I 'discovered' Pixie Lott in 2008 via her MySpace page (remember that!). The page had only had a couple of thousand views and I assumed that she was another musical nobody that I'd stumbled across accidentally. Nevertheless, I loved the demos on the page, especially Boys & Girls and to a lesser extent Mama Do. A year later, said demos had been spruced up and both songs went to No.1 in the UK, much to my surprise as we hadn't had a no bells and whistles British female pop star like that since the days of Billie Piper, Louise and Martine McCutcheon in the late 90s/early 00s. Pixie brought simple fun generic pop back to the teen masses of the UK and she went down a storm on radio, especially with her ballad Cry Me Out and her third chart topper, All About Tonight in 2010. With Pixie absent from the music scene for a while now, her last top ten hits, Kiss The Stars and Bright Lights, coming a year ago, there's a gap in the market for a pure pop female star. So here are three of the main contenders;
Tich
Young Northampton singer Tich has already supported Pixie Lott, and others, on tour and it's easy to see why she was picked, they have a lot of similarities, vocally and musically. I listened to a couple of clips of her songs at the start of December and pre-ordered her EP on iTunes straight away. Her highlight thus far is the string laden piano ballad Breathe In, Breathe Out. The EP managed to go top 20 on iTunes when released which bodes well for her future releases considering a certain Ed Sheeran was in the same position this time two years ago before making it huge six months later. She just needs her 'The A Team' to come along and Tich is all set!
Gabrielle Aplin
Wiltshire born 20 year old singer Gabrielle Aplin has already matched Pixie's career opening with her debut major single, The Power Of Love, hitting No.1 in the UK! Not entirely similar musically, Gabrielle's music is far more piano ballad than Pixie's, they nevertheless both represent young British females that have come out of nowhere topping the charts! The Power Of Love's success was of course down to it featuring on the John Lewis Christmas advert so it will be interesting to see how her follow up single, the sweet acoustic ballad Please Don't Say You Love Me, will do when released next month. Gabrielle has been on the scene for quite a few years now and only just finally broken through, with previous EP's - Acoustic, Never Fade and Home, not particularly catching on. Here's hoping that John Lewis have turned her fortunes around and that her debut album, English Rain, can be a major success for the rising talent!
Miriam Bryant
This is technically cheating because Miriam is Swedish but the 21 year old singer is definitely a contender for 'nu Pixie Lott' if she ever manages to break out of her home country. Named by Sweden's biggest newspaper, Aftonbladet, as the #1 artist to watch during 2013, Miriam's star is rising very quickly. She first came to my attention with the decent Finders Keepers last year but new single Push Play is far better. A great pop song with a brilliant post-chorus instrumental, try to imagine Pixie NOT singing this. It's like it was written for Miss Lott. Quick Pixie, steal this song and use it to launch album number three before Miriam beats you to it and smashes worldwide with this infectious pop gem!
Overall, it seems like all three of these artists could have varying degrees of success this year. I'm not sure if any will reach the dizzy heights of Pixie's career peak, who knows, maybe she'll return herself and bag herself a fourth UK No.1? Stranger things have happened!
Swedish songstress Frida Sundemo has been on my radar for a while now with each song of hers that I hear getting better and better. The punchy pop of Indigo was a treat for the end of 2012 but she's back with what is easily my favourite song of 2013 thus far, and enitrely suitable for the current weather. It's Snow!
A glistening wintery electropop song, it's all very Robyn in atmosphere, Frida's sweet vocal style also reminiscent of the Scandinavian superstar. Snow starts well with excellent verses but it's the chorus where it first starts to excel, the melody progression right at the end of the chorus is excellent, as are the stuttering vocal production techniques that she employs post-chorus which are perfectly in sync with the backing track. The glorious music and Frida's emotive vocals make the middle eight something equally special before it all thunders back to that chorus, some excellently intertwined male ad-libs and then a stunning finish where that amazing melody finally lays to rest. Everything about this song is perfect.
As promised, with a few hours of 2012
left to go, here are my favourite 100 songs of the year!
100. Flo Rida feat Sia - Wild Ones
99. Tone Damli - Look Back
98. One Direction - One Thing
97. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti -
Only In My Dreams
96. Whigfield - As I Go
95. Alanis Morrissette - Guardian
94. Nelly Furtado - Big Hoops (Bigger
The Better)
93. Pastora Soler - Quédate Conmigo
92. Rihanna - Diamonds
91. Rumer - P.F. Sloan
90. Avicii feat Salem Al Fakir -
Silhouettes
89. Darin - Nobody Knows
88. Delta Goodrem - Uncovered
87. Calvin Harris feat Tinie Tempah -
Drinking From The Bottle
86. Rihanna feat Mikky Ekko - Stay
85. One Direction - Little Things
84. Nora Foss Al-Jabri - Somewhere
Beautiful
83. Loreen - Crying Out Your Name
82. Nina Zilli - L'Amore E' Femmina
81. Emeli Sandé - Next To Me
80. Calvin Harris feat Ne-Yo - Let's Go
79. Usher - Climax
78. Brooke Duff - Till The End
77. Kylie Minogue - Timebomb
76. Timoteij - Stormande Hav
75. Jessie Ware - Night Light
74. Lana Del Rey - Born To Die
73. Mando Diao - Strövtåg I Hembygden
72. Katy Perry - Wide Awake
71. Marigold - You & I Know
70. Ria - The One
69. Adele - Skyfall
68. Elisa's - Linjen I Min Hand
67. Jenny Langlo - Million Dollar Signs
66. Minnie-Oh - You & I
65. Frida Amundsen - Rush
64. Petra Marklund - Handerna Mot
Himlen
63. Tooji - Stay
62. Jennifer Lopez feat Pitbull - Dance
Again
61. Olly Murs feat Flo Rida -
Troublemaker
60. Florence + The Machine - Spectrum
(Say My Name) (Calvin Harris Remix)
59. Gossling - Wild Love
58. Gusttavo Lima - Balada (Tchê
Tcherere Tchê Tchê)
57. Still Corners - Fireflies
56. Of Monsters & Men - Little
Talks
55. Girls Aloud - Beautiful Cause You
Love Me
54. Christina Aguilera - Your Body
53. Freja Loeb - Never Stop Coming Back
52. The Justice Collective - He Ain't
Heavy, He's My Brother
51. Nicki Minaj - Starships
50. Nicki Minaj - Pound The Alarm
49. Train - 50 Ways To Say Goodbye
48. Little Mix - Wings
47. Charlotte Perrelli - The Girl
46. Ivi Adamou - La La Love
45. No Doubt - Settle Down
44. fun. feat Janelle Monae - We Are
Young
43. Engelbert Humperdinck - Love Will
Set You Free
42. Laleh - Some Die Young
41. One Direction - I Would
40. Nádine - I Will Be Strong
39. Steps - Light Up The World
38. Mr Little Jeans - Runaway
37. Michel Teló - Ai Se Eu Te Pego
(Nossa Nossa)
36. Taylor Swift - I Knew You Were
Trouble.
35. Kelly Clarkson - Stronger (What
Doesn't Kill You)
34. Loreen - My Heart Is Refusing Me
33. Skylar Grey feat Eminem - C'mon Let
Me Ride
32. David Guetta feat Sia - She Wolf
(Falling To Pieces)
31. Cheryl - Call My Name
30. Robbie Williams - Candy
29. Cover Drive - Twilight
28. Chris Brown - Don't Wake Me Up
27. Saint Etienne - Over The Border
26. Mandinga - Zaleilah
25. Sam & The Womp - Bom Bom
24. Labrinth feat Emeli Sandé -
Beneath Your Beautiful
23. Christina Aguilera feat Blake
Shelton - Just A Fool
22. Delta Goodrem - Dancing With A
Broken Heart
21. Danny Saucedo - Amazing
20. Maroon 5 feat Wiz Khalifa -
Payphone
19. Björn Ranelid feat Sara Li -
Mirakel
18. Whigfield - 4Ever
17. Haloo Helsinki! - Maailman Toisella
Puolen
16. PSY - Gangnam Style
15. Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe
14. Agnes - One Last Time
13. Girls Aloud - Something New
12. Delta Goodrem - Sitting On Top Of
The World
11. ATB feat Ramona Nerra - Never Give
Up
10. David Guetta feat Sia - Titanium
9. Swedish House Mafia feat John Martin
- Don't You Worry Child
8. Prance Faris - Flares
7. Delta Goodrem - Wish You Were Here
6. Taylor Swift - We Are Never Ever
Getting Back Together
5. Rae Morris - Don't Go
4. Gotye feat Kimbra - Somebody That I
Used To Know
3. Delta Goodrem - Hunters And The
Wolves
2. Owl City & Carly Rae Jepsen
- Good Time
1. Loreen - Euphoria
Words will fail to express how much I
love Euphoria but I'll give it a go. Pre-Euphoria I was a bit of a
Loreen doubter, I liked both My Heart Is Refusing Me and Sober, but
both had felt slightly unsubstantial in some way, I sensed that
Loreen had more to give, she seemed like such a unique performer.
Fast forward to Melodifestivalen 2012 and the fact that she'd decided
to return already suggested that she knew she'd found something good,
a reason worth coming back for. The first time I heard the song in
full was her Melodifestivalen semi-final performance. I was
absolutely blown away by the song and her unusual performance and the
studio version confirmed to me that this song was incredibly special.
It beat early hot favourite Danny Saucedo to win Melodifestivalen
2012 and two months later swept to a highly convincing Eurovision
victory for Sweden.
The day after the contest Euphoria
raced to #1 on iTunes across the continent, including in the
Eurovision-phobic UK, where it settled for a #3 debut and peak
officially. It was a mammoth hit across Europe and has put Loreen's
name well and truly on the map. After her brilliant debut album Heal,
I'm intrigued to see what she will do next! For me this song has
never got boring, I've played it a ridiculous 300+ times according to
my iTunes playcounts, five times as much as I've played any other
song this year, I'll never tire of hearing that pounding siren intro
leading into the melancholy brooding beat of the verses and the
literal Euphoria of the chorus. The immense dance production laden
with sweeping strings and the winding down to the minimalistic middle
eight before crashing back into the incredible chorus and the
thundering finish. Everything about the song is perfection.
Elsewhere in the top ten, the feel good
summer anthem Good Time by shock non one hit wonders Owl City and
Carly Rae Jepsen is my second favourite song of the year, Delta
Goodrem manages two entries with the Tori Amos like drama of Hunters
& The Wolves and the beautiful ballad Wish You Were Here,
whilst Blackpool singer Rae Morris' own piano ballad Don't Go is at
#5, just behind Gotye and Kimbra's worldwide chart topping smash duet
Somebody That I Used To Know. Taylor Swift's country pop hit We Are
Never Ever Getting Back Together is #6 and a trio of dance anthems
round off the top ten. Flares by unknown Swedish dance producer
Prance Faris, Don't You Worry Child, the amazing farewell single from
Swedish House Mafia and Titanium the fantastic UK #1 from French DJ
David Guetta and Australian singer Sia. It's been a pretty great year
for music, singles especially with other modern classics in my top
100 including Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe (#15), PSY's Gangnam
Style (#16), fun.'s We Are Young (#44) and Nicki Minaj's Starships
(#51) amongst many many others!
Kicking off my end of year countdowns, here is my top 40 favourite albums of 2012, the top 100 singles will follow in the next few days! 40. Elton John vs. Pnau - Good Morning To The Night 39. Alanis Morissette - Havoc and Bright Lights 38. Kelly Clarkson - Greatest Hits - Chapter One 37. Cascada - It's Christmas Time 36. Ellie Goulding - Halcyon 35. Kylie Minogue - The Abbey Road Sessions 34. Jennifer Lopez - Dance Again...The Hits 33. Gotye - Making Mirrors 32. Charlotte Perrelli - The Girl 31. Carrie Underwood - Blown Away 30. Lucy Spraggan - Top Room At The Zoo 29. Nádine - Christmas In South Africa 28. Ke$ha - Warrior 27. Leona Lewis - Glassheart 26. Rihanna - Unaplologetic 25. Cheryl - A Million Lights 24. Girls Aloud - Ten 23. Little Mix - DNA 22. One Direction - Take Me Home 21. Mika - The Origin Of Love 20. Train - California 37 19. Christina Aguilera - Lotus 18. Taylor Swift - Red 17. Jessie Ware - Devotion 16. Nelly Furtado - The Spirit Indestructible 15. Timoteij - Tabu 14. Ed Sheeran - + 13. Madonna - MDNA 12. Maroon 5 - Overexposed 11. Carly Rae Jepsen - Kiss ---------------------------------- 10. Missy Higgins - The Ol' Razzle Dazzle
Highlights: Temporary Love, Set Me On Fire, Unashamed Desire, Hello Hello, Everyone's Waiting
9. Nicki Minaj - Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded
Highlights: Pound The Alarm, Starships, Young Forever, Va Va Voom, Marilyn Monroe, Whip It, Beez In The Trap, Right By My Side
8. Loreen - Heal
Highlights: Euphoria, My Heart Is Refusing Me, Crying Out Your Name, In My Head, Everytime, If She's The One
7. Agnes - Veritas
Highlights: One Last Time, Human Touch, Loaded, All I Want Is You, Nothing Else Matters, Like God, Into The Sun
6. Tone Damli - Looking Back
Highlights: Butterflies, Stuck In My Head, No Way Out, I Love You, Imagine, Look Back
5. Kelly Clarkson - Stronger
Highlights: Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You), Mr Know It All, I Forgive You, Don't You Wanna Stay, Breaking Your Own Heart, Einstein, Let Me Down
4. Steps - The Ultimate Collection
Highlights: Last Thing On My Mind, One For Sorrow, It's The Way You Make Me Feel, Love's Got A Hold On My Heart, Heartbeat, Better Best Forgotten, Say You'll Be Mine
3. Lana Del Rey - Born To Die
Highlights: Video Games, Born To Die, Ride, National Anthem, Summertime Sadness, Off To The Races, Blue Jeans, Diet Mountain Dew
2. Emeli Sandé - Our Version Of Events
Highlights: Beneath Your Beautiful, Heaven, Mountains, Next To Me, My Kind Of Love, Where I Sleep, River, Read All About It (Part III)
1. Delta Goodrem - Child Of The Universe
Highlights: Hunters And The Wolves, Wish You Were Here, Sitting On Top Of The World, Dancing With A Broken Heart, Knocked Out, When My Stars Come Out, War On Love, Child Of The Universe
--------------
A mixture of brilliant debuts, disappointing (but still good) comebacks and improvements on previous eras define the bottom end of my year end top 40. Alanis Morissette, Carrie Underwood, Cheryl, One Direction, Mika, Train, Christina Aguilera, Taylor Swift, Timoteij, Madonna, Carly Rae Jepsen and Maroon 5 all came out with albums that I found better than their immediate predecessors. Ellie Goulding, Leona Lewis and Rihanna's previous efforts were all stronger but I still liked all three a lot. Some very promising debuts from Little Mix, Jessie Ware and Lucy Spraggan, great retrospectives from Girls Aloud, Kelly Clarkson and Jennifer Lopez and some excellent oddities from Elton John vs Pnau, Kylie Minogue, Cascada and Nádine. Special mention to The Spirit Indestructible by Nelly Furtado which shifted approximately 0.000000001% globally that her previous monster English album Loose did, but that's not to say that it deserved this fate - from start to finish it's excellent, especially all of the various collaborations on the album!
But kicking off the end of year top ten is the third album by Australian singer/songwriter Missy Higgins. She finished in my end of year top ten in both 2005 and 2007 with previous albums The Sound Of White and On A Clear Night and despite a five year break she certainly didn't disappoint this time around, her songs just as melodic and affecting as ever. Nicki Minaj's second album was far more to my tastes than her first, the 'pop half' especially and it finishes a respectable 9th for the year! Loreen's debut album Heal wasn't perhaps the 'best album ever' that many may have expected but it was still an amazing debut album. Loads of growers but sometimes that's the best way! Fellow former Swedish Idol contestant Agnes provided a slightly better album, the brilliant Veritas, a worthy follow up to the monster that was Dance Love Pop. Chock full of strings and great choruses, the only missing element from the album was the lack of the 2011 single Don't Go Breaking My Heart. And my favourite Scandipop album of 2012 comes from Norwegian singer Tone Damli with her first career retrospective. Looking Back really made me realise just how fantastic this woman is at exploiting the niche that she nicely fills - radio freindly string-laden MOR pop. A couple of duds on there from her early career but post (and including) Butterflies, everything has been glorious!
A couple of 2011 albums kick off the top five! The first is Kelly Clarkson's fifth studio album, Stronger. It was #20 in my 2011 end of year chart but continued to grow into the new year when I began to re-explore albums that I might have not fully realised the potential of/got lost in the Xmas rush! Far better than All I Ever Wanted, it was possibly my favourite Kelly album since the defining Breakaway, complete with two absolutely killer singles that gave her back to back top 3's in my singles chart for the first time since 2005! Reformed in 2011, Steps' Ultimate Collection finished 2011 inside my top ten albums but goes even higher this year and into the top five thanks my enduring love for this retrospective (far more than their new studio album which failed to register for my top 40 of the year!). Packed full of turn of the millennium classic pop, I still regularly listen to this great pop collection.
American chanteuse Lana Del Rey kicks off the top three of the year with her debut album Born To Die. An absolutely gorgeous, sometimes haunting, album full of sombre balladry and self pity, I absolutely adored this woman and this album during 2012! But not quite as much as I loved the ever over-exposed Emeli Sandé. The former guest singer on rap singles, she broke off into her own this year and became the biggest female solo artist since Adele! The beautiful Our Version Of Events is mostly a ballad heavy affair, save for Next To Me and Wonder from the repackage. But when the ballads are as great as Beneath Your Beautiful, Mountains, Read All About It (Part III), My Kind Of Love and River, it really doesn't matter. And then the great Massive Attack influenced sounds of Heaven and Daddy, it's like listening to a greatest hits album, even though it's her debut. She's had every promo slot going this year and would probably attend the opening of an envelope but it truly is one of my favourite albums of 2012 and I'm glad that people are hearing it and her stunning voice.
And onto the album of the year. After the slightly lacklustre Delta followed my two favourite albums of all time, Innocent Eyes and Mistaken Identity, I wondered if Miss Goodrem had lost her spark, or at least lost it in my eyes. After a huge five years away my favourite artist returned with Child Of The Universe. I fell in love instantly with the jolly comeback single Sitting On Top Of The World, the dancy Sophie B Hawkins soundalike Dancing With A Broken Heart, the gorgeous and emotional Wish You Were Here and the Tori Amos-esque stormer Hunters And The Wolves - Delta was back on top form. Add to this the jaunty country-tinged pop of Knocked Out, the Motown of When My Stars Come Out, the frantic drama of War Of Love and Child Of The Universe, the Mariah warbling of Safe To Believe and the Brian bashing Alcohol and it made for a stunning comeback. If you haven't heard this album I fully recommend it, I'm just praying for a UK release at this point!
Så Mycket Bättre is one of Sweden's most popular TV shows, with a premise so simple and obvious that not only is it astonishing that nobody thought of it before, but it's incredible that the format hasn't found its way across the world yet, and I wonder if it ever will. Translating as 'so much better', the show basically features seven popular Swedish artists each series, who in turn cover songs by each other, in their own unique style. The most popular breakthrough acts from the previous series' were September, already an international star with a UK top five hit, Cry For You, and quirky indie-pop singer/songwriter Laleh. September was undoubtedly so popular because whilst being known and pigeonholed as a dance act, the show gave her a platform to show off her live vocals and adaptability by performing in a different style each week. Her take on rapper Petter's Mikrofonkåt became the biggest hit of her career and she has since dropped the September moniker, releasing a recent Swedish #1 album under her birthname Petra Marklund, with a more radio pop/MOR sound than her September material. With near two million viewers a week, almost a quarter of Sweden's population, it's clear that the idea is a popular one and it's a wonder that it hasn't been picked up in the UK yet. Prime time music shows are few and far between these days, with only The X Factor particularly thriving, but Så Mycket Bättre is a novel idea that I really think that the UK might take to. The only problem would be persuading big names to sign up to it. Whilst Sweden enjoy some of their biggest stars performing each others hits - Darin, Miss Li, September and Lena Philipsson to name but a few - would anybody want to see Dane Bowers take on Lisa Scott-Lee's Electric or Kavana having a go at Javine's Real Things. But with the right names it could be a perfect launchpad for newly solo artists (Shane Filan?), a way to relaunch a career by being back in the public eye every week and showing everybody why we loved them in the first place (Leona Lewis?) or even a way for an already successful artist to show how grounded they are by leaving egos at the door to cover hits by other artists and reaping the rewards with critical praise and hit singles. Every performance on Så Mycket Bättre goes straight onto iTunes and many of the good ones go on to dominate the charts and radio playlists for months to come. What better a way for an artist to get back into the public eye than potentially scoring seven consecutive top five singles, and then putting an album out with public interest at a high. Imagine a potential line-up of Leona Lewis, Gary Barlow, Tinie Tempah, Shane Filan, Jamelia, Dido and Daniel Bedingfield, some may be long washed up but the novelty of seeing Tinie Tempah doing a rap version of Flying Without Wings or Dido taking on Pass Out would surely entice viewers. And who knows where the odd gem or surprise might surface from? Imagine Daniel Bedingfield wowing everybody with a raw stripped back take on Bleeding Love and having an instant but unlikely career revival!
A&R company Coopercasting and Sony Music are auditioning for new musical talent. They are looking for female singers aged 16-20 and auditions will be held in London throughout November. To be considered you can e-mail a photo with a vocal sample or video and your contact details to info@coopercasting.com For further info, see here; www.coopercasting.com / www.facebook.com/coopercasting
When Take That's Progress was released this time two years ago, everybody was raving over the bold new electro route that the group had gone down. It was felt to be the influence of the returning Robbie Williams. Robbie famously quit the band in 1995 and rejoined them four years after Gary, Mark, Howard and Jason had carved out a niche as Britian's biggest pop manband, releasing modern classics such as Patience, Shine and Rule The World. Quite unrecognisable from the cheesy boyband that they used to be, but no less successful. Robbie rejoined them, presumably because he had some unfinished business, and perhaps because his own career had been slowly dwindling since his solo heydey and utter chart domination of the late 90s/early 00s. He was slowly reintroduced to the fold via his Gary Barlow duet Shame, the lead single from his hits album In And Out Of Consciousness. That was a #2 hit and was duly followed a few weeks later by another #2 smash, Take That's The Flood. The Flood was quite unlike the rest of Progress, very anthemic and radio ready and sounding much like the output that the second incarnation of Take That had been putting out for the preceding few years.
The only other song on Progress that sounded even vaguely like the Take That responsible for Beautiful World and The Circus was the gorgeous album closer Eight Letters, which later went on to close the Progress Live tour. Robbie was apparently the driving force behind the album version of Eight Letters, even though writing credits show all five band members names. Gary sings the album version with the rest of the band on harmonies but Robbie has taken the song back for himself as his solo version of the track features on the deluxe edition of his new album Take The Crown. He sounds just as good on the track as Gary did and for my money it's a timeless song which deserves to be a modern classic in the vein of the aformentioned Take That singles.
As for the Barlow/Williams partnership, it looks set to be almost as fruitful as the famous songwriting partnership that Robbie used to have with Guy Chambers. The album's lead single, the catchy and cheeky Candy, is set to give the star his first UK #1 single since 2004's Radio. With a projected sale of around 120k, this to go along with his 80k+ opening for 2009 single Bodies and 230k opening for his last studio album, Reality Killed The Video Star, it seems that even a Robbie Williams 'flop' is more successful than any output from 95% of other artists!
