Representing the USA and Norway: Meatloaf and Marion Raven – It’s All Coming Back To Me Now
Well, I can’t say this duet was something I expected to happen in 2006 and Meatloaf singing a song more recently made famous by Celine Dion certainly doesn’t sound like something to be excited about, although I can get excited about most things involving Scandinavian pop singers. I have to admit that I do really love this song. I’m not a Celine fan of any sort, but her version is a real top quality power ballad with plenty of room for fists of pure emotion. This one would of course be loads better if it was just Marion singing but I’m happy if it means she gets famous enough to release Break You and prove once and for all that Kelly Clarkson is quite unnecessary on planet pop when you have the likes of Marion, Fefe, Lilyjets and the Veronicas.
Representing Ukraine: Leona – Argumentation
If you’re a t.A.T.u fan you must give this a viewing cos not only does Leona sound like Lena and Yulia but the video even has snooty old people, school uniform and a wire fence in it! Leona is only 17 and writes her own songs. This one was originally in Ukranian (or Russian? Not sure) and called Argumenty. The video is fun, as Leona flirts with a new teacher then when he rejects her pretends he raped her and at the end drives off with a silver case which I didn’t quite work out the purpose of but I’m sure it all makes sense to Ukranians. Her next single will be Zabolea Toboy, but I’ve no idea what that means in English, and it doesn’t have a video yet but after this one I look forward to seeing it.
Representing Poland: Blog 27 – Wid Out Ya
I bought the Blog 27 album when in Germany last week and I must say I really love it. Their style takes some getting used to and I’ve not seen many positive reviews among my fellow internet pop pundits but I found that once I’d listened to a few songs in a row I was really enjoying them, because they have some fantastic pop music on the album. The quality is quite consistent and this is one of the songs which I was very unsure about on first listen (which was actually a while ago when we reviewed it on Stylus and it has since spent 4 weeks atop the Polish charts) but in the context of the album it’s as great as all the others, in fact I now love it. I wanted to love Blog 27 and at first I found it kind of difficult but now I do genuinely think they’re brilliant and I hope others will see the light like I did! Their next song will be Still Don’t Know Ya which is also fab.