Anniemalistic

Exactly three years ago I flew to Brighton to see Annie opening for St. Etienne. What a double whammy this should have been! Sadly Annie could not do the show because her equipment was delayed (Must have been British Airways!).
Her debut album "Annimal" was the best pop-record of this year and the simplicity of "Chewing Gum" still makes me all giddy.

She took her time to come up with a follow up and fellow Scandinavian Robyn is currently enjoying the international success that everybody predicted for Annie a few years ago-

Lots of "accidental" pre-release blunders made me aware of "Don´t stop" and it´s first single "Girlfriend" (or "Your girlfriend hates me", or the final "I know UR girlfriend hates me"). Leaked and pulled videos, contradicting information which single will be released, backing vocals by Girls Aloud which were then erased and so on. All this stuff record companies think is necessary to "really make the product".

So this is the Richard X produced first single and you´ll instantly see and hear that Annie sits a bit between the chairs with this one.

Musically its very close to "Chewing Gum". It´s a catchy, throw-away POP-song which should do well on the radio.
Visually Annie seems to go for a clean-cut, healthy, no-bullshit-look.
There is not much of a surprise here and I am missing a bit of the special "zing" that made Annie stand above the rest. After all Annie knows that ANNIE is not about the voice. It´s the whole package!
But hey, I am just a spoilt consumer! My attempts to do "clever-pop" died multiple, unspectacular deaths.