The “Room Service” promotional site at Roxette.se features video clips of Per and Marie commenting on each of the new album tracks. Here’s what’s said:

1. Real Sugar

A very simple song. That’s always the hardest to write. The idea was that they both should be singing it. It’s a classic 3-chord pop song which you can have a lot of fun with in the studio. You can do a lot of production to it, what we did. It begins like an old-fashioned home recording. It’s a pop song, one of those I love to write.


2. The Centre of the Heart

Was written five years ago. The first version was recorded in Spain for HAND. It was a totally different version, much slower. We made a disco song out of it. A little bit like Frankie goes to Hollywood meets G. Moroder. It’s fun.


3. Milk and Toast and Honey

Marie had a lot of problems to sing it. It’s so simple but you must deliver it from the heart. First she thought, it’s easy, but it wasn’t. She must find the magic lines. They’ve worked really hard on it and in the end, Marie says, she is very proud of the atmosphere and the voice in the song. Will be a single. Per says it’s probably the best song on the album. He had it in his head for six months, before writing it down and making a demo.


EDITOR’S NOTE: TDR reader T-Rox originally posted this to our SmallTalk forum. We thought it should be on our Front Page as well. Thanks T-Rox… and also to Charles (RML) who figured out the direct links to these video clips!   – LEO

• “Room Service” campaign site
• Real Sugar (Real Player required for all)
• Centre of the Heart
• Milk & Toast & Honey
• Jefferson
• Little Girl
• Looking for Jane
• Bringing Me Down To My Knees
• Make My Head Go Pop
• Try
• Fool
• It Takes You No Time To Get Here
• My World, My Love, My Life

4. Jefferson

One of the first songs they recorded. One of Maries favourites. A very sad lyric. Per sings it very well, Marie said. Per had this idea but couldn’t find a name for the person. When he writes the chorus, he heard an old Jefferson airplane song and there it was. If you wake Per up in the middle of the night and ask to write a song it would turn out like this.

5. Little girl

Written by Marie. Per says, Marie has a different style of writing. It expands the whole album, if she is bringing a song like this to Roxette. Without her songs the album is not dead – but less alive. It’s about a little girl, a girl I was, Marie says. When you grow old, you don’t remember anymore these days. It was written very fast. Marie woke up, and played it on her piano. Often songs come very quick. In about an hour she has written a song like this.

6. Looking for Jane

Started with the title. Per has a book, where he writes down titles and sentences. So he has this title and thought “Who is Jane?”, “What can be happen to her?”. When Marie sings, it’s different than the demo version by Per. Turned out to be great anyway.

7. Bringing me down to my knees

Marie got the demo and don’t like it very much. It’s ok, a pop song, but she wasn’t sure if they should work on it. Per and Clarence liked it a lot and want to try it. Now Marie is very glad about it, cause it fits her voice perfect. It’s one of Per’s favourites with a great intro, movement in the melody and great vocal performance. But Per don’t like the lyrics and try to rewrite it so many times. He sent the lyrics to someone (he will not mention the name) to rewrite it, but “he” said they’re great. Good radio pop.

8. Make my head go pop

Writte in france, in Saint Trope. Per has listened to a Frank Black record where he says “She make my head go pop”. The following tuesday night he started writing. It’s left out of the album a long time, cause it doesn’t really fit in. But after “Bringing me down to my knees” it just makes sense. It’s fun.

9. Try

Marie says, it’s really good, she loves to sing it. You can improvise with the melody. There are also not many intruments on it. It has a soul touch. Per says it’s custom made for Marie. If you listen to the demo you might laugh. Written on piano. It’s the only sort of soul influence on the album A lot of people like it.

10. Fool

One of the first songs recorded. With a strong chorus. A good summer song. They started very different, very programmed with sequenzers. Jonas Isacsson played the guitars like a Stones guitar-riff and it changed the whole song. Now it’s a guitar song, it comes very natural.

11. It Takes You No Time To Get Here

Very nice balad. It’s very much Per, Marie says. The feeling and the lyrics, Per can really deliver that. It’s very relaxed, so easy and cool. Could be sung by Per or Marie. If a guy sing it, it means something, if a girl sing it, it means something different. But it makes sense either way.

12. My World, My Love, My Life

Marie really love this song. It has an excellent melody and she loves the lyrics. When she first heard the demo she got “goose pumps”. That’s a good sign. It’s a perfect ending for the album. A little bit like WICF. Per wrote several songs in that style and get really tired of all of them. The song is a nice track, but not that important for Per. Sometimes when you write songs, you get stuck in a pattern and write three or four songs that are similar.