Representing Sweden: Pacific! – Number One
Pacific! are a male electro-pop duo (very 80s in sound) from my Swedish hometown of Gothenburg, and after their great song and video, Hot Lips, last year, I was excited to see the new one, which has the same director. Unbelievably, it’s even more authentically 80s than Hot Lips, but it’s not quite as good in my opinion, although if you liked the elaborate and stylish cartoon video of Hot Lips you’ll definitely enjoy this one too.
Representing the USA: OneRepublic – Stop & Stare
This has been around for a while, but it’s greatness has only recently hit me. I don’t have any interest in hearing their album, since the (at times) Coldplay-ish singing isn’t exactly my preference, but I am very impressed with the songwriting skills of Ryan Tedder, also responsible for Bleeding Love, Break Anotha (another big grower for me currently) and obviously Apologise. I’m definitely going to continue paying attention to his writing credits in the next few months, and hope he doesn’t run out of ideas. Who knew someone who sings like Chris Martin could have such great ideas for pop songs? The sound of this one reminds me a lot of Ross Copperman, a 2007 almost-ran who had a couple of fantastic songs.
Representing the UK: Girls Aloud – I Can’t Speak French
I can see the point of this video, that the song’s about speaking French (or not as the case may be) and therefore they’ve decided to dress as French maids, but it’s quite a slutty look, which isn’t really fitting since French girls are meant to be more subtly coquettish than outright tarts. There’s a hint of Marie Antoinette about it, which makes me think they would have been better to go down that much classier route, but I suppose this video will please the ‘lads’. Let’s just hope it doesn’t alienate their female fanbase, or worse, make them think that dressing like this is actually a good idea. Nicola, the supposed shy one, isn’t even wearing a skirt! Her hair looks pretty cool, though… (for the song!)