Monday 12 September 2011

Tove Styrke = just a bit brilliant, no?

18 year old Tove Styrke finished 3rd in Sweden's Idol 2009 and is already far far better than she should be considering her age. With a quirky electro sound that is closest to that of Robyn, it's interesting to put their early hits side by side. Robyn was releasing pre-Britney bubblegum pop and scoring worldwide hits with the likes of Show Me Love and Do You Know (What It Takes) at the age of 18, Tove meanwhile has bypassed that stage completely and gone straight down the contemporary Robyn route of magnificent top class melodic and often emotive electro pop.



Launching last year with the beat driven Million Pieces, it didn't take long until she unleashed her first pop monster - the glorious White Light Moment, probably my favourite Scandipop song since Agnes' Release Me, which is no mean feat considering that I'd place that inside my all time top ten. Her debut eponymous album was so accomplished that it sounded like something a respected artist might release four or five years into their career. The production was spot on and there was a lot of variety but only a few flashes of melodic brilliance, White Light Moment (why has this not been given a UK push yet? Radio 1 would surely lap it up?) being the standout.



Her profile though has remained high throughout the year with further singles. High & Low got a polish and a single release earlier in the year and more recently we've had two new singles, one which can be assumed to be the first from her second album, Call My Name, and then a collaboration with Caotico called (Fuck My) Brains Out. Both are thoroughly brilliant, slotting in behind White Light Moment as my 2nd and 3rd favourite things that she's done to date respectively, the former being a spunky electro singalong, the latter being a surprisingly charming and jolly collaboration, considering its lyrical content! Will she ever top her second single? It's hard to say as it's like asking if Lady Gaga will ever top Bad Romance. It's incredibly unlikely but the second album has the potential to be incredible looking at the evidence presented so far. Similar production to the debut but more big melodies and I'll be very happy indeed. Lets just hope that she didn't peak too soon because she has the makings of an international star.

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