Reminiscing about the heyday of Barbie girls and doctors called Jones the other day, I suddenly remembered another Danish group who came out a little while after Aqua imitating their style and sound. There was a bald guy, a girl singer with blue hair and another guy who did nothing in particular. They had a big hit single in Denmark called Superhero Lover which they also released in the UK to no avail, but this song which I heard for the first time yesterday is definitely my favourite, especially for the way she says "Tamagoochi" instead of "gotchi" (which way is it supposed to be said?) and the bit where "Tama" has a conversation with "Goochi". It's complete insanity and I love it!

Watching Celebrity X Factor last night I decided my favourite would have to be the hilarious bald chef (don't The Chefs remind you of LT United from Eurovision?) whose name is Aldo yet in a moment of confusion I called him Alda, and suddenly remembered this brilliant pop star of the 90s whose first single I bought on cassette. I put it on and was soon singing along as if I'd been listening to it every day, even though I'd actually not heard it for many years, but for some reason I can remember all the words of the first few pop songs I was a fan of. Alda was Icelandic and in the tradition of Bjork and Sylvia Night, she was quite mad but totally ace. She only released this and a second single called Girls Night Out, which was also good fun although not quite as good as this song.

Time for something a bit more soulful, but bizarrely this guy is Scottish! He's tipped as a challenger to James Blunt, but I really hope he doesn't get that famous cos I don't want his lovely songs to be ruined by the revelation that he's a total idiot. Well, he might not be, but I don't want to risk it! Even though his voice is quite soulful, he still sounds Scottish which is quite weird, and even weirder he sometimes sounds like Chris Martin. Also, his name is a bit of a talking point since again it couldn't get much less Scottish (I think he's part Italian). As much as it'll annoy me I do think Paolo is going to do really well, so enjoy him now before it's all ruined. His first CD single (he has a download one out now called These Streets) is called Last Request and it's probably better than this one, but both are good and I've only got a live version of it, so download this but keep an ear out for the other as it's quite lovely. He's only 19, he's rather good looking (although his slight poutiness is a bad sign on the 'is he a twat?' front) - I think this guy has a lot going for him and I will be truly surprised if he's not had a top 5 album by the end of the summer. He even has the almost obligatory Crazy cover on his MySpace.

Eagle-eyed fans of top quality pop music should recognise the brown-coated man in that photo... it's The Other One from Savage Garden! His real name is Daniel Jones and Aneiki were a duo he worked with a short while after Savage Garden broke up. I've only got a few of their songs but they're all really good, so I had to just pick one at random to post here. As with all their songs, this is really catchy and just really nice to listen to. I wouldn't say it sounds particularly like Savage Garden (the girl is the singer, for a start) but if you liked them there's a good chance you'd like this too. Sadly the band fizzled out after a few singles and lead singer Jennifer's solo career doesn't seem to have gone anywhere. So I don't know what they're doing now but hopefully it involves making more great pop music like this.

I mentioned my appreciation of this new single on Dirrrty Pop recently and received a comment suggesting I'd gone indie! Admittedly, this was from a person who seemed just to be annoyed that I had mocked new trashy girlband Mrs Robinson and if the pop world was entirely populated with acts like that I probably would go indie, but there's one problem with this theory - this song is without a doubt, entirely POP! It's much catchier than any of Mrs Robinson's output and the comparison in quality is ridiculous. The Kooks may be a bit indie themselves, but this song is so summery and catchy and at a stretch it could even be called the male version of the Pipettes, it's that jolly.

What a complete travesty! Out of my top 5 favourites, only 1 (Russia) got through to the Eurovision final, meaning the best song of the whole contest by an extremely long way did not, even though the three worst (Lithuania, Finland and Turkey) all did. To commiserate, I think a Kate Ryan retrospective is due and since I've posted her best French song here before, I'll give you her best English one. The two are equally ace, so if you love this I strongly recommend a download/purchase of her covers of Mylene Farmer's songs Libertine and Desenchantée as well. Only If I was from Kate's second album Stronger which she released in 2003. It's a fantastically catchy dance-pop song that sounds like a really exciteable version of Alice Deejay or Lasgo i.e. the best kind of dance-pop. I only hope Kate's involvement in Eurovision will at least give her career an extra boost (she's already popular in several European countries other than Belgium) if not the huge one she should have got when she gained her rightful place at the top of the scoreboard. I blame the lack of knee-swing, even though she promised me and all the Belgian fans who are just as obsessed with it, that it would be included. Still, with or without knee-swing, it was so far ahead of the comptetition, its ousting is just simply ridiculous!

We all know the best Eurovision song ever is Waterloo - it just can't be debated - but you may be surprised to hear that the second best is a British entry. The first time I heard this song I couldn't help grinning like a very grinny thing, and it's had the same effect every time since. This is a song I will never get bored of and it never fails to get me in the Eurovision mood, which is rather handy since Eurovision, as I'm sure you can't fail to have noticed, starts tonight with the semi-final, which features such superstars as Silvia Night and Kate Ryan, who both must get through to Saturday's final or the world might end from the wrongness! One Step Further reached 7th place in 1982, far lower than the acetastic song deserves but sadly let down by poor vocals on the night due to nerves. If only it had won, I'm sure it would be considered the greatest British Eurovision entry of all time - Making Your Mind Up and Boom Bang-A-Bang have nothing on this piece of ecstatic fabulosity! And if you click here to watch a video of their performance, you'll find out just where Beyoncé got the idea for that Crazy In Love booty-shakin' from.

21-year-old Pennsylvanian Joanna Pacitti was last heard of when her song Watch Me Shine was featured on the soundtrack to Legally Blonde, and a great song it was too (I posted it here a while ago). She finally has a new single and I have to say I'm quite impressed. It's catchy but sophisticated pop in a style most comparable to Mandy Moore's 2nd and 3rd albums, but there's a surprise - after the first run-through of the chorus she then sings it again in a rock style! She then returns to pop and then back to rock after each chorus, ending in a big built up rocky pop crescendo of a final chorus. In theory it should be a mess but in practise it totally works! Amusing Joanna fact: in the 90s she played Annie in the musical of the same name but was fired leading to a big lawsuit and an appearance on Saturday Night Live.

If this isn't my song of the summer, I shall be very surprised - it's certainly my favourite girlband song of the year so far. The Pipettes are a trio from Brighton whose fame has been growing over the last year culminating in this, their 3rd single, being released in June and their first album We Are The Pipettes in July. The Pipettes are not your typical pop girlband - they're usually seen in matching spotty dresses and their 60s sound is often compared to the bands produced by Phil Spector and accompanied with choreographed hand movements. They are bursting with exciteable girliness, but they still have heaps of feisty girl power. This song is my favourite of theirs and hopefully will be a huge hit. It reminds me of one of my absolute favourite Motown songs, Beechwood 4-5789 by the Marvelettes. It's great to have something this ace coming out of Britain, and since they're popular with lots of indie-type magazines, websites etc., they might even win over some new followers to the cause of poptasticness.

The new album is out in just over a week so I think it's time to post this, the most poptastic track. I like I'm With Stupid but it lacks the extra brilliance that we know the PSBs are able to bring to their pop music, so I was very pleased when I heard this track which definitely has that extra special something. The music is great and the lyrics are even better - it has to be a single at some point. If you're interested in this CD I highly recommend a read of Edward O's review which compares it track by track to Halcyon Days.

This song was the biggest summer hit in Europe in 1997, and sold 1,000,000 copies worldwide (including becoming the best selling single in Sweden EVER!), yet somehow I had never even heard of it before yesterday. It's a shame, because it's a great song, but also good because I've discovered it just in time for summer - and if any song fits the description "sounds like summer" it's this one. Produced by 2 ugly back-room blokes, performed by a girl with a pink wig and a purple satin shirt, this song is so cheerful it sounds delirious, like being so excited you can't even think. Click here to watch the video. Much better than Las Ketchup!

If George Michael and Prince were Swedish, they might release a duet that sounded like this, although the most controversial thing Mr Gadd seems to do is swear occasionally in this song (and even that is just funny). Eric Gadd has released lots of albums but according to the discography on his web site, this is the first time he has released a single. He's a little scary-looking but don't be put off, this song is pure pop, with lots of ace squelchy electro noises in the background. It's already been out a month in Sweden, and I'm not sure how well it's done, but it will hopefully gain some more success and recognition in the next few weeks, as most songs do grow very slowly in the Swedish charts. His album, however, entered the charts at no.1, suggesting he is more of an albums artist anyway. I haven't heard anything else by him except this song, but I look forward to finding out what else he has to offer.

The excellent new Lillix song posted on Arjan Writes has reminded me of how much I loved their first album. If you're a fan of such ace girl groups as The Veronicas, Lilyjets and The Like, you should definitely get yourself a copy or at least buy their new CD which is produced by one of the guys who worked on The Killers' last album, so it's sure to be worth hearing. I posted a song called Sick from their debut album in July 2004 but there are so many great songs on that CD, literally any of them could be posted. There are a few poppier numbers than this, but this one is so angst-tastic, and anyone who can make angst-rock sound like a good musical style should really be applauded. There's also a sense of madness in this song which cleverly fits the subject matter. If you want to hear something a bit more jolly, seek out their cover of the 80s pop-rock anthem What I Like About You.

I promised an upbeat song from Halcyon Days, so here it is - what I deem to be the most poptastic song on their album, only falling behind Temple of Love, which you've all heard so there's no point in posting. This is one of the danciest songs the band have recorded, but only in a brilliant dancing at the disco kind of way, not a bleep bleep way, of course. I defy you not to be singing along to this full force even on the first listen. It's a crystal ooooodyssey! etc. Also, please note the aceness of Alexander's mischievous expression in this photo, and the best line of this song: "I was in a fight last night, I fight for party rights" - and so should we all!