Smiling Cecilia Kallin! :) Sweet! Nobody but nobody can smile as often when she speaks and with as much appeal as talented and vivacious lead singer and guitarist Cecilia Kallin of Timoteij. She's such a charmer!; #Timoteij, #CeciliaKallin, #BodilBergström, #PontusTidemand, #gopontus

Smiling Cecilia Kallin! :) Sweet! 

Nobody but nobody can smile as often when she speaks and with as much appeal as talented and vivacious lead singer and guitarist Cecilia Kallin of Timoteij. 

*This post was updated with additional videos and text at 11:55 p.m.

Does it really matter what Cecilia was asked about here at the Helmia car show in Arvika? 

Not really.

Cecilia's friendly and infectious smile just knocks me out every time I see her in an interview, even one as semi-awkward as this. 
She's such a charmer! :) 

Also seen in the top video in Arvika: bandmates Bodil Bergström, fleetingly: Elina Thorsell, and, rather abruptly: Johanna Pettersson. Uploaded April 21, 2013.

After they sang a few songs, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm0I6JzzMGI
and had finished signing autographs at the record signing, Cecilia and Bodil, separately, were among a number of passengers in a rally car driven by 22-year old Swedish professional rally driver Pontus Tidemand, which resulted in some great photos of him, Cecilia and the band -and a very smart and well-produced video that's definitely worth checking out.



PTMRacing YouTube Channel video: Pontus Tidemand Videoblog EP09 Helmia Show-driving in Arkiva, Sweden. Event was on April 20th, Uploaded April 22, 2013. http://youtu.be/pVWknesYt0I

Above, you can see a truly striking-looking Bodil getting into the car at 1:15 and then the whole band from 1:31 to 1:38, with Cecilia happy and clearly relieved to be standing on her own two feet again and Bodil looking calm and cool. 
From 2:08 to 2:15, Bodil is recounting the experience to Elina, standing next to her, sipping a drink.

There's a great photo of a smiling-but-nervous and helmeted Cecilia in the rally car on her blog page on the group's website at http://www.timoteij.se/2013/04/22/det-svanger-om-arvika/ 
where she admits that for at least part of the ride, she had her hands directly in front of her face and was peering thru her fingers, while, not surprisingly, 'driving' and 'braking' with her feet.

Here's the photo of her and the band on Pontus' wonderful website and Instagram account: 
http://instagram.com/p/YVYMIqiw0R/

*I received a link to the below-the-radar video at the top of this post courtesy of an eagle-eyed reader of the blog living in -wait for it- Sweden, who wanted me to see it and share it with you all, but remain anonymous.
Tack så mycket, Anonymous!

On Saturday the band will be performing in Cecilia's hometown of Falkirk, so I'm sure she will be snapping lots of photos that will soon be appearing on the band's always amusing blog and her Instagram page at http://www.timoteij.se/ and http://statigr.am/ceciliakallin

Timoteij tour schedule:  http://www.timoteij.se/turne/

Pontus Tidemand's official website, which is very attractive and , well-designed, is at:
http://www.pontustidemand.se/

Just in time for the summer, Timoteij's wonderfully infectious new single "Het" hits the airwaves -with a BRILLIANT video, too!

Timoteij - Het (Officiell Musikvideo)

http://youtu.be/AzoRucqYers

Make sure you watch this on a full screen for maximum effect.

En somrig hit? (A summer hit?)

Yes!

It will probably come as no surprise to those among you reading this blog who have an interest in this subject that I've been reading and hearing a lot about the new Timoteij single being released for awhile now.

But the first time I actually heard "Het" for myself -sans video and the rap opening that both jolts you and catches your attention- came last weekend, a few days after it was featured on May 12th P4 homepage for Sveriges Radio's Daniel Kjellander and Jenny Lindeborg, who host a four-hour morning show.

http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=730&artikel=4500881

Obviously, I don't listen to SR all the time, probably more like a couple of times a month out of curiosity, and the truth here is that I simply got a tip from someone I trust and followed it up -and took a listen myself.
You may well remember that I previously mentioned here that I'd been having some computer problems and all last week, esp. with my speakers?

In any case, it's just as well that I didn't post about that SR link, because I didn't have access last weekend to this tres charmant video and THAT's what really makes this particular song POP and sets it apart!

And didn't Johanna (Pettersson) tell us only on Wednesday, on their blog, how truly sick -"cruel"- it would be when we all saw it for ourselves?

Yes, she did, saying "Den är grym! Såå bra! Hurra!?"

http://www.timoteij.se/2011/05/18/musikvideoteaser/

OMG, it's even better than advertised!

First off, there's a whole lot more going-on in this sweet and catchy -and ingenious- video than seems readily apparent at first viewing -a whole lot more, which is why you have to watch it a number of times on full screen to catch some of the clever touches.

To me at least, parts of both the song and the video have an almost Nashville-centered feel to it, like certain very popular female Country Western acts you and I can both think of.

Giving a video a real sense of place and reality is very, very smart, actually.

I dare you not to be hooked by the second time you play it, and actually know what to expect with the whole switch in tone at the beginning from the typical rap 'intro' and the appearance of the long white stretch limousine

and paparazzi at the ready, to the looks of, first, dismay

"That's NOT schlager, that's hip-hop!"

and then quickly, delight on the faces of the little girls and boys wearing those popular pink and blue Timoteij skull caps when the band cruise in,

"Here they come!"

emerging from their sweet cherry red Skoda -embossed with their name in script on the hood and a silhouette of them on the sides.

Adorable autograph hounds at the ready!

Oh-so much cuter with a Skoda!

http://www.timoteij.se/2010/05/05/timoteij-kor-skoda-2/
http://www.skoda-auto.com/COM/Pages/homepage.aspx

http://personbilar.toveksbil.se/artikel/17088/det-finns-en-fabia-for-alla.html

Photos of the band with their individual cherry red Skodas back in Skövde:

http://personbilar.toveksbil.se/101/artikel/351/timoteij-kor-skoda.html
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=390108438751

(Johanna didn't have her license yet when they got the sponsorship deal.)

And in case you were wondering, yes, those pink and blue Timoteij-embossed skull caps ARE ridiculously popular, as even a cursory look at many of the photos or video of their touring the past year has made abundantly clear, where you see them everywhere, and NOT just on kids.

I almost bought one of them last year for my youngest niece, aged ten, up in Maryland, and while not naming names, I have some friends in Sweden who bought a lot of them for stocking stuffers and such, even giving some blue ones to their more hard-edged heavy metal male friends and work colleagues as a joke.
(But they had to wear them out in public, of course.)

The slower, quieter part of the song that kicks in at 2:30 or so, starting with a shot of Elina (Thorsell), is a great change of pace and really brings the attention back to the quartet's sweet harmonies that these four do so consistently, seemingly, effortlessly.

Here's a video they recorded of their behind-the-scenes preparation for the "Het" music video, and yes, that is Taylor Swift playing in the background; they love Taylor Swift!

Timoteij spelar in musikvideo - Förberedelser

http://youtu.be/wtnYFjsBaeg

(Pictured above: Elina)

This is the quartet's first video on their "official" YouTube Channel.
More on that in a minute.

Speaking of summer, or as one person I know who has spent many, many winters in Sweden puts it, the first time you have seven days in a row when it's NOT freezing, here's a short vid from Expressen TV last August, showing how willing the girls are to indulge the media to get some attention for their self-evident talent -singing while swimming in a pool.

http://tv.expressen.se/noje/1.2086679/har-badar-timoteij-i-bajsvatten

One of the other things I've sort of been waiting to mention here on the blog for a bit, thinking the new single was the time to mention it, was that there is -FINALLY- an official YouTube Channel for Timoteij, even though their fans have been pretty good the past year at uploading videos they shoot of them on tour around the country or even their TV appearances -per Nyhetsmorgon, Lotta på Liseberg, Sommarkrysset and Allsång på Skansen.

http://www.expressen.se/1.2078733

Timoteij - Högt över ängarna (Hoch Ubber Den Wiesen) Live Habo FestivalenTag [Ultra-HQ] -High Above the Meadows.

http://youtu.be/owoZ6gBHj4M

(Pictured above: Bodil, Cecilia and Elina)

Timoteij - Ingen idé

http://youtu.be/JKqpY4ve_xY

(Pictured above: Cecilia and Johanna)

Here's the URL for their Official YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/TimoteijOfficial

As it turns out, your faithful blogger and friend Dave was their second subscriber.

For what it's worth, I have actually mentioned to them via an email that I thought that their very amusing videos on their official -not fake- Facebook page, located at

http://www.facebook.com/timoteij.official were full of personality and often hysterical, especially the ones where they were traveling and Elina was acting as cinematographer from the back seat -82 videos as of a few days ago at http://www.facebook.com/video/?id=286938310265&s=0 - and really needed to be shared with more people via an official YouTube Channel they controlled.

Whether or not they will start putting those sort of funny videos up at this new channel, I can't say for sure, but this first one is certainly a good sign and when I hear something, I will share the news with you here.

Timoteij's official blog: http://www.timoteij.se/

See also:

You’re Making Me….HET HET HET!

by SCANDIPOP on MAY 20, 2011

http://www.scandipop.co.uk/?p=5859

Lionheart Sweden's YouTubeChannel

http://www.youtube.com/user/LionheartSweden

http://www.leg.se/

Look out world, here comes Timoteij! Thoughts on the pop group that rocked Melodifestivalen 2010 in Göteborg, in Stockholm next Saturday for Finals

Among the many hopeful performers last month
in Göteborg (Gothenberg) at the third Semifinal
of Sweden's extremely popular Melodifestivalen
singing competition -telecast LIVE by SVT-
http://svt.se/2.120908/melodifestivalen_2010
for the chance to represent Sweden at the 2010
Eurovision Song Contest in late May in Oslo,
http://www.eurovision.tv/page/home
was a very intriguing four-woman pop group
known as Timoteij, singing what I'd call a
folk-inspired pop song titled Kom.
("Come" as in a plaintive plea.)

The band only formed in the Fall of 2008,
from some music students in the Skaraborg
area of central Sweden: Cecilia Kallin,
Bodil Bergstrom, Elina Thorsell and
Johanna Pettersson.

Despite how talented each woman was known
to be individually, nobody could've honestly
predicted that Sweden as a whole would be so
knocked-out by them ensemble, but appealing
they are, and this has caused some pop culture
watchers to say that maybe the fog has lifted,
and that Swedish power pop has -finally-
returned to its roots, by doing what it always
did so well when it really mattered and was
actually popular outside of the country:
well-crafted songs with catchy hooks and
great harmonies that linger in your head
long after the song has ended.

Some Swedish music industry types have even
gone so far as to publicly say that this overdue
return to fun power pop is not just a very welcome
breath of fresh air, after an era where Sweden,
quite frankly, had really become a bit of a
tired afterthought musically, continually sending
performers to Eurovision that were clearly
too obscure or overtly theatrical than musical
-and sure to get hammered by judges and
millions of European TV viewers at home
for these very reasons- but an opportunity
for the entire Swedish music industry to regain
its balance.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see on that,
but certainly there's a palpable sense of new
confidence there that a certain degree of
competitiveness and interest has returned.

The group's tremendous performance last month
before a nation-wide TV audience has earned
them a spot in the Finals next Saturday night at
the Ericsson Globe Arena a.k.a. Globen,
in Stockholm, where they will be one of ten
acts vying to perform at this year's Eurovision
competition being held in Oslo, because it is the
home of last year's winner, Alexander Rybak,
whose Fairytale captured so many people's
attention last year, for both good and bad reasons.



Timoteij has created quite a buzz for themselves
all over Sweden and one reason for that, though
hardly the most important one, is that they sing
in Swedish and not in English, as so many other
acts have chosen to do over the years for all
sorts of practical marketing and voting
reasons.

Not that there's any consensus about the
issue, per se, since people clearly understand
why a Swedish singer or group hoping
to make it big would choose to go the
English route for the contest, but from
reading comments in different forums over
the past few weeks, people definitely seem
pleased that such a talented and immensely
appealing group has consciously chosen
to perform in Swedish, not Engelska.

Their harmonies are tight and heavenly,
as you'll hear for yourself when you watch
the video.



Melodifestivalen's homepage for Timoteij
is at http://svt.se/2.121002/timoteij?lid=puff_1786706&lpos=lasMer

Hanna intervjuar vinnarna i Göteborg Längd: 03:10

An SVT promo from December 21st, 2009 Timoteij utklassade alla

-----

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grThquUDlKs

----

Interview on SVT's Gomorron Sverige with
Cecilia Kallin and Johanna Pettersson of
Timoteij.


The groups's website is at http://www.timoteij.se/

And just when you counted them out, Slovakia,
yes, Slovakia, goes "Solid Gold" in its entry,
almost like they could get votes from South Florida
precincts, with the lovely Kristina singing her
heart out about Horehronie, a beautiful region of
Slovakia.
http://www.horehronie.com/

You know what they say, after the country girl
has seen the bright lights of Bratislava, there's
just no going back to the farm!

FYI: One of my former housemates from Arlington
is a member of the Foreign Service stationed in
Slovakia.
Slovakia shoots and it scores! Here's the travelogue version of the song

Sweet!