Category: Europop

Saturday Flashback: Kim Petras – There Will Be Blood

“Well, that doesn’t sound like a novelty track, does it?”

Tom: We’ve never talked about Kim Petras before. In fact, I’d somehow missed her entirely until I heard one track on the radio in Luxembourg this week. Not on Radio Luxembourg, you understand, it was just on the radio while I was in Luxembourg.

Tim: Right, sure.

Tom: Anyway: Kim is German, has self-published her dance-pop music to great acclaim, and is now at the point where she’s doing Proper Tours. She also released a Hallowe’en-themed EP in October 2018, and while I’m not saying every track of the seventeen on there there is a banger, it’s got one of the highest hit rates of an album I’ve heard in a while. One of them’s got Elvira as a guest voice, for crying out loud. Novelty themed LPs just aren’t meant to be good, and yet, I reckon this one is. There are multiple tracks on there where I looked up from working and actually, properly, listened.

Anyway, here’s the big opening number.

Tim: Coo, blimey. Yeah, I see why.

Tom: And I’ve got not much to say other than: well, that doesn’t sound like a novelty track, does it?

Tim: No, but just because an album has a theme, there’s no reason for them all to be weird – hell, My Chemical Romance released an entire album about a fictional guy’s death, and I can’t count how many times I’ve listened to some of those tracks.

Tom: I know “four beats on the same note” is hardly an original idea for the first line of a chorus—

Tim: Well, neither’s doing it for every line of a chorus – but it works.

Tom: —but hey: there’s a reason it’s still getting radio play. Albeit in Luxembourg. I couldn’t tell you about the rest of the world.

KEiiNO – Colours

“It’s been quite the year for KEiiNO.”

Tim: It’s been quite the year for KEiiNO – storming to victory in Norway’s Eurovision selection programme, winning the televote (stupid juries) in Tel Aviv.

Tom: That’s still a frustrating result: Norway won the televote with a great song, Sweden won the jury vote with a great song. But the combined winner was… well, let’s go with “decided by committee”. But yes, KEiiNO mean that a lot more people now know the word “joik”.

Tim: And, most impressively of all, producing a version of Fairytale of New York that’s actually likeable. Today they’re out with a new one, and I’ll be honest: if you don’t like it, you’re a proper wrong’un.

Tim: Oh, ain’t it good? Part of me was worried, throughout the first verse and chorus, that we might get a sudden STOP in everything, so he can come in with his chanting joik, which, however much it is their USP, would break it up horrendously.

Fortunately for everyone, they know how to make a good piece of pop music, which this absolutely and totally gone and done.

Tom: Somehow, they’ve managed to perfectly straddle the line between “novelty act” and “serious pop act”, and just end up with “pop act with unique recognisable sound”. That is incredibly difficult.

Tim: It really is, because yes, he’s there, as a notable part of the backing track, so it’s recognisably them, and it also works really, really well as part of this track.

Tom: I’m sure I’ve heard bits of this melody in other songs (“show me where your heart is singing” feels rather similar to the opening of Feel This Moment), but that just means you’ve got a combination of familiarity and novelty. It’s good.

Tim: Sure, and I’m the same with the Christmas mix of Are You With Me with the verse backing and occasional jingle, but so what? That’s a perfectly good track to be reminded of, and like you said, familiarity and novelty. Everything about this, really, is perfectly good. Perfectly great, in fact.

Josef Sedraïa – Lillasyster

“You know what? I’m actually prepared to go out on a limb and say I like this.”

Tim: Normally, Tom, I’ve a vague idea whether or not you’ll like a song before I send it to you. This time, though, I don’t know whether you’ll love it, think it’s just too over the top, or have just a general ‘ehh’.

Tom: Statistically, it’s very likely to be the latter.

Tim: Have a listen.

Tom: First off, I’m uncomfortable with that video, which was apparently filmed in Mosul on the day it was officially liberated from ISIS? There’s clearly a lot of context that I’m not translating well in that article — or at least, I hope there is. I’m going to assume this wasn’t just some guy turning up to film a music video in Iraq.

Anyway, the music, which is now in a background tab for me.

Tim: For me, you can probably guess, I love it. The nice thing about it is that yes, there are bits that I’m not keen on – the pre-chorus, the first half of the middle eight – but in each case they are immediately followed by something much better that what came previously.

Tom: You know what? I’m actually prepared to go out on a limb and say I like this. I don’t love it — like you said, that talky bit in the middle eight is pretty awful, and I am baffled by what appears to be boogie-woogie piano briefly appearing in an early chorus. There are good bits.

Tim: That chorus, for example, is entirely lovely, and that bit at the end is…well, to be honest I’ve no idea what it is, it’s a complete musical smorgasbord, but it sounds delightful. Any good for you?

Tom: It’s… good. I’m actually willing to say it’s good.

Isak Danielson – Light Up

“Yes, it’s a sad one, and yes, it’s a slow one, and yes, I’d normally chuck it straight in the bin, but OH, BOY.”

Tim: “After dealing with anxiety for many years, I decided to write about my experiences. The result came to be ‘Light Up’. A song about the strength that comes from sharing the things we feel.” Yep, it’s a melancholy one, but it does sound lovely so have a listen.

Tim: So, yes, it’s a sad one, and yes, it’s a slow one, and yes, I’d normally chuck it straight in the bin, but OH, BOY does the instrumentation make it worth it.

Tom: I was about to ask “why on earth have you sent this”, and then the chorus kicked in.

Tim: Yes – I should admit that I didn’t start paying much attention to the music for the first minute or so (until then I’d been working out whether that was the artwork or whether Isak was just very, very good at standing still and looking zoned out) so I didn’t get put off but the lack of anything massive under the first verse. When I eventually paid attention, though, the chorus was on, and, well, the drums and the piano and LORD ALMIGHTY that fabulous string section were all there sounding absolutely gorgeous.

Tom: I always feel a bit bad talking about music like this, because my reaction is almost always “sure, that’s okay, I guess”. This is, at least, a bit above that: in short, I can see why you like it, even if it doesn’t quite work for me.

Tim: It carries on getting bigger and better throughout the second verse and chorus, and I really just can’t get enough of it. It’s marvellous.

ThoseBricks – You Got It

“I’m not sure “shorter” is the right idea.”

Tim: There was a TV show in Norway a few years back called The Stream, standard music talent show format with the USP the contestants who went through to the next round were decided by…

Tom: The length of time they could spend holding their breath under the surface of a stream?

Tim: Nope.

Tom: The length of their stream of urine?

Tim: Eww, NO, and no more guesses. It’s the number of streams they got of the song they’d covered the previous week.

Tom: Right. Well, sure, that’s an option, I guess.

Tim: Here, three and a bit years on, is the winner’s first proper song.

Tim: Godawful artwork, but I’m thinking the track itself is pretty good, no? The production’s great, the melody’s nice, and the emotion’s coming through, particularly in the verses. If I was allowed to make one change it’d be to make the post-chorus a bit shorter – it might just be personal taste, but it does seem drag to on a bit after a while.

Tom: It dragged immediately for me: it’s by far the weakest part of the track, as far as I’m concerned. So I’m not sure “shorter” is the right idea.

Tim: In that case, possibly scrapping it entirely from the end of the first chorus, turning it into a middle eight before coming back for that final bit. That’d be nice. But, still, it’s fine as it is.

Tom: “Fine” about sums it up. There’s nothing wrong with this, as far as I’m concerned: it’s just okay.

Tim: Oh, and if you’re wondering how successful the show was: it ran August to December 2016, there hasn’t been a second series, and NBC picked up the American rights for it midway but have yet to do anything from it. Oh, well.

Meja – Todays & Tomorrows

“Meja’s been going as a soloist for twenty five years now, and here’s her latest.”

Tim: Meja’s been going as a soloist for twenty five years now, and here’s her latest, and I pressed play on it and immediately felt Christmassy.

Tom: …it’s January. Is that a good thing?

Tim: Have a listen, you tell me.

Tom: Huh. You’re not wrong, but I can’t place why. Those aah-aah-aahs in the background do sound familiar, but even with the clue of Christmas, I can’t quite place it.

Tim: At first I thought it was the 12/8 time signature (though that helps), but no, there’s another reason and part of me doesn’t want to point it out because if you haven’t noticed it and you enjoy the song then it might spoil it for you, so I’ll leave it.

Tom: I do enjoy this — it’s the first track we’ve covered in a while that’s felt like it’d inspire a phone-torches-in-the-air moment if it’s played at a gig.

Tim: Yes, I thought you’d like it. So…

Tom: But I’m not worried about it being ruined for me. Go on, what have I missed?

Tim: Well, those aah-aah-aahs you mentioned, and indeed a large part of the underlying guitar melody, seem very similar indeed, to my ears at least, to one particular track I’M SORRY.

Tom: Oh no.

Tim: But even with that, it’s a nice song, with a good style that works for her, straight out of the nineties. I do have an issue with the lyrics, though, which is that they’re basically meaningless: is she criticising the person she’s singing at, or complimenting them, or being romantic, or just providing something to think about? No idea. Sounds nice, though.

Victor Leksell – Svag

“I was really hoping the title of this was ‘Swag’, but it actually translates as ‘Weak’. Ah well.”

Tim: Here’s a song for you that stylistically I’d typically consider far too damp to suggest, but have a listen because it just kind of…gets me.

Tom: I was really hoping the title of this was “Swag”, but it actually translates as “Weak”. Ah well.

Tom: Bold choice, there, just making the album art a black square. It “gets you”?

Tim: Not sure why, really, because there’s not a lot happening there, and when the drop into the first chorus entirely failed to materialise I was thoroughly disappointed.

Tom: Yep, same here. I can see why you described it as “far too damp”: the title fits it. And yet?

Tim: It just has a something about that I like, though, which has got me bouncing around a little bit on my sofa typing this, and ever so slightly humming along to it.

Tom: The thing is, you’re not wrong. There’s a lot to like here: it’s traditional, as slow guitar-pop goes, even down to switching to the harmony line for the final chorus.

Tim: It may be that it just reminds me of several other songs, because I’m fairly sure it does, or it may be that nice gentle back and forth guitar line it’s got going on, but whatever it is – I like it.

Saturday Flashback: Matthias Reim – Tattoo

“I have to admire the chutzpah of a man in his sixties who’s still rocking the boy-band haircut and denim jacket.”

Tim: Last October Matthias brought out a new album, MR20; why, exactly, he didn’t leave it until this year just for dating’s sake is beyond me, but hey ho. Eiskalt was the fabulously unnerving lead track; here’s the second single, that got released with the album.

Tom: I have to admire the chutzpah of a man in his sixties who’s still rocking the boy-band haircut and denim jacket. Germany continues to be, as far as I know, the only nation where it’s possible to pull that off, ironically or not.

Tim: Well, let’s get the obvious out of the way first and say that it’s no Eiskalt, a song I still listen on a frequent basis; it is, on the other hand, still a pretty good Matthias Reim track, right bang in the middle of the schlager rock groove he’s carved out for himself, and I like it a LOT.

Tom: I can see why: it’s exactly the sort of Europop we like here.

Tim: Now I mention it, in fact, the whole album’s worth a listen if you get a chance; I’d recommend some highlights but that’d imply there are some lowlights, and, no.

Incidentally, there’s a German person I work with, and when I mentioned Matthias to her she was initially surprised he was still going, and then just looked at me with a sense of mild disdain.

Tom: I did wonder what Germans in general think of this: with a million views on YouTube, there’s clearly an audience — but then, there’s an audience for a lot of things that the world in general holds in poor esteem.

Tim: But I don’t care: my name’s Tim and I’m a Reimer. And if there isn’t a word for his fans, I’m having that one.

Elisa Lindström – Ditt Hjärta i Min Hand

“Is it a cymbal crash you can hear in the background, or the sound of sparklers shooting off? Who knows.”

Tom: It’s always good when I can translate a title in my head.

Tim: Every year, thousands of songs get submitted for Melodifestivalen, and every year the vast majority of them get rejected. Most of them never see the light of day, and those that do get released are never spoken of as having been rejected, obviously. However, this is a lovely schlagery pop track, coming in at precisely three minutes, with a perfect “let’s get the Catherine wheels spinning” moment. Draw your own conclusion.

Tom: That could have been a Melodifestivalen track at any point in the last thirty years.

Tim: It certainly could, and wouldn’t it have been nice to see on stage? Probably start out with her in a nice white dress, a guitarist and a drummer in the background, nothing until the crash for the first chorus, BOOM the lights come up and we’ve some dancers jumping around and giving us the oh-woah-ohs that they’ve lifted from This Is Me.

Tom: That’s where I’ve heard them before! (I mean, it’s a Millennial Whoop, but you’re right, that’s basically This Is Me.)

Tim: Then, of course, that GLORIOUS key change, fireworks everywhere, probably risking burning down the stadium but never mind, because just LOOK.

Tom: Is it a cymbal crash you can hear in the background, or the sound of sparklers shooting off? Who knows. I almost physically facepalmed at that key change. Yes: I can absolutely see this on stage.

Tim: Mind you, it’d then crash out in fifth place, and we’d all be disappointed again, so maybe it’s for the best. No, who am I kidding, it’d have been BRILLIANT.

Melissa Naschenweng – Schutzengerl

“I just think that it would be difficult to put a euphoric key change in a song about death.”

Tim: Presenting a rather lovely song that is completely and utterly ruined by the video. Title translates to ‘Guardian Angel’.

Tim: First verse: mm, yeah, it’s okay. First chorus: oh, this is absolutely beautiful and wonderful and heartwarming and everything.

Tom: I actually broke out into a smile at that first chorus. And I know it’s because it’s schlager, it’s perfectly valid to call it uninspired and by-the-numbers, but– I still smiled. For a moment. And then I realised what was going on in the video, and that it’s actually about a father dying in a car crash, it’s basically a “don’t text and drive” PSA, and ‘Guardian Angel’ in the title is not intended as a metaphor.

Tim: Yeah, quite the change of beat when you realise that, isn’t it?

Tom: It is odd, though. You could swap the lyrics of this out with a sappy love song and it would work perfectly. I wonder how often that’s true in this genre, and in others? Because that first chorus could be a proper hands-in-the-air moment.

Tim: Second verse: not much interesting happening, jump to another tab. Second chorus: OOH, it’s gone quiet, we’re getting one hell of a key change here. Except, no. We have a car crash instead, and…well, I actually meant that about it happening literally in the video, but it also works perfectly well to describe the song.

Tom: I know where you’re going, Tim, and I just think that it would be difficult to put a euphoric key change in a song about death.

Tim: True, AND YET, that sudden pause shows the potential for what could be. And sure, it’d be a key change that’s a good couple of decades out of fashion, and way off beat with the lyrics, but I don’t care, I want it, you’ve shown me it, and at each one of the drum builds that come throughout the rest of the song, I want that key change. YOU’VE STOLEN MY KEY CHANGE, DAMMIT.

I said ‘ruined by the video’, though: the studio version doesn’t have that pause, and as such doesn’t bring out anywhere near as much frustration. So maybe the video wouldn’t, if it did’t have that exact drama in that exact place. Silly people.