One of the first ever reality TV bands, Lollipop were a girl group who won Popstars in Italy back in 2001. Don't Leave Me Now was their second single, but I only heard it very recently for the first time. It's certainly the best song I've heard by them, although I also quite like This is the Reason. Of all the singers I've heard for whom English is not their first language, Lollipop are among the worst at pronunciation. It doesn't affect my enjoyment of the song, but it would be interesting to hear a version sung by English singers. Don't Leave Me Now is very typical of early 00's pop, an obvious attempt to imitate Max Martin's sound, and one of the more successful of those. Lollipop broke up in 2004 and it seems none of them have been successful since, except for one member named Dominique, who entered Star Academy in France, where she came second and released an album.

Being a huge fan of both Robyn and Yelle, you can imagine my excitement when I heard that they are releasing a special iTunes EP together. It is called Foreign Exchange and features one song by each of the girls, a cover of one of the other girl's hits. Robyn covers A cause des garçons with the translated title Because of Boys, and Yelle covers Who's That Girl and renames it Qui est cette fille. Both of the new versions are as brilliant as you would expect, since Robyn and Yelle are perfectly matched for this kind of project. It's the sort of thing I'd dream up but never expect to really happen - it's almost too good to be true! I've uploaded both the new versions to Imeem, so I'd love to know how you think they compare to each other and to the original versions of the songs. Personally I think Qui est cette fille is my favourite, but I do love them both.

She may present herself as a new Feist/Regina Spektor kind of artist, and the comparison is supported by her current single Melody, but All I Want and Everlasting are the most poptastic songs I've heard since Battlefield. Kate's music (and her vocals) could easily be mistaken for Swedish. Her voice is very similar to Adiam Dymott, actually. All the songs on her MySpace are very good, and I'll certainly be buying her album when I get the chance. I can't imagine anyone who reads this blog not liking her music. In fact, I think most of you are going to absolutely adore these songs. There are hints of Lykke Li or Santogold's style, but with the poptasticness multiplied by 100. She's signed to Universal and working with Tommy Mottola, so expect a big promotional campaign for Kate, which will most likely be followed with huge success. Kate Earl is definitely a name which will be much better known this time next year.