Welcome to Poptastic Confessions! This blog is dedicated to glorious, unashamed alternative pop music! We hope to share new music with you that you might not have heard before because it is usually overlooked by the masses. Of course, we'll always encourage you to buy the music legally to support the artists. Enjoy! —Davearama, editor of Poptastic Confessions
About two weeks ago, Madonna released her second single from her M.D.N.A. album on iTunes. The song is called "Girl Gone Wild" and it is brilliant.
It's a provocative single cover, but you must admit, Madonna is in great shape and looks fabulous! I've been waiting for the video to post it here. I love the song, and I like it much more than her previous single "Give Me All Your Luvin'". However, I prefer the video to "Give Me All Your Lovin'" over the new video. Having said that, the video "Girl Gone Wild" has some great moments, especially the dance routines with Madonna and her male dancers, in high heels no less! The video also pays homage to previous Madonna videos ... "Vogue", "Erotica", "Justify My Love" and "Human Nature."
Melodifestivalen. What is it? It is Sweden's contest to see who represents their country in the Eurovision song contest. To learn more about those, click on the links.
And this year, Andreas from Alcazar entered with his song "Aldrig Aldrig." It didn't make it to the finals.
But this year, a female singer name Loreen won with a song called "Euphoria." Loreen will represent Sweden in the Eurovision song contest in May. I quite like it!
It is true that I can like other, non-poppy, non-bubblegum songs ... I present to you "Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye featuring Kimbra.
I came across this song on Facebook. A couple of friends overseas were posting this online. Even a friend from Canada posted a remix on my Facebook wall. So last night, I thought I'd click on the video since it was in my news feed again. At first, I wasn't sure what to think about the song. I think I might have only kept watching because there was a somewhat naked man on the screen! OK, the music was a bit whimsical. And then the chorus came. Hello! To my listening ears, he was channeling Sting! And then a female singer named Kimbra comes in later during the artsy video. After it was over, I wanted to watch again. That to me, is when I know I've found a song that I like. This is my poptastic confession ... I really like it. Enjoy!~
Oh my goodness, I've done it. I've gone and fell for a "Radio Disney" track! Well, I'm not 100% sure if it is "Radio Disney" as I don't listen to that! But I think it is. Yes folks, I love "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen.
A friend sent me the video, and I almost turned it off during the first verse. But then I thought, no I'll wait and hear the chorus. Wait ... What is this I heard? Strings? Glorious strings! (Or at least synths disguised as strings!) Was this an Alcazar track that disregarded? I had to listen again and again. Sadly, it's not a disregarded Alcazar song, but the strings do remind me of their hit "Headlines." So ... I bought the song on iTunes. I feel like such a teeny-bopper! Am I ashamed of liking a fun pop bubblegum song? Heck, no! Bring it on! I'm not sure if I will like anything else from Carly's repertoire ... but this is sugary sweet and I love it. The video is cute enough. I don't like the guitarist look on his face at the end. But oh well. Enjoy!~
The documentary does leave out quite a bit. After Jacquie joined the group, they had very successful Greatest Hits album in 1988 as well as a world tour in 1989. The group also recorded the one and only studio album with Jacquie in 1991 called "Pop Life." It featured the amazing songs "Preacher Man", "Long Train Running" and "Tripping On Your Love." For the record, their next album as a duo "Please Yourself" in 1992 was NOT the Nana's third album as the documentary says. That was their sixth studio album! And it had two nice hits: "Movin' On" and "More, More, More" In 1995, Bananarama released a Eurodance album called "Ultra Violet" that had two singles that were pretty big club hits: "Every Shade Of Blue" and "Take Me To Your Heart" In 2001, they released an album in France only called "Exotica." It contained some remade versions of some of their earlier hits. In 2002, they had their 20th Anniversary Show at G-A-Y in London, where the Smash documentary ends. Yes, I was there! Front row, center stage! And I first met them back stage after the show! It was my teenage dream come true! They were all so nice!
Keren, Davearama, Sara and Siobhan!
In 2005, Bananarama came back with their "Drama" album which spawned the hits "Move In My Direction" and "Look On The Floor (Hypnotic Tango)" While promoting "Drama" in the US in 2006, I met Keren and Sara again in L.A. My husband and I met them at a CD signing in Long Beach. Keren and Sara saw me and said, "Hello Davearama! We recognize you from your Christmas cards!" We had a good laugh.
Keren, Davearama and Sara
We met up with them the next night at a gay nightclub in West Hollywood. They were signing autographs on stage and invited me to come up and sit with them.
Sitting on stage with Bananarama!
After the signing, they invited us out to go drinking with them! What a blast!
Davearama and Keren after a night of cocktails!
The duo's last album was "Viva" in 2009 with the singles "Love Comes" and "Love Don't Live Here" 2012 is Bananarama's 30th anniversary! Hard to believe. Their music has become the soundtrack of my life. Their music has seen me through middle school, high school, college, good times, bad times, heartbreaks, and I even danced to Bananarama at my wedding. I truly hope that there is more to come from this wonderful group that have brought me so much joy! Long live Bananarama! Cheers then, —Davearama P.S. Read my interviews with Bananarama here .... Interview with Keren Interview with Sara Interview with Jacquie
As you might know from reading this blog, I love the Swedish group Le Kid! I reviewed their debut album last year here on the blog. And "America" and "We Are The Drums" came in my Top 20 of 2011. And in January, they released a single in Denmark called "Human Behaviour." That song still hasn't been released anywhere else (that I know of). There have been a few posts lately on Le Kid's official website. They recently had a new photo shoot, and just yesterday I read on their Facebook page that they are shooting a music video. I wondered if it might be for "Human Behaviour."
However, today I turned to one of my favourite websites, Scandipop! And they had news of a new song by Le Kid called "Superficial." Apparently the song is with another artist called "mi lajki." The song is quite different from their peppy debut. It's sort of a dark, downtempo, electro piece with a haunting melody. I love it! I'm not sure what this is ... a teaser video? Anyhoo ... here it is ...
Hello Poptastic Readers, We have changed our name to Poptastic Confessions! WOOOOO! Yes, the name of the blog has changed. If this is your first time visiting, the blog's URL used to be ...
http://davearama.blogspot.com <---No longer works! Now the URL is ...
http://poptasticconfessions.blogspot.com Be sure to bookmark it! Why the change? Davearama said, "I wanted the blog to have a name like some of my other favourite music sites. Like PopJustice and Scandipop. Before, it was just Davearama's Guide to Poptastic Music. Now, you just refer to the blog as Poptastic Confessions." In the coming year, Sausi O'Sullivan will also be contributing. If you would like to be a contributor to the blog, just let us know. Poptastic Confessions will continue to promote the music that we love. Hopefully, we'll have some more interviews with pop stars. Until then, enjoy the new name! Cheers then, —Davearama & Sausi O'Sullivan
