Agnes Carlsson is definitely my woman of the year in 2009 and there seems to be no sign of this ending in 2010 with plenty still on the go. There is reason to save some discussion of her and her successes and we'll start first here with I Need You Now which is #5 for 2009.
Agnes won Swedish Idol in 2005 after being saved by the jury wild card and not being eliminated from the competition. She went on to win it all and released two albums in Sweden before 2008's Dance Love Pop which was the album which spawned the first of her international releases, including I Need You Now.
After the success of Release Me in the UK, Agnes' UK label was unsure about releasing On and On (which had been her first single in Sweden and her release in other European markets) because they felt it sounded too 'euro' for the UK. Agnes had released Love Love Love in Sweden in early 2009 but this didn't seem able to cut it either. The answer instead became to take one of the album's ballads, I Need You Now and give it the remix treatment.
From the string intro at the start it was pretty evident that this one was going to be a winner. I instantly fell in love with it with Agnes' vocals sounding great (as usual) and the track seemed enough "Agnes" while still being unique enough from her previous hit. Initial reactions were mixed, however, and it was unsure how well the track would be received.
In the end, I Need You Now was basically a flop in the UK. Although reaching #6 on the UK Dance Charts, it only managed to reach #40 on the UK Singles Charts and also managed #24 in Poland. The surprise might be that in Sweden, Agnes managed to get another Top 10 hit with a digital release only and no physical single. Surely Sweden feels slightly forgotten as Agnes has been taking on the world and this was a bit of their appreciation for her.
Regardless of the performance of the song in the UK, I Need You Now was a huge song for me in 2009 and slides into the Top 5 ahead of the similarly "remixed for the UK market"-September. Enjoy a great video and the beautiful track in all its glory!
The Top 20 of 2009 - Agnes - I Need You Now (UK Radio Edit)
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