Europop – Page 49

Oskar Häggström – The Underdogs

“That is surprisingly good, isn’t it?”

Tim: So here’s a thing, every year on Swedish Idol, the week before the final the four remaining contestants perform songs they’ve written themselves (with assistance from more experienced writers, obviously). Sometimes they’re a bit awful, but more often than not they’re alright.

Tom: And at least they’ll get some money from the royalties, I guess.

Tim: Ooh, you cynic.

Tim: I mean it wouldn’t be a series winner, and you’d struggle having a major chart hit with it, but it’s not a bad tune.

Tom: That is surprisingly good, isn’t it? I mean, there are plenty of singer-songwriters out there, but to have that as part of the requirement (albeit one that could be fudged if necessary) does add a bit of credibility.

Tim: Lyrics are there, good bit of “oh-oh-oh-oh-oh” going on. Basic idea of the whole thing is to show off what sort of an artist they might be should they go on to win, and given this I wouldn’t mind hearing more from him. Tonight, I believe, is results night, so I guess we’ll see how Sweden feels then.

Tom: It surprises me a bit that Idol is still going there, oval logo and all — but then, it is Sweden.

Robin Stjernberg – Rain

“He’s got a new track out, with quite the novelty.”

Tim: An e-mail arrives, “I’d like to introduce you to Robin”, so clearly from a dedicated fan of the site. Nonetheless, turns out he’s got a new track out, with quite the novelty.

Tom: That could go one of two ways.

Tim: Not a bad novelty, though, because that’s some GOOD trumpet work right there.

Tom: That’s not the least euphemistic thing you’ve said in a while. You’re not wrong, though: the high bar’s set by Let Me Entertain You, and while it never gets that close, it’s certainly not to the track’s detriment.

Tim: And, in fact, a good track all over. It keeps almost threatening to verge into tropical territory, particularly at the start, but knows when to draw the line and instead goes all in on the brass. An excellent decision, particularly (and perhaps unsurprisingly) in the middle eight and beyond, with the percussion, the guitar, the trumpets, the vocals, and probably a load of other stuff I’ve missed, all mixed together nicely.

Tom: Reckon we’re on our way to a 2017 full of brass-house music?

Tim: Works well for me – not sure I’d take an album of it, but as a one-off it’s great.

Måns Zelmerlöw – Glorious

“Thankfully he’s back to the big dance pop.”

Tim: Somehow, it’s now over eighteen months since Måns won Eurovision, no idea where that time went. Anyway, here’s his new one, and thankfully he’s back to the big dance pop.

Tom: Blimey, it didn’t take music video directors long to, er, “take inspiration” from this drone lighting video. Looks good though. And the song’s not bad either.

Tim: BIG fan of that, I am. Starts out quite similar to Heroes, with the almost spoken vocal over a mild instrumental, then soon kicks up things up a notch leading into the chorus, and it’s a pretty good chorus.

Tom: It is: the percussion switch confused me the first couple of times, but once I understood what was going on I found it worked really, really well.

Tim: I always doubt the wisdom of calling a track something like Glorious, because you’re kind of saying “yes, it is”. Sometimes, that pays off, like when Magnus Carlsson or Andreas Johnson or Danny Saucedo. Other times, like with Matt Cardle does it…eh, not so much. This…yeah, I think this stands up. Not, alas, with those previously mentioned three, but it’s still very enjoyable, and contains everything I want from a decent pop track.

Tom: Including a great middle eight, almost better – as ever – than the regular track.

Tim: Good facial work in the video too, so WELCOME BACK MÅNS.

Invader Girl – Danger Zone

“I’m not sure there’s as much going on there as I’d like.”

Tom: Danger Zoooooone! …no?

Tim: No. We’ve not featured Invader Girl before; she’s from Denmark but has chosen to film her video in London. And it’s quite the video…

Tom: Blimey. That reminds me of a student TV production. Get a cheap costume and film someone around town with whatever camera you’ve got. That is quite the video.

Tim: So much of a video, in fact, that the first time I pressed play I didn’t really pay attention to the music – how on Earth is she wearing her costume while using the toilet, for a start.

Tom: Depends if the costume includes tights or not.

Tim: Fair point, also she’s sitting on the skirt/cape combo so I’m really not sure; I am fairly sure I’ve eaten in that McDonald’s, though. Anyway, then I thought “hang on, technically this is a music site so I’d better listen to the music” and then pressed play again, and was again distracted by that toilet scene before I got particularly far.

Tom: That’s a sentence, right there. Which does say something about the music: I’m not sure there’s as much going on there as I’d like.

Tim: Well indeed – background tab it was, and I’ve mixed feelings – decent backing from the get go, but then I got bored a bit, so I started doing other stuff, but then a couple of minutes later realised I was actually really enjoying it. Conclusion? To be honest, still wondering about that toilet scene.

Manfred – Tease

Tim: This is Manfred, and like several previous acts (and no doubt many future ones) he’s come direct from YouTube; apparently he’s been working on this for over six months.

Tom: A 4K music video! That might be the first one we’ve ever seen.

Tim: Hmm. I guess the good thing about having a sizeable pre-built fan base (in his case, a couple of hundred thousand) is that you don’t necessarily need a massive song to make your mark – that is of course also the bad thing, because if you rely on that you might come out with a track that’s about okay, slightly catchy but can best be described as “this’ll do”.

Tom: Or could otherwise be described as “the verses from George Michael’s Faith with a much worse chorus”.

Tim: Let’s honest: that’s basically what’s happened here, and quite how six months was spent on this I’ve no idea. That should, in theory, make it about 13,000 times as good as Writing’s On The Wall; while that was a truly awful track (I still stand by every syllable of my 500 word tirade), this isn’t that massive amount better.

Tom: It’s pleasant enough, I guess, but it’s not singable, and not all that interesting.

Tim: Sure, there’s a bit of catchiness, but if six months gets us this, I’m really wondering how he’ll fill the album he’s got coming out soon.

2 Blyger Låppar – Otur

“You can’t have a song with “hamster” and “mankini” in the lyrics and claim it’s serious.”

Tim: Swedish band here, with a song called “Bad Luck”; if you’re anything like me, you’ll spend the spend fifteen seconds being a tad intrigued, and then you’ll be “oh, YES”.

Tom: Actually, I’ll spend the first 15 seconds singing “Forever Young”, but yes, after that you’re about right.

Tim: So it’s all about a guy who has considerably bad luck; if you’re wondering why there’s a ‘hamster’ in the lyrics, it’s because he had a girlfriend but then she burnt his house down, and took his hamster on the way out. As is normal.

Tom: You can’t have a song with “hamster” and “mankini” in the lyrics and claim it’s serious. You just can’t. Not even in Sweden.

Tim: Yes, I’m not entirely sure how seriously it’s meant to be taken. Nonetheless, the story continues: towards the end, though, it gets nicer – middle eight’s about, with his whole life ahead of him, and then he takes a trip off to Thailand.

Tom: I get the feeling that the singer has some very specific issues still to work out with an ex. And that middle eight seems… unfinished, somehow.

Tim: I kind of know what you mean – personally, I’d quite like a key change there, in the form of Taylor’s Swift’s Love Story: it’s not just for fun but actually to reflect the narrative of the lyrics. Still, I guess it wasn’t to be, and the song is perfectly enjoyable without it, so I’ll take it nonetheless. Good stuff.

Amy Deasismont – This Is How We Party

“As far as I see it, drinking to be happy is exactly the right thing to do.”

Tim: Remember Amy Diamond, who we haven’t featured for several years?

Tom: No!

Tim: Fair enough. She’s now singing under her actual name, and her newest track is this; it’s FRIDAY, so let’s PARTY. Sort of, you’ll see.

Tim: Well, she loses points immediately for taking the lazy route with the video; those points are soon gained back, though, by the unexpected sax and confession to basically solving all her problems by going out and drinking.

Tom: What a massively dull sax riff, though. What on earth’s going on there? Five maudlin notes isn’t exactly enough to hang a chorus on. I realise it fits the mood of the song, though…

Tim: As far as I see it, being a retail worker, drinking to be happy is exactly the right thing to do, and I say well done to Amy for seeing things from the everyman’s view.

Tom: Mm. I suspect that’s not what it means.

Tim: That’s fair – you could look at it in a slightly darker mood, of course, and view that as a very unhealthy lifestyle and possibly verging on alcoholism, particularly with the minor key and lack of any triumphant moments, but LET’S NOT. Instead let’s PARTY and DRINK.

Tom: Are… are you OK, Tim?

Tim: Oh, fine. Absolutely fine…

Felin – Gossip

“The right mix of angry, shouty and still listenable.”

Tim: This here from Finland, getting just slightly emotional.

Tom: “This video contains content from SME, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.” I’m in the US right now, Tim, so you’re going to have to take this one on your own.

Tim: Oh, that’s a shame, as I think you’d have a lot of time for this. That chorus, in particular, which really nudged me awake a bit. It’s a bit dull and almost tediously downbeat up until then – it was only the strangely hypnotic video that kept me going really – but it shook me up no end and made me pay attention, and from that moment on I was hooked. I do love a big emotional chorus, particularly if it’s the right mix of angry, shouty and still listenable. This checks all those boxes nicely.

Also, pleasantly surprised to find out that it was all actually drawn on the wall physically – can’t imagine how much time must have gone into planning they didn’t run out of space.

Roxette – Why Don’t You Bring Me Flowers

“It’s a track I have difficulty pinning down.”

Tim: It’s just over thirty years since Roxette’s first single, and yet here they are, still banging out the tunes. The third off the tenth album, which so far we’ve quite enjoyed. Care to press play?

Tim: It’s no It Just Happens – think the time’s coming up to guarantee that a place in the shortlist for Tim’s Favourite Track of 2016 – but it’s a solid third track from an album. To be honest it’s a track I have difficulty pinning down.

Tom: Yes, that’s fair. These sort of user-generated videos just tend to distract me from the song, so I had it in a background tab: and I realised that my attention was ebbing and flowing. It’s… it’s nice? I can’t think of a better adjective.

Tim: The ah-ah-ah-aaah-ah-ah-ah-ah running throughout is very pleasant, and there’s no disputing the quality to production, but then the quiet openings to both verses are an odd choice, though – the pacing of the first vocal couplet seems very odd without the backing underneath to give it a bit of context.

Tom: Right! As soon as the track starts to kick back in — notably that very 90s synth bit out of the middle eight — I really like it again.

Tim: Sure, and also the slow-paced portion of the first chorus is lovely, in a Cara Mia style – though with the weird structure of the song it seems almost like the middle eight got dropped in 90 seconds too early. In fact, I think that’s my main issue with it – it doesn’t quite follow a structure I’m used to, and now I feel a bit disconcerted. It’s very nice, though.

Matilda feat. OMVR – Apologize

“This sounds like a LOT of other songs, Tim.”

Tim: Both from Norway and both with this as their second single; hopefully you’ll enjoy it. Couple of notes first: a few of quietly dropped in f-bombs, and if you only want the music you can safely skip to 40 seconds in.

Tom: skips forward

Tom: This sounds like a LOT of other songs, Tim. There are melody lines in here that trigger all sorts of memories: particularly The Kinks, but a few other things too. Nothing close enough to be plagiarism, just enough to be irritatingly familiar.

Tim: It’s been a while since we had a decent ballad on here, unless I’ve just forgotten them, which I suppose kind of knocks out the ‘decent’ part of it really. Pleasingly, this is quite a nice return to them, particularly as a (slight) duet.

Tom: And doing a final chorus that is just “la, la, la” is always a nicer ending than just repeating-to-fade. That one-note-of-acapella trick works well too.

Tim: So musically we’re all good. As for lyrics: I like the message of it – I know I’ve done something slightly wrong but you’ve crossed the line, but we can still get back together if you’re sorry.

Bit like Ross and Rachel the first time, I suppose, if you want a twenty year old comparison. Speaking of which, did you see recently that Ross was voted Britain’s favourite one of the six of them? Bloody disgrace if you ask me. I know Britain’s made some dodgy decisions this year but that one really does take the biscuit.

Tom: I’ve never actually seen Friends.

Tim: WHAT. Are you kidding me? Bloody hell. I don’t know what this means for the future of our partnership.