My guess

Talk about being a bad blogger lately. But I just don't have anything interesting to say! I spend my days at kindergarten and really want to enjoy it to the fullest. I only have one week left there so after that I am sure that my blog will be up and running again. Meanwhile, the Eurovision Song Contest is just around the corner so I want to share my favourite songs with you guys. It's always fun to see if the rest of the world agrees with me when the votes comes in. And of course, it's always a bit different seeing the artists perform live. Sometimes they don't make the song justice at all and you get really disapointed.

Ivi Adamou - La la love
This lady has a real chance of winning. I bet that Cyprus will be competing against Sweden for the 1st and 2nd place!

Roman Lob - Standing still 
Germany are competing with a radio hit. I am very weak for these types of songs, but unfortunately don't think that the ESC audience will be very impressed. It's just not the right forum. My prediction is that it'll end up somewhere in the middle when all the votes has been casted.

Compact Disco - Sound of our hearts
After Michael Jackson's "Earth song" it's quite hard making a song about a world in trouble and need without failing completely. But Hungary's song truly grips a hold of you, so hopefully it'll end up in the top 10.

Gaitana - Be my guest
I usually aren't very fond of Donna Summer/Shirley Bassey wannabes. There are just too many ladies out there with great voices, who are wailing more than they sing. I thought this song was a bit messy at first, just too many things going on at once. But Gaitana from Ukraine makes me want to dance! All of that messy stuff just ends up being fun! I am hoping for a spot in the top 10 for this one too.

Buranovskiye Babushki - Party for everybody
Now this is probably the cutest thing that the Eurovision Song Contest has ever seen. Russia will easily be in the top 5 this year. Not only will this song be a summer hit, the performance also brought me to tears the first time I saw it. In the midst of all the glam, glitz and greatness... here stands six old ladies in their old fashioned dresses and shoes made out of straw. And they look so happy.

Loreen - Euphoria
For the first time in years I am sure that Sweden has a really good shot at winning the ESC. We are SO proud of Loreen. Not to mention the fact that she comes from my home town. Haha yeah, of course I have to brag about that. Her dancing, extraordinary singing voice and beautiful lyrics will capture anyone's heart. Sweden usually gets good grades from other countries when it comes to music. But this time people are ecstatic and it would be a real shame if she didn't end up in the top 2.

Familiar

 Guy:

I think I should know how to make love to something innocent without leaving my fingerprints out

L-O-V-E is just another word I never learned to pronounce

Cause I just set them up to knock them down

Girl:

You know that type of sh*t just don't work on me

Whistlin' and tryin' to flirt with me

Don't take it personally 'cause we were never in love

It doesn't really matter who you say you are

Singin' out the window of your car

Find another girl across the bar

'Cause L-O-V-E is not what this was

A brand new box of matches

You've been messin' where you shouldn't have been a messin'
You keep lying, when you oughta be truthin'
And you keep thinkin' that you´ll never get burnt.

Ha! I just found me a brand new box of matches
and what he knows, you ain't had time to learn.

Frauen regier'n die Welt

Most of you know that I am not only a rock n roll chick, I actually love most kinds of music. I never say that I don't like a certain genre because you always find some songs that appeals to you in every genre. It doesn't matter if it's screamo rock or a classical Beethoven track. I am extremely weak for music such as The Benny Goodman orchestra and The Chordettes.

So when Roger Cicero represented Germany in the ESC five years ago I fell head over heels...
To this day I am crazy about this guy's style, voice and choice of songs to perform. It's the mix of classy jazz and old fashion swing that I am simply crazy about. In high school I had to choose a language I wanted to learn and I just randomly picked German. When Roger competed in the ESC with the song "Frauen regier'n die Welt" I thought it was so cool that I could somewhat understand the lyrics. To this day I still remember every word by heart, just like I'd remember any pop song from my childhood. It has just stuck with me.

The whole song is great but everything that happens after 2:25 is like magic to me

Walk Off The Earth

I am almost two months behind on this. But tonight I discovered this fantastic video!!! Walk Off The Earth is a five-piece music phenomena that are just too good to ignore. Check out this brilliant 5-people-playing-one-guitar interpretation of Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know". Impressed? Of course you are.

Song Ananau

Had a really good time in London. It was like a mini-vacation. I had to have a couple of days with no stress, it did me good! Although after sleeping in a freezing room for three nights and then taking a power walk for several hours just to try and find a bar on a late Monday evening, I of course came home with a cold. Don't really have the strength right now to sum up my trip, so for now... enjoy this beautiful song.

Ananau, ananau nispaniwashkanky
ñuqallapiñam chay ñawiky.
Ananau, ananau nispaniwashkanky
wiñaypaqchum ñuqa qawasqaiky
May runallam kakuchkanky
kaycunallapy waqanaypaq.
Wañuptyqa ñakawanky
munanichu chay pasayta.

What a pain, what a pain, causes what you are telling me.
With your eyes above me.
What a pain, what a pain, causes what you are saying me.

Will I always see you?
What a man do you think I am?
That I cry in this place?
When I die, you would suffer.
But I dont want that to happen.

One perfect hip force at Sunset Boulevard

Few songs make me relax more than "San Fransisco (be sure to wear some flowers in your hair" by Scott Mckenzie. The first time I heard it was on a language trip I took to Malta in 2005. We danced the nights away to an upbeat version of it. It fits my mood even better now when I'm reading the book "Confessions of a groupie" by Pamela des Barres who was one of the flower power teenagers in the 60's. She describes with such wonderful details how free her life was back then, since not a lot of things were considered dangerous. People sat on the streets of Sunset Strip getting high, listening to groovy music and putting flowers in each others hair...

"Pandora's box, the ultimate rock club of the moment, was being torn down to make way for a wider road and a three-way turn signal, and WE, the patrons of the purple palace, were not going to stand for it. In fact, we sat down on Sunset Boulevard and wouldn't budge. I found something to believe in and was so proud of being on a mission to enlighten the world. I felt like I belonged, united with a thousand other kids, protesting what THEY were doing to US. At last I was surrounded by my own kind. I watched as gorgeous Hollywood boys overturned a bus, and I cheered on the offenders from my warm spot on the Sunset Boulevard blacktop. I gazed at Sonny and Cher, arms wrapped around each other, wearing matching polka-dot bell-bottoms and fake-fur vests, and realized we were all one perfect hip force with one big huge beating heart. I held hands with strangers and tried to recapture the moment before it had even passed." - Pamela des Barres

Samson

Your hair was long when we first met
Samson went back to bed
Not much hair left on his head
He ate a slice of wonder bread and went right back to bed
And history books forgot about us and the Bible didn't mention us
Not even once

You are my sweetest downfall
I loved you first

Trance - long time no see

As you could probably guess, trance music isn't exactly my cup of tea...
But I do enjoy some really good workout songs. And since I was a disco dancer before, I have some remixes that I like. Lately I have been watching workout videos on YouTube to motivate myself to get into the routine again. It's so easy being lazy after Christmas. In one of those videos there was someone working out in a gym and I heard this song playing in the background. It makes me want to do push-ups and go nuts on the dance floor again!

Michael the Great

It wasn't fair. You were supposed to live on and on...

I can not think of any other artist that has created this kind of a reaction out of an audience. And Michael did it all his life. He accepted this World Music Award (Diamond) right after the second accusation of being a child molester. He had been found non-guilty but was still being treated by some people like he was guilty. Despite of that he still had this support. That says it all about his greatness. Take a look at these beautiful tributes to him.

8:30

Michael's speech

4:40

One of my favourite 'Michael moments' when he walks out on stage and asks the kids in the choir to come with him. And they all raise him to the sky with their admiration.

A box of clouds

"May it be" in all honor, but my favourite Enya song is always going to be "Anywhere is". 

The lyrics are magical and so is the video ...

The moon upon the ocean
Is swept around in motion
But without ever knowing
The reason for its flowing
In motion on the ocean
The moon still keeps on moving
The waves still keep on waving
And I still keep on going

You go there you're gone forever
I go there I'll lose my way
If we stay here we're not together
Anywhere is

My heart

This song is always going to make me think of 2011

 
I'm so high
I could die

They're closing but no one cares
Going blind from all the lights
Mmm, this is worth dying for
I think my heart is bleeding

I know we could live tomorrow, but I live today

It's hard to describe Laleh. This Iranian-Swedish woman has the voice of an angel and a prescense that she takes from the bottom of her heart and gives to the audience. The gift that she has to enchant people with her music was the reason for why she got to make a soundtrack song for the Swedish movie "Arn - The Knight Templar". It took me a few years before I watched it, but now I have and I understand why it got so popular in 2007. Not only does Laleh's music bring the movie to life, but the story and the actors are brilliant!
The movie contains many different langugages, so anyone in the world can watch. With some help from subtitles of course..
"The Knight Templar" and the following movie "The Kingdom at Road's End" is the story about Arn Magnusson who is part of the powerful Folkkung dynasty in the mid 12th century. He is the son of a high-ranking Swedish nobleman who is educated in a monastery and sent to the Holy Land. This as a knight templar to do penance for forbidden love with Cecilia Algotsdotter.

When the city has snowed over, and the farm has become white
Then you know that I dream, I dream you here
Then you know that I exist, that I remain in you

I love you
As high as you hear

Movie soundtrack. Laleh - Snö (Snow)

Laleh's breakthrough hit here in Sweden

Ms Hill, you've got the power to uplift a hill

BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA......

That's how I feel. I am looking forward to Paris but I can't believe it's actually going to happen. Right now I am too focused on preschool and to get through the rest of the days without worrying about my friends. I just feel like I have been a bad friend lately, don't know what I am doing wrong though. As a result, it's hard to fix the problem. If there is one. It's those little comments I get from time to time. Or the unreplied messages... in other words, no comments at all. Whatever my opinon is, it feels wrong. Even though I've had it for quite some time now. I don't know what to do... every day when I come home from preschool I just want the afternoon and evening to go faster so that I can start all over again. At least I'll babysit the girls tomorrow evening. That'll take my mind off things.
I hate taking my mind off things though. Really hate it. When there is a problem I want to fix it immediately. I just don't know where to start now. So all I do is to walk around with this gut feeling that something isn't right.

The only thing that can make me relax right now is Lauryn Hill's voice and inner strength

This Queen of soul is coming to Sweden in January and I so wish that I could see her

Talib Kweli made a brilliant tribute song to her several years ago

When you're gone I'll still be Bloody Mary

I haven't been blogging much lately, simply because there hasn't been much to say. I've been busy all week with being at the preschool (school practice) and will be there for another two weeks. It feels so good seeing the kids again. Not to mention the lovely new teachers who I get to know more and more each day. I feel like we would make a great team if I worked there for real :)

But I thought I'd stop by here and show you guys a cool video that I found yesterday! I was watching Lady Gaga's new video for "Marry the night" when I saw this in the suggestions section. It's an amature video made by a girl as a graduation project. She created a story for Lady Gaga's song "Bloody Mary" and even though she is copying the artist a bit, she has still managed to do a very original video. I have watched it several times by now and really like it!

I give a shit

I remember all those crazy things you said
You left them running through my head
You're always there, you're everywhere
But right now I wish you were here

I can be tough
I can be strong
But with you, It's not like that at all
Theres a girl who gives a shit
Behind this wall
You just walk through it

Swing it, shake it, move it, make it

God I miss the 90's.... yes, I was one of those kids who walked around with photo albums filled with collectible photos of Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys. I didn't have the original one though. The one that Spice Girls sold as merchandise. Every other girl in my class had it and I was so jealous. Inside of the booklet cover you had small pictures of the ones you could collect. I had 10 out of... I don't know... 60 maybe. I still have them to this day! In the same old Winne the Pooh album...
There are people selling these albums online today. I found this picture on one of those sites and I get jealous just by looking at it, haha!

I just get sad when I see what kids today has to grow up listening to. It's kind of tabu to say that you like Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys today, but they didn't get that famous for nothing ;)

Zombie mode

Would have prefered getting more sleep tonight than I did. So sick and tired of having these sleeping problems. When you wake up before your alarm clock goes off, you know it's getting worse. Trying to snap myself out of this zombie mode before I go to school...

When spirits are calling my name

Speaking of Vincent... his father Roger Pontare is a very much respected artist here in Sweden. Vincent didn't want to give out his last name at first, because he wanted to make a career of his own. But nowadays most people knows about this and calls him by his full name Vincent Pontare.
His father Roger is known for his fantastic outfits that reminds you of the great ol´ native indians, the Lappish and the snowy mountains up in the north of Sweden. In year 2000 he entered the Eurovision Song Contest, which he has competed in many times, and won with the song "När vindarna viskar mitt namn" (When spirits are calling my name). Any Swede who doesn't know of this song must be living under a rock...
It's full of power and beautiful singing. Not to mention all of the interesting characters walking around on stage, making you feel like you've travelled back in time to walk through an Indian village...

Swedish version

English version

The rock band Hammerfall has made a cover of this song that you can find on YouTube. But a couple of years before that, they did a much appreciated performance together with Roger. I clearly remember watching this and loving how the singers voices fell together in the best of ways.

P.A.R.A.D.I.S.E

This guy named Vincent is one of Sweden's best artists. It surprises me that his music doesn't get the attention it truly deserves. He has reached some success and had several hit songs in both Sweden and Germany in 2007 when he released his first record. Although he didn't release his second record until just recently, which is probably why people have lost interest. But I am so glad that he is back again! His style is very unique so I find it hard to describe it... but it's modern reggae pop with a 60's sound... haha confused? No worries, it sounds great.
I wish I could put up all of his songs in this post but you guys would hate me then. So I'll just post these three hit songs from his first record "Lucky Thirteen". If you like what you hear then don't forget to check out his new album "Godspeed"!

For all the clouds high up in the sky reminding me why I should be by your side
For all the trees surrounding you and me when we take a walk to breathe more easily
For each and everyone under the sun, listen close the story has just begun

"Don't hate on me" was renamed to "This is for you" when it was released in Germany

The music video for "Miss Blue" can be seen here