LOL (stylised LOL <(^^,)>; LOL is short for "laughing out loud",[1] and <(^^,)> is an emoticon for "satisfied")[2] is the second studio album by the Swedish musician Basshunter, and was released on 28 August 2006 by Warner Music Sweden. An international edition was released on 22 December 2006, with a red version of the cover artwork.[3] The international version includes the original album's Swedish songs (with the exception of "Sverige") with their titles translated into English, a slightly-different track order and additional tracks, including "Jingle Bells".
On 21 November 2005, Basshunter announced that he was working on a new album and had completed ten songs.[4] He announced his upcoming single "Welcome to Rainbow" the following month,[5] and it was released on 1 April 2006. The single included the hardstyle remix and two bonus tracks: "Evil Beat" and "Boten Anna".[6] Basshunter re-recorded "Boten Anna" in March, and posted it on his website for download.[7] He signed with Extensive Music in April,[8] and Warner Music Sweden[9] and "Boten Anna" was released on 9 May.[10]
Basshunter worked on LOL for three and a half weeks.[11] The album was recorded at Basshunter Studio and PJ Harmony Studio. Basshunter produced most of the songs; three were produced by PJ Harmony. Vocals were recorded by Basshunter and Robert Uhlmann at Basshunter Studio and Extensive Studio. LOL was mastered by Björn Engelman at the Cutting Room.[12]Ali Payami assisted Basshunter on three tracks.[11] According to the singer, its songs have elements of hard dance and hard trance and he chose them for his old and new listeners.[13] "Strand Tylösand" is inspired by party that Basshunter and its friends had in the summer of 2005.[14]
Basshunter said that he had more songs and planned to release a continuation of LOL called ROFL or KTHXBYE for free but he couldn't do it due to the record label.[1] In 2025 Basshunter revealed that he has no longer project for "Strand Tylösand", so he had to use an artificial intelligence tool to remove the vocals, so he could get a decent instrumental version.[15]
According to Matthew Chisling of AllMusic, LOL contains Basshunter's best "beats and grinds".[16] Håkan Steen of Aftonbladet wrote that the album was for people who share Basshunter's lifestyle: using the social-media website LunarStorm and chatting and playing computer games online. Steen considered "Festfolk" the album's best song.[19] Stefan Thungren of Svenska Dagbladet sensed an intentional inadequate execution in the material, and wrote that the sophisticated, difficult shout in "Festfolk" was inspired by the musician E-Type. Thungren compared "Strand Tylösand" to the band Gyllene Tider's summer hits, criticised the trance adaptation of the Swedish national anthem in "Sverige", and noted a certain melancholy in the instrumental version of "Boten Anna".[20] Andreas Nordström from Expressen negatively described album as one of the most difficult records in the history.[21] Basshunter found the Nordström review amusing.[14] In 2020 "I'm Your Basscreator" was placed on list Italian Mob by Italian rap DJ's.[22]
Chart performance
LOL entered the Swedish albums chart at its peak position at number 5 on 7 September 2006. It stayed on the chart for eight weeks.[23] Day later it debuted on Danish albums chart at number six and peaked two weeks later at number three. Album was there on the chart for 19 weeks.[24] Album was certified double Platinum.[25]LOL entered the Finnish albums chart at number 34 and 13 weeks later it peaked at number four for two weeks.[26]LOL was certified Platinum and became fourth best selling foreign album of 2006 in Finland with 33,365 copies sold.[27] Album stayed there for 24 weeks on the chart.[26] In 2007 LOL debuted on Austrian albums chart[28] and in 2008 it entered French albums chart[29] and also charted at the United States Top Dance/Electronic Albums.[30]
↑Radek Hendrych (20 September 2007). "Jako v pohádce"[Like in a fairy tale]. musicserver.cz (in Czech). Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 25 May 2025.
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