andPOP » Sweden

Kanye West and Prince Join Forces on Stage

andPOP Staff — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 13:35:49 +0000

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Kanye West hit the stage in Gothenburg, Sweden where he was joined by a special guest. Prince surprisingly joined the rapper and they performed together.

Kanye told the crowd, “Everybody put your hands in the sky right now. Say hell yeah!”

It’s been a good couple of weeks for Kanye. His album with Jay-Z broke the U.S. iTunes Store’s one-week sales record when it sold nearly 290,000 downloads!

Does this mean we forgive Kanye for the Taylor Swift incident and he is now cool again?

Michael Moore Posts Bail for Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange

andPOP Staff — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 20:00:23 +0000

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Michael Moore has offered $20,000 to help bailout Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange, reports TMZ.

Moore just blogged, he will do anything he can to keep WikiLeaks “alive and thriving as it continues its work to expose the crimes that were concocted in secret and carried out in our name and with our tax dollars.”

Swedish prosecutors are challenging Assange’s bail, so he will remain in custody until that’s worked out.

Miike Snow – Yet Another Amazing Band from Sweden

andPOP Staff — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 21:38:13 +0000

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Over the past year we have interviewed some amazing musicians, and many of those people have been from Sweden. They must be putting something in the water because there is some amazing music coming out of that country. Perfect example – Miike Snow. They started off doing some song writing for people like Madonna and Kylie Minogue, and now they are using their talents for themselves. And we aren’t the only ones who think their amazing as can be seen with the huge amount of hot girls they have as fans!

Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren Still Need To Settle Major Issues for Divorce Settlement

andPOP Staff — Tue, 11 May 2010 14:40:27 +0000

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Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren have confirmed that they are getting divorced, however the major issues still remain in limbo.

TMZ says the major issues yet to be resolved are child custody and the division of assets. Both parties have been advised to keep their final deal confidential and keep the property settlements out of the court file.

Both Tiger and Elin have their own team of high priced lawyers working on their behalf. An immediate matter they are trying to address is jurisdiction. Although the couple lived in Florida, Elin will be moving back to Sweden. Consequently it maybe easier to move forward with the proceedings in Sweden.

Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren Definitely Getting Divorced

andPOP Staff — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 13:56:50 +0000

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All of the wondering and questions now have been solved. Tiger Woods and his wife Elin Nordegren are confirmed to be getting divorced.

A source close to the family tells Us Weekly, “It’s 100 percent happening … It’s going to take a long time to go through. [But] she will go through with it. She is all about being a mom. She will do it slowly and carefully.”

Elin has also moved full stream ahead with the construction of her new house in Sweden. “She is definitely planning on spending a lot of time there — they are gutting it … She and the kids are going to be spending most of the summer there. Without Tiger.”

However Elin will be looking at properties in Florida as well as Tiger will not let the kids leave the U.S. full time, reports PopEater. “No way would Tiger let Elin leave the USA with his children. You can say whatever you want about Tiger as a husband, but he has always been a great father. He knows his marriage is probably over, but he will never give up on those kids. They mean the world to him.”

Tiger Woods Kids Are Not Leaving United States With Elin Nordegren

andPOP Staff — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 13:09:08 +0000

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More signs are pointing to Tiger Woods and his wife Elin Nordegren divorcing. Considering she just purchased a $2 Million home in Sweden could be a large indication that she plans to abandon ship. However PopEater reports that there is no way the kids are going with her.

“No way would Tiger let Elin leave the USA with his children. You can say whatever you want about Tiger as a husband, but he has always been a great father,” an insider tells PopEater. “He knows his marriage is probably over, but he will never give up on those kids. They mean the world to him.”

This maybe also an indication why Elin has been looking at houses in Florida. Close enough for Tiger to see the kids, but still lets her live a separate life.

Interview: ABBA Wha? Erik Hassle is Sweden’s New Face of Pop

Philip Viater — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:35:09 +0000

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When the phrase “pop music” is put in the same sentence as “Sweden,” not much comes to mind other than the 70’s phenomenon foursome ABBA.

Erik Hassle is out to change that.

While the 21-year-old pop singer has already had success in Sweden and is quickly gaining momentum in the United Kingdom, he has bigger dreams: North America. And considering his first single, “Hurtful,” was featured on MTV’s reality show The Hills, the young musician is well on his way.

“It’s always fun to play for the people from your own country but right now the focus is outside of Sweden,” Hassle told andPOP. “I’m quite young still and I’m enjoying being in the world – the big world!”

With wild-yet-styled curly red hair that has quickly become the staple of his image, Hassle making an impression.

His debut album, Pieces, was released in Sweden in August. It has a worldwide release date of Feb. 23, 2010 from Universal Republic Records.

“I’m very excited,” he said. “We have a lot of stuff to do before that, but I’ve had a good crowd of people now who have come to gigs and are on my fan base, and it’s always nice to give them the stuff so that they don’t have to ask for it.”

Hassle spent most of his childhood in a small city just south of Stockholm; a city that he called “one of the most boring cities in Sweden.” Still, Hassle said that he, his parents, and his siblings had a lot of fun.

A large chunk of this fun was due to the fact that his parents turned their property’s extra house into an entertainment venue where comedians and musicians would come to perform. Thanks to this venue, Hassle was introduced to music at an early age. He often sang at the events.

“I started to sing at those shows quite early,” he said. “We had crazy nights there!”

Hassle discovered his first music album in his friend’s dad’s rehearsal studio. It was Wilson Pickett, he remembers.

“After that, soul kept on escalating around me,” he said.

Deeply bit by the music bug, Hassle decided at age 15 that he wanted to go to music school. So he packed up and moved to Stockholm. And while his parents were “terrified,” as he said, to let him go, they were very supportive.

At age 17, Hassle was approached after one of his performances by a prospective manager. He went down to their office in Stockholm and a deal was made. It was then that Hassle was introduced to his future calling – pop music.

“I was listening to a lot of soul for a long time in my life,” he said. “But then when I hooked up with the songwriters they introduced a new area – pop music – which fascinated me just as much as the soul music always did.”

And even though Hassle works with songwriters, he also writes a lot of his own music.

His first hit single, “Hurtful,” was self-written. It’s a catchy tune about feeling disconnected from his friends back home while being away recording music.

Still, he’s refreshingly honest when it comes to song writing – a feat, he said, that does not come easily.

“I wouldn’t say it’s been something natural,” Hassle said. “It’s not something that you all of a sudden realize that you’re good at. I think it’s about a lot of practise and making a lot of mistakes.

“The guys I’ve been working with have been my mentors,” he continued. “I wouldn’t have been able to write songs without them.”

While it’s easy to pinpoint Hassle as just another pre-packaged kid with a wicked production team to make him sound flawless, one view of his acoustic YouTube videos will have you thinking otherwise.

Among singles from his album, Hassle has posted acoustic covers of songs such as ABBA’s “S.O.S.” and La Roux’s “In for the Kill.” Each one shows Hassle singing with the raw talent and soul that inspired him so many years ago.

He spent part of 2009 opening for another musical inspiration: Little Boots. Hassle joined the pop singer on her UK tour, where he got the chance to perform for packed houses and show the United Kingdom what he had to offer.

“It was incredible,” he said. “We got a really good reaction throughout the whole tour.”

Next, Hassle is heading back to Sweden to headline his own tour – a job that offers both pressure and release.

“You get to feel really comfortable on stage,” Hassle said of being a headliner. “But then you have all the pressure. As a support act you can just go nuts!”

Whether supporting or being supported, Hassle has a passion for music that runs deep.

“The first time I sang in a microphone I just felt power coming out of me,” Hassle said. “I felt like a better version of myself.”

“I feel whole when I’m working with music,” he continued. “Just the power of getting swept away by emotions and feelings and thoughts – that’s what music does to me.”

Sweden Protests Spears

Vanessa Baker — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 02:26:04 +0000

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Four Swedish newspapers plan not to cover Britney Spears’s upcoming concert because of outrageous rules for using photos from the show, reports Perez Hilton. The pop singer has placed several restrictions on using photographs of her taken during the upcoming show, including no resales, expiration of shots after 30 days and not being able to use photos if she looks bad.

The media contract “prohibits papers from publishing pictures of Spears which arrangers deem unflattering” and states that the American pop star be given ownership rights to the pictures her management finds favourable.

The concert is planned for Tuesday in Stockholm and is part of the singer’s current world tour – The Circus Starring: Britney Spears.

“The next step would be to tell critics they can’t write anything critical,” said Roger Turesson, photo editor for Dagens Nyheter, one of the papers boycotting the show.