The Guardian talks to Annie: http://music.guardian.co.uk/pop/story/0,,2288719,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=39

Annie
Live @ Mucha Marcha/Proud Gallery, London, 07/04/08

How times change. Almost three years ago to the day I saw Annie supporting Saint Etienne at the sparsely populated Koko venue. She was swamped by the size of the stage and was aided only by a DJ with decks and effects.

Fast forward three years and it seems Annie is being given a second bite of the pop cherry. She's back and this time she means it. The decadent surroundings of The Proud Gallery provide the fashionista crowd and Annie a feel akin to what I imagine a high school prom would be like. This time around she is complemented with a full band set up, which gives the songs a lot more room to breathe. Forthcoming single, "I know your girlfriend hates me", is transformed into an extended dancefloor filler, with Annie joined by a troupe of female dancers. They don't look too dissimilar to the girls featured Robert Palmer's iconic "Addicted to love" video. At the song's climax lollipops are handed out to the crowd, adding to her sugary sweet appeal. Annie is totally self-assured, a prom queen conducting her band and the crowd with her slightly pervy red gloves. The new songs are a bit of a mixed bag. "My love is better", with its choppy guitars, errs very slightly towards bland territory but "Songs remind me of you" could well be a monster hit in waiting. Starting out as a disco stomper and building up into an enormous four-by-four breakdown, it ticks all the boxes of a club banger. It's not rocket science. Just don't tell that to the heaving masses of gurning, grinning fools partying like it's 1999.

Tonight Annie passed the hipster test, but now she needs to prove she can cross over to the mainstream. Getting Xenomania on board (the production team behind Girls Aloud) signifies her intentions. However, whether she can throw down the gauntlet and challenge Robyn as the queen of Scandi pop is another matter entirely.
- Nick Levine

Fluxblog on the new Annie single "I know ur girlfriend hates me": http://www.fluxblog.org/2008/06/cold-and-sadistic.html
Personally, I don't really understand the fuss as I find Annie's voice to be entirely unremarkable. Decent production does not make up for it.

PopJustice is streaming a "megamix" of tracks from the new Annie album: http://popjustice.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2587&Itemid=206

Popjustice has details on Norwegian pop artist Annie's forthcoming album "Don't stop": http://popjustice.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2503&Itemid=206

The video for Annie's new single "I know your girlfriend hates me" is now up/back on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RQpb_I01D8

The new Annie single "Girlfriend" is streaming at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/anniemusic

Jennie Abrahamson
Lights
How Sweet the Sound

I have a soft spot for talented pop singers. A decent amount of my time is spent enjoying the works of artists like Imogen Heap, Lily Allen, Annie, Gwen Stefani, Robyn, and others, some guilty pleasures, others with no guilt whatsoever. Jennie Abrahamson, a Norrland girl from the same part of Sweden that birthed the Refused and The Perishers (whose singer, Ola Klüft, is featured on "Wasted heart"), has crafted a solidly produced, though somewhat lacking pop record. The melancholy sounds okay, but it doesn't always feel quite right. Title track "Lights" begins to feel like a meandering and lost expedition when it could easily have bore direction and teeth, and that can be said for a number of tracks. On "Songs we sing", Abrahamson's gorgeous voice sits comfortably alongside a song that has a sense of forward motion. "Lights" could have been so much more, and I hope Jennie Abrahamson's future recordings are - it would be a shame that such a talented vocalist should be overlooked because of lukewarm songwriting.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson

Pitchfork reports that (vastly overrated) Norwegian pop songstress Annie has a new single and album on the way: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/47888-annie-returns-with-new-single-preps-album

MP3: Paola - Stockcity girl

Whatever happened to Paola? I guess I'm not that surprised her divorce from super-producer/Teddybears member Klas Åhlund effectively ended her career, but you never know, right? I suppose that Teddybears rerecording her vocals on "Yours to keep" with Neneh Cherry and Annie was the final nail in her coffin. Listening back to her 2002 album "Stockcity girl", it's fairly obvious that its success owes much to Åhlund's involvement, but it's not as if she was some no-talent nobody. Paola is quality pop and if you like the record that Åhlund did with Robyn, there's no reason why you shouldn't love this too. Hard to believe it's been five years since this was released - it still sounds pretty damn fresh today.

Paola - Stockcity girl

MIC Norway reports that Annie has signed with Island Records and has secured the services of Brian Higgins (Girls Aloud, Sugababes) to produce her forthcoming sophomore album.

Bobby Baby
Loves to dance EP
Red Letter Day Records

If you've popped "Loves to dance" into your stereo hoping for a fevered romp around the kitchen, you will be sorely disappointed. Sweet young Malmö dreamer Ella Blixt is more Amelie than Annie. And the title song is more about love than dancing. But I'm not complaining. On the contrary! I do have a soft spot for dreamy pop and soothing sentiment, and this EP is big on both. It's the perfect accompaniment to a long, hot bath, or a lazy Sunday morning lie-in. Ironically, the tune most likely to get you bopping in your bubbles is "I won't dance with you baby tonight", while "Goodbye love" will have you crying into your comforter. Gorgeous, mellow electronic innocence, in an adorable pixie package. Mmm.
- Stacey Shackford

Annie got dropped? Read more: http://www.nrk.no/musikk/5738815.html

Live report: Datarock @ The Luminaire, London UK 05/11/06

Norwegian pop sensation Annie is working on her next album. Collaborators are said to include Richard X (who also worked on her first record "Anniemal"), James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins) and French techno producer Alan Braxe. Look for the first single "Crush" to be released this summer. Also slated to appear on the record is a cover of "Two of hearts" by Stacy Q.