Europop – Page 42

Fie Laursen – Justin

“Was that… was that a rhyme of ‘Snapchat’ and ‘hashtag’?“

Tim: So, you know how sometimes you get really cringeworthy lyrics, and you can’t do anything but hate a song because of them? And you might think that singing in Swedish would fix that for us. WELL, have I got a revelation for you.

Tim: First off (and people reading on mobile devices can skip this): WHY WOULD YOU FILM THIS AT 60FPS? It took me a good ten seconds to work out why it was giving me a headache, goddammit. You’re not Peter Jackson, stick with your standard frame rate please.

Tom: A lot of the problem there is that it’s shifting in and out of 60fps. We’ll get used to it, I think, just like we did with dubstep, but the pioneers will look strange for a while.

Tim: Hmm, maybe, but that certainly doesn’t excuse the second item on my list. Because OH GOD, the words. We start off with Snapchat, and it really only goes downhill from there, doesn’t it?

Tom: Was that… was that a rhyme of ‘Snapchat’ and ‘hashtag’?

Tim: Yep.

Tom: ‘Dickpic’ and ‘Netflix’?

Tim: Yep.

Tom: I simultaneously admire the effort and despise the results.

Tim: It seems she’s not a fan of the way he uses basically every single thing on the planet that is vaguely 2017, and so personally I’m just happy they didn’t find a rhyme for ‘fidget spinner’. She would, though, if Justin Bieber asked her, say “yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes”. Well, Fie, I’m sorry to say this to you, but: no no no no no no no no. REALLY, NO.

Dolly Style – Moonlight

“We suddenly have high standards for them, don’t we?”

Tim: For all their slightly trashy and cheap beginnings, Dolly Style are rapidly approaching the status of Favourite Girlband for me, and so I am delighted to present to you their new one.

Tom: Given how much I despised their first track, I’m surprised that a) they’re still around and b) I’m actually looking forward to this.

Tim: Video kicks off by reminding us how good their previous one was, before getting right down to business.

Tim: And I can’t help thinking that actually, that wasn’t the greatest idea, because Bye Bye Bby Boo was, for all the weird spelling, a phenomenally good track. This, other the other hand, is ‘just’ a very good track.

Tom: We suddenly have high standards for them, don’t we? That’s such a good chorus.

Tim: It is, yeah, with the music providing exactly the right level of excitement that the idea of a kiss under the moonlight warrants. My slight issue is that the verses don’t really keep that excitement up, dropping down to a slightly more melancholy tone. It’s right for the lyrics and story of the song – but it does mean the song as a whole isn’t as good as we’re reminded they can provide. And that’s a real shame.

Tom: Careful with that, Tim: it might be a “real shame” in context, but taken as a standalone song, this is still really good.

Looking For Emma – Sunny Day

“My description here may sound like an insult, but it’s really not.”

Tim: Emma Still, previously of various bands that never lasted long, is now branching out solo, and this song ‘brings a ray of sunshine this summer’, or at least that’s what her PR would have us believe – apparently, ‘with French lyrics the charm of Emma’s voice certainly shines through’. Shall we find out?

Tom: Well, that’s lovely, isn’t it? Although a bit disparate — that intro promised many things, and then the verse and chorus just decided to go into a completely different direction.

Tim: Now, my description here may sound like an insult, but it’s really not: that chorus sounds like the outro of a Lighthouse Family song. Not any one in particular, but just the sort they’d do.

Tom: That… yes, you’re right, that might sound like an insult. But then, the Lighthouse Family sold a whole lot of records.

Tim: Yes, but the main reason it’s not an insult is that, for a song called Sunny Day, that’s exactly what should be achieved – largely calming music, a whole load of people joining in, and a general vibe of happiness. And much as I don’t typically like repeating PR guff uncritically, here it’s not wrong about the lyrics – they do show off a good voice, and on top of that it makes it sound a bit more summery.

Tom: It did seem to outstay its welcome a bit, at least for me: it suffers from the problem that, if you just tell the YouTube player to go at 1.25x speed, it’s suddenly a much, much better song. This would be a good, pacey, three-minute track if someone would just kick the BPM up a bit — or at least remove maybe one chorus repeat.

Tim: Agh, see now you’ve pointed that out, and I’ve played it like that, I see that. On the other hand, you do lose a bit of the relaxation with it, so I’ll take it as it is. Though I’m not even going to try to figure out the video.

Tom: It’s art. French art.

Tim: Ah, that makes sense then.

Emly Clausen – Touch Me (All Over)

“Part of me hoped Pitbull will rock up halfway through and start blathering vaguely offensive platitudes.”

Tom: That is a very… direct title.

Tim: Isn’t it just? Emly’s new and off Sweden, bringing us this dance track – you can ignore the first minute or so of this video, unless you fancy a narrative that’s completely and entirely unrelated to the song, or indeed the rest of the video, in which she pleasingly subscribes to the Tim Jeffries style of dancing.

Tim: That is some very impressive flailing around in that dress on the beach, I must pay compliments to it. Musically – oh, it’s very early 2010s, and it would appear that that’s now where level 1 of nostalgia is seated for me.

Tom: Oh blimey, you’re right. This is like Piña Colada Boy, only it’s taking itself way, way, way too seriously.

Tim: Hahaha, it is and all, and I won’t deny that through this part of me hoped Pitbull will rock up halfway through and start blathering vaguely offensive platitudes.

Tom: Here’s a weird thing: I think that would actually improve the track. Because right now, there’s just not enough going on.

Tim: Production-wise, it’s from the same pair of producers that brought us the entirely generics and forgettable Light It Up and…well, there are similarities. It’s generic, there’s nothing massively special about it, but I would happily lose my nut to it on the dance floor.

Tom: Phrasing.

Tim: Perhaps – but it’s what she’s doing, and I like that.

Samir & Viktor – Vi gör det ändå

“They know what they’re doing, and they don’t mind.”

Tom: They’re still going! And this is going to be studio singing as well, so it might be half-decent.

Tim: “We’ll Do It Anyway”, reckon the duo, as they celebrate 100 million streams in the video for their new one. Didn’t know that was a thing, but I suppose it makes sense, really, with streaming having vastly overtaken purchases (at least in Sweden – as far back as 2014, streaming made up 80% of all music revenue there).

Tom: Fair play to them for reading out negative comments in the first bit of the video. They know what they’re doing, and they don’t mind.

Tim: Full marks for laziness in the video, which seems to consist purely of unused shots from previous videos, which I think is even lazier than using tour footage – at least with that effort gets put in to film it. Here: nah, let’s let’s rummage through the trashed clips.

Tom: Hey, they could have just used stock footage that wasn’t of them. At least someone bothered to root through the files.

Tim: Hmm, I guess that’s true. Songwise, though: well, it’s what you think of when you imagine a typical Samir & Viktor track, really. Loud, brash, just musical enough to count as a song (with a lovely surprise key change in there).

Tom: Harsh. “Just musical enough” is pretty close to “not musical enough”, and this is at least a traditional pop song, and one that at least made me smile on the key change. For a song to get any emotional reaction out of me is rare, so I’ll give this one at least some points.

Tim: Oh, I’m not saying it’s bad, just similar – sure, there’s some difference in the styling, as we had between Fick Feeling and (the considerably superior) Kung, but overall, it’s like they say in the lyrics: “they said I couldn’t dance, I couldn’t sing, but I wanted to show them”. But it works. Just about.

Saturday Flashback: Deja Vu feat. Tasmin – No Rhyme No Reason

“Gloriously pumped up”

Tom: We’ve talked about Almighty Records many times before. Who are Deja Vu? No-one knows. Who’s Tasmin? Not a clue, she could even be a different session singer every time, or a famous singer working under the radar. What we do know is they do spectacular high-energy cover versions of pop hits.

So here’s my question, Tim: who’s being covered here? This is the big club mix I’m linking to, so you can safely skip to about 1:14 without missing anything.

Tim: I… have no idea. When the vocal started I broke out into a massive grin because it sounds like a gloriously pumped up ABBA song, but I don’t recognise it, and Google doesn’t recognise the lyrics. Is this…is this an original song?

Tom: Correct! You spotted the trick question. Although I was fairly sure it was a Steps song I’d never heard of. So, next question: do I really like this because it sounds like a good Steps track, or just because you can basically do anything in Almighty’s style and I’ll like it?

Tim: For me, the former – the massive grin came from it sounding like a big ABBA or Steps song, and there have definitely been Almighty tracks that I’ve not enjoyed due to not knowing the original. This, though, despite having no original to compare it to, hits all the right buttons.

Joakim Lundell – Waiting For

“It never gets remotely ballady or anything.”

Tom: Waiting For? No? No. Never mind.

Tim: With his previous song All I Need, Joakim achieved the only number 1 song in Sweden this year that isn’t Despacito, Shape of You or by Clean Bandit (it was only there for one week, but it’s the principle that counts). Here’s his follow-up, which is, unusually, in a fairly different genre.

Tom: Is the new genre “a bit dull”?

Tim: Yeah, it kind of seems so. It’s not completely different, obviously, as there’s still dance parts to it, particularly in the second half of each chorus, and it never gets remotely ballady or anything. Primarily, though, we’re firmly in your very very standard Selena Gomez style summer pop territory: two verses, each followed by a two part chorus, middle eight and close.

Tom: I’m a bit baffled — I know I’m being harsh, but it’s not exciting enough to be a dance number, not quiet enough to be a ballad, and not… it’s not anything. It feels like it’s been procedurally generated around one sentence.

Tim: I don’t think that’s being too harsh, because you’re right, it’s nothing exciting in terms of new pop music; on the other hand, I’d put it fairly high up in the ranks of standard pop.

Tom: Also, is that “what’re you waiting for” female vocal lifted from Love Me Like You Do? Because it sure sounds like it.

Tim: Hmm. I don’t know, I’m not complaining, because it’s still a very decent track to listen to, but it does seem odd to switch immediately away from what gave you a very successful record. That one broke a few boundaries; this really doesn’t. It’s very good, but it’s just a bit standard.

Tom: “A bit”.

Xander – Ka Ikk Holde Mig Væk

“While someone’s doing metalwork next door.”

Tim: Or, in English, ‘Don’t Hold Me Away’. Xander’s 29 and from Copenhagen, and hasn’t had a hit single since his debut, 2010’s Det burde ikk være sådan her. Here’s his latest, though, so see what you think.

Tom: That is a very… R&B choice for you. Particularly given there appears to be a bloke hammering metal on an anvil somewhere to the right of wherever they recorded the song.

Tim: You what? Look, you may be interpreting that title, given the calm, pleasant and fairly gentle style of music, as a nice message, at a relationship level – a sort of “I love you, we’ve known each other a while, please let’s be together”. Well, I’d like to immediately disabuse you of this notion, because the first line doesn’t mess about: “Take my hand, take your clothes off”. IT’S ALL ABOUT DOING IT.

Tom: While someone’s doing metalwork next door.

Tim: Just…what?

Tom: Sorry to bang on about it, but I actually couldn’t listen to this, that anvil sound grated so much. I had to listen just through my left headphone, where the sound’s still present, just a lot quieter. How did you not notice that?

Tim: Oh…oh GOD why would you point that out to me? I’d not heard that as a thing, but now I can’t unhear it. But I will – MUST – get through this. Because despite that (a consideration made easier by the facts that (a) I don’t speak Danish, and (b) I don’t have to see him looking like a bellend with the cap and sunglasses if I’m just listening), I still like this. That’s largely because of the aforementioned calm, pleasant and fairly gentle style of music.

Tom: DINK. DINK. DINK. DINK. THAT IS NOT CALM AND PLEASANT.

Tim: YES IT IS. It’s chilled out synth work with a good hook and relaxed vocals, and when done perfectly those are ingredients for an excellent song. Here they’re done fairly well, so I’ll happily take this, ignoring the fact that you’ve slightly ruined it for me.

The Main Level feat. Blvck O – Bombadilla

“A lot less mindless garbage spewing than I’d expected.”

Tim: We’ve written about these guys a few times before, mostly pointing how they’re following the exact standard boyband career progression. Right now, for a hot and sunny summer: a tropical flavoured song with a guest artist to fit the mood.

Tim: And…yeah, it’s perfectly decent.

Tom: The intro vaguely reminded me of a lot of mid-90s pop, so I was vaguely hoping that, rather than your standard rap middle eight, “feat. Blvck O” might be a new Bubbler Ranx (now running his own music production company, it seems). Not quite, but closer than anyone else has managed in a while.

Tim: That’s true, yes – there was a lot less mindless garbage spewing than I’d expected.

Tom: Got to admit, though, the farting car engine got more of a reaction from me (a smile) than the actual chorus synths (nothing at all). This is at least a competent boyband track — and, arguably, it’s doing a good job of updating that mid-90s pop sound.

Tim: Until I heard this song I had no idea whatsoever what a bombadilla life might be, and to be honest I still don’t—hell, even Google Translate doesn’t recognise it and that has all the words in the world—but assuming it’s what the context makes it out to be, a girl living one sounds fairly fun and I can understand why they’d want to sing a song about her (though quite why he’s off with her sister is anyone’s guess).

Tom: Maybe she got sick of all his ludicrous dancing in fields?

Tim: Now you mention it, that would make perfect sense. I like this song a lot – there may not be that much original in it, but it takes the enthusiasm from the bombadillaness and keeps it up, and now I want to be living a bombadilla life as well. Where can I do this please, does anybody know?

Be The Bear – Erupt

“It keeps telegraphing changes that just don’t happen.”

Tom: The title of this post seems like a bizarre motivational slogan. Be the bear! Erupt! Ahem. Anyway.

Tim: Slight warning: it took me quite a while to be sure I wasn’t watching a John Lewis Christmas advert. But then it became obvious.

Tom: You know, I’ve never actually seen a John Lewis Christmas advert.

Tim: What?

Tom: But I know what you mean, here, at least.

Tim: Her actual name’s Christina and she’s off Gothenberg, but never mind that because that first chorus really is unusual, and a tad “oop, you broke the song”.

Tom: It surprised me, but I don’t think it full-on broke the song: either that, or I’m getting more used to changes of chorus like that.

Tim: I don’t say that because “aaagh, it’s different, blegh” (although that doesn’t help), but largely because of that build that comes up right at the very end. What with most pop now bringing along two full choruses, a vocal and an instrumental, it really did seem as though we were leading into a second half. As it is, straight back to second verse brings us way out. I get what it’s trying to do – sound unusual, stick out – I just don’t think it works quite as well as it ought to.

Tom: It’s almost like the “body language” of the song is a little off: it keeps telegraphing changes in momentum and instrumentation that just don’t happen. I wonder how much of that’s due to me expecting “normal” pop music — like a John Lewis Christmas advert — and how much is just because it is, genuinely, a bit off.

Tim: Quite possibly a bit of both. BUT, having said all that: everything after that is lovely. The build works throughout when the next chorus goes in the the rest of it, and the strings that gradually appear sound all sorts of lovely. So start me at 1:23, I’m laughing.