Europop – Page 16

Saturday Flashback: Tooji – Stay

“You’d think I’d remember something that unfortunate.”

Tim: I heard this recently, Norway’s 2012 Eurovision entry, and remembered I quite enjoyed it.

Tom: I have no memory of it at all!

Tim: Let’s revisit it, shall we?

Tom: You’d think I’d remember something that unfortunate. They’ve nicked the synths from Benny Benassi’s Satisfaction, the chorus from every late-90s Eurovision entrant, and the verse from… actually, I can’t remember the verse any more, and that’s probably for the best.

Tim: First of all, some context: in the category of ‘songs that qualified’, it couldn’t have done much (well, any) worse – it was tenth out of ten qualifiers from its semi-final, and in the final it was the single song that prevented us, with Engelbert Humperdinck (Engelbert Humperdinck, ffs), coming last, with 7 points to our 12.

Tom: The single saving grace is the chorus, but it’s very much a Traditional Chorus and those just don’t play well any more. As for why even Engelbert beat it…

Tim: Multiple reasons, probably: the vocals were weak, he looks like he’s just grabbed his clothes out of the dirty laundry basket, and the peculiar mix of genres meant that pretty much everybody would have at least one part they disliked. So, really: why on Earth was it chosen? And to that, I’ve no answer. Well, except that weirdly, I quite like it.

Mørland, MIIA – How To Lose Something Good

“A proper singalong chorus, big production underneath it all.”

Tim: The song provides instructions on how to lose something good, as you’d expect the title; allow me to give you instructions on how to improve things instead: press play.

Tom: Clever.

Tim: Oh, thank you very much.

Tim: As is frequently pleasing, it starts good and just keeps getting better. A proper singalong chorus, big production underneath it all.

Tom: That’s true, although I was mostly singing “Love Me Like You Do” instead. (Similar cadence, similar vocal quality, and and even similar syllables. I know, and I’m sorry.)

Tim: Hmm, maybe – although think about it, that’s a strong compliment. Once it’s warmed up and the first chorus has hit, everything throughout the song is just wonderful, and I’ve no desire at all to switch it off. Sounds like damning with faint praise, that, but it really isn’t: this is a very good song.

Tom: I do agree: but it took a while to hear the track for itself, rather than the song that my brain was autocompleting in its place.

Theoz – Atmosfär

“No, I didn’t expect to be getting on a Russ Abbot tangent today, but here we are.”

Tim: Theoz is Swedish and, I’m sorry to have to tell you, just 15 years old. But here you go, enjoy it anyway.

Tom: Does he love a party with a happy atmosfär?

Tim: That’s…good lord, that’s an obscure and weird reference. But sure, maybe?

Tom: Huh. Actually, I guess he does. Different meaning of the lyrics now I’ve translated them: it’s about “entering your atmosphere” rather than just being a party song, but he went with vaguely the same cadence on the chorus and that’s close enough for me.

Tim: First off: this track’s great. It’s really got me going after an irritating couple of days, with its energy, pacing, genre, melody and more.

Tom: Pity about the whistling, really. I can see why you’d find it catchy, but it’s just irritating me about the same as Russ Abbot’s track did. No, I didn’t expect to be getting on a Russ Abbot tangent today, but here we are.

Tim: Here we are indeed, it seems. But this song, OH, that melody. Specifically, the part that starts with the ‘Du vänder dig’ through to ‘en hasting black’. It reminds me so much of another song, but I can’t place it, and even more annoyingly I’m fairly sure it’s a Swedish one so I’ve absolutely no idea what lyrics to search for. Don’t suppose you’ve any idea, do you?

Tom: Try this.

Tim: No. No, not that.

Neon – Willst du mit mir gehen?

“They even have synchronised dance moves and an “oh-woah-oh-oh” going into the final chorus.”

Tim: Neon are two German gents, Andi and Tom, and this is their new song. And if you can tell me you don’t have a grin on your face by the end of the first line of the chorus, Tom, I’ll refuse to believe you.

Tom: What baffles me is how, a good decade or two into the 21st century, artists can still release tracks like that with an apparently-straight face. That’s not meant as a slight, I’m genuinely happy that it’s still a thing. It’s just so out-of-touch with modern sensibilities, so unfathomably positive and unchallenging, that I find it almost hard to believe.

Tim: This is what I love about this YouTube channel – even if I can’t find any ‘respectable’ music that gets me enough to write about it, this can reliably provide a track or two that’ll get me going. And here, OH, what a perfect example of German schlager. An intro that indicates something special might be coming along, a first verse that tides you over nicely, and then a chorus that is dance pop, camp as you come.

Tom: They even have synchronised dance moves and an “oh-woah-oh-oh” going into the final chorus.

Tim: Joyous, isn’t it? And really, who doesn’t love camp dance pop? Well, a lot of people, I guess, but none of them are sensible. We know what’s what, Tom.

Frans feat. Yoel905 – Do It Like You Mean It

“A brief trip to 1990s Belgium, because that’s as good a time and place as any to revisit.”

Tim: You remember Frans, who was exceptionally boring at Eurovision for Sweden three years ago, and then did a bit more boring stuff? Well, he came back earlier this year with a new track, which we didn’t feature because, duh, it was really boring. But NOW…it’s different!

Tom: …no, it’s not?

Tim: What? Of course it is – it’s summery, and there’s excitement in the air, along with a brief trip to 1990s Belgium, because that’s as good a time and place as any to revisit, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Tom: Blimey, that’s an obscure reference I’d never have spotted. What an odd choice.

Tim: Unusual, isn’t it, but it does work, brining a lot of life into it. You disagree?

Tom: I can’t understand why you think this is so much more interesting, though: it still feels like the rest of Frans’s songs to me, albeit with a slightly better sample in the background. It’s a poor song when I think the middle eight’s the best bit.

Tim: Perhaps, but then there is that sample in the background, which elevates the song significantly. I won’t get my hopes up about the new and interesting sound, mind, as there’s every chance it’s a one off and a few months from now we may well being falling asleep by the second verse again, but it’s nice that we’ve got this to appreciate until then. Hell, I’ll even accept his featured artist, who laudably has taken efficiency over creativity by just using his Twitter handle as his stage name. Why not?

EMIL HENROHN – BAPPAWEYA

“Emil is apparently a big fan of shouty capital letters.”

Tim: Formerly a member of the short-lived A*Base, Emil is apparently a big fan of shouty capital letters.

Tom: I dislike him immediately.

Tim: Which is peculiar because the rest of the song is really entirely lovely and not shouty at all.

Tom: Oh. You’re right, that’s really nice. It got me from the introduction, which is rare.

Tim: And that’s a nice piece of promo for the Lion King remake that’s out in a couple of weeks, isn’t it?

Tom: Eh?

Tim: It’s a little unfortunate that the underlying opening bits of each verse reminds me of I Just Can’t Wait To Be King, I suppose, but other than that (and perhaps because of that, to an extent), this sounds absolutely lovely for a nice sunny weekend.

Tom: I genuinely can’t hear that, which is weird because normally my brain works in overdrive to find those sorts of connections.

Tim: It’s the second song in three days with a nonsensical title, and this time I can’t find anything already in existence; I’m reliably informed that the lyrics imply it’s just a sort of nice snuggly feeling he gets when he gets up close and personal, how sweet.

Tom: I’m not generally on board with just inventing a nonsense word and writing a song about it, but… well, like you said, the result is entirely lovely.

Medina – Sir Det Ikk

“Curious message, but hey ho, we’ve got a decent song about it.”

Tim: Says Medina, in her native Danish, “Don’t Say It”.

Tom: Video editors haven’t got bored of the VHS filter yet, then. Anyway, sorry, yes. “Don’t Say It”.

Tim: More specifically, the message is ‘don’t tell anyone you think I’m amazing, particularly not your current girlfriend’. Curious message, but hey ho, we’ve got a decent song about it so I’m not complaining.

Tom: Well, we got a decent chorus, at least. The rest… well, it certainly is a song.

Tim: That is, after all, an absolutely lovely chorus, and while it may not have the big energy of a truly amazing pop song, it does have a delightful melody, sounding brilliant coming in after that pre-chorus gap (which I’ve checked, and it isn’t just there for the video). Three and a half minutes of delight, here, only slightly spoiled by thirty seconds of garbage on the front of the video.

Tom: And about five seconds in the middle, just to make sure you’ll play it through Spotify instead.

Tim: Well, obviously. And why wouldn’t you? The music’s fabulous.

Alyssandra – Himbo

“Now she’s sleeping in my bed, God I wish that you were dead.”

Tim: Remember when TLC made that song where they spent some of the time saying that they didn’t want no scrubs, but spent most of the time explaining exactly what a scrub is? Well, Alyssandra, formerly of Dolly Style, never really gets round to the explanation.

Tim: If you can’t guess it from the context, Urban Dictionary reports that it’s basically a male bimbo, which makes sense as a portmanteau, I guess. There are a number of good things about the lyrics, though, not least the line “now she’s sleeping in my bed, God I wish that you were dead”, which takes the prize of being my new favourite of at least the month so far.

Tom: It’s interesting how often you describe the same lyric as “favourite” and I describe it as “cringeworthy”. Which applies to the word ‘himbo’, the line ‘goofy in that Gucci dress’, ‘which bone in your body should I break first’, and ‘the himbo’s got to go’, which all appear within about fifteen seconds of each other. Which is a shame, because the composition and production are pretty good.

Tim: Some of those I will grant you are a little iffy, but it’s not all bad, not by a long way. As you said, musically it’s pretty good as well, and you might expect that given the talent on board: co-writing credit goes to none other than the great and glorious Max Martin, proving once and for all that, yep, Sweden’s still got it.

Sebastian Walldén – Sweet Summer Love

“A properly good dance pop track, I think?”

Tim: Current reigning champion of Swedish Idol, and here’s his third single, the first that I’m decreeing to be worthy for here. I think you’ll agree.

Tim: As the saying sort of goes, don’t bore us, get to the at least the vocal melody of the chorus, and I guess you can bring the instrumentation later if you feel it’s needed.

Tom: As long as you have the voice to carry it off. And, as you’d expect from an Idol winner, he does.

Tim: Right there, we’ve a properly good dance pop track, I think? BEATS in the music, THOUGHTFULNESS in the vocals, and SUMMER in the lyrics, which along with a decent melody is all I really need right now. Any complaints?

Tom: Weirdly, no.

Tim: Ooh, high praise indeed.

Tom: This is solid dance-pop, and if a few of those synth patches and effects are a touch dated, I don’t mind.

KEiiNO – Praying

“It just seems like they’ve taken a fairly average dance track and stuck some warbling on it.”

Tim: People’s Vote winner at Eurovision, so obviously they’re back with a follow-up. Namely, this one.

Tim: More than a little inspiration from early Alan Walker there, though those joik sections keep it very, very clear who’s running the show here.

Tom: It’s interesting how Avicii spawned a genre, whereas Alan Walker spawned a lot of people imitating his sound. I wonder what the difference is?

Tim: That one specific twiddly sound. It’s weird – Alan’s moved on, but he still seems to own it. Now, I was a big fan of these guys at Eurovision, because the song was just what the show needed, something fun, a good tune, with a little bit of novelty to get excited about. Here, though, I’m annoyingly not so keen, which is a shame as I’d like to be.

Tom: Yep, you’re not the only one. Joik is, uh, well, let’s say it’s an acquired taste, one that I definitely haven’t acquired.

Tim: It just seems like they’ve taken a fairly average dance track and stuck some warbling on it, and much as it’s cultural and all that, it just doesn’t do it for me.

Tom: Full marks for the grammatical pedantry of “whomever” in the lyrics, though.