Melodifestivalen 2012: Introduction to Heat Four!

Here we are in Heat 4. What’s traditionally been considered and mostly turned out to be the absolute strongest heat in Melodifestivalen every year. The one with the best songs, with the highest ratings, and more often that not – with the eventual winner!

On paper, this year’s fourth heat looks no different. It’s home to a former (TWICE!) winner, a Swedish Grammy award winning artist, and the chap that most have long assumed will be victorious in March. Plus a group of rockers, which can of course never be discounted. And the pairing of two older generation favourites. One of the above has to come at least 5th, and that idea really does shock us to our very core!

This week the contest will be held in Malmö. We’ll be there for the Friday afternoon rehearsals, and will be publishing our report of what we saw and heard, on here later that day.

Here’s what we’re expecting;

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Charlotte Perrelli – ‘The Girl’
Text och Musik – Alexander Johnsson and Fredrik Kempe

Charlotte has entered this contest only twice before – and went on to win it both times. Can she still cut it with the Swedish televoting public though, after leading the country towards such a disappointing result at Eurovision 2008? Well, she’s already gone on record saying that she’s not in it to win it, and is merely using Melodifestivalen 2012 as a launch platform for her new album (at Stockholm Pride 2008 she half-joked to the audience that they only ever give her hit singles when she does Melodifestivalen!). The fact that she’s not here to win, is just as well really – as sources tell us that ‘The Girl’ is woefully disappointing. We don’t/can’t quite believe that we won’t enjoy it in some capacity though. So even though we’re unsure that she’ll be qualifying directly to Globen this week, we hope that she at least gets a ticket to Andra Chansen (and goes on to storm it, along with Timoteij – we can dream!).

OPA! – ‘Allting Blir Bra Igen’
Text och Musik – Michael Sideridis

Urgh. Why bother?! Does Melodifestivalen REALLY need Swedish language Greek folk music? Are Swedes gonna vote for it? Are they gonna buy it or listen to it after Saturday night? We know that this contest is all about variety, but we’d rather not have to sit through what we assume is going to be a cross between Sofia and Andra Generationen. Emphasis on the “we assume” of course. Honestly SVT, if you’re wanting to include a Mediterranean inspired entry every year, the least you could do is bring back VERONA – especially now that Italy itself is back in Eurovision!

Dynazty – ‘Land Of Broken Dreams’
Text och Musik – Thomas G:son and Thomas Johansson

A different kind of rock to Dead By April, but for the sake of convenience, we’re going to tar them with the same brush. They’re both very popular amongst their respective fanbases, they both graced the Melodifestivalen stage last year as part of (separate) hard rock interval acts, and they’re both going to pick up a lot of votes – not just from their fans, but from the “anti-Melodifestivalen” brigade who despite their protestations, love to watch the contest every week and vote. So it looks like we’re fucked here. And unlike with Dead By April, being fucked by Dynazty is one scenario that we don’t want to…………….(don’t finish that sentence – The Internet Police).

Lotta Engberg och Christer Sjörgen – ‘Don’t Let Me Down’
Text och Musik – Lasse Holm and Lars ‘Dille’ Diedricson

Now THIS is more like it! H8RZ be damned, you just KNOW this is going to be a very special kind of fabulous. Two old schlager and dansband dears finger-wagging to each other around the stage, to the the sound of a song composed by two LEGENDARY schlager songwriters. WE. CAN’T. WAIT. Although what it is we’re waiting for exactly, is anyone’s guess – since we’ve been given three different descriptions of this song by three different people who’ve heard it: an up-tempo ‘C’est La Vie’, a mid-tempo ‘C’est La Vie’, and a schlager ballad. Right then. Oh well, either way it sounds amazing, doesn’t it?!

Hanna Lindblad – ‘Goosebumps’
Text och Musik – Hanna Lindblad, Linda Sundblad and Tony Nilsson

Hanna Lindblad! She shot to Melodifestivalen fame in 2010 with ‘Manipulated’. It finished 5th in its heat but became something of a fan favourite. We’re unsure about ‘Manipulated’. Some days we like it, and some days we think it’s really just a pile of wank. With ‘Goosebumps’ however, we have VERY high expectations. Not only because of the caliber of songwriters involved, but also because we’ve heard some of the songs that Hanna turned down, in order to sing this. So this MUST be quite something, judging by how good her rejects were….

Axel Algmark – ‘Kyss Mig’
Text och Musik – Axel Algmark, Mattias Frändå and Jonathan Magnussen

Who is this chap?! Who is he?! Well we’ve done a tiny bit of investigation and found some positives and some negatives. Positives: He’s endorsed by Lionheart; His favourite Eurovision song is ‘Poupee De Son’; He’s so cute, look at that face and nose!!! Negatives: He’s a bit over friendly with our old nemesis, the guitar.

We’ll keep an open mind here.

Lisa Miskovsky – ‘Why Start A Fire’
Text och Musik – Lisa Miskovsky, Aleksander With, Bernt Rune Stray and Berent Philip Moe

Everyone seems to be saying that this is Charlotte and Danny’s heat, but they’re seriously underestimating this lady. As much as we’re aghast at the notion of credibility (could you tell?!), such a thing does exist – even in this contest. And Lisa Miskovsky is arguably the most credible artist in Melodifestivalen 2012. She’s also one of the most commercially successful too, which adds up to a double pronged attack on this heat. We think that she’ll potentially sail through to the final. Or at the very least, get a place at Andra Chansen.

Danny Saucedo – ‘Amazing’
Text och Musik – Danny Saucedo, Peter Boström and Figge Boström

Before Melodifestivalen 2012, it was widely considered to be Danny Saucedo’s contest to win. Then it started – and we got Loreen’s ‘Euphoria’. And now it’s a little bit more unclear. But a lot more exciting! Danny wants this. He’s said so himself. He wants to win Melodifestivalen and go to Eurovision. And he’s come armed with a juggernait of a pop song apparently. Here’s what he told us about it in November last year; “I have an even better song this time. A song that is a bit more wider in appeal. I think that the people who didn’t like ‘In The Club’ will like this one, because it’s more “arena”, it’s easier to sing-a-long to, and it’s catchier also.” That sounds knicker wettingly good, doesn’t it?! Don’t disappoint us, Danny.

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