A follow up album was released in 1997, Till Varje Leende en Tår (For Every Smile, a Tear), and from it an initial single "Hur Har vi Hamnat Här?" (How did we end up here?).  The album was produced by Johan Ekelund and Anders Bagge, and recorded in part at Polar Studios. Where One More Time employed the edgy nordic wall of sound, here the arrangements vary from spare ("Längtar hem" is just piano and voice) to lush ("Hur Har vi Hamnat Här?").  And where the cuts on the first albumwere all OMT products, here Cecilia has composed or co-composed many ofthe Swedish lyrics.

The featured instrument on this album, overall, is the voice. This distinguishes it from the first album, on which the OMT/Nordic soundcontrolled each track.  In an interview, Vennersten stressed thatthis album more closely reflects her own musical tastes.  If so, thattaste is toward wistful soft pop ballads, and, of course, love. There is little evidence of rock here.   Neither thisalbum nor the single sold well.

She says:

"My second album was very good, I think, but it didn't contain any big "hits."  You work with the songs for a long time [in makingan album].  I put everything I had into it.   When its handed over to the record company, your job is done. It  was a very difficult time for me.  I felt so helpless.

"Did I feel hurt when the second album didn't sell?  Of course.  I still meet people that do not even know that I've made two albums. AndI still meet people that get really  excited when they hear a songfrom my second album for the first time.  "What happened with this,its great" they say to me. Such moments are important to me.

My own favorite cut is the fourth, "Allt som jag vill ha"  (All that I want).  [Swedish Lyric] [ Englishtranslation].  This is a cover of "If You've Ever BeenIn Love," a Sturken & Rogers song originally released by the urbansoul trio Intrigue in 1996.  Play sample in RealAudio    The song has been restructured, and Cecilia has written the Swedish lyrics.  I'm hooked by the opening, a chug-funky bass (a bit like early Rufus) coveringthe first 5 ladder notes, with Vennersten's voice gently matching it asthe song launches.   Play sample of Cecilia's cover version  Amongst other things I like the repeated line

I like first the internal rhyme of the pronouns, so easily exploited in Swedish.  The line translates literally to:  "A moment without you stops me", and the notion is of having one's life "stopped" in itstracks by even a moments absence of the object of affection.  A different line asserts the reciprocal:  that her lover's mere presencebrings her to life ("I brighten up").   This is the intense totalityof young and new love, and in my view a nice turn on a pop cliche. Cecelia Vennersten is still young enough, and her voice can be inncentenough, to engage in this theme.  The vocal performance is somewhatin the timbre of Det Vackraste, but less breathy, and includes some sweetvocal embellishments which definitely sell the emotion.  If BritneySpears could put out this song, and sing it so well, it would doubtlessbe a monster hit.  Unfortunately, Vennersten's good effort did notobtain such a result.

To my taste, "Stanna här hos mig," "Lever för dig," and "Hur har vi hamnat här?" are also very accomplished tracks.  If other's cuts rely on the poetry of the lyrics, I am not qualified to say becauseof my weak grasp of Swedish.

Comparisons might be drawn between the singing style in this album and current American teen-throbs, such as Aguilera and Spears.  It isuseful to remember that this album was recorded in 1997.  Vennerstenwas first.

When I visited Sweden in September, 1998, it had been my hope to see Vennersten perform in public.  Bad timing.   She was singing in a "tribute" to Elton John at the Radisson Hotel, in Oslo.  Vaguely, one heard that Vennersten was not happy with the arc of her career.

It has been five years since Cecilia recorded her smash first album, and more than three since releasing the second.  With the first album, she was 24 year, and an eager newcomer.  She was happy to have thechance to record.   With the second she was still riding a fragilefame.  Today, she speaks from a greater maturity, personally and professionally.   In the autumn of 1999 she was viewing the years since the first album asa learning experience.  She had been paying her dues, strengtheningher voice, honing her craft.  When asked how she feels now about DetVackraste, and the whole first album, she answers graciously.

"It was a very special recording, containing some beautiful songs.  'Det Vackraste' was a unique song;  many people werevery skeptical when it was first played, but it turned out that in theend it made it, and that's the best thing that can happen to a song.  In that album I put  all my energy into the singing; that was themost important thing to me [then].

"Now in my singing I am striving to get the right stress on the words.   When I sing a song today I am thinking about the story within the song,and trying to give it all its meaning.

"When I listen to [the first album] today, it doesn't feel like the Cecilia I am today.  When I hear the recording, I remember the morenaive girl I was back then.  I have learned so much about my voice,myself and life in general since then. I am not the same person now thatI was back then.  That's why I really cant compare myself to the girlwho recorded "Det Vackraste".  If I recorded it today, and when Iperform it live now, it is different.  I will not say 'better.' Different, because I am different.

"I still just want to sing!   Right now I'm workingon a new album, in English this time. Its really exciting!   I will try to make it with a little more nordic atmosphere again.

We must wait to see how much room there is in the Swedish and international pop machine for talented singers who are no longer ingenues.  I ameager for a third album, whether or not it brings a third incarnation ofthe voice.   It will likely be difficult, however, for Ceciliato return to her early breakout level of commercial success, particularlyif she choses to present more mature lyrics and interpretations. Many a talented songstress has disappeared from the scene....