Ida Maria - 'I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked'
What with reviewing Annie last week and taking on Ida Maria this week, I'm on the verge of becoming ChartBlog's official Norwegian pop music correspondent. Not that the two really have very much in common beyond their nationality - Annie's music revolves around deceptively sweet bubblegum pop with a sting in the tail, whereas Ida Maria, on the basis of this song at least, is far more about the brash, in your face, quite cheeky rock side of things.
Which, I have to admit, she does very well. As established by Tom over at , there's something instantly recognisable about the feelings behind the lyrics in this song, which relate the very familiar situation of being out with someone you quite fancy, but whom you find it quite difficult to engage in fascinating conversation. ("Oh I'm nervous/I don't know what to do/Light a cigarette/I only smoke when I'm with you.")
As it turns out, however, the lyrics to the verse - however well-realised - are immaterial, because the song hinges on two important parts, the infectious "I don't mi-i-i-i-i-i-ind" refrain in the bridge, and the punky, insistent chant of the song's title during the chorus - these are the parts that continue to play in your head long after the song has finished. Which, by the way, is a hard moment to pinpoint precisely at first, because the song pretends to finish at least twice before it actually does, which is yet another thing about it that's rather cheeky.
What I enjoy most about this song is that Ida pulls off that rare trick of making the song seem truly of the moment: when she sings a line, it truly feels like it's something she thought of literally two seconds before she started singing it, and she just has to get the message across right away - even if it's a line that's being repeated from earlier in the song. That's an impressive skill of delivery, and one that I don't think all that many people possess.
There are a lot of people out there making inventive, cheeky pop-rock songs at the moment, so I do have very slight doubts about how much this song will stand out on the radio, but regardless of that, this is still a very well-executed effort that deserves a spot in the upper reaches of the chart.
Download: Out now
CD Released: July 14th
(Steve Perkins)
Comment number 1.
At 19th Jul 2008, pinkparadox wrote:And I get so proud every time I see a Norwegian artist reviewed here :)
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