I haven’t listened to Swedish radio in ages cos I’ve been so busy revising and doing exams and some less academic things, so I thought I would listen to the Swedish top 10 on http://sr.se/p3/topplistor/hitlistan/ and share my thoughts on it with you, my lovely readers!
1. Elias Feat Frans – Who’s Da’man
I’m not sure if this is supposed to be the male Amy Diamond or the Swedish Schnappi, but it’s nowhere near as good as the former and even worse than the latter.
30% Poptastic!
2. Ola – Rain
This was posted on Catchy Tunes of Sweden a while ago and I quite like it. It’s a boy ballad in the style of Westlife before they became really dull (eg. Fool Again, If I Let You Go). It’s not quite BSBs level but it’s a good effort. His full name is Ola Svensson, he’s 20 years old, looks a lot like Alex from The Calling and came 8th on last year’s Idol programme. How someone can fall like rain, I’m not exactly sure, but I wouldn’t mind meeting Ola to ask him!
67% Poptastic!
3. Basshunter – Boten Anna
This starts off sounding like it’s going to be quite good, but then it kicks in properly and is a dance track of the most rubbish kind – very disappointing.
36% Poptastic!
4. Richard Herrey – Hon Kom Till Mig
Richard Herrey was one of the 3 Mormon brothers who made up Eurovision winning group The Herreys, obviously hoping to be the next Osmonds, and famous for their nonsensically titled song Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley. This is a single from the first solo album Richard has ever released, but he probably should have stayed away from the recording studio because it is seriously one of the most boring songs ever made. It is extremely monotonous and doesn’t really go anywhere – avoid this at any cost!
20% Poptastic!
5. Tomas Ledin – Vi Är På Gång – Vm 2006
Tomas represented Sweden in Eurovision of 1980, so it’s a testament to the Swedes’ love of Eurovision that he can still have a top 10 hit at all – not even this year’s entrant could get one in this country! Tomas is now 54 so this energetic song is fairly impressive considering that, but it’s a bit shouty and not really very good.
35% Poptastic!
6. Gnarls Barkley – Crazy
Well, we all know this one. I still think it’s a great song even if I wouldn’t voluntarily listen to it now – that’s only cos there’s no need to.
90% Poptastic!
7. Shirley Clamp – När Kärleken Föds
Every fan of Swedish pop should know Shirley, if only for her ace Melodifestivalen entries and her creation of the amazing defintive version of Do They Know It’s Christmas. This new single is a cover of It Must Have Been Love by Roxette. I’m not sure if her whole new album is covers, but I know she has one if that interests any of you. This song sounds nice in Swedish, and Shirley, who chose her stage surname because she thought it sounded English, does a great job of singing it.
76% Poptastic!
8. Pimp Diddy – Casanova
Eminem should give up trying to make jokes and start rapping in Swedish instead, it’s much funnier and if it’s offensive no-one will know except the Swedes, who probably won’t mind. Or they’ll just set The Poodles on them and everything’s sorted. This is typical of tacky Euro-rap but you can actually almost dance to it, so I’d definitely trade this for 50 Cent without a moment’s thought.
32% Poptastic!
9. Lordi – Hard Rock Hallelujah
Another one we all know, and it’s no surprise the Swedes are liking this, with it belonging to their Moomin-creating neighbours. Maybe next year instead of people pretending to be dolphins, they’ll be dressed as Moomins! I’m excited already!
65% Poptastic!
10. Helena Paparizou – Mambo
This song has been around for ages but I guess it’s been given an extra boost by Helena’s fabulous Eurovision performance. I was so pleased she did this one because it’s one of my absolute favourite songs of the past year, and deserves to be huge. The Americans are lapping up Shakira’s Hips Don’t Lie, so someone should get them to listen to this – it’s Latino-pop that’s even better than Shakira’s song (which is ace anyway) and doesn’t have Wyclef Jean on it!
98% Poptastic!