A couple of stills from the video that she’s filming for ‘Sometimes I Forget’, which is the new single in France (and probably more countries after that).It looks like it’ll be a classy affair, no more fiercely marching around clubs for Agnes. She’s recorded a new version of the song for the French release, with some French lyrics. You can listen to it below the pics.
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Here are clips of 4 new Robyn tracks, expected to be on her new album. It’s difficult to tell how great they’re going to be (or not going to be!), as they’re only short clips, however, we LOVE the third song, ‘Dancing On My Own’. It sounds like a Kleerup production, and it probably is, given that he’s one of the producers she’s working with on this new album. And we also really like the beats in the last clip too.
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Here’s a quick round up of small news bits that we’ve learned over the last week in Stockholm, meeting the Melodifestivalen artists.
Jessica Andersson will be wearing a different dress for tomorrow’s final. She showed it to us last night on her iPhone, it’s a long salmon pink dress with a black belt and huge diamante gem. She feels great to be in the final and is feeling very confident. Her rehearsal yesterday was stunningly good, she sounds flawless now.
Pernilla Wahlgren thanked us for congratulating her on keeping schlager music alive in Melodifestivalen this year. She (obviously) agreed that it would be great if she finished top 5, as it would prove that Sweden still wants schlager!
Timoteij came across as really confident in their rehearsal yesterday - which is a relief, as when we saw them perform to a small crowd of around 100 people on Wednesday evening, they looked absolutely terrified!{ 0 comments }
This should be interesting at the very least. And actually, we think it’s going to work quite well. These guys are going to be performing Malena Ernman’s ‘La Voix’ during Saturday night’s Melodifestivalen final, during the traditional interval act of a non-contest artist performing a cover of the previous year’s winner.
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Over the last few weeks in Sweden, we’ve been hearing a lot of a certain song that we first heard almost two years ago (in fact, we nominated them for the ‘Brightest New Hope’ awards in the scandipop awards in January 2009!). Despite being Swedish, the group released it in Poland and Romania first, and have only just released it in their native Sweden over the last few months. But hearing it in clubs has made us fall in love with it all over again, and even deeper in love at that. And remarkably, it hasn’t even aged at all. It’s ‘Synchronize Lips’ by Nexx, and it’s just wonderful! And we hear that the UK beckons!
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Last week we went to see Shirley Clamp perform at two very different gigs in Stockholm; an acoustic set at Moseback Lounge, and a schlager PA at big gay disco boat, Patricia! Both amazing in very different ways.
Moseback Lounge is a great little venue for gigs like that, a rare chance for an artist to perform so intimately for a small audience. It takes a certain amount of bravery to sing at a show like that, because the slightest mistake or wrong note, is amplified so much and noticed a lot more. But Shirley rose to the challenge easily and didn’t mess up once! It was a delightful performance that was almost half music and half comedic banter with the audience. She looked like she was having a great time on stage, and and as a result, the crowd did too.
She didn’t sing many of her own hits, preferring to do cover versions instead, such as Vanessa Carlton’s ‘A Thousand Miles’, Alanis Morrisette’s ‘Your House’, and Aretha Franklin’s ‘You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman’. The highlight of the night though, was when she was joined onstage by VELVET, for a rousing rendition of ‘Shackles’ by Mary Mary - nine years after we first saw them on stage together at the Eurovision Song Contest, when they did backing vocals for Antique on ‘Die For You’!
It was quite odd (in a good way!) seeing non-schlager Shirley, but that was remedied a few nights later when we saw her at Patricia! To a much louder, much more enthusiastic, and much gayer crowd, she opened with ‘Min Karlek’, closed with ‘Att Alska Dig’, and in between all that performed a medley of her most loved schlager songs; ‘Antligen’, ‘Eviga Langtan’, ‘Arliga Bla’, and ‘Lever Mina Drommar’. No ‘Med Hjartat Fyllt Av Ljus’ unfortunately, and she openly mocked our request for ‘Champions’, but it was still great and all you’d want from a Shirley schlager PA. What a woman!
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Here’s the new Andreas Johnson video. A moody and mellow affair, but just what the song needs.
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During Melodifestivalen weekend, lots of fans from around the world, and especially Europe, travel to Stockholm to see the show. And as a result, there’s always lots of other things going on too, mainly involving performances and signings by Melodifestivalen artists. This year is no exception, and if you’re planning on travelling to Stockholm this week/weekend, here’s a list of what’s on offer;
Tonight, Eric Saade performs at Kista Galleria in Stockholm. The facebook page helpfully tells us that he’ll be there from 6pm until 9pm (?!?!?). Then later tonight, Timoteij are going to be performing at Golden Hits schlager bar.
Tomorrow, Friday, and Saturday during the day, there will be performances and signings at Hotorgcity shopping area in central Stockholm. Here is the line up for the three days;
Thursday 11/3
Kl 12.00 Nanne Grönvall
Kl 13.00 Getty Domain
Kl 13.30 Eric Saade
Kl 14.00 Ola
Kl 16.00 Linda Pritchard
Kl 16.30 Andreas Johnson
Kl 17.30 Timoteij
Friday 12/3
Kl 12.00 Lovestoned
Kl 15.00 Neo
Kl 16.00 Linda Pritchard
Kl 16.30 Nanne Grönvall
Kl 17.00 Frispråkarn
Kl 17.30 Brandur
Saturday 13/3
Kl 11.00 Ola
Kl 12.00 Lovestoned
Kl 13.00 Nanne Grönvall
Kl 14.00 Getty Domain
Kl 14.30 Alice
Kl 15.00 Linda Pritchard
Kl 15.30 Noll Disciplin
Kl 16.00 Neo
On Friday night, in Paradise nightclub, Jenny Silver will be performing. And on Saturday night, as well as the schlager room in Zipper nightclub, there is also this ”world’s biggest schlager afterparty” to go to. At Patricia nightclub on the Sunday, there is usually an artist performing on the night after the Melodifestivalen final, but nothing has been confirmed yet.
Also, on top of all this, Globen shopping centre has said that they will also be hosting artist performances and signings, and have given this brief overview of events.
Fun fun fun!
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Here are the ten songs that will compete in this weekend’s Melodifestivalen final, and the order that they’ll be performed in. Plus, our thoughts and predicitions!
This was one of the favourites to win before all of the songs were heard. But although it’s a really good ballad that we like a lot, we discounted it as a winner as soon as we heard it. It’s just not a Melodifestivalen winning song. However, Darin HAS a Melodifestivalen winning fanbase. And so we’d be very surprised if this didn’t finish top 5 at least, possibly top 3.
We’re so happy that Pernilla is here for the party, flying the schlager flag so proudly. Yes, it’s a much lesser version of the type of schlager we usually get at Melodifestivalen from the likes of Linda Bengtzing and Lena Philipsson, but this year’s contest has been starved of schlager, and so it stands out easily. And having danced to it in clubs during many nights out in Stockholm over the last couple of weeks, we really enjoy it now. It’s a grower that will stand the test of time. On a schlager par with say, ‘Om Natten’ by Jessica Folcker, or ‘Kalla Natter’ by Jessica Andersson. This qualified from the andra chansen round last weekend. And unfortunately, we think that it’s destined for a bottom three position on Saturday.
This is our favourite Andreas Johnson Melodifestivalen entry, but it seems to be Sweden’s least favourite. It’s not doing very well on sales, in opinion polls, or with youtube views. And nobody is considering it a serious contender. Like Pernilla’s song, we think this will finish in the bottom 3 on Saturday.
Our favourite of the night, and of the whole competition. We would love this to win. Not just because it’s the best song, not just because it would result in the best finish for Sweden at Eurovision, but also because it would give the two fingers up to SVT/Christer Bjorkman/the juries, or whoever it was that decided that Melodifestivalen 2010 should move away from the usual pop and schlager feel, and try to be a bit more contemporary. When people want contemporary music, they go out and buy it, or just listen to the whichever radio station they prefer. Nobody wants it in Melodifestivalen though, so leave it be. And nothing would hammer this point home more than a win by ‘Kom’!
See our write up of the Darin song earlier in this post. Our feelings about this are the exact same!
Poor Ola. He’s probably gonna come last with this. It’s not his fault, it’s just that ‘Unstoppable’ is nowhere near as strong as the material he’s released in the past. We like it, it’s nice to sing along to, but it’s going to look and sound like it’s totally out of its league on Saturday night as soon as Eric Saade performs ‘Manboy’. Both Eric’s song and performance put this to shame.
Jessica, Jessica, Jessica. We love you, but this song really isn’t good enough. We like it, but it just sums up the quality of this year’s Melodifestivalen songs when this ballad manages to make the final, when in 2008, two far superior ballads (by Shirley Clamp and Susanne Alfvengren) both had to settle for 8th place in their respective heats. Having said that, her voice is great, the performance in andra chansen was wonderful, and Jessica is so nice too. The song really is the weakest link in all of this. We’re predicting that it finishes mid table. If she can perform it like she did last weekend.
This one we like a lot. And we think it’s going to do very well indeed.
And it looks like we have a winner. Right since the song has gone on sale, and up to the moment of writing, it’s been number one on Swedish iTunes. It’s hard to see how this won’t win really, the juries will love it and the public already do love it. And it’s not exactly undeserved either, it’s a great song. Not our favourite by any stretch, but we do like it.
Ah Eric. Winner of the 2010 scandipop award for ‘Brightest New Hope’, and he hasn’t let us down! Brilliant song, amazing performance, and easily one of the standout tracks of this year’s contest (our second favourite after ‘Kom’). We’d love to see it win, but it’s unlikely, and it’ll probably finish mid table. We’re already looking beyond Saturday though and looking forward to his debut album, which will be released in May.
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