¡viva la graham!

six months ago, popstar robyn released a single called “with every heartbeat” in her native sweden. if you do not remember robyn, perhaps you may recall late ’90s hits like “do you know what it takes” and “show me love.” obviously, she has since faded from the global radar, but after a bit of hemming and hawing her record label finally decided to release “heartbeat” in the u.k.

thanks to robyn’s heartbreaking delivery and the track’s mezmerizing melody, the single is actually one of the best so far this year. unfortunately, someone decided to promote it with this computer-animated video…

apparently whomever approved this forgot about eiffel 65’s “blue (da ba dee),” which appeared embarrassingly outdated even at the height of the song’s unlikely popularity. even the so-so original video, directed by fredrik skogkvist, was better than this (he also helmed the fantastic clip for robyn’s “konichiwa bitches”). i demand a reshoot, pronto!

yesterday a few web sites wrote about rupert everett’s distressing views on gay parenting. here’s what he told britain’s daily express:

“oh god, i could never do that to a child. can you imagine what it would be like, having your two dads coming to school speech days? and hearing those awful queeny rows while you are trying to get to sleep?”

i sort of understand what he is saying in the first part, which i think is alluding to a child having to endure some ribbing from classmates. i think a kid would get used to this pretty quickly, though. but the queeny rows? yes, gays can be dramatic, but do we really need to perpetuate the stereotype?

i know everett penned a memoir recently, but that doesn’t mean he knows what he’s talking about. if he’s going to throw insults at his own community (even if he doesn’t want to be a part of it), i’d rather he kept his big mouth shut.

i believe my feelings about this would best be described with a pop music lyric, this one from english up-and-comer kate nash: “yeah, intelligent input darling, why don’t you just have another beer then.”

well well, it looks like dragonette are a little more on top of things than i thought. arjan writes posted a free download by the band late yesterday. the track is a live cover of calvin harris’s “the girls,” a song i found kind of annoying when he did it, but somehow with a simple pronoun replacement it’s much more enjoyable.

the best bit is that they performed this during their performance at london’s gay pride event last month. i knew that front woman martina wasn’t afraid of some girl-on-girl tonsil hockey, perhaps one of her trusty steeds dabbles as well.

even if you live in the u.k. or canada, you probably don’t know about the fabulous dragonette. they are an electro-rock band that is, in fact, quite good, though none of the suits heading up american record labels have been convinced. to be fair, no one in britain or canada has taken notice of them yet either.

martina, the minx out front, seems to dominate the pretty boys in the band with an iron fist — especially in the clip for new single “take it like a man,” which i’ve been meaning to post for a month now. the video borrows from late-’90s mark wahlberg vehicle boogie nights, and while it might be completely random (as most videos are) it is effective nonetheless.

if by some chance you do live in the u.k. and you like what you see here, help the band out by purchasing the exclusive popjustice bundle, which includes the mp3, video and an interview, for only 99p. what a bargain!

related: young and slutty