[POPSTONE] Excellence - The Region of Excellence
The first gem I, Ryan Hugginz, am giving to you all guys is The Region of Excellence by now disbanded (sigh or not sigh) girlband Excellence
Time and Place
We need to go back to 2001 in Sweden when the global TV-phenomenon of Popstars was giving to almost every single nations its own pop group. But out there people already knew how to make some pure European (Eurovision-ish, yeah, we can say that) pop music. And in fact, the girlband Excellence went to release their debut (read: only) studio album. Believe it or not, this is absolutely pure pop.
The Popstone
As already said, what you need to expect from this album is a pure shot of simple pop which doesn't sound that old. But ok, let's take some music!
+ First track I am choosing for you is Lose it All which will convince you directly from the vocodered intro which explodes to then leave place for the first verse. Melody is catchy from the very beginning and the voices of the girls nail it. Enjoy also some nice and weird English pronunciation! This song could be released as a single in Europe and could have had a great success back then. Shame for that.
+ The second song I would like you all to listen is Me Myself and I. Vocals and music will bring you back to those glorious days of pop we miss so much. Low tones, edgy vocals for a girl band, nice lyrics. The fun fact about this song is that this is one of those track that were part of a mysterious game when Popstar TV format was on: some tracks went directly from one band to another (remember that back then there was no youtube or facebook, can you imagine that? My granpa told me about that, I was too young...). Therefore I suggest to check Australian band Scandal'us version, then you will see that the girls' one is much better sung and produced. Amazing track.
+ Time for a slow tempo. The track I am choosing is Her or Me. Sung by just one of the girl (almost) this is a very nice ballad, the lyrics are very simple which you can guess by the title. The production of the vocals is very well done. Ok, this is not the greatest ballad ever but it is a girlband right? We don't demand too many ballad from them!
+ I wanna close this popstone with another pop eurodance track called Female Intuition. The reason why I am choosing this instead of other songs (believe me, this album makes it very hard to choose) is that I think it contains a sample of something else and in more than ten years I haven't figured out yet what the hell it is. So if you know that, please tell me in a comment!
Conclusion
Swedish pop ruled way before Eurphoria. Deal with it. Fact #2: 2000s showed on television bands being formed but few people, that doesn't mean that this wasn't happening before, so don't snob them.
This album is an amazing gem, please listen to it and bring the 2000s back.
My vote: 4/5
Time and Place
We need to go back to 2001 in Sweden when the global TV-phenomenon of Popstars was giving to almost every single nations its own pop group. But out there people already knew how to make some pure European (Eurovision-ish, yeah, we can say that) pop music. And in fact, the girlband Excellence went to release their debut (read: only) studio album. Believe it or not, this is absolutely pure pop.
The Popstone
As already said, what you need to expect from this album is a pure shot of simple pop which doesn't sound that old. But ok, let's take some music!
+ First track I am choosing for you is Lose it All which will convince you directly from the vocodered intro which explodes to then leave place for the first verse. Melody is catchy from the very beginning and the voices of the girls nail it. Enjoy also some nice and weird English pronunciation! This song could be released as a single in Europe and could have had a great success back then. Shame for that.
+ The second song I would like you all to listen is Me Myself and I. Vocals and music will bring you back to those glorious days of pop we miss so much. Low tones, edgy vocals for a girl band, nice lyrics. The fun fact about this song is that this is one of those track that were part of a mysterious game when Popstar TV format was on: some tracks went directly from one band to another (remember that back then there was no youtube or facebook, can you imagine that? My granpa told me about that, I was too young...). Therefore I suggest to check Australian band Scandal'us version, then you will see that the girls' one is much better sung and produced. Amazing track.
+ Time for a slow tempo. The track I am choosing is Her or Me. Sung by just one of the girl (almost) this is a very nice ballad, the lyrics are very simple which you can guess by the title. The production of the vocals is very well done. Ok, this is not the greatest ballad ever but it is a girlband right? We don't demand too many ballad from them!
+ I wanna close this popstone with another pop eurodance track called Female Intuition. The reason why I am choosing this instead of other songs (believe me, this album makes it very hard to choose) is that I think it contains a sample of something else and in more than ten years I haven't figured out yet what the hell it is. So if you know that, please tell me in a comment!
Conclusion
Swedish pop ruled way before Eurphoria. Deal with it. Fact #2: 2000s showed on television bands being formed but few people, that doesn't mean that this wasn't happening before, so don't snob them.
This album is an amazing gem, please listen to it and bring the 2000s back.
My vote: 4/5
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