He’s the multitalented musician who brought glam rock to the Eurovision stage a decade ago. Now former The Ark frontman Ola Salo has a new solo single, “I Call Your Name”. And this time he’s getting kinky in a music video shot in a Gothenburg fetish club.

As part of The Ark, Ola represented Sweden at Eurovision 2007 with the glam rock number “The Worrying Kind”. A decade later, he is showing that he’s still capable of creating quality pop.

New single “I Call Your Name” is an uplifting electropop track, with a particularly seductive bass line. Ola Salo describes it as “a song of dedication. A kind of religious hymn of human love.”

The verses of the song describe the most difficult moments of life, those times “when the night falls and everything seems different”. But he takes comfort in a person who can make everything better. He sings, “I pray to you”, and evokes the uplifting support a friend or lover can make in the life of a stressed loved one. (It’s exactly the sort of song that belongs on our list of songs to drive away the darkness!)

Ola debuted the song on Swedish morning show Nyhetsmorgon, where he performed the song live with members of modern glam rock group Dismissed. They have history — earlier this year Dismissed performed Ola’s song “Hearts Align” at Melodifestivalen.

But we need to talk about the music video. It was shot in an S&M club in Gothenburg — and it’s a little NSFW.

Wearing a dapper white suit, Ola moves around the club. He’s surrounded by club patrons who are serving shiny latex, stern mistress, naughty boy, chips, dips, chains and whips realness. Oh my!

All up, it’s tastefully edited, but it does feature the odd body part that might not be suitable for more sensitive viewers.

The unusual location ties in with the lyrics of the song — how having a connection with someone who gets you is a special thing.

As Ola told Aftonbladet, “The basics of the song were a speech I gave to my wife on our wedding day which I later used as song lyrics. From there it is a rather long and weird trip to a BDSM club in a dark basement in Gothenburg.”

“I Call Your Name” lyrics – Ola Salo

When the night falls and everything seems different
And I wonder where all my confidence went
And when God seems to be far away or absent

When the fear of dark has the upper hand on me
And the pressure on my mind is too hard to beat
When I wonder if I’ll see the night through
I pray to you, I pray to you

’Cause every time the plane shakes
Every small ache, every plain mistake I make
When the step just disappears underneath my feet
And my heart skips a beat

I call your name, I call your name
I call your name, I call your name
I call your name, I call your name

In my life I always strived for independence
A definition of freedom that shuns all coherence
And a love that smells like peppermints and incense

Now come nightfall, come sorrows of all sorts
You and I, have been through hardships and discomforts

Loving you is my religion from now on
My faith is strong, my faith is strong

’Cause every time the plane shakes
Every small ache, every plain mistake I make
When the step just disappears underneath my feet
And my heart skips a beat

I call your name, I call your name
I call your name, I call your name
I call your name, I call your name

’Cause every time the plane shakes
Every small ache, every plain mistake I make

When the step just disappears underneath my feet
And my heart skips a beat
I call your name, I call your name
I call your name, I call your name
I call your name, I call your name

READ MORE SWEDEN EUROVISION NEWS

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Jonas
Jonas
6 years ago

Agree. The result in 2007 was a travesty!

May
May
6 years ago

You’ve got great taste 😉

May
May
6 years ago

Awww, I loved the Ark. I was so rooting for them in 2007! I even managed to see them live once. It was possibly the best concert I’ve been to. They were incredible, Ola especially.

Kermit
Kermit
6 years ago

The Ark was criminally underrated in ESC 2007….deserved so much more! their song even had great lyrics. How often do you hear it in ESC, not THAT often? To be honest – they are just about the only act representing Sweden after 2000 with a REAL carere outside the ESC-bubble…both very credible, respected AND commerically sucessfull. They were more orthy” than many of the others. And a great glam rock song

good luck with his solo carrere…Rock on Ola! 🙂

NickC
NickC
6 years ago
Reply to  Kermit

Agree 100%. Worrying kind was a great song, with great lyrics. I feel if we had juries back the, it would have done better.