As I prepare for my big European trip, I thought I’d share with you clips of my recent (last year or so) favourite Swedish pop songs. Two are in English, three are in Swedish.

Kleerup feat. Titiyo – Longing for lullabies: I first heard about Kleerup through his work with Robyn. He’s a Swedish DJ and drummer who works with female vocalists. His album has recently been #1 in Sweden. Tityo is the half-sister of 80s/90s legend, Neneh Cherry.

Veronica Maggio – Måndagsbarn (Monday’s Child): I don’t know much about Veronica Maggio, except that her surname suggests she has some Italian heritage. This track is 60s in style, very memorable, and I really like the clip as an indicator the changeing face of Sweden.

BWO – Save My Pride : The young bloke is a former “Swedish Idol” contestant, the old bloke was in Army of Lovers, he featured in the video clip for Alcazar’s “Crying At The Discoteque” and he wrote a song for one of Agnetha Faltskog’s solo CDs. He’s also quite odd, it seems, by the way. This song was originally recorded by Alcazar and it’s got a bit of “Europride” vibe about it.

Nanne Gronvall – Hall om mig (Hold Me): Although strictly speaking a couple of years old, I love this song. It was “the people’s choice” to represent Sweden at Eurovision a couple of years ago, but missed out due to the over-riding “judge’s panel”. It’s a great song in so many respects. Love the song. Love the clip. Nanne is the daughter in law of Benny Andersson from ABBA, by the way.

Peter Jöback – Stockholm i Natt (Stockholm At Night): And from last year… a possible theme song for part of my trip… This song is about how Stockholm comes alive at night. The singer has featured in a couple of Bjorn and Benny (from ABBA)-related projects. My friend Grant has a website about Peter.

Thus further proving Sweden makes the best pop musik in the world!