Everyone knows Lene Nystrøm, the beautiful lead singer of Danish bubblegum europop group Aqua whose song "
Barbie Girl" was a huge worldwide hit. After the group released two albums,
Aquarium in 1997 and
Aquarius in 2000, and countless hit singles (well, hits everywhere except North America, where "Barbie Girl" remains their only top ten song), they broke up in 2001, amid rumours of discord within the group, and diminishing sales. All of the members pursued other projects, with Lene being the most logical to pursue a solo career. Over the next couple of years she gathered together top producers and writers for her debut album. The producers included pop heavyweights like Brian Rawling, Xenomania, BAG & Arnthor and Bloodshy & Avant, and the writers included Kandi Burruss and Isle postees
Ruby Amanfu (on "Surprise") and
Stella Soleil. Lene obviously wanted to distance herself from the chirpy bubblegum sound of Aqua, which had pretty much worn thin by the end of their run. Instead she displayed her vocal prowess, lowering her register and slowing the beats down to sexier, more electro-inflected pop and even some rock. The song "Virgin Superstar" was released to radio, and it's success led to the proper release of her first single, "It's Your Duty". The song was an instant hit in her native Scandinavia, hitting #3 on the pop charts, no doubt aided by the sexy video. The next single was "Pretty Young Thing", a remake of the
Stella Soleil song which was also released as a single. As with Stella's version, it failed to hit (
Tina Cousins also recorded the
song in 2006 and had a minor hit with it, finally). The album also failed to hit in her native land, and was only given limited release in the rest of the world, with no release in the coveted US. Unfortunate, as it's a fun, solid pop album. Promos for "Here We Go" (a cover of the
Moonbaby track) and "Scream" were released but to no success and Lene was dropped from Polydor/Universal. After that she appeared on the song "I Love N.Y." on the album by husband and Aqua bandmate Søren Rasted's Lazyboy project, and she had success as a songwriter in 2006 when Girls Aloud recorded her songs "
No Good Advice" (which was a huge hit) and "
You Freak Me Out" for their debut album (they also later covered "
Here We Go" in 2004 and "
We Wanna Party" in 2008). In 2007, Aqua reformed to tour Denmark, which led to the release of a greatest hits album in 2009 that included three new songs, and a new album in 2011 entitled
Megalomania. Soon after Lene was enlisted to be a judge on the Danish edition of the singing competition The Voice, where she still holds court. (BTW, the album is available on iTunes in some of Europe and Amazon in the US if you are from there and want the best quality version of it. The rest of you will have to settle for this download for now. ;)
Video for
It's Your Duty
Video for
Pretty Young Thing
Download
Play With Me
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Virgin Superstar
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Pretty Young Thing
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It's Your Duty
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Play With Me
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Bad Coffee Day
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Here We Go
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Bite You
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Up In Smoke
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We Wanna Party
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Pants Up
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Surprise
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Scream
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Here is an act that I actually saw in person during their heyday - not performing, but signing the wall at Toronto's most celebrated record store, Sam The Record Man. Two gargantuan girls in brightly coloured knee-high boots and cowboy hats were kind of hard to miss. I didn't really know who they were, but I grabbed this CD for $1 years later and soon found out. The album was produced by a crew that were primarily known for making euro-house music. That's what I expected from this album. Instead, it sticks pretty closely to what the album title suggests. A man (African Al Agami) rhymes verses in a fake Jamaican accent while two ladies (Danes Mai Britt Grondahl & Grith Höifeldt) sing the choruses in often fake Spanish accents, while the music incorporates pop, latin, funk, ragga, hip hop, R&B and a host of other styles. The mix resulted in their first single, "No Tengo Dinero" (unfortunately not a cover of the Righeira italo disco classic), almost making it into the Billboard Top 40 and becoming a hit worldwide. Alas, a sound so unique and, yes, so cheesy would not leave much hope for a follow-up, and their subsequent singles "Gigolo", "Easy Come Easy Go" and a remake of The Cars' "Drive" (!?) did not fare near as well. But it was fun while it lasted!
S.O.A.P. were Danish sisters Heidi (born Suriyatim) & Saseline Sørensen. After releasing their debut album, Not Like Other Girls, in their native Denmark and achieving local success, they were chosen by Mariah Carey to be on her short-lived vanity label Crave. The teen pop scene was booming, and obviously Mariah (or more likely her 'people') thought S.O.A.P. were the next big thing. They released the album in North America with only the group's name as the title. The first single "This Is How We Party" made it onto the Billboard charts, but only to number 51. They also toured NA with the Backstreet Boys. But thanks to label turmoil and changing public tastes, no other single was released in NA, though "Ladidi Ladida" and "Stand By You" (also recorded by S Club 7) were released in Europe. Again, it's a huge shame that this group did not make it big, as this is one of my fave pop albums ever. The melodies are pop perfection, and the girls harmonies are gorgeous. There are excellent dance numbers, a la fellow Danes Aqua, and the ballads are fantastic (and I'm not usually a fan of ballads). Every song on the album is perfect, IMO, and I was so sad nothing more was released by the girls in North America. They released a follow-up album in 2000, Miracle, but only in Europe, and it fared OK, but not near as well as their debut, with only the first single "S.O.A.P. Is In The Air" hitting the Danish and Swedish charts.. They have recorded nothing together since, though there was talk that Saseline, now known as Line, was recording a solo album. She also hosted a dance music show in Denmark titled Boogie, and models and has a make-up line called Sasé. And I can find nothing solid on Heidi (though there is a former Playboy model and a Norwegian politician who have the same name and much more internet presence). I so wish these ladies would get back together and make my pop fantasies come true once again!
