Agnes - Magic Still Exists (+ Here Comes The Night)

Love and Affection (surely a loving tribute to the late Real McCoy) really is JUST THE TICKET
 
24 Hours is a real SOTY contender for me. it's ageing like FINE WINE (not the Kylie song). I can't think of a stronger uptempo/more exuberant banger that's come out this year, except perhaps Please. I proper love Here Comes the Night too now, happily.

excellent job on feeding the gays, Miss Carlsson.
 
24 Hours is a real SOTY contender for me. it's ageing like FINE WINE (not the Kylie song). I can't think of a stronger uptempo/more exuberant banger that's come out this year, except perhaps Please. I proper love Here Comes the Night too now, happily.

excellent job on feeding the gays, Miss Carlsson.

Agree. I’m obsessed
 
Presumably it didn’t chart anywhere else. Poor Agnes - imagine having this output and it being almost entirely ignored.

I keep forcing ‘Hear Comes The Night’ on people to almost universal approval.
 
i held off listening in fear of being disappointed (after being unwittingly exposed to some negativity in this thread :hitler:) but this is fantastic and, a few minor lyrical qualms aside, i couldn't have wanted anything more.

(apart from a vinyl!)

agnesagnesagnes.
 
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i held off listening in fear of being disappointed (after being unwittingly exposed to some negativity in this thread :hitler:) but this is fantastic and, a few minor lyrical qualms aside, i couldn't have wanted anything more.

(apart from a vinyl!)

agnesagnesagnes.
ameraal darling I knew you'd love it!
 
the melodrama of it all!

as my world fell apart
it hit me like lightning in the dark
this is my sliding door moment
here and now, i choose my future


preach it!
 
the Love + Appreciation SHADE though!

ranking every song on Magic Still Exists from gayest gay comma to smallest bussy rip:

12(455) 24 Hours
11 Love and Appreciation
10 Here Comes the Night
10 Selfmade
09 Fingers Crossed
09 XX
08 Magic Still Exists
(07 Free Your Mind And Free Ur Bussy)
 
12455 24 Hours
12455 Love and Appreciation
12455 Here Comes the Night
12455 Selfmade
12455 Fingers Crossed
12455 XX
12455 Magic Still Exists
(12444 Free Your Mind And Free Ur Bussy)
 
I’ve listened to this a few times now and my in depth analysis is that it’s very good. I also think it works fine as an album even with the interludes.
 
Number 50 on the Guardian’s Top 50 Albums of 2021

50. Agnes – Magic Still Exists​

The Swedish pop star’s long-delayed fifth album embodies the platonic ideal of pop disco, steeped in Gaga (invigoratingly stern vocals about freeing one’s mind and body), Abba (piano stomps and trills), Donna Summer (the thumping 24 Hours) and Queen (melodramatic balladry). It transcends pastiche on the strength of her songwriting (you could swap almost anything here on to Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia) and the going-for-broke intensity of it all.
 
Wow!

And still no one is picking up on her here? She really does feel like she should “do a Robyn”.
 
Wow!

And still no one is picking up on her here? She really does feel like she should “do a Robyn”.
How would we tell if anyone was picking up on her? Even something getting a niche bit of support these days is rarely enough to actually get it in the charts, just cos of the sheer numbers of casual streamers. I'd genuinely only really expect stuff like sold out gig dates (if she ever does any here) to be a sign of much penetration here.
 
I mean is there even any real sign of her making any impact in Sweden or anywhere else?
 
How would we tell if anyone was picking up on her? Even something getting a niche bit of support these days is rarely enough to actually get it in the charts, just cos of the sheer numbers of casual streamers. I'd genuinely only really expect stuff like sold out gig dates (if she ever does any here) to be a sign of much penetration here.

Radio support I meant.
 
Fingers Crossed was a genuine hit in Sweden, albeit in a weird, non- chart way (!)
Looks like it peaked at #38 but still went platinum. Here Comes The Night got to #84 and the other singles haven't charted. The album had one week at #32. All from Wikipedia where the album doesn't even have its own page, and her own page hasn't been updated with the release of it.

It's a tremendous album, but I'm not sensing MUCH interest.
 
Looks like it peaked at #38 but still went platinum. Here Comes The Night got to #84 and the other singles haven't charted. The album had one week at #32. All from Wikipedia where the album doesn't even have its own page, and her own page hasn't been updated with the release of it.

It's a tremendous album, but I'm not sensing MUCH interest.

Oh I AGREE but surely it's a lack of knowledge rather than everything else. If it's getting noted in The Guardian and every single person who has come near it appears to love it, surely that says something for it?

I mean, it's not NICHE GAY INTEREST musically- Here Comes The Night is a great radio single, as is Fingers Crossed, which I believe topped the airplay chart in Sweden for that matter- so it BEMUSES me that something so critically lauded is just being ignored.
 
I think being independent (isn't she only distributed by Universal?) she likely doesn't have somebody putting in the work to get her lost of press and all the usual PR hype that would follow. Even an airplay #1 doesn't count for much unless there's a wider campaign around it.
 
There's not really any excuse for a lack of knowledge in Sweden though, is there? Not if Fingers Crossed was a proper hit and had tons of airplay. Without the evidence of success to back it up, is she likely to have much weight behind her, particularly if she's independent like Jark says. The 'Robyn' album was a #1 hit in Sweden before they launched her here.

I guess the best thing is hoping that more people take notice of it because of The Guardian noting it, and hopefully she gets further mentions in year end lists that drive interest in the new year.
 
It’s such a shame and I agree it does seem to be just lack of knowledge / awareness. What chance of an inadvertent Tik Tok blow up?

Anecdotal (obvs) but everybody I have introduced this album to has gone GAGA for it.
 
Does anyone know exactly why she loathed Melodifestivalen so much the first time around? It really feels like it'd be immensely helpful to have that sort of platform just to get her back to proper consolidated prominence in Sweden again, given as things stand this is going to be her worst performing album in the homeland to date while also being her most critically acclaimed...
 
Does anyone know exactly why she loathed Melodifestivalen so much the first time around? It really feels like it'd be immensely helpful to have that sort of platform just to get her back to proper consolidated prominence in Sweden again, given as things stand this is going to be her worst performing album in the homeland to date while also being her most critically acclaimed...

Wasn’t she unhappy with the result in 2009?

Finishing 8th (10th with the public) as one of the biggest names that year was an under-performance. Especially as it was mid-way through the Dance Love Pop era and she came in off the back of two top ten hits.
 
Robyn in the UK was buoyed by Radio 1 championing With Every Heartbeat as an Ibiza dance hit though. Her UK campaign following as there was clearly a LOT of gas in the tank, and she had prior strong success in Sweden with the material.

I'd love Agnes to have UK crossover success, and I think Fingers Crossed could be a huge UK radio hit - but with her current Swedish chart numbers, and unspectacular streaming numbers I can see why nobody is willing to take a punt. The other issue is that the UK market is currently FLOODED with female singers, and UK radio isn't the tastemaker juggernaught it was 15/20 years ago.

The UK industry model is much more likely to support an existing British singer with a similar(ish) upbeat pop sound (Dua Lipa being the obvious one, but also the likes of Mabel, Mimi Webb, Becky Hill, Raye...) than import one from Sweden that currently doesn't have a huge TikTok smash behind her.
 
still listening to this what an albam she's so wonderful!

09 XX
10 24 Hours
10 Here Comes the Night - the best of the new abba tracks
09 Love and Appreciation
09 Selfmade - what today seems like insanity might tomorrow be reality didn't you know were you not told?
10 Fingers Crossed
09 Magic Still Exists - this is how you do a big piano ballad!

also: the word bussy is trash.
 

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