Stockholm is awash with excitement about tonight’s Melodifestivalen launch;
And ok, perhaps we were a bit TOO RASH when we wrote off all of yesterday’s clips as being a bit dire and not worthy of a second listen. We ended up going back to them a few more times, and actually quite like a few of them! Still though, we do believe that at least a couple of them should have been a bit more instant. Although of course we’re reserving complete judgement until seeing tonight’s performances and hearing the songs in full.
At the moment though, here’s our quick summing up of each
Ola – The verses lack any sort of punch. And the chorus isn’t exactly catchy either. But we do like the music.
Jenny Silver – We like this, but it’s a bit odd isn’t it?! Certainly in the context of Melodifestivalen anyway. But we’re very curious to hear it in full.
Linda Pritchard – Disappointing, because we were expecting a lot better. Like Ola, it lacks any punch in the verses. The chorus is good though. But that’s all.
Pain of Salvation – This could be good. Especially if it keeps building throughout the song.
Anders Ekborg – This might just be our favourite based on the clips! The chorus is great! The closest thing to schlager in this heat. We’re looking forward to the inevitable key change.
Jessica Andersson – This had better get VERY big and bold in later stages of the song. It’s got the potential to be amazing if it does so.
Frispråkarn – Absolut Rot! Although we do like the bassline!
Salem Al Fakir – We like this one a lot. We love any song that uses strings aplenty. And it’s the most interesting and intriguing of the lot.
Our Predition
Straight to the final: Salem Al Fakir and Pain of Salvation
Andra Chansen: Anders Ekborg and then either Jessica Andersson or Ola
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Is there a way to watch this if you don’t live in Sweden?
On the official Melodifestivalen website:
http://svt.se/melodifestivalen
I predicted the top four exactly right! Good show tonight, I thought.
Go to svtplay.se and click on “Livesändningar” button on the right side. You’ll see programs that are streamed live on SVT. There is also tons of stuff about Melodifestvalen at http://svt.se/2.120908/melodifestivalen_2010
I know there were actually two winners tonight (and a couple of still hopefulls if I understand how Melodifestivalen works), but Ola is the one that did it for me. Poppy, punchy and extremely adictive. I only heard the teaser here yesterday for the first time and it has already wormed its way into my head; it’s been the only song that keeps coming to mind all day, I can’t get rid of it.
Someoen has already pointed out that he’s doing yet another song about “Natalie” so I have to wonder if it’s the second in a trilogy, and there’s another one still to come. I’m sure I heard him sing about “Natalie coming back from the dead again…” so maybe there’s a morbid theme going on here and the next song finally kills her off? Song trilogies have been done before: Falco did one with “Jeanny” and “Coming Home” in the 80s and has just released the final part “The Spirit Never Dies” (even though he did back in the 90s I recall).
One country that will be desperate for friendly votes this year though has to be Finalnd; their entry is dire! Whatever were the other songs like?
And I’m delighted tos ee that Alcazar will be competing once again this year, which almost makes up for the absence of BWO (for me at least). I know they’re keeping a low profile this year and Alexander B is going to be working with “Gravitonas” but I can’t find anything about this new group. Can Scandipop help?
Finally, Holding Out For A Hero was fantastic. Brilliantly done!
Good luck Ola, you did yourself proud tonight.
Hi Nic. RE Gravitonas, I’m meeting Alexander Bard this week, so I’ll find out more about the project.
I’ve just nipped back to You Tube and caught another snatch of Ola singing Unstoppable last night; this was his initial presentation as opposed to his reprise at the end of the show. This was an extremely confident and winning performance – he already looked like he’d won it already. Now this is exactly the kind of singer and song we desperately here as our UK entry so I’ve had an idea. I don’t know if this would be allowed (doubt it!) but if Ola is not successful in representing Sweden in the end, how about we pinch him and his song, and get him to represent the UK this year? Pete Waterman could still play his part by remixing it. This is exactly the kind of act the UK needs and would wipe the floor against any of our usual efforts (of late).
I can’t imagine the Eurovision rulebook has come up against this idea and therefore there surely can’t be anything forbidding it. If we can’t do it (and doubt we will) then perhaps next year the UK should consider pinching a bunch of Swedish acts to select from, instead of the usual unknowns and non-descripts we tend to have to chose from.
And thank you for following-up with Alexander Bard next week. I would so love to see him get the recognition he deserves in the media over here. It’s thanks to music like his that even my wife has converted to Scandipop; she’s a massive BWO fan now, and loved AOL and Vacuum too, and now Agnes and Magnus Carlsson as well (not so much a Basshunter fan though)
It seems that Ola does have a theme going to his current song (as Patrick noted he’s singing about some chick called Natalie again). I notice on the NordickMusik.com site that Ola’s new single is actually called “Unstoppable (The Reurn Of Natalie)”, so it would seem it’s “part two”, and the lyrics suggest a morbid theme – “Natlaie’s coming back from the dead again”….