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Happy Nation - the first album
 To make a hit is one thing. But to deliver
an album which can entertain over the whole run and contains a real
bundle of good things is something different. When Ace of Base inspired
the popfans of the world with the songs All That She Wants and Wheel
Of Fortune, music critics hardly believed they were capable of
maintaining this quality over the run of a complete CD. Happy Nation
proved the sceptics wrong. The record was and is a hit. It doesn't
only continue the terrific style of the already released singles, it
also demonstrates the musical variety of the creatives Jonas and Ulf. No
style is safe from their neverending imagination. Pleasing pop melodies,
exciting techno tracks and relaxing reggae rhythms make Happy Nation
to a real experience, to a treat for music amateurs. And eventhough
the musical styles reach into almost all directions, Jonas had an eye
for the essential: "The melody is the most important thing in every
song. And the singing is very important, combined with good grooves.
That's how I see the future of dance music: as a connection between beat,
guitars and melodies. I think you also should sing along with songs
which make you dance. On Happy Nation every piece sounds
differently, the album sounds a little bit like a Best-Of-Sampler to me".
Eventhough the songs differ a lot from each
other, a special working method turned out to be good for Jonas Berggren
and Ulf Ekberg: "First of all I create a melody on my guitar - by
the way, just like Vince Clark of Erasure, his is working the same way.
The rest of the songs Ulf and I do together. This co-operation as songwriters
is very important for us. After all, the lyrics are the only thing
I write on my own. I rather write about common things which have happend
to me but can also happen to everybody else", says Jonas.
How suitable this working method is show
the world wide charts: Just as the singles, the album was able to reach
sensational quotations. Almost everywhere the CD was on top of the
charts.
* Click on the pix to enlarge them
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