Former member of girlband play, then a subject of a TV documentary series, Made In Sweden, and then an amazing single ‘Heartache On The Dancefloor’, and then an album. And then nothing, For like, three years.
Needless to say though, she’s back with an absolute bang tonight as she relaunches her career in the biggest way possible, at Melodifestivalen. Armed with what we think is the best song of Melodifestivalen so far this year (and the best performance. AND the best outfits, definitely the best outfits), she’ll perform in position eight tonight with ‘Heartstrings’.
We had a chat with her at the end of last year when her participation was announced, to ask her about the song, about what she’s been up to all this time, and about what’s to come.
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Scandipop: Welcome to Melodifestivalen Janet.
Janet: Thank you, my first year!
Scandipop: And we haven’t heard from you in a while. The last time we heard from you was when you released that album three years ago, and you had that great song ‘Heartache On The Dancefloor’. But that’s a long time ago. What have you been doing since then?
Janet: A lot! Writing a lot, mostly. And I starred in the musical Grease for a year.
Scandipop: Ah yes, with Marie Serneholt and Sebastian Karlsson?
Janet: Exactly. I did that after I did the Made In Sweden TV show. And since then I’ve been writing my album. With Jörgen Elofsson.
Scandipop: Ah I like him, he’s very very talented.
Janet: He is! Very. So we’ve been working for a year now together. And it’s gonna come out after all of this.
Scandipop: Oh excellent, so you have an album all ready to go when the contest is over. And is the majority of it written by you and Jörgen?
Janet: Yes! Me and him. All of it actually.
Scandipop: Well we’ll get to your song ‘Heartstrings’ in a minute, but first of all, since we’re talking about the album – can you tell us what it’s gonna sound like? Normally with Jörgen Elofsson, one can expect mid-tempo, melodic ballads. Is that the case with you, or have you given him a new lease of life?
Janet: I think so, yeah. It doesn’t sound like his typical stuff. It’s hard to describe it. Every time I get the question, all I can think about is…it’s pop! But there are so many other influences in there too. A lot of influences from different countries too, so it’s really mixed.
Scandipop: Well so long as it always comes back to pop, that’s fine!
Janet: Exactly, ha ha. It’s always pop.
Scandipop: So tell us about ‘Heartstrings’ now.
Janet: I love it! I get the chills. It’s pop – honestly pop. It’s up-tempo and it’s very passionate too. To me it’s a very passionate song. And I really really believe in it too. It’s pop-dance.
Scandipop: And Anton the producer does that so well.
Janet: He does!
Scandipop: And does it have one of Fredrik Kempe’s trademark melodies?
Janet: Totally. It’s funny because it was Jörgen that heard it first. And he was like “I love it Janet, you need to hear it. This is such a hit“. And he also told me that I need to have open ears, because sometimes when it’s pop – he thinks I’m not gonna like it if it’s too pop. And then I heard it, and when the chorus came I got goosebumps. And that’s when I knew – this is the song I’m gonna do Melodifestivalen with. Cos there aren’t a lot of times that you get those goosebumps when a chorus starts.
Scandipop: Well I’m looking forward to hearing it and getting some of these goosebumps myself!
Janet: Ha ha! Well I hope you get them now too!
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More from Janet over at SVT’s website.
