Another year, another MTV Video Music Awards, which means it’s time for a whole ‘nother round of Kanye rage and death threats from Britney stans demanding to know whether or not she’ll be performing this year.

But before we get into that whole mess–it’s the nominees for the 2011 MTV VMAs!

Last night, MTV opened up the vote for the 2011 MTV Music Video Awards. And almost just as quickly, the tweets began to fill up my timeline with various outbursts and damning remarks: #MTVFail! #MTVFail! So what’s got everyone’s panties in an Ashley Tizzydale? Let’s see who made the cut…below the cut.

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Fact: The Swedes are a superhuman race sent from the future to make amazing pop music.

Due to this undeniable truth, Swedish pop stars you’ve never heard of snatch wigs from your favorite pop stars for fun — just because they can. In my ongoing series, Amazing Things I’m Listening to From Sweden, I review the best Swedish exports that are currently blowing up the charts (i.e., getting blasted at ear-splitting volume in my apartment).

Le Kid – America

Pop outfit Le Kid first appeared on the scene in 2009 with “Mercy Mercy,” a thoroughly enjoyable pop gem that sounds a bit like a less sultry redux of Girls Aloud‘s single “Can’t Speak French.” But Le Kid’s ensuing singles, like the ebullient “We Should Go Home Together,” were a little too schlagerific for my taste — as evidenced by their particularly high-octane Melodifestivalen entry, “Oh My God.” Their less giddy efforts, including their striking cover of The Killers‘ perennial favorite “Mr. Brightside,” pointed in a direction of greater subtlety — and that’s exactly the stride they’ve hit with their newest single, “America.” It belongs to the same category of nostalgic midtempo dance-pop that Xenomania have mastered with Girls Aloud and Mini Viva (see “Call the Shots” and “I Wish” for more) without collapsing into schlager hysterics — and that’s something worth celebrating.

Swedish House Mafia – Save the World [feat. John Martin]

Swedish House Mafia have certainly demonstrated a track record for epic club jams, and “Save the World” is no exception. Instrumentally, it’s ground well traveled, but the dizzying euphoric heights the song builds to work just as well as they ever have. “Save the World” is further redeemed by excellent vocals from John Martin, whose voice — like a combination of Miike Snow‘s Andrew Wyatt and Coldplay‘s Chris Martin — strikes just the right balance between strength and longing. A surefire summer smash.

Therese – Drop It Like It’s Hot

This dance anthem has been kicking around online for awhile, but it’s just crossing my radar now — and I must admit that 2010 would have been a much more enjoyable year if it had included a little Therese. What starts out as by-the-numbers house music turns into a massive singalong smash by the unforgettable chorus. Lyrics are as follows: “Dance, dance, why don’t you dance like a freak/This ghetto place is so much better when you dance with me.” Now featuring a glittery remix package from house kings Wideboys, Therese deserves to join the ranks of September and Velvet among Sweden’s most prized dance divas.

Killabite – Follow Me Home

It’s ironic, yet not altogether surprising, that Los Angeles-based duo Killabite are only releasing music in Sweden, given that their brand of glitchy, gleaming dance-pop is decidedly Scandinavian in its sensibilities. I’d love to see the duo gain some domestic traction, but until then, I can still get some serious mileage out of “Follow Me Home,” a thunderous slice of futuristic pop co-written by famed DJ Axwell. Killabite’s storied pedigree doesn’t hurt, either: female vocalist Chau Phan performed backup vocals for the Holy Spearit herself on “I Wanna Go” and “Criminal.”

Those Dancing Days – I’ll Be Yours

Hipster girl group Those Dancing Days got some blog buzz back in 2008 with the release of their candy-sweet single, “Hitten,” but I would have expected them to garner more hype with the release of their sophomore album, Daydreams & Nightmares. After all, the record was produced by such luminaries as Max Martin & Shellback, as well as Patrik Berger, who has helmed tracks for fellow Swedes Robyn, Erik Hassle, and Icona Pop. Those Dancing Days exist in the same luscious retro space as The Pipettes and, to a lesser extent, Lykke Li — and “I’ll Be Yours” is as wistfully charming as anything they’ve done yet.

Release notes: “Save the World,” “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” and “I’ll Be Yours” are all available on US iTunes — “America” and “Follow Me Home” are still awaiting US release, but can both be found on Swedish iTunes and 7digital SE.

You know when you’re out with your dad at some fancy restaurant, and then you’re all like: “And another thing, DAD: You never let me do what I want! YOU NEVER SUPPORT MY DREAMS. I’ve grown to resent everything that you are, and that resentment has manifested itself through the art of fanciful dancing. NOW WATCH ME DANCE. RAWW, FUCK YOU!”

That’s basically how the Tarik Saleh-directed video for Lykke Li‘s new single “Sadness Is A Blessing” goes.

(No, but really…this video is absolutely stunning.)

Wounded Rhymes was released on February 25. (iTunes)

Fact: In Sweden, it is illegal to make bad music.

Okay, so this may not be empirically true, but it is a reality that the Swedes are known for exporting pop of the very highest quality. In my ongoing series, Amazing Things I’m Listening to From Sweden, I discuss the best Scandipop that’s been quietly slaying your faves.

Andreas Wijk – Like My Style

Andreas Wijk is a Swedish fashion blogger and model who looks like, well, a Swedish fashion blogger and model. (Photographic evidence here, here, and here. Please try not to kill yourself.) In typically life-isn’t-fair fashion, though, Andreas is additionally endowed with some impressive vocal gifts: A smooth, likable voice that would fit perfectly among, say, the boys of The Wanted. His debut single, “Like My Style” — and indeed we do, Andreas — is a surprisingly self-assured little pop bauble that sounds like Erik Hassle as produced by Dr. Luke. While there may not be a lot of crossover potential here, the combination of style and “Style” (see what I did there?) should be more than enough to attract the attention of teh gayz — who are, as we all know, the only listening audience that really count.

Beldina – Here We Go

The dopest bassline I’ve heard this year comes courtesy of Beldina Malaika, a Kenyan-Swedish neo-soul songbird whose new single, “Here We Go,” has been generating buzz all over the place. Instrumentally, it’s a nice throwback to 2007-era Justice, even if it does tread the well-traveled lyrical territory of prepping for a G.N.O. It doesn’t have the punk theatricality of Adiam Dymott or the twee levity of Asha Ali, but Beldina’s sound is slick, polished, and modern. I’d call it a welcome addition to the canon of Sweden-by-way-of-Africa vocalists.

Lykke Li – Sadness is a Blessing

Lykke Li’s sophomore effort, Wounded Rhymes, is a stunning hour of dark-as-pitch pop, but I’m particularly drawn to what’s slated to be the second UK single: “Sadness is a Blessing.” The track is both sad and majestic, without any of the preciousness that colored Youth Novels, and this confidence points to the artist’s developing sonic maturity. After all the brash swagger of “Get Some,” it’s refreshing to see Lykke return to a place of vulnerability.

Erik Hassle – Stay Away

I consider Erik Hassle the unsung hero of the Swedish pop scene. Sure, his music veers further toward the MOR pop-rock vein of The Fray or Snow Patrol than the icy electropop promulgated by Robyn and September, but I expected that this would result in a warmer international reception than the one he’s received; if a song as infectious as “Hurtful” can’t get radio play, then there is truly no justice in the world of music programming. “Stay Away” is the second single from his latest EP, Mariefred Sessions, following the MuuMuse Approved “Are You Leaving,” and it’s similarly melancholy, but with more strumming guitars than chilly synths. The fact that Mariefred Sessions went to #1 on the iTunes Sweden album chart the day it was released is a small consolation for this criminally underrated act.

Sara Lumholdt – Enemy

No shade to Eric Saade, but this was my favorite track to emerge from this year’s Melodifestivalen. It doesn’t hurt that Sara Lumholdt was once one-fourth of the epic bubblegum pop group A*Teens — alongside her better-known blonde counterpart, Marie Serneholt — and also performed circa 2007 under the pseudonym Sara Love, releasing a truly epic trash-pop single called “Glamour Bitch.” (Seriously.) History aside, “Enemy” swagga-jacks the hell out of Jordin Sparks‘ “Battlefield,” from the chord progression to the love-is-violence extended metaphor, and that is not a bad thing. So what if it’s derivative? It’s catchy, melodramatic, and highly listenable.

After premiering the deliciously demonic video for buzz single “Get Some,” Lykke Li has returned with “I Follow Rivers,” the first official single from her upcoming sophomore album, Wounded Rhymes, due out on February 27. (Click here to pre-order the album!)

Filmed by the Egyptian-Swedish director Tarik Saleh, the clip follows (literally) actor Fares Fares being chased by a veiled Lykke Li across the gorgeous, snowy Swedish island of Gotland.

A romantic tale, an ode to obsession, or something far more sinister brewing beneath the surface? I don’t know, but something tells me this isn’t exactly a two-way relationship.

“I Follow Rivers” will be released on February 14. (iTunes)

Is…is that Lykke Li grabbing her crotch? IT IS!

Check out the kaleidoscopic new video for Lykke Li’s “Get Some,” directed by Johan Söderberg who, among other things, is responsible for the “Sorry” remix interlude video on Madonna‘s Confessions Tour and the “Get Stupid” interlude on the Sticky & Sweet Tour. (WATCH)

Satanic ritualism, alchemy and copious amounts of hip gyrations all set to the trippy sounds of Li’s new single–Holy fierceness, Batman!

I feel like I’m watching the Swedish version of Beyond The Valley of the Dolls (AKA AMAZING.)

“Get Some” is currently available as a free download at Lykke Li’s official website. (iTunes)

Rawrrr!

I love me some Lykke Li–from the folkier stuff of her debut (2008′s Youth Novels) to her brilliant, chilly collaboration with Kleerup, “Until We Bleed.”

“Get Some” is Lykke Li’s brand new single, which finds the Swedish chanteuse now diving head first into grittier territory: “Like the shotgun needs an outcome / I’m your prostitute, you gon’ get some,” the singer taunts above crashing drums and swinging, ’60′s surf sounds.

Quite a change of pace from the sugary-sweet precociousness of “Little Bit” and “Dance Dance Dance”!

The single is currently available as a free download from Lykke Li’s website, as well as a B-side, “Paris Blue.”

DL: Lykke Li – Get Some

“Get Some” was released on October 22. (iTunes)

LOOK! I said it sounded like a Lykke Li vocal production, and now Lykke Li’s gone and met El Perro Del Mar (Sarah Assbring) on a terrace in L.A. to show us how it would sound!

This is as good (if not better) than the studio recording, thanks to the lush harmonization and skilled use of a metal cup.

I could play this again and again and again…and so I shall.