A blog that hopes to spread some of the music of Europe to North America. I'll try and share some of the "hidden gems" that deserve to be making a splash on this side of the ocean.
Laurentiu Duta is a music producer who has had a long career in the music industry in Romania. He was also part of the team working in Romania's entry at Eurovision in 2009, The Balkan Girls (they like to party like nobody, like nobody!)
Aside from a solo career, Bentu de Soli is a new project of his and its first release is Pearls of Summer. It sounds just like a lot of the music that we have been hearing out of Romania lately, but this shouldn't be taken to be a bad thing. At first listen, you will probably think of Stereo Love from Edward Maya which is continuing to blow up around the world - it's been at #1 in Sweden for several weeks and even made the top 20 in Canada!
This is a great song with the potential to build on the success of Stereo Love and become a hit of its own. It could just as easily fail to make any impression around the world either. We'll see if it makes it on the beaches of Mykonos this summer and if it isn't brought back to the rest of us by 2011!
Welcome to the year of Eric Saade in Sweden. As has been happening in North America recently, the former child television host has elevated himself to the level of mainstream pop star. It all started with his first single, Sleepless which was released in 2009 and continued well into 2010 with his participation in Melodifestivalen.
Eric finished 3rd overall with Manboy and the song spent two weeks at #1 in Sweden along with several others at #2 behind Anna Bergendahl. Of all of the Melodifestivalen entrants using the competition as the ramp up for their upcoming album releases, Eric's is likely the most anticipated. It's his first effort and Sweden (and Swedish pop fans elsewhere around the world) are highly anticipating the result.
So the result is in - and it's a pretty excellent one at that! There are the usual few ballads which are of course a bit of a waste of time, but alongside Sleepless and Manboy there are several other pop masterpieces. It's Gonna Rain is the standout track - with hints of Madonna's Hung Up in the verses and a bit more 'mature' sound than some of the other album's tracks. Regardless, it's worth the hype and has been worth the wait!
As for the appropriate clip to accompany this, without any new video, I figured a live performance might work. Eric did an orchestral version of Manboy at last week's Sommarkrysset in Stockholm, and also managed to sound quite good live as well. Have a look at Eric, the band, and his yellow pants.
Next up in the potential Eurovision hopefuls is the entry from Israel, who are being represented by Harel Skaat. He has been a star in Israel since he finished as the runner-up in their version of the Idol series in 2004. He has had much success in his run since being on the show, and in 2009 was named the second best male singer of the past decade in his country.
Initially, Harel had been chosen to represent Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2009, however, due to a lawsuit from his record company he was unable to record any new material. Without a decision well into 2009, he could not return to the studio in time to record a song to compete at Eurovision and a new choice was made.
It could very well be that it all happened for a reason and that 2010 could be the year for Harel. In a field of many ballads, Harel's song, Milim does stand out. Along with it being sung in Hebrew which will not be heard otherwise on the night, it is truly an epic-sounding ballad with beautiful orchestration that would be very well suited to the 'olden days' of live orchestras at Eurovision.
If I am being perfectly honest, the song was relatively underwhelming until I came across a remix of it. Although something is missing from the original, I might argue that some of the harshness of the foreign lyrics is taken away at the same time. Along with being one of the bookie favourites going into the finals, and obvious votes from the female (and some of the male) population across Europe, I am predicting a definite top 10 finish for Israel in 2010.
Kalomira is best known for representing Greece at the Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade in 2008 where she finished a very respectable 3rd place with the Eurotrash gem Secret Combination. If the song wasn't reeking of trash on its own, the stage performance amped it up even more and really was a top Eurovision highlight of the decade!
Back to Kalomira herself, she got her big break in 2004 on Fame Story 2, which is a combination of Idol meets Big Brother. Kalomira was born and raised in New York and thus she was not at all fluent in Greek which was a bit of a challenge for her being on a reality tv show. Despite this (or maybe even because of it), she managed to win over the Greek public and became the second winner of the reality show and has released singles and albums in Greece since.
After her successful effort at Eurovision, which might have seemed like the perfect time to capitalize on her fame, Kalomira returned back to New York and out of of the spotlight in Greece and Europe. Reports came in that she was engaged and for a good two years not much was heard except for an appearance or two on Greek television.
Come this May (right in time for Eurovision season!) Kalomira has returned with Please Don't Break My Heart which is reminiscent of Secret Combination in some ways although moving further into a rap/hip-hop sound and featuring the vocal talents of Fatman Scoop (a la Be Faithful also known as 'that song' you hear in clubs all the time with the 'chicken heads' line).
The track isn't really what you might have expected from Kalomira, but truth be told, it does get a bit catchy after a few listens. If only for her Eurovision performance, Kalomira deserves another chance at stardom and I welcome her back!
See below for a performance of Please Don't Break My Heart on Greece's version of Dancing with the Stars as well as her masterful Eurovision performance of 2008 and the respective songs as well.
After over two years of intense anticipation, Elin Lanto's second album, Love Made Me Do It, has been released in Sweden. In 2004, Elin received her first break in Sweden with her first (and only) #1 hit, I Won't Cry which was followed up by I Can Do It (Watch Me Now) which managed to peak at #4. Her 2005 album, One managed to reach only #25 on the album charts.
Fast forward to 2007 when Elin competed in Melodifestivalen with Money which almost reached the finals and managed a #16 on the Swedish charts. With lines like "show me what it takes to be a real rich bitch", and an overall super-pop vibe, it was obvious that Elin was moving away from her more melancholic ballad style to the world of the eurotrash.
Her 2008 releases lived up to, and super exceeded, the standard set by Money. My Favourite Pair of Jeans is literally a discussion of some of Elin's favourite articles of clothing while Speak and Spell was Elin's last taste of the top 10 reaching #9. All pale in comparison to Discotheque which is easily one of my favourite pop tracks of all time! Reminiscent of Kylie, but with the pop value amped up 100%, the track truly has it all and is one of those songs I'll be in love with for years.
Move to 2009 and 2010 and Elin has adopted a bit of a rock edge to her music. Still keeping the pop touch that runs in her Swedish blood, the tracks still have the elements that keep them stuck in your head for days at a time but with a harder edge. If I'm being totally honest, I'd rather things wouldn't have changed, but I can appreciate the versatility in Elin's style that these tracks show.
And, finally, the music history of Elin Lanto stands currently with her second album release. The album is a standout just based on all of the previously released singles discussed above, but there are some new tracks added in the mix as well. Funeral and Good Stuff are the additional standouts but if you don't already have any of the older tracks they are definite requirements if you consider yourself a fan of the europop genre.
Congrats to Elin, one of the underrated stars of the Swedish pop music scene, on the latest release. We need more like this! The recently released video to Elin's latest single, Tickles has been included below along with a link to the album.
Timoteij competed in Meodifestivalen 2010 with Kom which won the third semi-final (beating the likes of Darin, Alcazar, Elin Lanto and others). They managed a 5th place finish in the finals falling below Darin on the big night, however, despite this the group of four Swedish blondes managed to make their mark with Melodifestivalen with their first-ever track.
Kom made it all the way up to #2 on the Swedish Singles Charts which paved the way for the release of Längtan in May and a debut at #1 on the Swedish Album charts. No small feat for a group with no experience on the Swedish music scene.
Timoteij appear to be a version of a folk band with their instruments being at the forefront of their performance at Melodifestivalen, however, don't let this fool you! At the heart of their music truly is pure Swedish pop at its absolute finest. Track after track delivers a variant of the style of Kom while still remaining different in a way as well. A guest appearance by Eurovision 2009 winner, Alexander Rybak, is also featured. If you can handle an album completely in Swedish and are a fan of pop music you should fall in love with this one. Think the way an Ace of Base album managed to keep you interested from track to track but with violins.
Kom is probably the standout track of the album, although in my opinion, Glöm Mig and Feber are also strong contendors as well. See the memorable performance from Melodifestivalen below, as well as a link to the album.
As the winner of Melodifestivalen 2010 and Sweden's representative at Eurovision in Oslo in a few weeks, Anna Bergendahl went from relative obscurity in Sweden to being one of the biggest hits of 2010 so far. This was her first single since her appearance in Swedish Idol in 2008 where she finished fifth.
This is My Life reached #1 on the Swedish charts on March 5th in the first chart released after all of the Melodifestivalen songs were made available to the public (which also made it the odds-on favourite to win in the final). It stayed at #1 for 4 weeks and only dropped out of the top 10 for the first time this past Friday May 7 and still sits at #11. Her album Yours Sincerely was released this April and reached #1 in its first week as well. It just goes to show what Melodifestivalen can do for someone's career!
The song is really just about Anna's unique voice and is the kind of song that you'll probably either love or hate. The studio version definitely does her voice more justice (as it should) but the real difference comes with the remixes that have happened to appease the Eurovision-loving public who are all over that kind of thing. The Niclas Kings remix is the definite standout while the Kaveh Azizi remix sticks a bit more to the original song.
With Eurovision this year looking like it might be one of the worst in recent memory (save for maybe some voting drama to make it all a bit more exciting?) there still need to be some favourites and if only by default of being Swedish this is definitely one of my top 5. After hearing it enough times you really do kind of fall for her voice and just looking at her - it's kind of hard not to love her!
Check out videos of Anna performing the song live at Melodifestivalen and the remixes. All the best in Oslo!
Darin is one of the biggest names in music in Sweden and has been since his runner-up finish in Swedish Idol in 2004. His announcement that he would take part in Melodifestivalen 2010 got a lot of people excited as Darin seemed like the kind of artist that could have a shot at placing very well in Oslo.
When it was revealed Darin would be taking part with a "mid-tempo ballad", things didn't look as promising as many had hoped for Darin who has had most of his success with his typical pop sound. You're Out of My Life has cheesy ballad written all over it. If I'm being honest, along with not really loving Darin in this genre, this one certainly pales in comparison to some of his previous efforts, including Homeless (which was covered by Leona Lewis) and Everything But The Girl.
Nonetheless, Darin managed to progress to the finals and despite not winning his semi-final (finishing 2nd to Timoteij) managed to finish a respectable 4th overall. The song has done well on the Swedish Singles Charts, reaching a top spot of #3 and continuing to chart after 9 weeks. Melodifestivalen was most likely seen as a way to get Darin back in the spotlight before his upcoming album release and here's to hoping that this album is a bit more similar to what we're used to!
The remixes have just been released and do the song some justice. Check out the remixes below as well as a live video of Darin performing in the Melodifestivalen finals this March.
