Eurodance, a genre of electronic dance music, originated primarily in Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It combines many elements from House, Techno, Hi-NRG and Italo-Disco. Songs as such are perfect for dance clubs and parties, bringing the crowd out and enticing a great time. Among the different artists can be found played at clubs, Cascada has definitely made its way in.

After the hit single, “Every time We Touch” released on January 5, 2006 in the US, the group became very popular. However, the breakthrough happened in June 2009, after the group released “Evacuate the Dance floor.” The song featured German rapper Carlprit and debuted at No. 1 on the U.K. Singles Chart for the week of July 5, 2009. It also became the group’s third No. 1 single on the US Billboard Hot Dance Airplay chart and second top 40 hit on U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Coming back on June 19, 2011 in the UK with their fourth studio album Original Me, the group is definitely kicking it up a notch.

Cascada, founded in 2004, is a group of three musicians: Natalie Horler (singer), DJ Manian (DJ/Producer) and Yanou (DJ/Producer). This group is widely considered one of the leaders in bringing Euro-dance music stateside and adding in the transition to a more electro-pop oriented mainstream sound. Cascada has sold over 20 million albums worldwide and about 15 million digital downloads.

After receiving much criticism of its previous album, mainly the lack of cohesiveness linking the album as a whole, the group decided to experiment with a new release strategy, planning to produce and release different singles and then attempting to bind them all into an album.

The group released its first single, “Pyromania,” in Germany in March 2010, continuing their electro-pop sound. Cascada’s second single, “Night Nurse,” was a promotional single featuring guest vocal from male singer, “R.I.O.” It was released in Nov 2010 on a U.K. compilation CD.

“San Francisco” was released as the album’s lead single on June 3, 2011. The song had originally premiered on Cascada’s official YouTube account in a music video on April 28, 2011. The video features Horler with a group of people dressed up as modern-day hippies out on a night in San Francisco for a party, ending with them having a party on a rooftop.

Horler begins the song with “I take you back to 1969/Let’s hit the city of freedom like old times” taking listeners back to the days of hippies in “city of freedom.” “San Francisco” has been met with generally positive reviews from critics, though it continues to be compared to Katy Perry’s “California Gurls”, with allegations that Cascada “ripped-off” Perry’s song. Despite these claims, the song has become the most successful single since “Evacuate the Dance floor” in countries like Austria, Germany and the Netherlands.

The latest album will be released in four European countries in June before making its way overseas to Canada and the United States on July 5, 2011. On June 17, the album was released in the Netherlands followed by digital releases in U.K. (June 19), Australia (June 21), and Germany (June 24). Since the album has yet to be released in US (July 5), there have been no album reviews. But, after listening to the album leak and at first glance, all the songs continue the electro-pop sound. However, their second track “Au Revoir” sounds like a mixture of Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus. Horler’s voice sounds like Cyrus’ until the chorus when it turns into a mixture of Spears’ and Cyrus’ voices combined.

Overall, Cascada uses different styles apart from electro-pop with a slow melodic song “Unspoken” back to its genre. Now we just have to wait until July 5 for more in-depth music reviews.

Track List

1.            San Francisco

2.            Au Revoir

3.            Unspoken (feat Carlprit)

4.            Pyromania

5.            Enemy

6.            Independence Day (feat Carlprit)

7.            Stalker

8.            Night Nurse

9.            Sinner on the Dance floor

10.          Original Me

11.          Hungover

Image Courtesy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kick-in/4931413495/sizes/z/in/photostream/

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About the author

Eisha Vatsal
I enjoy a range of music and love to learn about different artists from all over the world. I love to read. My favorite season is a mixture of late spring and early summer (before it gets too hot).