Released: 2021
When the boring old idea of the talent show was given a twenty first century makeover, most of the rules stayed the same, in that the hosts got famous and the contestants eventually sank back into obscurity.
Agnes Carlsson was only seventeen when she won the Swedish version of Pop Idol in 2005, having only qualified as a wildcard entrant. That – and her 2008, post-Idol proof of career hit Release Me – were long in the rear view mirror however when after an eight year absence in 2020 she announced the release of a fifth album Magic Still Exists.
If the Scandi pop had been defined on Robyn’s Dancing On My Own over a decade before, 24 Hours was a new wolf in sheep’s clothing, an irresistible pout, two parts personal crisis, one half ABBA channeled through the flamboyance of Italo disco. A lifetime further on, the thumbs still all went up.
The Voice Of Unreason 