Music / Caramell

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Caramell was a Swedish musical group, formed by singers Katia Löfgren and Malin Sundström and producers Jorge "Vasco" Vasconcelo and Juha "Millboy" Myllylä. The band disbanded in 2002 after producing two albums.

They are best known online for the internet phenomenon known as "Caramelldansen", a looping Flash animation showing anime characters Mai and Mii from the Japanese visual novel Popotan. The animation includes a sped-up version of the song "Caramelldansen," which means (if spelled with a 'K' and not a 'C') "The Caramel Dance," from Caramell's Supergott album. A sped-up version of the whole album was later released. Having taken off as an Internet meme, the popular Caramelldansen animation has been duplicated with characters from various anime and video game series, among others. Malin Sundström has also appeared as female vocals for the song "I Love the 90's" by Dr Alban Vs. Haddaway.

In 2008, the popularity of Caramelldansen led to the creation of a musical group called "Caramella Girls", though no members of Caramell are actually part of it. This new group released songs at an usually yearly rate throughout the 2010s, and, in 2020, these songs would be featured in their "debut" album Sweet Decade.

Albums

• Gott Och Blandat (1999)
• Supergott (2001)

Caramella Girls albums

• Supergott (Speedy Mixes) (2008)
• Sweet Decade (2020)
• Mums Mums (2022)

Songs

• Caramelldansen - The original version
• Caramelldansen (Speedycake)

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Caramell and the Caramella Girls provide examples of:

• Ascended Meme: The dance has been implemented into the official music video.
  • Much of the Caramella Girls' music features high-pitched female vocals, similar to that from the better-known Speedycake remix (or as the label prefers to call it, "Speedy Mix") of "Caramelldansen".
• Be Yourself: Spelar Ingen Roll
• Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: The Caramella Girls, according to their official profiles:
  • Vera (Brunette): "More athletic and bolder than the other girls", also wears more tomboyish outfits (Brawn)
  • Mindy (Blonde): "An upbeat and social girl" (Beauty)
  • Nadine (Purple-haired): "More calm and reserved than the other girls, her dance moves are more graceful than Mindy and Vera's" (Brains)
• Cleavage Window: Nadine from Caramella Girls has one in her design for the songs We Love to Party and Tokyo.
• Cover Version:
  • Caramell:
    • Efter Plugget by Factory
    • Ooa Hela Natten by Attack
  • Caramella Girls:
    • Candy Girl as a cover of Barbie Girl by Aqua with slightly changed lyrics
    • Ooh Ahh… Just A Little Bit by Gina G
    • "Back in My Life" by Alice Deejay
    • Take a Ride as a cover of Motorcycle by Blue Monster and Bikki
    • "Mamma Mia" by ABBA
• Dance Sensation: The Caramelldansen dance.
• Darker and Edgier: While nobody would call Sweet Decade "dark", it is slightly more aggressive than Supergott.
• Europop: well, technically, the so called bubblegum dance...
• Gender-Equal Ensemble: Two males (Vasco and Millboy) and two females (Malin and Katia)
• Hardcore Techno: The "Vasco Speedy Mix" of Wish Upon a Star is happy hardcore
• Power Ballad: "How Can You Say Goodbye" from Sweet Decade.
• Trance: Their sound has elements of euro-trance.
• Virtual Celebrity: All promotional material for The Caramella Girls features three fictional singers; Vera, Nadine, and Mindy, whose voices are provided by anonymous musicians. The original Caramell group had actual members, however.

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