Tag: Klara Hammarström

Klara Hammarström – Riding Home For Christmas

“Clip clop clip clop.”

Tim: Can’t have riding without hoof noises, Tom.

Tim: Clip clop, clip clop. I mean, I’ve no idea why anybody would want to ride long distance on a horse (or maybe she’s borrowed a reindeer) at this time of year, it’s bloody freezing, but then I guess at least it avoids confusion with that godawful Chris Rea song. Clip clop.

Tom: See, for once I actually don’t find that annoying: they’re low enough in the mix that they don’t seem strange to me.

Tim: I think my favourite moment in here is when it drops any pretence whatsoever of being a normal song (which, let’s be honest, it could just about claim to be in the verses) and goes ALL IN with jingle bells for the chorus, because who are we really kidding? She’s Christmassy, the target’s Christmassy, the song’s Christmassy, EVERYTHING’S CHRISTMASSY, and all the better for it.

Tom: Agh, see, it’s the opposite exact for me: there is just too much jingling. When I say the verses of this sound like Christina Aguilera’s Beautiful, I mean it as a compliment to both voice and composition. And the chorus is great, too.

There’s a lot to like here, but it’s drowned out: by jingle bells for me, by hoof noises for you.

Tim: Clip clop, clip clop.

Klara Hammarström – You Should Know Me Better

“I really don’t want to be left humming a different song after this one’s finished.”

Tim: Formerly of Swedish Idol; more recently of a family-based Swedish reality TV show; here’s a song from her.

Tim: So there’s two parts to that chorus: the first, which starts “you think I might be” is excellent, and lovely; the second, which consists solely of “you should know me better than that”, takes me right out this song and straight into Zayn & Taylor. And that’s a shame, it really is. It’s not that I Don’t Wanna Live Forever is a bad song; it’s just that I really don’t want to be left humming a different song after this one’s finished, which unfortunately I entirely was.

Tom: Whereas for me, I’ve got no memory of that other song at all, so I’m just left with a fairly pleasant second chorus. I say “fairly”: I’ll be honest, I was a bit bored by the end of it after all those repetitions, and I was surprised to learn it’s only about three minutes long.

Tim: Again: first part of the chorus: lovely. Verses, middle eight, instrumentation, all very good. But that second part, aaaargh.