Europop – Page 10

Saturday Flashback: Texas Lightning – No No Never

“You’re singing along even though you’ve never heard it before.”

Tom: There’s not much to write about in early January, is there? Bieber’s latest sounds like a parody, a mumbling baby-talk mess. I can’t even think of an appropriate Saturday Flashback. But you know what? Yesterday we talked about Euro-not-quite-country: this time we’re talking going FULL GERMAN FAUXMERICAN BLUEGRASS. Eurovision. 2006. Fourteen years ago.

Tom: They’d finished in last place the year before. This managed 14th.

Tim: And yep, that feels entirely an appropriate place for this to end up. It is nice, though – the sort of song where somehow you’re singing along to the first line of the first chorus, even though you’ve never ever heard it before.

Tom: At least the guy with the double bass seemed like he was having fun.

Tim: Oh, I think they all do, really – and quite right too.

Amarill & Neimy – Din Loser

“There aren’t many songs where after just a few seconds I’m already thinking ‘ooh, yeah, I like this’.”

Tim: There aren’t many songs where after just a few seconds I’m already thinking ‘ooh, yeah, I like this’. This, pleasingly, is one where that did happen.

Tom: You’re not wrong, that is a brilliant intro.

Tim: Title translates to ‘Your Loser’, incidentally, though I’ve no idea what the lyrics are about as they’re not on any lyrics site, do feel free to write in if you know. As it is, then, we’ve just got the music to go by, which is remarkably summery and yet and at the same time, not something I’m remotely bothered by hearing right now, unlike yesterday.

Tom: Good to know we’ve got consistent standards here. You’re right, though: it is a very summery song. There’s something about that repeating riff — which is always on the borderline between ‘fun’ and ‘annoying’ — that says this should be being released in June, probably in Benidorm.

Tim: Maybe it’s just that it’s pouring with rain outside and that doesn’t make me feel at all Christmassy, so I’m wanting to get away from it? I don’t know, but whatever it is, I’m happy.

Tom: It’s a decent, middle-of-the-road summer track. In winter.

Tim: It’s a good sound, it’s a strong rhythm, it’s probably a decent message in the lyrics with a title like this…it’s all nice.

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.

Tusse Chiza – Rain

“It’s a winner’s single, of course it’s good.”

Tim: The debut episode of a new X Factor show went out on British TV last week, and was beaten in the ratings by, erm, a political talk show aimed solely at under 30s. Idol in Sweden, though, is still going strong, still producing many recognisable names.

Tom: That’s what you’d expect from Sweden, I guess: they’re still where a huge amount of pop music is coming from. If anywhere is still going to have an Idol franchise, it’ll be there.

Tim: Here’s the winner of series 19, as crowned last weekend.

Tim: That right there is an excellent blend of 2019 music, with the vocal samples at the start and then dotted throughout, and good old-fashioned power balladry (and indeed some excellent steadicam shots).

Tom: And again, that’s what you’d expect from Sweden. Not entirely convinced by the song itself, mind: all the component parts are there but I can’t remember any of it afterwards.

Tim: Strong voice, as you’d expect from an Idol winner, top production, and…oh, you know what? It’s a winner’s single, of course it’s good.

Tom: I’m not entirely convinced by that voice, it sounds like he’s straining in a couple of places, but then it’s a live performance on an incredibly stressful night. If he can belt that out under those conditions, he’ll be absolutely fine.

Tim: Will he continue and get further success? Who knows. Right now, I’m enjoying listening to this.

SINNAH – Fake

“Basically, ‘stop being a dick’.”

Tim: First single was out in March, I liked it more than you did; here’s number two which is “about a guy who is starting to immediately date a new girl after a break up. The way he is acting is the total opposite to the way he did in the previous relationship.” There’s more guff provided, but it doesn’t really help. Have a listen.

Tim: And there we go – basically, “stop being a dick”, but in not too nasty a way because she’s moving on anyway, absolutely moving on, not at all obsessed by him, definitely not going to do something obsessive like write a song about i– oh, wait.

Tom: His name is Lee, by the way. Ridiculous Lee. He’s the same person that Katy Perry sang about.

Tim: Still, at least it’s a good song, punchy and vibrant and noisy, with a decent combination of melody and shouting.

Tom: Yep, for once I’m really enjoying a track you’ve sent over. I’m not sure I’m going to be singing along with the lyrics any time soon, but it’s one that could sit happily in the middle of a pop playlist.

Tim: All in: slightly confused message, packaged up in nice music though.

Malou Prytz – If It Ain’t Love

“There’s very little to dislike about that, is there?”

Tim: It is DECEMBER and thus CHRISTMAS but since you’re you, Tom, we won’t get into that brilliant new Saara Aalto track that was written by Kylie, and instead we’ll have this, a track that could entirely feasibly come out at any point of the year. How dull.

Tom: Fine. FINE OKAY SEND THE CHRISTMAS MUSIC TOMORROW. You know what, everything else is so dark this year, if you want to start Christmas early and run it for as long as possible, let’s just go for it. Until tomorrow, though.

Tim: And let’s be frank, there’s very little to dislike about that, is there?

Tom: You’re right. Although I think you’re also right in the introduction; you didn’t say “it’s a bit generic”, but you certainly implied it.

Tim: Verses are good, getting the song going and not being dull while doing it; chorus comes in with a great pounding sound to really wake us all up and get going. If there’s anything I’m not keen on, it’s the ending – just seems a bit brutal and abrupt. Aside from that, though – absolutely fine.

Tom: See you tomorrow, then, for something more… festive.

Måns Zelmerlöw – One

“It’s almost as if he’s decided it’s time to mature from dance pop to Radio 2 pop.”

Tim: Tom, you do video stuff – do you think this has actually been filmed in one long shot, or have we got loads of hidden cuts when he’s behind the trees?

Tom: The cut at 1:30 is suspicious, but honestly cutting like that is just good video direction. I suspect that they filmed several continuous takes, and then just cut between the best parts of each.

But what surprises me is the motion-tracking: adding 3D leaves into a scene like that is a really time-consuming and expensive effect for a video like this. But there are loads and loads of points where the masking is completely and obviously wrong, like the roto matte has been slipped a couple of frames off, and leaves just disappear or reappear in thin air. I really feel for the VFX editors on this, they must have been up against it, but I have no idea how that got through.

Tim: Second question: who is it that he sounds like at 48 seconds? It might not be any particular voice, but it’s almost reminiscent of, say, a boyband singer coming back as a soloist after ten years off. This, along with his track we featured last month, and the rest of the album really, kind of comes across like a much more grown up Måns sound (though that seems weird to say given that he’s only a couple of months older than me).

Tom: I can’t place that voice, and I had to go back and listen again without the video, so I was actually paying attention to the sound. You’re not wrong: this is much more middle-of-the-road.

Tim: It’s almost as if he’s decided it’s time to mature from dance pop to Radio 2 pop, which is…well, it’s not disastrous because it’s still quite enjoyable, but I guess I have a kind of “wait, already?” feel about it. Can’t you wait a bit longer before growing up?

Boy In Space feat. SHY Martin – On A Prayer

“A duet with a narrative!”

Tim: Speedy one for you today, barely hitting the two and a half minute mark, and it’s a duet with a narrative!

Tim: I still find it weird how rare it is that male/female duets do actually make sense as two people singing to each other rather than at each other.

Tom: Yep. The only example that comes to mind is when you were working as a waitress in a cocktail bar. Second-person duets are rare.

Tim: So it’s genuinely really nice to see it happen here — well, sort of, it’s still a bit garbled but I’ll take what I can get. As for the rest of it, all fairly standard.

Tom: “Favour” and “prayer” is definitely a bit of a tortured rhyme that only works in some dialects, but sure. There’s not much that stands out here, but there’s nothing much wrong either.

Tim: Nice music, pleasant voices, and all done and dusted before we get bored. Lovely.

Jon Henrik Fjällgren feat. Elin Oskal – The Way You Make Me Feel

“It’s joik time!”

Tim: I dd initially hope this’d be a Ronan Keating cover, because that’s a severely underrated track.

Tom: I mean, sure, go for the obscure reference over the obvious one. Mind you, you’re not wrong.

Tim: On the other hand, I’m always up for a new Jon Henrik track.

Tom: It’s joik time!

Tom: Good heavens, that’s a beautiful video. I suppose “put the singers in Scandic nature at golden hour, film them with expensive cameras” is basically a shortcut to having a beautiful video, but still. Some very odd choices in there (odd warp stabilisation, and a shot that appears to be crushed into the wrong aspect ratio), but still.

Tim: Right, well if we were to go with points out of ten, I would dock precisely one point: thing is, we all know he’s all in favour of a truly excellent key change, and the end of the middle eight here would be an absolutely perfect location for one, basically to the extent that it seems wrong that there isn’t one.

Tom: It does have a full fake-ending though, with a brilliant final chorus.

Tim: Having said that, though, that is the one and only thing I would dock a point for, because everything else about it is entirely and totally lovely. He’s brought along what’s pretty much the same melody he uses for his part every time–

Tom: Harsh, but not entirely unfair.

Tim: –given the featured singer some great work to do, stuck some fantastic production over the whole thing and wrapped it all together in a phenomenally pretty video. Almost faultless. Almost.

Dolly Style – Sayonara

“Not as we know them. Not remotely as we know them.”

Tim: It’s Dolly Style, Tom, but but not as we know them. Not remotely as we know them.

Tom: Triplet flow. In a Dolly Style song. What.

Tim: I don’t like it, Tom, I really don’t. Dolly Style are meant to be fun and irreverent and unapologetically unfashionable – not this, which sounds all modern and aiming for the charts and stuff.

Tom: There’s an argument that a band can’t be “meant to be” anything — it’s just what the members want to be — but given that they’re one of the most-constructed of constructed girl groups, then yes, that’s fair.

Tim: Thing is, however much they might aim there (and in fairness to them, it’s not bad, it’s perfectly decent 2019 girl group fare) but I’m really not sure they’ll ever hit the target. They have a market, and, well, it’s us. It’s people who like awful pop, who don’t care that it’s 2019, who still like Hello Hi and Unicorns & Ice Cream. Sure, it might work, and maybe I’ll be proved wrong (though I hope not, as that means we’ll get more of this), but it’s not them. Or at least it really shouldn’t be.

Tom: “Sayonara” is generally used as “goodbye forever”. I’ll leave the obvious jokes to our reader.