Europop – Page 12

Saturday Flashback: UNDRESSD – Forever Young

“I think this song’s actually got to the point where you either need to do something spectacularly good, or spectacularly different.”

Tim: Forever Young has been done many, many times – there’s the original, the Jay-Z monstrosity, the dodgy Australian rock version, the German rap version, the 90s Eurodance version, and then of course the truly definitive one. But am I going to turn down another version, this time by a Swedish duo from the earlier this year? No, of course of I’m not.

Tim: I’ve got nothing really to say about it – as with most covers of this song, it’s exactly as you’d expect, except for doing a couple of odd and therefore mildly disconcerting things with the melody.

Tom: Yep, it’s a standard, middle-of-the-road cover version. I think this song’s actually got to the point where you either need to do something spectacularly good, or spectacularly different. This… is neither. Imagine a Joe Cocker-style over-the-top gospel version!

Tim: Or, as Rolling Stone recently had him, Joe ****er. Yeah, that’d be fun. But it wouldn’t have this one’sThere’s also the finger clicks, and I’m not sure which is more annoying: the fact that they happen on basically every other beat, or that for a few bars they stop happening and you think “oh thank god” but then they come back and you want to die.

Tom: In a departure for our usual style, Tim, I hadn’t noticed the clicks. And now I have. And now I hate this.

Tim: Oh, you’re SO WELCOME. I won’t end on a negative, though, so: nice song, nice genre, nice sound. Nice.

Robin Bengtsson – Just Let It Go

“It’s safe to say that this reminds us of a LOT of pop songs.”

Tim: Ready for an irritatingly catchy guitar strum?

Tom: My brain went straight into Train’s “Drive By” there, although given that it’s just one repeated guitar strum, I suspect that’s my fault, not the fault of the song. Also, am I wrong, or does the chorus sound weirdly like Pitbull and Kesha’s “Timber”? That’s what I kept breaking into, anyway.

Tim: Timber, not sure about – I did, however, lose count of the number of times I wanted to move into “when I see your face…” there.

Tom: Right. So between us, it’s safe to say that this reminds us of a LOT of pop songs. Perhaps a bit distracting. Although now I’ve pointed it out, I defy you not to call-and-reponse “just let it go” with “I’m yelling timber”.

Tim: Ohhh…oh, yep, there it is. But, never mind, because otherwise it’s a fairly decent track – fitting in perfectly, in fact, with all the other standard ‘white guy with guitar’ acts out there, showing that it’s not just in Britain that it’s all-pervasive. I like this song, mostly because it does pretty much nothing wrong. Nothing incredibly brilliant, mind, but nothing wrong either.

Actually, one more thing: speaking of losing count: why do so many songs keep mentioning kryptonite? I want one mentioning Infinity Stones instead, please, songwriters.

KEiiNO – Dancing In The Smoke

“Still fair levels of joikiness in there”

Tim: KEiiNO splashed onto the world (alright, continent) stage in May with the glorious Spirit In The Sky which should completely have won.

Tom: The one with the joik! I remember that! It was… well, there was a lot of joik.

They followed it up with a nicher, folkier number a couple of months later, which wasn’t quite as great. You’ll be delighted to know they’ve learnt their lesson.

Tom: I wasn’t sold on that until the second chorus.

Tim: Still fair levels of joikiness in there, so we’ve still a track that’s recognisably them, but we’re back to having a straight up pop verse and chorus – and I have absolutely no problems with that whatsoever.

Tom: Agreed: they seem to have found a good balance between Unique Sound and Generally Acceptable Pop Song, which is always a good thing. I can’t imagine an entire dancefloor singing along to the joik bit, but stranger things have happened.

Tim: It’s a song that after just a couple of listens you can go along with the intro, with a catchy beat, melody, rhythm, everything. A worthy follow-up to the almost-victor, if we just ignore that middle one. We’ll do that.

3JS – De Toekomst

“I’m just surprised.”

Tom: This was on Dutch radio when I was driving through the Netherlands, and it sounded like something out of the early 2000s. Nope: released last month.

Tim: Hmm. Quite nice.

Tom: I’m not saying it’s a great song. It’s not terrible, either; I quite like it.

Tim: Yeah, there’s plenty of things to enjoy about it.

Tom: I’m just surprised that, somehow, something that sounds like it came from the Dutch equivalent of a two-decade-old Barenaked Ladies album is getting airplay on middle-of-the-road Dutch radio stations.

Tim: I don’t know, genres vary, popularity changes by country – hell, over here we’ve still got Westlife coming out with new stuff that doesn’t sound particularly different from their old music. Here’s to the old ones, long may they continue.

Etta Zelmani – Shatter

“I think it’s good!”

Tom: Wow, I misread the first vowel in that title. No idea what my brain’s doing.

Tim: Here’s Etta off Sweden, being yet another songwriter turned singer, presumably hoping to be more like EEVA than Nea. Have a listen, see what you think.

Tim: As I see it, as the decider of a best of three competition, this entirely fails because it’s neither particularly great nor particularly awful.

Tom: Oh, hey, it’s what I think of nearly every song! Welcome to my world. That said, there are a couple of notable things in here: there’s a really interesting chord progression during both verse and chorus. I can’t think when I’ve heard someone use that particular trick before. Plus, that vocoder-only chorus is really, really good: somehow I don’t see it as a gimmick.

And that middle eight! And that voice! Wait, I think I’ve convinced myself that this is really good. I think it’s good!

Tim: Catchy, sure. Decent vocal and production, also yep. Chorus is nice enough, and in fact to be honest there’s not a lot to complain about. Except: it doesn’t get me, grab me, do much for me at all really. It’s…it’s basically fine. Just, fine.

Tom: THE TABLES HAVE TURNED, TIM. I THINK THIS IS GOOD. I ACTUALLY THINK THIS IS GOOD.

Tim: Huh. Blimey.

Archi & Pelago – Rockefeller

“I’ve just realised a Thing, and I’ve a feeling I’m about to go off on one.”

Tim: You might think that this’d be a fairly decent act name for a duo, particularly if one was called Archie, say.

Tom: No, actually, I think it’s the very first time that I’ve said “oh, piss off” to a song here before even listening to it.

Tim: Oh, well, okay, but let’s say you did think that, then you might be right, but we’ll never know, because this band is a threesome made up of Joakim, Magnus and Oskar, and they’ve written a song that seems to be targeted at their landlord, maybe?

Tim: I’ve a slight feeling I know which way you’ll go, Tom, because I’m on the fence as to whether it’s fun or cheesy. The style I definitely like, because even at almost four minutes it doesn’t get boring, and I think that’s what saves it from being tedious.

Tom: There’s a lot to dislike here: the lyrics, in particular, and the way that the lead singer claps into the microphone during the first verse, despite there not being a single clap in the song. It’s a shame, because there’s also a lot to like: the melody’s catchy, the sound manages to be interesting while still familiar.

Tim: Right. Now, it’s the lyrics I want to discuss, because I’ve just realised a Thing, and I’ve a feeling I’m about to go off on one, so strap in. See, the lyrics could work absolutely fine as, say, a song in a musical, or as a song in a musical standup set.

Tom: I’m not sure it’s funny enough for standup, but yes, you’re absolutely right. This is a song from a musical. Which is… not great here.

Tim: But why not? Pop music, apparently, just doesn’t have time for that: very roughly, we’re split maybe 75% falling in (or out of) love, 20% feeling good (or shit), and the rest being, well, this sort of stuff which almost always ends up being lumped in as ‘novelty’. So I’m wondering: why? At what point was it decided that romanticism and happiness were the only two subjects able to be discussed in pop music? And who by, and why? Because now I’ve consciously realised that, I’m almost annoyed.

Tom: I’ve got an album here you might like. You may have heard of it.

Tim: Yep, fair, and here’s another one. Doesn’t change the vast majority, though.

Ina Wroldsen – Haloes

“That’s a plural that really doesn’t look right.”

Tim: That’s a plural that really doesn’t look right, even though it technically is. The song more or less makes up for it, though.

Tim: True, Monday is not the typical day to bring along a strong ‘dance end of the dance-pop scale’ track, but you work for yourself and I do shift work, so who really cares? I’ve no idea what the video’s about, beyond ‘gosh, drugs are fun, aren’t they?’.

Tom: And the Nordic coast is beautiful.

Tim: But hey, it’s the music we’re here for, and it’s the music that I’m a big fan of. Yes, it is indeed strongly towards the dance end of the dance-pop scale, and that, as I think we all know, is a genre I’m entirely happy with, and this track here is a great example of why.

Tom: Dance-pop like this has a tendency to feel a bit “middle of a Spotify playlist” to me: it’s difficult to distinguish one from another. I’ll admit, though, that I could remember the chorus of this one afterwards, which is practically a ringing endorsement.

Tim: There’s a good energy, a lovely vocal, tight production, decent melody, heck, basically everything we need really. I’ve no problems with it – you?

Tom: I think “no problem with it” is about right.

Highasakite – Can I Be Forgiven

“Don’t be put off if you’re not keen on the first minute or so – you might end up having a change of heart.”

Tim: This song here goes on a bit of a journey, so don’t be put off if you’re not keen on the first minute or so – you might end up having a change of heart.

Tom: You’re not wrong about that journey. However, I did like what is basically the two-minute long introduction.

Tim: Part of the reason I stuck that warning at the top was that I wasn’t entirely keen on the first part of the track – skipped away from it to another tab and got distracted, and then became entirely surprised when it became a really good dance track. Too little too late? Maybe.

Tom: I can see why you’d think that: I was disappointed at 0:57, when I was expecting that big dramatic change and just got a few extra instruments. But honestly, I still enjoyed it all: I’m not sure what genre something like this fits into other than “builder”, but I’ll take it.

Tim: Though I would say that it is nice to have a little bit of the sound we were promised when Robyn came back last summer, gave us Missing U, but then went away without giving us an album. So for that I’ll take it, but I’d happily do without the first two minutes or so.

Nova Miller – Do It To Myself

“Big swear words and big letters ahoy.”

Tim: Few good things came out last Friday: Mika’s new album, with the highlight being a track with the hook ‘who gives a shit about tomorrow’, which we’ll get to in due course; Saara Aalto gave us the year’s first wintry song, which is nice but can probably wait a few weeks, don’t want to get ahead of ourselves; and then this.

Now, you known how sometimes when lyric videos are made for songs with rude words they put a pointless asterisk over the naughty bit? Yeah, Nova’s not done that. Big swear words and big letters ahoy.

Tim: And here we are again with a weird and unexpected sample and rewording, though I’ve a feeling it works significantly better here than it did with Blue (Da Ba Dee) or Informer.

Tom: Blimey, that’s certainly very close to California Dreamin’ — I wonder if it’s close enough that they’ve paid royalties? If not, that’s a lawsuit waiting to happen.

Tim: No, it’s a proper sample, with royalties and everything.

Tom: It is, at least, far enough away from the original that I don’t find immediately find myself singing the original over the top. After the song finishes, though? All I can remember is California Dreamin’, and that’s probably not a good thing.

Tim: Believe it or not, her favourite part is apparently that samply bit (who’d have thought it?) because it “takes you all the way to summer and back”, which is fair enough really. All in all this is quite a nice track, albeit one that should probably have landed three months ago. I’m enjoying it, anyway, despite looking out of my window at rain that just. won’t. stop.

Boy In Space – Drown

‘YOU HAVE LITERALLY KILLED ME WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME YOU EVIL HARPY’

Tim: Boy In Space is is the rather silly stage name of Robin Lundbäck, the R of short-lived boyband JTR who’s become a solo singer after spending a few years mostly writing. This song, meanwhile, is one of the best heartbreak songs I’ve heard in ages.

Tom: Hmm. Why’s that?

Tim: First verse: quiet and composed tonally, measured, not too much melodrama, though obviously we need overblown lyrics about ripping the heart. First chorus: up the stakes a bit, show her actually ‘hun, I’m not in a good place right now, you’ve really hurt me’. Second verse: down a bit again, still measured and composed, but again with the somewhat over the top piercing skin vibe. Second chorus: properly up the emotion, bring up the backing, ‘HANG ON LADY I AM IN PAIN HERE’. Middle eight, wait, take a bit of a breath, before coming back for an explosive final chorus when we are shouting ‘YOU HAVE LITERALLY KILLED ME WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME YOU EVIL HARPY’.

That’s exactly I want from a heartbreak song, I think.

Tom: Hmm. Whereas it just leaves me a bit cold: yes, I agree that most of the component parts are good, or at least competent, he’s followed that recipe you’ve laid down perfectly. But on the whole it just leaves me a bit cold. Maybe I’m just not the right target for a song like this?

When my main thoughts, after the track finishes, are “why did they leave so much background hiss on this” and “why I can hear the piano keys being pressed so damn loudly”… I guess it’s not for me.