europopped

It's a Tallinn kind of day here at europopped. Estonia's excellent Mimicry, known for their wild videos, dropped a minimal clip for their entry at Eesti Laul, "Destination," and it's been a favorite of mine for months to win the entire thing this year (we'll find out who wins in early March). This is a very catchy song that reminds me a bit of Australia's Cut Copy, or even 1980's act the Thompson Twins. Anyway, not too much happening here in this just-released video (quite unlike the madness of their past clips) but the star here is the song, which I truly hope wins Eesti Laul and goes on to rep Estonia at Eurovision in 2012 in Baku. Check it out below.

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It's time for some epic pop from Estonia. Pop Maniacs are hoping to represent Estonia at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012 but they will first compete internally within the country at the annual Eesti Laul song competition early next month for a shot at glory. This video, released today, for "I Don't Know," may well help them rally support in Tallinn because it's kind of killer. The promo has two directors, Raoul Suvi and Margus Talvik
, because it's twice as good as most Estonian pop videos, or something like that, anyway. Loving the choreography in this clip. Check it below....could this song be Estonia's ESC offering in 2012? Sounds like a possible winner to me.

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Good morning, Europe. I know it's cold where you are, but it's likely colder in Estonia. But that's ok! Because Cat Eye, aka Margaret, is going to heat up all of the EU and soon. This woman is new-ish on the scene and lately she's burning up Tallinn with two clips that dropped last month and are just about the best thing out of Estonia since Kerli. First up is Margaret's dubstep-influenced "Sundance," which is a one-take clip. A simply amazing song. More recent and just as good is "Ride," which Margaret does under the name Cat Eye. "Ride" is in the top 20 of the semifinals of Eesti Laul 2012 - the Estonian competition to determine this year's participant in the Eurovision Song Contest. The song competes 10th and is the last song in the 2nd semifinal show, which goes down 2/25. Everyone pray to the pop Jesus she wins, because Margaret is fucking fantastic. See below (both clips directed by Ergo Kuld, both tracks produced by Karel Kattai).

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So this year well-known Estonian pop singer Mia is competing in the Baltic nation's annual Eesti Laul competition, the winner of which goes on to represent Estonia at the Eurovision Song Contest. It's not surprising at all that Mia is in the mix to rep the country at ESC, she's on the radio all the time there. What is surprising, however, is the song the singer is going in with this year. "Bon Voyage" is an unusally good house/dubstep/pop fusion with a hook that might make some Swedes jealous. If this ends up winning at Eesti Laul, it would not only herald the arrival of house music in earnest at the competition, but it would also signal the start of house/dubstep-esque offerings becoming possible contenders at Eurovision, a true sea change for the festival that's mostly known as a place to hear more traditional rock and pop songs (though rap has been making inroads the past few years). Check out "Bon Voyage," written by Vahur Valgmaa, below and let's see how it does (Eesti Laul begins February 18th). UPDATE: A video has been released 2/16/12. It's below.

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So 2011 was the year mainsteam media finally took notice of K-pop from Korea. But I'm hoping that 2012 ushers in a wave of a different kind of K-pop: Kazakhstani pop. There are so many singers who sing in Russian from Kazakhstan (a few great girl groups, too) but I haven't ever heard a Kazak cutie nail a song in English quite as good as new talent J-Zohar has in her new-ish clip for "Like I Do." The song was written by an Estonian artist I've written about before on this blog (Alyshen) and this clip was filmed earlier this year in Spain. J-Zohar is currently residing in Estonia. Pretty good in parts. Check it out below.