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On electric avenue

Mainstream artistes are getting on the electropop bandwagon

PHOTO: AFP

NAUGHTY AND NICE Nelly Furtado's new album revels in the new trend

There's a new flavour in the air, and it has a definite electronic feel to it. Take any of the big selling pop acts today, from Madonna's dance extravaganza `Confessions on a Dance Floor' to Nelly Furtado's "naughty" album `Loose' to Robbie Williams's wayward tribute to 80s electropop `Rudebox,' and you'll find that the electronic sound seems suddenly the direction to go in.

As head of programming for Channel [V] Luke Kenny, points out, a large section of the top 40s pop machinery, many of whom had more organic sounds in the past, seems to have reacted strongly to another movement headed in the opposite direction. "People have been getting an overdose of rock-oriented bands," he says. "

Taken a backseat

What many find most interesting about this new direction is the emphasis it has taken away from singing on to other areas of music making.

Mili Nair, a musician and RJ for WorldSpace, for instance, finds it very interesting that this new sound also comes with a definite hip-hop influence. "Especially with the female stars, the focus is on rapping rather than singing," she points. "It's not like they can't sing. Fergie was first launched with `Where is the love,' in which she doesn't rap at all. So I was quite upset when she came out with `Ducchess."'

For those that can get past such issues, however, the new sound promises a lot, says Kenny.

And much of the credit for that, and for many of the pop hits go to the rapper-producers working on the albums, points out Mili.

Of course, with so much attention shifting to high-profile producers, an inevitable consequence is albums such as Paris Hilton's debut `Paris,' where a crack team of producers and songwriters actually manage to make the hotel heiress vaguely likeable. And so it is that aside from a few minor quirks about individual products, electropop is back in vogue. And while not everyone might be gung ho about this new turn in pop, industry observers agree that there is certainly some substance to this latest trend, making it one to watch out for.

RAKESH MEHAR

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