Taste this kiss or just walk away

Dub Sweden – We’re So Loud
Do you know who Jenny Wilson is? Both Blow Up Doll and Fluxblog has posted songs by her, or you might also have seen her when she did a duet with almighty Robyn a while ago. Well Jenny has a little sister who is one of the members of a band called Dub Sweden. Whose new single ‘We’re So Loud’ is amazing! It’s danceable and melodic electro-pop with a touch of indie. Very good indeed. Dub Sweden formed back in 1999 but didn’t commercially release an album until 2003, which was a bit mediocre, only including one good song. But I’ve heard a couple of songs off the new album and they’ve definitely improved since! Just listen to this song and hear for yourself.

Bonus: Old House – the only good song off the first Dub Sweden-album.

Alice In Videoland – Radiosong
‘Radiosong’ is the third single release from the great Alice In Videoland’s latest album. It’s a heavy electro-anthem with angry lyrics and strong production, like ehm, every other Alice In Videoland-song. If you’re a fan of this song I suggest you buy their brilliant album on this or this site. It includes a couple of real stormers, ‘Emily’ and ‘Stuck On My Vision’ being my favourites.

CTOS Classic: Stakka Bo – Killer (2001)
You might recognize Stakka’s name since they had a world-wide hit back in 1993 with ‘Here We Go’. Here in Sweden they’re a well-known duo, that have released several albums which all have sold respectably well. This song is from their latest, and probably last album “Jr” from 2001, and it’s a great song. I remember listening to it constantly when it was popular since we only had a modem at the time and I didn’t have that many mp3’s. It failed to do well in the charts, peaking at #34, but became a big radio hit. It’s a grower, so give it a few listens and I’m sure you’ll love it. One half of Stakka, called Johan Renck, is now making/directing music videos. Examples of his recent works are ‘Hung Up’ by Madonna and ‘Tripping’ by Robbie Williams.

posted by Chrille @ 2/26/2006 1 comments

Don't bore us.. get to the chorus!

Without ABBA, Roxette and Ace of Base I doubt there would have been any great interest in Swedish music today. These bands delivered/deliver pure, brilliant pop in all its glory. I feel it's time we reminded everyone how it all started.

ABBA had their big breakthrough in 1974, when they won the Eurovision Song Contest with "Waterloo". They brought pop into the contest, and the contest became more popular the following years. Today ABBA is one of the biggest popgroups ever, something each Swede is highly proud of.

Enjoy pop at its finest moments!

The Winner Takes It All
Anyone who doesn't agree with me when I say this is the ultimate popballad, every songwriter would have wanted to compose, should put a bag over his head. This is one of ABBA's most amazing songs, with fantastic vocals by Agnetha. I almost cry every time I hear this!

Slipping Through My Fingers
Yet another ballad (sorry), but I love this too much not to share with everyone. It's featured on their last album, which also is one of their best - if not THE best.

Over to...
















ROXETTE's single "The Look" made them famous all over the place, in 1989. And followed up with the platinum-album "Joyride" in 1991. Since then they've been topping the charts, doing big world tours, selling 45 million albums, 25 million singles.. Quite impressive for a Swedish band! I recommend you all to get "The Pop Hits" and "The Ballad Hits", which are two great compilations of their greatest tracks.
Released in 2002 and 2003.

Sleeping In My Car
This is the perfect pop/rock-track that you can't resist to sing along to. At least I can't.

Milk And Toast And Honey
One of Roxette's newer songs, released in 2001. A beautiful ballad, one of their very best ballads. I don't know whether this was released everywhere or not. If you've missed it, here's a chance to hear it.

And finally...

ACE OF BASE still hold the world-record of selling 23 million copies of their debut-album. They topped the charts with tracks such as "The Sign", "All That She Wants", "Lucky Love" etc. They've released five albums (one GH included) to date, their last one was released in 2002. And a new one is expected later this year. Or maybe next year. We'll see!

posted by Alexander @ 2/23/2006 6 comments

Cheese factor 10!

Ann Winsborn – Smile
Here at CTOS we heart Ann Winsborn. Very much, actually. And we probably won’t stop raving about her until you guys have understood what a brilliant popstar she is. Her latest album “Pink Collar Crime” was the best bubblegum pop album of last year, being pure pop perfection. ‘Smile’ is just one of the many great songs on there, but I chose it because it’s extremely poppy and happy – exactly the kind of song that I know you, the viewers, appreciate. It’s almost disgustingly cute, being about a crush, and includes the lines “like a thousands of butterflies has come alive inside of me” and “my heart fills with sunshine” – the perfect anthem for the spring with other words!

Mathias Holmgren – Ett Ljus För Dig
Long time since you heard a brilliantly crap pop song? Well then this is just what you need. ‘Ett Ljus För Dig’ is cheap, plastic and extremely gay. Kinda what Gareth Gates would sound like if he did euro-disco. If you recognize Mathias’ name it’s probably because he competed in Melodifestivalen last year, and like many other ace popstars from Sweden, is a former participant in Fame Factory. It’s overproduced, 80’s-ish, and includes a key-change – therefore quite ace! If you love this you should, like I did last week, definitely buy his poptastic album “Vägen Hem” here.

CTOS Classic: Fame – Like The Sun After The Rain
The debut album from the schlager/pop duo Fame is a hidden pop gem - it's highly underrated. There are some really good pop songs on there, ‘Like The Sun After The Rain’ being my favourite. It’s a lovely mid-tempo which was planned to be a single but strangely got cancelled and replaced by the not as good ‘The Way You Love Me’. You can’t really go wrong with a song like this once in a while!

Bonus: Om Du Var Här

There are some new links up to the right. Be sure to check them out. If you have a blog about pop music, leave a comment and we'll add you.

posted by Chrille @ 2/20/2006 5 comments

A nice bunch of songs!

Anders Johansson - Turn Around
Anders is back, again with a new ballad. This time a better one, if you ask me. It would have been perfect for any boyband but Anders is doing it great on his own too. Anders new album is due to be released this spring and aren't we all looking forward to it!

Sandra Oxenryd - All There Is
Sandra is currently one of my favourite female singers. Her debutalbum is great, and I've shared one or two tracks from that album here on CToS before. And now here's another one.
"All There Is" is a great piece of pop that was never released as a single, but then again, the album only had one single so I didn't expect much. But anyhow, I wish this would have been the second single because it's simply poptastic.

Bonus >>> Sandra will enter for Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens, with the song "Through My Window", another great poptrack for you.
Click here to download!

Sebastian Karlsson - Do What You're Told
This guy finished second in last year's Idol, and I'm glad he did. 'Cause Agnes was so much better. I'm not really a fan of this guy, actually. But I guess there has to be something for everyone to download here on this fantastic blog. ^^
I must admit though, that the song is rather nice.

Anna Sahlene - This Woman
Yesterday Sweden went schlagercrazy again. We had the first semi of Melodifestivalen 2006. Andreas Johnson and the wonderful Linda Bengtzing went through to the final, and poor Anna, yet again finished 5th and didn't even make it to the second chance.
Something she really deserved.
She did a great performance even with a baby kicking inside, and let's hope the song will be the hit it deserves to be.

Please leave a COMMENT. Or else this blog will close for good. HA!

posted by Alexander @ 2/19/2006 9 comments

Runnin' out of gaz

Swingfly – Something’s Got Me Started
I know this is supposed to be a popblog, but when a hip-hop song this good comes around I just can’t help but to post it. You probably recognize Swingfly’s “name” since he’s collaborated with Teddybears STHLM a couple of times, and rap/talks the intro on Robyn’s latest album. Well now he’s all on his own, and surprisingly enough he’s just as good! The production is quite innovative in the sense that it’s different from all hip-hop coming from the States at the moment, and the chorus is very catchy in a euro-pop kind of way. The producer behind this is Teddybears-member Klas Åhlund, who also wrote/produced most songs on Robyn’s last album.

Robyn – Do You Know (What It Takes) (Live in Lund 2005)
I haven’t been a fan of listening to live performances of music, and live cd’s have always seemed a bit pointless to me. At least until I got a hold of a recording by the Swedish radio station P3 of a concert with Robyn last year. Might be because I’ve actually seen a concert with her myself, which I consider the best concert I've ever been to, or maybe because she changes the songs quite a lot. This is a great electrified version of one of Robyn’s earlier hit songs, ‘Do You Know (What It Takes)’. She did this “transformation” to most of her old hits when I saw her live this summer, and her best re-work was of ‘Show Me Love’, but unfortunately she didn’t perform that song on her autumn tour in which this song was performed.

Bonus: Bum Like You (Live in Lund 2005) – This is a rockier version of my third favourite song on her latest album. It has to be a single, really. But the fourth single is ‘Crash And Burn Girl’ for those who didn’t know that. Weird choice since her first three singles were up-tempo’s too. Why isn’t any of her beautiful slower songs like Eclipse, this or Robot Boy released?

Bonus 2: Watch like half of the concert here. Scroll down a bit and click Robyn Live från Mejeriet. It also features some backstage footage!

CTOS Classic: Supernatural – Don’t Pop Me Down (2002)
This is a great pop gem from Sweden’s second popstar-group Supernatural. It’s trashy over-produced pop at its best, imagine a slightly poppier version of a Liberty X-song and there you have it. It also includes an amazing S.O.A.P.-ish rap-bit in the middle of the song. And, as Miss Dirrrty Pop once said; a song with the word ‘pop’ in the title is automatically brilliant.

Oh, and the Swedish Grammy’s recently took place and as always there were many pop acts who won. Some of our personal favourite popstars, actually:

· Bodies Without Organs: 1 (Best pop group) – they so deserved it, didn’t they!?
· Robyn: 3 (Album of the year, Best songwriter (along with Klas Åhlund), Best female) – once again she proves she’s the one and only Queen of Swedish Pop Music. I wasn’t too surprised she won so many. Plus – she wore some ace outfits at the awards (see above).
· Laleh: 3 (Artist of the year, Best newcomer, Best producer) - If you don’t know who Laleh is, don’t worry – she will be featured on here soon since she’s an amazing popstar!
· Darin: 2 (Song of the year for ‘Money For Nothing’ & Best ringtone) – I hope Darin realises there is a reason why ‘Money For Nothing’ won Song of the year and ‘Step Up’ didn’t. That’s is the kind of music you should do, Darin!! And a little note: I’m very disappointed in him as he won Song of the year and didn’t thank Robyn in his speech as she wrote the bloody song.
· September: 1 (Best dance) – no surprise as she owns the dancefloors! She should’ve been nominated in Album of the year and Song of the year too though.
· ABBA: 1 (Best music-dvd) – nice that they’re still winning Grammy’s after over 20 years since the split.

And I don’t understand how Björn Skifs (boring old man) could win over the likes of Nanne, Shirley Clamp and Mathias Holmgren in Best schlager. Also Amy Diamond was nominated in a few of the categories but unfortunately she didn’t win any.

You also have to read this article on us pop bloggers. Amazing! Etc.etc.

posted by Chrille @ 2/14/2006 0 comments

POP till you drop!

Artist: A*Teens
Song: Let Your Heart Do All The Talking
Year: 2003

The 4th and last single from their most poptastic album "New Arrival" - an album every popfan should have in his/hers collection. The song is a bit different from their other songs. It's funky but still as fun and catchy as it can get.

Artist: Da Buzz
Song: Alive (Guitar mix)
Year: 2003

This mix was featured on the "Alive"-single, and it's actually (almost) better than the original version.
I really like the guitars in this. I hope you will too!

Bonus: Da Buzz - One of Us (cover of one of ABBA's best songs imo)

Artist: Nanne
Song: Många Karlar, Lite Tid (Many men, little time)
Year: 2006

Ok, someone wanted music in Swedish. Here you go, NIELS! :-) You've probably already heard this though. It's Nanne's new single and one of the best from her latest album. Very schlagerdisco!

Artist: Charlotte Perrelli
Song: Behöver Dig Nu (Need you now)
Year: 2000

Charlotte is my all-time favourite Swedish singer. She's like my Queen, and it's about time I posted something by her. I've chosen the song "Behöver Dig Nu" (another one for you Niels ;-)).

Bonus: Charlotte Perrelli - Don't Wanna Let Go
(English version of "Behöver Dig Nu")

posted by Alexander @ 2/12/2006 4 comments

Sugar rush!

Anna S – Perfect Love
This song was previously posted on Alex’s last pop blog Catchy Tunes but for those who missed it here it is again. It’s written by the guys in Da Buzz, and is just as cute as her debut single ‘I Need You’ – if not even cuter. A perfect pop song by a perfect popstar. I can’t wait for her album to be released!

Carola Szücz – It Was You
This song competed in the Estonian pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest this year, though it was performed by the Swedish girl Carola Szücz. Swedes competing for Eurovision in Estonia is actually a quite common thing, Sandra Oxenryd (also the winner of last year’s Fame Factory) actually won this year with ‘Through My Window’, and previous years Swedish popgroup Charizma and the brilliant popstar Sahlene has participated. Though Sandra won I actually preferred this song - ‘It Was You’ is a great The Corrs-influed schlager track which I predict will be a hit here in Sweden too. Normally Carola, who also has competed in Fame Factory, make dire country-music but after a few flop-singles I hope she’s realised this type of music is what she should make.

CTOS Classic: Lucy Street – Pick Up The Phone (2000)
We posted a song called ‘Girl Next Door’ by this group a while ago, but ‘Pick Up The Phone’, which was their second single, is just as good. It’s one of those charming pop songs about low self esteem and how thing will turn out alright. Why did this group have to leave Pop Heaven!?

For more Swedish sugary pop music you should visit Into The Groove which has both the mp3 and video for the almighty Marie Serneholt’s (who officially is my new favourite pop star) amazing debut single.

posted by Chrille @ 2/10/2006 2 comments

We will rock you!

Artist: Itchycoo
Title: Crash Course In Love
Year: 2003
Click here to download!

I never really paid much attention to the Swedish duo, Itchycoo, until they entered Melodifestivalen in 2004. I thought their entry was brilliant and deserved a place in the final. However, perhaps I was the only one to think so.
"Crash Course In Love" is a brilliant track from their self-titled album, released in 2003.


Artist: StandFast
Title: Carcrashes
Year: 2001
Click here to download!

StandFast (pictured) released "Carcrashes" in 2001 and is their only hit to date. Yes, they flopped pretty badly. I'm afraid.
They were excellent though. Both were half-Swedish and half-English, funny enough. But as far as I know their music was only released in Sweden. It's a real shame they're not around anymore.


Artist: Frida Snell
Title: Lucky Day
Year: 2002
Click here to download!

I'm a huge fan of Frida. She's like one of the best things that has happened to Swedish musicbusiness ever. A very talented young woman who wrote most of her songs on her debut-album. It's been quiet around Frida since then. According to herself she's studying at the moment, but still writing music.


Artist: Ana Johnsson
Title: Life
Year: 2004
Click here to download!

Ana began her career in the Swedish Popstars-group Excellence. They had a few hit-records, but in 2003 Ana decided to go solo to continue success on her own. "Life" was Ana's second single and it's my favourite. You may have heard "We Are" - if you're a Spiderman-fan, that is. It was the theme to Spiderman 2.

posted by Alexander @ 2/09/2006 4 comments

They're back!

The "one hit wonders" are back, and this time with four (better?) songs.

Emilia - Supergirl
Okay, wanted to show a completely different side of Emilia. And 'Supergirl' is a great example of that. It's kinda pop-rnb, and it's really cool. Funky!

Eagle Eye Cherry feat. Neneh Cherry - Long Way Around
This is a duet Neneh recorded with Eagle Eye for his second album. A very nice one, actually. Not one of Neneh's most famous tracks, but still..

Meja - Spirits
Spirits is a great example of how good Meja really is .I prefer this song over ABTM. There is also a cool acoustic version of this. Might post that later! :-)

Rednex - Hold Me For A While
One of Rednex's most beautiful ballads. Sung even more beautifully by Mia Löfgren. This song is taken from their second album, which brought them success in Germany and the neighbouring countries.

posted by Alexander @ 2/06/2006 0 comments

This is the new pop in town!

The Whyte Seeds – Bold As Love
Our favourite song at the moment is this pretty amazing mid-tempo number by the Whyte Seeds, which is a rock band, but I still quite love them because 1) this song is bloody brilliant and 2) their new album cover (see left) looks like an A*Teens CD. ‘Bold As Love’ sounds like something you’d like Coldplay to record, fairly philosophic but very melodic, and beautiful. Imagine Melody Club travelling back to the 60’s to do an Eskobar-song and there you have it.

Da Buzz – Last Goodbye
Like you might’ve noticed Da Buzz are on my Top 10 of Swedish Pop-list to the right with their new single ‘Last Goodbye’, which is pretty damn good! It’s nice to have a group like Da Buzz around to release pure jolly pop music, as they haven’t changed their sound much at all since their debut in 2000, and their only mission seem to be to make great pop. The only “new” thing I can hear in this song is that the verses are slightly more electro, which can’t be anything but a good thing.

CTOS Classic: Dee – All The Way Up (2001)
This is the very poptastic debut single from Dee, who’s sung (actually mimed to Nana’s voice) with E-Type for around 10 years. It was a top 10-hit a few years ago, but the follow-up single flopped badly so unfortunately Dee didn’t get to release an album. That’s a huge shame, I mean just think about what a masterpiece it could’ve been if each song were in the same style as this song!?

posted by Chrille @ 2/05/2006 0 comments

Male electro-duos pt. 2

In countries like the U.K. and U.S.A. the picture of “credible” and “true” bands is normally four guys with dreadful dark hair and military jackets. I’d like to call electro-duos the Swedish answer to that, since Swedish music fans that are considering themselves 'indie' are loving them. And a group like The Tough Alliance (TTA) is perfect to demonstrate that. They’re loved by the critics, always perform at the hippest of indie clubs and are featured in the cool indie-magazines. Yet they, like every other electro-duo, do pure pop music with cheesy lyrics and joyful melodies.

TTA is probably the most important group coming from Gothenburg right now. When they released their first EP in the summer of 2004 critics went mental for them! At this day they’ve released two EP’s and one album at the pop record company Service, which also discovered acts like Cat5 and José Gonzales, but I’ve read that they’re about to sign to a bigger label.

They focus a lot on the beats and rhythms (they have a history as hiphoppers), though catchy melodies is just as important. Also the singer’s voice is very original. While I find them interesting I have friends who have refused to listen to TTA because their voices give them headaches.

Make It Happen – This is TTA’s debut single, and probably also my favourite song by them. It’s a very poppy tune. I can’t quite hear what they sing though.

Koka-Kola Veins – Apparently there is some “hidden message” in this song, but I choose to see it as a song about their love for Cola Cola (which was the original title), which makes the lyrics absolutely brilliant! I also love the “blah blah”-bit, and the French talky-bit in the beginning.

My Hood – I think this might be the first time I’ve heard the word “hood” used in a pop song, which shows the fact that TTA also enjoys hip-hop. It’s sublime, really. Download it.

Remember that these three songs are just some of the perfect pop tunes TTA have made. If you wanna hear more I recommend that you download ‘Keep It Pure’, ‘In The Kitchen’, ‘Holiday’ and their brilliant cover of 50 Cent, ‘Many Men’. Or buy their album here.

Another fun fact about TTA is that they're currently in a "fight" with The Sounds, who I featured here like a week ago. Members of The Sounds beat down a member of another brilliant electro-duo called The Embassy (soon to be featured on here) so bad he had to go to the hospital, and since TTA are friends with The Embassy they very recently published some not-so-friendly words about The Sounds. For example they decleared a Fatwa on Sounds, which is a religious thingy. Click here for their website.

posted by Chrille @ 2/03/2006 0 comments

Some things..

• Great news for you SwePop-fans in the states: The Ark’s masterpiece album ’State of the Ark’ will be released in the USA April 11th! Click here to read a really quite optimistic review for the album on the otherwise 99.9% indie-site Popmatters.

• Le Sport’s full-length album will be released mid-march, and they’ve recorded a duet with Cat5! The result of that can’t be anything other than brilliant, right!?

• Fluxblog has posted a song from the latest Sophie Rimheden-album. One of the weakest tracks on the album, but still. Also, Le Sport has posted their remix of a Rimheden-track on their blog.

• Hrnk!! You can download all performances from the P3 Guld-award show through torrents, if you know how to use those, on this brilliant blog.

• If you live in the UK, be sure to tune in 6 Mix on 6 Music this Sunday for an appearance of The Knife! Click here for more info on that.

• I was very pleased to read that the Norweigan group The First Cut, who was featured on Popjustice last year, has been signed. To my disappointment it turned out to be this bloody Norweigan band they were talking about. Are they really allowed to nick a name like that, even if the other First Cut (who actually were brilliant) are unsigned?

• It's exactly 16 days until Melodifestivalen starts! Guess who's excited!?

posted by Chrille @ 2/02/2006 2 comments

Huh, sucker!

If there's one thing Sweden is good at, it's making these irresistable worldwide one-hit-wonders. I've uploaded four today, and my next post will feature 4 other, less popular, songs by these one-hit-wonders.
First up is..

Emilia - Big Big World
Oh, yes. This is a real classic. Made it all over Europe, and well, Emilia deserved it. It's such a sweet, simple song with childish yet brilliant lyrics. It was a major success for Emilia and she never really topped this, I'm afraid.
You're welcome back any time, honey!

Neneh Cherry - Buffalo Stance
Neneh had a couple of other hits during the 90's, but I decided to post this anyway. It's such a funky track and this would get me up on the dancefloor anytime, doing some cool dancesteps! :D
And for those who didn't know, Neneh is the sister of Eagle Eye.

Meja - All 'bout the Money
I'm a big fan of Meja, and to me she isn't a one-hit-wonder, although this was her only song that climbed the charts all over Europe. Meja's had a pretty impressive and successful career in Asia, and it's actually said she has sold more records in Asia than Madonna and Michael Jackson. Pretty cool, eh!

Rednex - Cotton Eye Joe
This song really, really MADE IT everywhere. Even down under! I don't think there's one single person out there who hasn't heard this track. The single sold the amazing 4 millions and to date they have sold more than 10 million records.

I decided to stick with Rapidshare. Zshare is horrible. :S
Hope that's fine with everyone, if not, please leave another suggestion.

posted by Alexander @ 2/01/2006 4 comments