Here is some more tunage from last night’s Royal Gala concert.
Incidentally, we just got back from a day in Central Stockholm, soaking up some royal wedding atmosphere. We watched the whole thing on a big screen outside the palace, and then witnessed some of the newlyweds’ procession. ‘Twas like a fairytale indeed, and everyone involved looked the perfect mixture of gorgeous, glamorous, and regal – total class. Our own personal highlights though, were;
‘When You Tell The World You’re Mine’, the duet sung in the church during the wedding, by Agnes and Björn Skifs. It was composed by master of scandipop, Jörgen Elofsson, and is a touching ballad, not unlike a Disney song.
Malena Ernman tweeting LIVE FROM INSIDE THE CHURCH before it started! ‘‘It’s warm inside the church. Almost feels like this cant be happening.. Larger than life. The royals walking down the aisle. A Saga”
The brass band playing near the palace where everyone was watching the big screen, launched into Shirley Clamp’s ‘Att Älska Dig’ just before the wedding was about to start!
Sarah Dawn Finer performing her new single, ‘Kärleksvisan’, which will be released on Monday
And SDF again, doing a cover of ‘At Last’
Malena Ernman performing ‘Flight Of The Bumblebee’
Malena Ernman and Roland Pöntinen duetting on ‘Jeg Elsker Dig’
Peter Jöback doing a beautiful cover of the beautiful ‘She’
And Peter doing another of our favourites, ‘Come What May’, with Helen Sjöholm
And finally, Salem Al Fakir singing ‘All Day Love’
So…..last night the lovely Malena Ernman performed at scandipop live. And what a performance she gave!
She treated everyone to seven performances from her ‘La Voix Du Nord’ album. And took on a monologue of personable and charming banter in between every one of them. Her interaction with the crowd was inimitable, having full blown conversations at some points, but mostly joking about, thanking everyone for coming along to see her, and gushing about how happy she was to be there! It was so nice to see an artist enjoying herself so much on stage. Despite being known for her astounding singing abilities, Malena also took on the role of entertainer and comedienne, without once allowing her actual performance to suffer. Each song was delivered completely live, and with all the effort and precision you’d expect from an opera diva. She didn’t shy away from the high notes, and didn’t restrain herself during the more challenging parts of the songs.
The Setlist
Sempre Libera
One Step From Paradise
What Becomes Of Love
Un Bel Di
Perdus
Tragedy
La Voix
The night before, she had performed to 4,000 people at an opera concert at the Barbican. And she kept commenting how nice it was to perform a pop gig at scandipop – to be able to see her crowd, talk to her crowd, and touch them (which she then demonstrated by grabbing everyone at the front!). This enthusiasm spilled over from her performance to after the gig too. She went into the crowd to meet everyone, and then took up residency at the end of the bar where she signed albums, had her picture taken with everyone, and chatted away to her heart’s content! This went on for a full hour after the show, until she then announced that she needed a dance – and marched onto the dance floor, clubbing for 20 minutes and singing along to the likes of Carola, Agnes, BWO, and Magnus Carlsson!
The whole tone of the evening was set by her admirable attitude and enthusiasm towards everything. She was genuinely excited to be in London meeting a whole new group of fans that she’d never had before her Eurovision experience this year. And of course everyone in attendance was equally as excited about meeting her. And it showed from both sides.
The scandipop events turn one year old this Friday (we held our first event on October 16th last year), and if we continue having nights that are even half as fun as last night, they’ll keep happening! A big thank you to everybody who has attended them in the last year, and a big thank you to the artists that have made them even better in recent months; Johan Becker, Therese, BWO, and Malena Ernman.
Here are some photos that go a little way to displaying the events of last night;
If you’re a regular reader of this site, then this lady really needs no introduction. She’s the biggest selling female artist in Scandinavia this year, but it’s strange to think that before February, most of us didn’t have a clue who she was – despite the fact that she had a whole army of fans of a different sort of music altogether pre-2009.
It’s Malena Ernman. The world famous opera singer who decided to try her hand at making a pop song, and witnessed as it took on a life all of its own and brought her along for the hectic ride. On the way, it introduced her to a whole new world and a whole new group of fans. ‘La Voix’ was the song. It entered Melodifestivalen…it won…it went to compete at the Eurovision Song Contest…it made the final…it saw its concept be turned into a whole pop album…the album went to number one and sold platinum within six weeks…Malena earned a considerably large new fanbase. All this whilst still appeasing her old fan base – her album ‘La Voix Du Nord’ is a double album with a pop CD and an opera CD.
The latest development in the fascinating Malena Ernman story is that this weekend when she comes to London to perform at an opera concert at the Royal Opera Hall, she’ll also be performing her very first UK pop concert – at none other than scandipop live! (all details here).
We had a chat with Malena to find out her thoughts, if she’s had a minute to gather them yet! Here’s what she said;
scandipop: Hi Malena, how are you?
Malena Ernman: Fine thank you, how are you?
scandipop: I’m very good thank you, I’m very excited about the weekend. Are you looking forward to your trip to London?
Malena Ernman: Oh I can’t wait, it’s gonna be fantastic! I’m gonna sing as much pop music as possible! I love baroque music but I’ve been singing it non stop for three weeks now, so I can’t wait to do something else.
scandipop: So you’ve got some opera gigs on the Saturday and then of course your pop gig at scandipop on the Sunday. Obviously you’ve made a career out of doing opera performances, but how often have you done pop shows back in Sweden, since making the pop side of your album?
Malena Ernman: I have done a couple of them. But you see, the thing is, I usually mix my concerts anyway. I mix some Mozart, Puccini, with a bit of a pop sound and a bit of jazz too. But I’ve never done music like this before! The last six months have been a big adventure.
scandipop: Do you enjoy the more laidback and fun aspect of the pop shows?
Malena Ernman: I do, yes. They’re a good way of showing off my voice. I find it quite relaxing for my voice to use all of the register that I use when performing pop songs. It’s very relaxing to sing that kind of music, and I find that I can do what I want while I sing it, I can improvise. With classical baroque music, it’s quite rigid and you have to stick to whatever the composer has written. But with pop music it’s different.
scandipop: Are you surprised at how quickly pop fans have taken you to their hearts?
Malena Ernman: Yes, it’s been amazing! We have this chart in Sweden called Svensktoppen, and for the first time ever they have an opera singer on it. And people find that a bit strange (laughs).
scandipop: I think they also admire you for the fact that you’re willing to perform at a venue like the Royal Opera House one evening, and then at a small Soho club the following evening!
Malena Ernman: Yes, I actually can’t wait to perform there more than anything. Because that’s much more me. Yes I’m an opera singer and I’ve been singing opera ever since I was 24 or 25, but you know I used to be a dancer and I used to do a lot of cabaret songs too. But still, it’s been a big big step for me this year to be able to do pop shows, shows other than my opera concerts. I have a whole new audience now, lots of children are writing to me. My audience now is from 5 years old to 95 years old!!! So it’s fantastic. And they all buy the CD too. It sold platinum in six or seven weeks, which is a record for me, I’ve never seen anything like that before. My new audience are the type of people who actually buy a physical CD, because of course not many people actually buy anything any more. Before Eurovision, my fans were always a lot older. But the new audience, they love ‘La Voix’, they sing it to me…..
scandipop: Or at least everyone tries to sing it!
Malena Ernman: Yes, ha ha, they try to sing it. But it’s good, the children sing all the high notes to me. People sing along everywhere. And they don’t even know and understand the French words! They just make up the wrong kind of words and sing along. It’s lovely.
scandipop: It’s actually quite similar at scandipop events when we play songs in Swedish – everybody just makes up words and syllables and sings along, it’s great fun!
Malena Ernman: (laughs), oh that’s fantastic, that’s so funny, I can’t wait to see it! I mean, we all do it don’t we? I used to do it myself, to Abba when I was six or seven years old. I had no idea what they were singing about. Actually I was quite disappointed when I found out what they were singing about – all about love and everything that comes with that. But I sang along anyway.
scandipop: So…tell us about your time at Eurovision this year.
Malena Ernman: Oh that was an experience, ha ha, I have to say. Eurovision is so huge in Sweden, you can’t imagine. And they were ALL watching it and wanting me to win of course. It was an adventure, but also a strange situation, I have to tell you. A lot of people don’t even sing and they end up getting high points anyway! I think some people weren’t used to hearing opera, because you don’t often see opera take part, so I wasn’t expecting to do very well. But then I made it into the finals. And I’m an opera singer for God’s sake, I’m not supposed to be there even. I didn’t have as much time to concentrate as the others you know, I had to work! I’d already had commitments that I had to do, because if I didn’t then they could have sued me. So I didn’t expect to win in Sweden and then I didn’t expect to make it to the finals either. But I couldn’t cancel things, I couldn’t do that. So I had to work so hard, and then of course I have two children, and they ended up getting ill. So yes, it was a hard month, a month I wouldn’t do again for anything in the world (laughs). But no, it was fun, oh my God! It’s given me the chance to do my new CD, and get a whole new audience, and get to do a pop show in London. It’s all good. Many good things have come from it.
scandipop: It’s very fair to say though that you finished a lot lower than you should have. What’s your opinion on that?
Malena Ernman: Well, like I say, I din’t even expect to make the final at all. Norway was always meant to win. But still, there were so many other countries there that really really wanted to win, they put a lot of money into it. Some things are fair and some things aren’t fair, but we all knew that Norway was going to win, which was fair. Besides, I have my own career and others didn’t really have any career outside of Eurovision, so I guess that I’m the lucky one in that way! I got to go along on a ride for a couple of months, look into a strange world, and then go back to my own world afterwards. And I was very happy to do that, very relieved. I have lots of fond memories. I met a lot of nice people. And I also met a lot of gay fans too which was nice, because of course there was a gay parade going on. And then I went on Russian television and said something which I probably shouldn’t have said (laughs). I had an interview on Russian television, and the Spanish representative Soraya was there too. And they were talking about the gay parade and being quite anti gay. And I said something which got me in trouble. They asked us what we thought of the issue and I said that Russia was wrong for wanting to ban the gay parade and for treating the gay people the way that they do. I told them all gay people should be treated the same as everyone else because they are equals. But that didn’t go down very well (laughs).
scandipop: That’s so wonderful that you stood up for what you believed in though and weren’t afraid to speak out.
Malena Ernman: Yes, but it’s just the background I come from, you know. I come from a wonderful country, both Sweden and Denmark and Norway and Finland, we’re all very liberal countries, and we’re all very liberal about things like that. And Russian tv asked me about it and I really wanted to tell them my opinion. For me it’s very important. Especially with the type of music I do. So many people I’ve worked with in theatre are gay, and all kinds of people. And so I thought it was very important to point out that we’re all equal! So many of my friends are gay and I love them so much.
scandipop: That’s so cool of you. So…..have you still got the dress from Eurovision?!
Malena Ernman: Ha ha, the dress. I don’t still have it no. It was lent to me and apparently it cost so much money but I have no idea how much it cost. It was a beautiful dress but I have no idea where it is now. I think they’re giving it away to charity.
scandipop: And have you kept a mask or two?!
Malena Erman: The masks were given away to a drag show called After Dark….
scandipop: Oh wow, After Dark! I love them.
Malena Ernman: Oh I can’t believe you know them.
scandipop: *precedes to sing ‘La Dolve Vita’*
Malena Ernman: Yes, them. They do a show about me and some other Swedish singers, so we gave the masks away to them.
scandipop: And of course since Eurovision, you made your very first pop album! And straight away you’ve worked with the best names in pop music – Anders Hanssen, Alexander Bard, and Fredrik Kempe. Were they people that you knew that you wanted or did your label point you in the right direction?
Malena Ernman: Well with Anders Hanssen, he already works a lot with my record label and so he was there every day whilst I was there. I asked him if he wanted to work on it and he really really did because he had never worked with a classical music artist before, so he wanted to try that. And Fredrik Kempe had written ‘La Voix’ already, so I knew I wanted to make more songs with him. And we ended up with some wonderful songs I think. We recorded it in three days, ha ha! It took me three days to do all of them in the studio.
scandipop: Wow, it certainly sounds very good for three days work!
Malena Ernman: Oh, thank you very much. I was excited, and so I work fast when I enjoy what I do.
scandipop: They’ve each got a rich back catalogue of amazing tracks. Do you have any favourites of theirs that made you really want to work with them? For example, Anders wrote ‘Release Me’ for Agnes which has really blown up all over the world this year.
Malena Ernman: Yes exactly! I know Anders very well actually, he’s a wonderful talent. And of course when I realised that Anders had written all of her songs, I couldn’t really say no to him could I! So all of the Agnes stuff and then my album, it all happened around the same time, and I think Anders has been in a bit of a shock really! It’s been a big shock for him. He’s a really nice man.
scandipop: Yes, I met him actually in Malmo last year. He’s so modest and down to earth.
Malena Ernman: Yes, very modest. A Father of two girls, he’s very ordinary and very shy, a typical Swedish guy. But it’s much easier to work with these guys than somebody who is a God or a diva. There are no divas in this small business, this record company (Roxy Recordings), they’re all very very normal people. I only like to work with normal people, ha ha!
scandipop: So, La Voix Du Nord….it’s sold so well back in Sweden! And it’s been released digitally all around the world, including here in the UK. Is there going to be a follow up single after ‘La Voix’?
Malena Ernman: I think there will be yes. In Sweden they’ve already started playing the Swedish track from my album, ‘Min Plats Pa Jorden’, the one that Benny Andersson plays on.
scandipop: Ok, and what are your plans for the next six months, musically?
Malena Ernman: Musically, my plans are back in Sweden and Denmark and Scandinavia, singing at lots of concerts. And lots of Christmas concerts in Sweden. And then I’m going to Estonia for New Years Eve to sing at a gala there. Then Brussels to do a Mozart opera. I have so many concerts coming up! But also I plan to relax!
scandipop: Yeah you probably need to relax after this year, I imagine it’s been your busiest year ever hasn’t it?
Malena Ernman: Yes I’m more tired than I thought I ever could be. I’m waiting for the winter to call so that I can go to bed for a bit!
scandipop: Ok! When you go back into the studio to record, will it be an opera album, a pop album, or a mix of both?
Malena Ernman: Well we want to do the classical/pop thing again because it sold so well in Sweden the first time. But I also have an exciting project soming up where we are going to do something connected with Jenny Lind, the famous Swedish opera singer. She died 100 years ago. And people always say that I sound more like her than anybody else does. The BBC are actually filming me in London this weekend for a documentary they are making about her. And there’s also going to be a big Hollywood movie about her starring Hugh Jackman. So there’ll probably be a CD in a year or so related to that.
scandipop: That sounds good. So, as the reigning winner of Melodifestivalen, who would you like to see take your crown next year?
Malena Ernman: Hmm, that’s a very good question. I’ve already been asked if I’d do it again and I’ve said no thank you. There are so many good singers out there though! I think it would be good to see not a pop singer, but a singer from a different world, like maybe a jazz singer. Or an actor? I don’t know. Or maybe they should ask Benny Andersson to write a song on the piano with a couple of good singers – it worked for the UK didn’t it, with Andrew Lloyd Webber!
scandipop: So you think Sweden should go for something very different next year?
Malena Ernman. Yes. And I think they need to put on a big show. If we want to participate in Eurovision, we have to put on a show.
scandipop: And my final question has to be, would you enter again?!
Malena Ernman: I don’t know. I wouldn’t. I think you should only participate once, and I won, so that’s it. And I never even thought I was going to do it once! No, I’m not gonna do it again. I’ll certainly continue with the pop concerts, I’m going to be there for my new audience always. But not Melodifestivalen, I think.
scandipop: But it’s good because that means that you’ve done it once and now you’ve left, but you’ve left at the very top.
Malena Ernman: Exactly. Some people do enter again and again like Charlotte Perrelli and Carola, but I’m happy just doing it the once.
scandipop: Cool. Well thank you very much Malena and I shall see you at the weekend!
Malena Ernman: Yes, see you then. I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone.
Amazing woman!
And she performs at scandipop live this weekend on Sunday 11th. Doors open at 7pm, entry is £6, and it takes place at Escape on Brewer Street in Soho, London.
Her album ‘La Voix Du Nord’ is available to purchase on iTunes right now, in most countries, including the UK.
This weekend, Eurovision comes to London – as one of 2009’s most memorable and favoured participants comes to perform at scandipop live in Soho. Malena Ernman will be belting out her own unique brand of pop opera at Escape on Brewer St (beside Madame JoJo’s). This Sunday, October 11th, she’ll be treating her fans old and new to an intimate show of the more uptempo numbers from her ‘La Voix Du Nord’ album. It’ll be the first time she does a pop concert in the UK, and it’ll come one night after one of the biggest opera concerts she’s ever done in this country too – as she’s at the Royal Opera House on Saturday!
So it’ll be quite the unique evening out. The usual scandipop music will be spun from 7pm until 11pm, with Swedish Malena arriving on stage sometime in between to work her magic.
We’ve already had an unexpectedly high number of emails and messages about this event already – because tickets aren’t on pre-sale and only available at the door on the night, people have been advised to get there as early as possible to ensure entry.
Eleven days after BWO perform at scandipop live, we’ll be ready to do it all over again – and hopefully you will be too!
On Sunday October 11th, we’re hosting the first ever UK pop gig by Malena Ernman. A veteran of the opera music world, Malena has previously performed in the UK at opera concerts only. In fact, she’s actually performing at an opera show in London the night before. But she’ll be saving some of those legendary vocal chords for the crowd at scandipop live, where she’ll be belting out all of the best tracks from her latest record and first ever pop album, ‘La Voix Du Nord’.
It’s been a very special year for Malena, a year that has seen her career and fame be steered in a brand new direction, and peak at new levels. It all started in January when she was announced as one of the wildcard entries into this year’s Melodifestivalen competition. With the song ‘La Voix’, composed by Fredrik Kempe, she went on to wow and amaze viewers when she performed in the fourth and final heat. The song progressed straight to the final, and in the most tense and nailbiting results shows of recent years, she won the whole competition.
This automatically resulted in the next chapter of her remarkable year. In Moscow she took ‘La Voix’ to Moscow, to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest. It was without a doubt one of the most memorable songs and performances in the competition, and one of the fan favourites. ‘La Voix’ itself, a stunning three minutes of pop music merged with opera music merged with dance music, was performed amongst a staging of elegant dancers in suits, diamante masks, and lazers, against a brilliant white backdrop, by the visually exceptional Malena, in a £10,000 white frock! It easily qualified from its semi final. But in what was one of the strongest finals for quite some time, it could only finish close to the bottom of the table.
‘La Voix’ left a lot of people hungry for more though. And in the summer she released ‘La Voix Du Nord’, a double sided album. One CD was full of pop music in the same vein as ‘La Voix’, with collaborators such as Fredrik Kempe, Anders Hansson, and Alexander Bard. And the second CD was an opera album, for all those people who’d been fans of Malena Ernman pre-2009! It went to number 1 in Sweden and is still hanging around the top half of the charts this week. Her label Roxy Recordings have also made the album available for sale around the world via iTunes, to allow all of the new fans she’s earned this year to buy it. It’s available to purchase in the UK right now!
So we’re extremely pleased to be having Malena perform at scandipop live. She’ll be singing the best pop tracks from ‘La Voix Du Nord’; the likes of ‘Sempre Libera’, ‘Tragedy’, ‘Un Bel Di’, and of course ‘La Voix’. It takes place on Sunday October 11th, from 7pm until 11pm at Escape on Brewer St – right in the heart of Soho, London. Entry is only £6 and is available on the door on the night. We’re not making tickets available for sale before then, so we’d urge you to get there as early as possible to ensure entry. It’s going to be a memorable show from the wonderful Malena!
Congratulations to Sarah Dawn Finer – her ‘Moving On’ album debuts (deservedly) at number one in Sweden today. Congrats are also in order for her record label Roxy Recordings. As well as having Sarah’s on their roster, they’ve also got Malena Ernman – who today spends a ninth week in the top ten with her album, Erik Hassle, whose album spends a second week in the top ten (and is about to blow up in the UK too!), and they also of course, have Agnes – who’s become quite the success story all around the world this year.
So……the Malena Ernman album, ‘La Voix Du Nord’, was released last week. And according to her twitter today, it’ll be number 1 in the Swedish charts tomorrow! Very well deserved, although not a surprise in the slightest. This album has been eagerly anticipated since she won Melodifestivalen in March and went on to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest in May, with the stunning ‘La Voix’. It’s the first time that Malena, who’s made a career out of opera music, has released a pop album. Although to soften the blow to her longtime fans, and perhaps to introduce her new fans to the real Malena – it’s a double album – one pop disk and one opera disk.
The opera side, despite not being our usual bag (although our favourite album of all time is ‘Harem’ by Sarah Brightman’), is a very pleasant listen. And certainly serves a purpose. But let’s move onto what we’re all interested in around here – the pop side!!!
That part of the album was handled by three gents who’ve more than earned their stripes in that department, Fredrik Kempe, Anders Hansson, and Alexander Bard. There’s ‘La Voix’ obviously, and even an acoustic version (that’s ”candle light version” for our younger readers!) of it. And thankfully, as you’d hope, there is a handful of songs in the same mould as ‘La Voix’ – full blown, melodramatic dance music merging with opera music merging with pop music and coming out the other end in a tizzy! If you’re going to download this album (it’s available on UK and US iTunes, as well as your usual resources for purchasing Scandinavian music) and are specifically wanting these tracks, head straight for ‘One Step From Paradise’, ‘Sempre Libera’, ‘Un Bel Di’, and the jewel in the crown – ‘Tragedy’. The rest of the pop album is made up of melodious ballads, some original, some covers, but all enjoyable. Hmm, we just can’t help but feel a bit disappointed that there weren’t more up-tempos on there. Surely the opera side of the album was meant to cater to the heavy of heart, soft of feet?! Obviously pop ballads and opera ballads are two separate sounding genres completely. But we wanted the pop album to be unabashed synths and beats with an unforgiving bpm. We’ll probably get over it, because it’s still a great album. But, you know.
Malena Ernman has started unveiling tracks from her new album, ‘La Voix Du Nord’. As we’ve said before, it’s a 2CD set – one pop/opera album in the style of her massive hit ‘La Voix’, and another album of classical music, the genre she’s made a long career out of. One of the pop songs that she’s released to the media is another collaboration with Fredrik Kempe, a stunning piece of ‘popera’ called ‘Sempre Libera’. An enormous string intro dramatises the song straight away, this turns into a subtle disco beat for the first verse, and then there’s a pause for a second before the chorus makes it self known. And what a chorus it is! The beat gets larger, louder, and is accompanied by an even more impressive vocal than what she turned in for ‘La Voix’! Our favourite bit is the tantalising middle eight where it all goes quiet. A hushed choir sings the melody and you just KNOW that the last chorus is going to erupt into epic proportions. And it does. With a key change!
Released next month, we’re beyond excited about the first CD on the double disk album. It’s a pop album (as opposed to the 2nd disk opera album) that has been written and produced by none other than Fredrik Kempe and Anders Hansson
Disc 1
1. One Step From Paradise
2. La Voix
3. Min Plats På Jorden
4. Sempre Libera
5. What Becomes Of Love
6. Un Bel Di
7. Breathless Days
8. Perdus
9. Tragedy
10. All The Lost Tomorrows
11. La Voix (acoustic)
Disc 2
1. Quando me’n vo
2. Voi Che Sapete
3. Solveigs Sang
4. O Mio Babbino Caro
5. Vedrai Carino
6. Una Voce Poco Fa
7. Lascia Chi’ao Pianga
8. Caro Mio Ben
9. Non Più Mesta
10. Ombra Mai Fu
11. Dido’s Lament
Follow @scandipop for the latest scandipop updates.
Hooray! Digitalspy are now using and quoting scandipop.co.uk as a news source! - posted on 07/09/2010 19:48:07
I want Mini Viva's 'One Touch' to win the Popjustice £20 Music Prize tonight. "HIPS, LIPS, FASHION STATUS"! - posted on 07/09/2010 17:40:32
Just met an old friend. Very proud of him, as he signed Hurts to his label, and they're now sitting at number 3 in the album chart midweeks - posted on 07/09/2010 16:31:26
Won't be updating scandipop.co.uk for another week I'm on holiday - posted on 07/09/2010 15:05:29
Last day in London today. It's been fun! Then off to Ireland tonight for 5 peaceful and relaxing days. - posted on 07/09/2010 10:15:36
Malena Ernman
- posted on 07/09/2010 19:48:07
I'm on holiday 
- posted on 07/09/2010 15:05:29