Summer loving: Essential duets with Eric Saade and Tone Damli

I also associate pop duets with either summer (e.g. Summer Lovin' from Grease) or winter (e.g. Especially for You by Kylie and Jason), although I'm sure they happen at other times of the year too (e.g. Ricky and Christina; Big Fun & Sonia; David Guetta & Nicki Minaj et al). This season, there are a fair few sparkling pop combos to help those hazy crazy lazy days of summer meander by with a spring in your step and a bounce in your boogie. And kicking it all off is this little doozy...

Tone Damli ft Eric Saade ~ Imagine:

It's the most exciting royal union since Kate and Wills - Norwegian pop princess Tone Damli has hooked up (musically) with the Swedish King of Pop, Eric Saade. One almost expects Darin to pop up in a tux singing Can't Stop Love :D Anyway, this combining of talents brings us one of the most perky, accessible and delightful pop tunes of the year so far (it's Call Me Maybe meets Payphone in terms of musical magic!) and may be even better than that other well known Imagine song. Their voices blend together in an incredibly sweet way on this dreamy ditty with a instantaneously memorable chorus. Tone sounds gorgeous and it's lovely to hear Eric that is so pure pop. Heavenly bliss - and here's what you get in the video...

• Like many successful sitcoms (Will & Grace, Friends and er, Suddenly Susan!) the video begins with a bride ditching her wedding. I love that Tone can run effortlessly in such fabulous shoes :D
• Tone has ditched the shoes and is luxuriating in some high class spa resort on a hammock. Whenever I get on one of those things, I always end up cocooned like a mummy...
• Eric is on a boat. He has got his back to the camera. I'm praying to God that his shirt is unbuttoned...:D
• GOOD NEWS! With the wind in his hair, Eric has kindly revealed his abs to the world. You will want to pause at exactly 38s and take a few personal moments to appreciate this. Go ahead. I'll wait...
• Eric has a little dance on the boat (with some Vogue style hand movements) while Tone gets into her private pool. She doesn't even take off her flowy sun-gown. That's how smitten she is with Eric...
• For those of you who aren't of the Eric persuasion, there is also a nice shot of Tone's toned bottom at exactly the minute mark.
• Eric and Tone are canoodling on the boat. She then dives into the water, as canoodling is very heavy work and one might work up a sweat :P Pause at 1m14s and tell me Tone wouldn't be the perfect Little Mermaid for the Disney stage musical?!
• Meanwhile Eric does some more singing and dancing on the boat. Which doesn't seem to be captained by anyone. This video could go titanic if they are not careful!
• We're on dry land again now as Eric is whizzing about in his automobile. I like how this lush, sumptuous landscapes are places that parted lovers would "imagine" themselves going to reunite.
• Tone meanwhile has gotten out of the private pool and is having a little rest on the deck next to it. While she's lazing about, Eric has climbed to the top of some seaside rock and is having a little boogie.
• Back in the jeep, Tone straddles Eric and various other shots of the couple being all loved up are interspersed. This is probably to indicate that she rode him like Seabiscuit...
• Every good male pop star, particularly ex-boy band ones, should have a good Christ-like pose in their videos. Eric gets his in at 2m38s...
• There are some nifty Eric dance moves coming out of the middle 8 at just before the three minute mark.
• Now the couple are meeting up in some back alleys. I love it when blokes wear light jumpers in the summer. I'm not sure why. Pause at 3m19s to see Tone look like the cat that got the cream, had more cream and then went back for some more. And quite justifiably so...:D
• More writhings, canoodlings and whispering of sweet nothings round out the video. Bless.

If you like this, try these...

• Carly Rae Jepson/Owl City ~ Good Time: The singer of this year's most enduring pop epic (to date) has teamed up with the maestro behind some of the sweetest ditties of recent years. The result is an absolute treat! A frothy, percolating instrumental, driving beat and a chorus so enormous it cannot be contained, this just sizzles from start to finish. And those whoa-oh-aohs in the chorus? Heaven!
• Christopher/Frida Amundsen ~ Colours: Set over a a deliciously bouncy, bubbling beat, Christopher and Frida manage to create a gloriously soaring way of viewing the world with their charming delivery of the title track from Christopher's frankly very good indeed debut album. Their voices play together nicely and the end result is a dreamy romantic musical alchemy that casts it's spell and has you enchanted...
• Molly Sanden/Christopher ~ A Little Forgiveness: It's Christopher again and why the heck not I say :) He's teamed up with pop chantreuse Molly Sanden on her album and by chance, this also happens to be her current single. It's a dramatic pounding ballad that allows both singers to revel in a large vocal delivery that focuses on them giving the right amount of emotion without being overwrought. They get the balance just right :)