Kate Ryan is one third of Charley says POP!’s Holy Trinity. Alongside Hadise and Katerine Avgoustakis she is, to me, one of the best popstars Belgium has given the world. So naturally seeing Kate release a brand new music video is a PRETTY BIG DEAL.
And boy, does she deliver! Kate is honestly looking in-cre-di-ble. She’s been mostly pants-less throughout this campaign (just check her lasttwo videos) but for ‘Robots‘ she ups the sexy even more. There’s a very flattering futuristic/space/robot corset! There’s a skintight catsuit! There’s an awesome looking headgear thingy! And I’ll try to contain my not-so-secret inner fanboy before I start complementing hair and make-up as well.
Even more importantly, it’s a bit of a brilliant pop tune, isn’t it? The track has been written by Paul Drew, Greig Watts and Pete Barringer, who have previously been responsible for Kate’s ‘LoveLife‘ and Katerine Avgoustakis’ 2006 Eurosong entry. ‘Robots‘ has Kate sounding more pop than ever before, like how it might sound if Daze were to sample ‘Living On Video‘ by Trans-X in the year 3000.
Bring on that album!
‘Robots’ by Kate Ryan and its Extended Radio Edit, Shutterz Remix, Chris Feelding Remix and William Burstedt Remix is available on Spotify, Soundcloud and iTunes.
Kate Ryan celebrated her birthday by treating her fans to an exclusive snippet of a brand new track.
Despite the more pop oriented direction of Kate’s upcoming ‘Electroshock’ album, ‘Broken‘ takes the Belgian diva back to her full-on dance roots. Joining her on the track is a mystery male whose identity is the source of much speculation.
Charley says POP!’s official guess? Narco!
The name might not sound familiar, but a couple of months ago I introduced you to ‘Venus vs. Mars‘. Narco provides vocals on this David Latour and Hi-Mode produced track from upcoming dance label La Musique Du Beau Monde. The single shot to number 16 in the charts, getting the attention of many international labels and… a certain singer by the name of Kate Ryan.
Yes, when ‘Venus vs. Mars‘ first started making waves Kate posted the video on her Facebook account, expressing an interest in working with the musical trio. Did they take her up on her offer? It would certainly explain Kate’s return to dance and that vocal does sound rather similar, no?
Update: As Kate Ryan herself said in the comments, my research turned out to be spot on! Narco of ‘Venus vs. Mars‘ fame is featuring on Kate Ryan’s new single ‘Broken‘!
This club track sounds like the Belgian equivalent to Swedish House Mafia and is not only starting to make an impact in here, the rest of the world is taking notice as well. The song got signed to Spinnin’ Records in The Netherlands and is gaining momentum in Denmark.
Even Kate Ryan is a fan! She posted the video on her official Facebook page and expressed an interest in working with the trio.
After Laurent Wery’s ‘Hey Hey Hey‘, this is upcoming dance label La Musique Du Beau Monde’s second release to go international.
LMDBM were also the people behind Glamm, the dance/pop duo I told you about a year ago, and Jessy’s Michael Beltran collaboration ‘Can’t Get Enough‘.
America’s got the original one, Australia has Cody Simpson, so it was only a matter of time before even more Justin Bieber clones popped up on the music scene.
Spread across two posts I’ll be introducing you to the Benelux Biebers.
Different nationality, same formula: swishy hair, catchy pop and teenage girls stanning.
Ian Thomas is taking on duties for Belgium.
Launching himself through a viral video, this 14-year-old is sticking closely to the Justin Bieber playbook. The YouTube hit was shot by his stepdad, soap actor and singer Chris Van Tongelen, who secretly filmed Ian singing.
To solidify his place in pop as the Flemish Justin Bieber, his label had Ian release a translated version of Justin’s ‘Baby’. The song got him to a 15th place in the charts, just three spots down from where the original stranded.
However, being one of the most talked about new artists in Belgium has its downside too. After death threats on Facebook Ian had to have a police escort to school for his final exam.
Now, the question remains… Is Ian any good?
Well, is he the best singer ever? No. Is he the best dancer ever? No. Was that ‘Baby’ cover really necessary? Not quite.
But am I excited to hear more? Yes, I am.
The Belgian music scene could do with another male popstar. Yes, we have the likes of Nelson and Brahim, but who’s going to give us our own ‘All Day‘, ‘iYiYi‘ or ‘One Less Lonely Girl‘?
I’m hoping Ian Thomas will.
PS: I’m pretty sure the video below will make some of you never want to check out an Ian Thomas song ever again, so I thought it was worth mentioning that this one was produced by AJ Duncan.
I’m assuming he’ll be on board for the entire project, so considering his past credentials as half of Duncan & Wilde, producing Kate Ryan and Zirkus Zirkus‘ first albums among other things, you may want to not write Ian off just yet.
Update 22.03.2012:
Since writing this post Ian Thomas has released two more singles. The excellent second single “Autograph” was released both in Dutch and in English.
Originally “Kiss Kiss” (which you may know in the version of Kim Hyun) was planned as a third single, but when Ian broke his wrist during the video shoot, “You Got Me Down” (whose video had already been shot) was released instead.
All singles are available on his debut album “More Than A Game” of which an expanded Limited Edition has been released. It includes four extra songs, one of which is Ian’s take on “This Is How We Do It” by Montell Jordan.
“More Than A Game” by Ian Thomas is available on Spotify and iTunes.
Charley says POP! favourite Nelson Moraïs is back with another great dance track!
I told you earlier how Nelson went from being his sister’s background singer to Eurosong hopeful to Belgium’s smoothest voiced male dance star.
Last I heard an album was in the works for release in 2011, but at the rate he’s going he might have released himself an entire Best Of before you know it. Not that we’re complaining!
As far as I can tell from the writing credits, his latest gem sees Nelson stepping out of his Daniel Bovie produced comfort zone.
The two previously worked together on ‘She’s Gone‘ and with a track record to Yves’ name that includes Hadise, Kate Ryan and Katerine Avgoustakis I’m not even sure why you’re still reading this instead of clicking the play button above like a mad man!
The people over at FIRSTmusic discovered a radio rip of ‘Hang On‘ on YouTube!
The song was produced by Milk Inc.’s Regi and features vocals from Flemish ‘Soapstar Superstar’ winner Stan Van Samang. The ‘Scars‘ singer also had a hand in writing the track. If you’re curious about Stan’s music, be sure to check out his acoustic cover of Madonna’s ‘Ray Of Light‘
‘Hang On‘ the new single from Regi’s second collaborations album ‘Registrated 2’. The first one featured the likes of Tom Helsen, Scala and Charley says POP! favourites Katerine Avgoustakis and Kate Ryan. The follow-up will include the single ‘Loaded Gun‘ with Tyler Connolly from Theory Of A Deadman and vocals from Ameerah, Ellektra, former Pussycat Doll Kaya Jones and Turbo B from Snap! The double album with a whopping 26 songs will be released on June 25th.
When the Belgian audience first met Nelson Moraïs they were actually paying more attention to his sister. In 2004 Elsie Moraïs competed in the final of Eurosong with the song ‘Amoré Loco’ and Nelson singing in the background. A couple of years later, when she reinvented herself as LC Moraïs, he was once again there to support her on backing vocals.
In 2008 Nelson started setting up a career of his very own. This time round it was his turn to compete for Eurovision glory. His ‘When I Can’t Find Love‘ didn’t get him a ticket to Serbia, but it did get him to the Eurosong final. The ballad became a top 10 hit and Nelson was destined to be the next big thing.
However, when follow-up singles ‘A Girl Like You‘ and ‘Pushed Me Too Far‘ failed to chart, it looked like Nelson was going to remain a one hit wonder.
But then in 2009 everything fell into place. Nelson was asked to do vocals on the Daniel Bovie & Roy Rox track ‘Love Me‘. The understated club smash has him singing that “There’s no shame in loving one another, babe”. The combination of the laidback dance beats and Nelson’s vocals catapulted the song to number four in the charts.
What was only ever meant to be a one-off track evolved into a new chapter of Nelson’s career, with rumours of an entire album being recorded in the same genre.
A year later, we’re getting the first results. Daniel Bovie has returned on production duties, with a little help from Yves Gaillard. Yves has previously done songs for Charley says POP! favourites Hadise, Katerine Avgoustakis and Kate Ryan.
While ‘She’s Gone‘ isn’t simply ‘Love Me’ part two, it clearly has that same club vibe and Nelson’s vocals are as smooth as ever.
If there is an album coming up then I for one can’t wait.
Move over, Jasper Erkens and Freaky Age. Here’s Breathe The Sound! Above is lead singer Simon Nuytten. Below is their song ‘Dance‘. Over here is a live cover of Michael Jackson’s ‘Man In The Mirror‘. And this is the band’s MySpace profile. This isn’t usually my kind of music, but I find myself liking this quite a bit.
Petra De Steur is a Flemish singer who is probably best known for her wacky hair styles (Eat your heart out, Lady Gaga) and putting a couple of children’s songs to dance music.
One of her best known singles is ‘Laat Je Gaan‘, of which an English version called ‘Just Let Go‘ exists as well. The song fits perfectly into the New Beat craze that was emerging from Belgium at the time, taking cues from the likes of The Confetti’s.
Petra is also a Eurosong regular. She appeared on the Belgian National Final in both 1993 and 1999, but it wasn’t until her 2006 participation under the moniker La Sakhra that she did well in the competition. In fact, was it not for Kate Ryan’s Eurovision stomper ‘Je T’Adore‘ it would have been ‘Wonderland‘ that represented Belgium in Athens.
However, today I wanted to tell you about ‘Angel‘, the song Petra hoped to shake off her old image with back in 2001.
I was surprised to find out that none other than Pole Folder was involved in the making of this song. This Belgian DJ, real name Benoit Franquet, is a brilliant trance producer who has had his music featured on shows as ‘Nip/Tuck’. My favourite song of his is ‘Faith In Me‘. It’s an incredible song that features the unbelievably chillingly gorgeous vocals of trance queen Kirsty Hawkshaw whom you may know as the voice on Tiësto’s ‘Just Be‘.
Unfortunately, just the involvement of this producer wasn’t enough to guarantee the success of this breathy tune. The single promos had to be sent out without a mention of who was singing on it for the “credible” radio stations to playlist it. If I remember correctly the song was pulled from certain channels when it was revealed that this was actually Petra’s latest effort. In the end, even a video featuring the singer only covered in a towel and her long hair fondling an almost naked black guy didn’t help.
‘Angel‘ spent one week in the Ultratop at number 50.
