I still remember the days when Westlife were untarnished. They’d made a few nice songs with people like Max Martin, Rami and Andreas Carlsson. They’d released a cover, but it was of an ABBA song, so at least they had good taste. However, it all went wrong very quickly and very severely. They did more… Continue reading What About Westlife?

Next month’s Capital FM Jingle Bell Ball has an amazing line-up, including the Backstreet Boys, Agnes, JLS, The Saturdays, Lady GaGa, The Veronicas, Taio Cruz and Jordin Sparks, among many others! To celebrate the event, Capital have given me a signed Jordin album to give away. If you’d like to win the signed CD, e-mail… Continue reading Jingle Bell Pop

I’ve got two tickets to give away for the following event: If you’d like to attend, e-mail poptasticuk@hotmail.com by Friday 4th December with your top 5 favourite things about Sweden. Make sure the subject of the e-mail is ‘Erik Hassle competition’. My favourite entries will win the tickets!

I went to see Taylor Swift on Monday and wrote a review for Londonist. I had quite a lot to say, so here is the unabridged version… Not since the days of the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party have we heard such loud, high-pitched screams as at Taylor Swift’s first ever UK arena gig at… Continue reading Taylor made for me

Today I was lucky enough to receive a copy of the JLS album, unimaginatively titled JLS, in the post to review. I wasn’t particularly excited about hearing it, but perhaps I should have been – there are some great pure pop boyband songs here. Even one that sounds like Ultra! After the disappointment of the… Continue reading If we’re just a song, I’m singing along

It’s been about 18 months now since I first wrote about The Pipettes’ new material, when I saw them perform one of their first gigs in the Gwenno, Ani and Anna line-up. Now, of course, they have another new member (Beth replaced Anna), and after about 8 months of gigging in this formation, they are… Continue reading Stop the music? I’d rather they didn’t!

Jadyn Maria ft. Katy Perry – A Man’s World (Listen)On paper (or screen, anyway!), Jadyn Maria sounds like a surefire success – collaborations with Katy Perry and Flo Rida, and a voice that sounds like a mixture of Miley Cyrus and Rihanna. She couldn’t be more ‘now’, and this new single is extremely poptastic. However,… Continue reading New Pop on the Block

Here are my top 30 favourite singles of October… 1. Darin feat Kat De Luna – Breathing Your Love (UK release)2. Darin – Viva La Vida3. Backstreet Boys – Bigger4. Britney Spears – 35. Kim-Lian & Linda Bengtzing – Not That Kinda Girl6. Lady Gaga – Bad Romance7. Mini Viva – I Wish8. Måns Zelmerlöw… Continue reading Top of the Poptastic!

I was hesitant to write about this here as I didn’t want to bring attention to the fact that the Alphabeat album has leaked, but I’m just too annoyed about the whole situation to keep quiet about it. Alphabeat have moved onto a new label, one that even has the same name as their biggest… Continue reading It’s happening in front of me

I like Adam Lambert as a person and think he’s very talented, but the style of music he sang on American Idol wasn’t really to my taste. Therefore, I was excited to hear he had ditched the rock star ambitions to work with such greats as Dr Luke, Max Martin and RedOne on his debut… Continue reading I need to be entertained