The month in pop: JANUARY

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Haven't had one of these for a while!

[Poll #1343375]

As ever, the definition of 'new' is fully open to interpretation. If it's new to you, that counts! Expanding your answer in the comments is warmly encouraged.

Swedish pop update

[poptasticuk.livejournal.com]

I have a few things to talk about, so I'll put the videos under a cut.

I just heard news that one of my favourite songs of last year, On and On by Agnes, is being played on UK music channels. It's an energetic yet emotional dance-pop song, written by Anders Hansson who writes for my beloved BWO and Alcazar, and even with that in mind I think it's one of the best things he has done. Agnes won the 2nd series of Idol in Sweden, and has been hugely successful. Before this she had an r'n'b style very much like Leona Lewis, but (perhaps not coincidentally) since Leona has been on the scene she's moved in a new direction, and although she had done a few good songs before, it is only with this new album that she has really won me over. It's great to hear a girl with a powerful voice singing dance-pop and really belting it out. Her most recent single, Release Me, is as good as On and On, if not better, so I'll post the videos for both.

( Agnes Carlsson - On and On & Release Me )

September is finally releasing a new single in the UK, and I'm very pleased to say that it is one of her past Swedish hits rather than a terrible new song a la Infernal. Any one of September's previous singles, and many of her album tracks, could have made a great follow-up to Cry For You. I hope this will be successful enough for her to release a few more of them. Satellites needs to be the summer hit of 2009. I'm not terribly impressed with the UK remix or the UK video for Can't Get Over (why change a perfectly good song and video? Not everyone in the UK dresses like it's still 1999, you know...) but the Swedish version is non-embeddable, so you're getting the UK one anyway! I've noticed that the UK version sounds more like Cry For You, which is surely a mistake as everyone will just think it's the same song. This is why pop acts should not be on dance labels!

( September - Can't Get Over )

And finally, something very different, so hopefully those who don't like dance-pop so much haven't stopped reading already. I personally think Adiam Dymott could be the next big thing to come out of Sweden. She looks like Estelle but sounds like The Donnas, only better. She's a protegée of Thomas Rusiak, who you may know from his work with Teddybears Sthlm, and you can defnitely hear his influence on Miss You too - as well as his vocals and guitar playing. There's something really interesting about Adiam and all of the songs by her that I've heard so far are top quality (I especially love Memory Loss) and also quite varied in sound. She's getting great feedback in Sweden and I will be shocked if word doesn't spread pretty quickly. There's something special about this one, I'm sure of it!

( Adiam Dymott - Miss You )