: It really is. So… many… instruments!

Tim: I don’t know if it’s a shame the verses aren’t the same level – part of me wishes they were, just because, but part of me likes that the choruses are so big, and that wouldn’t really be appreciated. Besides, it’s not like either of them, especially the second one with the extra beat, is particularly empty.

Tom: There’s no way you could make the verses as big as that chorus. I don’t think you can fit that much music into a song.

Saturday Flashback: Jenni Vartiainen – En haluu kuolla tänä yönä

There’s a solid amount of life there.

Tom: An anonymous reader wrote in to suggest this track, which hit Number One in Finland back in February 2010. The title, translated, means “I Don’t Wanna Die Tonight”, and the singer is a former winner of the Finnish version of Popstars.

Tom: It’s certainly a belter, which makes it all the more odd that I don’t like it. Despite all the energy, the promise of the build in those first few seconds, the full-on vocals, all the instrumentation and production… somehow the word that drops into my head is “plodding”.

Tim: Hmm…not sure about plodding. I think there’s a solid amount of life there, and I don’t dislike this at all.

Tom: It doesn’t necessarily need a key change, it just needs… damn it, I don’t know. Perhaps it needs to break out of the one octave she’s singing in? A chord progression that seems to come from a completely different song, like the Killers do so often*?

*”Will your system be all right / if you dream of home tonight” in ‘Human’, and “–if you don’t shine” in ‘Read My Mind’.

Tim: Afraid I can’t really help you there, as I don’t actually think it needs anything. Certainly not a key change, although if I did have to change anything I’d trim the bridge a bit, and perhaps the intro as well – compared with the strong beat of the rest, the quieter parts don’t seem to fit so well.

Tom: To use a dodgy metaphor: it feels like a soaring eagle that’s been clamped down by ten-kilo weights. It needs to soar, and all it can do is limp along.

Tim: Really? I seriously think this is good – the return after the bridge, for example, may not be hugely triumphant like a great song can be, but it’s still full of energy, and gets me at least nodding my head along to it, and perhaps even swaying my shoulders as well.