10 Moments of the 00's #5

No 5: Missing a golden opportunity (2001)

No 6: Throwing a plant at the audience (2005)
No 7: Receiving the Letteris et Artibus medal (2007)
No 8: "Les Misérables" in London's West End (2002)
No 9: "Find My Way To Bethlehem" (2009)
No 10: Johnson & Häggkvist miss the finale (2008)

In June 2000 the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet broke the news—Carola had begun a collaboration with the guys from Sweet Chariots: Niclas Frisk (previosly lead singer of Atomic Swing) and Andreas Mattsson (previously Popsicle)! This was news the music columnists and fans agreed seem to be a big step in the right direction for Carola. Aftonbladet wrote:

"Carola is in the recording studio with the rock'n'roll guys from Sweet Chariots. A more interesting collaboration is hard to find. (...) Mattsson and Frisk have given Carola a bunch of new songs. Their intentions are serious. Now it's up to Carola. (...) But, now it seems Carola has made her mind up. She has chosen to collaborate with two of the most respected men on the Swedish music scene. Two guys with great respect for the music history and their roots in classic guitar-based pop and rock. (...) She has proven she can sing any genre of music: hymns, pop, gospel, musicals. But she still hasn't made THE album. Her instant classic. It might be time for that now".

In July Carola gave her fans and the critics a sneak peek at what the new material sounded like when she performed two songs during a concert in Tylösand. The critics were ecstatic! But, when the album "My Show" was released on November 19 2001, only one of the songs from the Frisk-Mattsson collaboration had survived ("You + Me" was released as a promo single in August 2002, see cover above), but it had been re-recorded to fit the pop sound of the album. The critics were in slight shock:

"But dear, dear Carola... What have you done? (...) I heard some of the songs they recorded and saw them perform together last summer, and it was truly a fantastic experience. (...) For the first time it seemed Carola expressed something—and she did it a raw and naked way, so direct with such sexually charged intensity that I wrote 'A Swedish Aretha' in my notebook. (...) There is nothing more tragic than wasted talent. The album 'My Show' makes me genuinely sad!"

You might not agree with everything said by the critics, but in fact Carola has later stated that she regrets not completing the album with Frisk and Mattsson. One song that Carola rejected was titled "Help Somebody" and later recorded by Peter Jöback (listen to his version here). We can only imagine what the Carola/Frisk/Mattsson album would have sounded like and what in what direction it might had taken Carola's career, but I considered it the fifth most memorable moment of the decade. Even if in the end, it never happened...

Tomorrow it's time to reveal the no 4 moment of the 00's.

Agree or disagree? Don't worry, on December 20 it's your time to vote for what you think is the no 1 moment of the 00's. Until then, feel free to leave your comments here.

(Translations by Carola International)