SO MUCH BETTER: CAROLA IN SÅ MYCKET BÄTTRE

The 5th season of Så mycket bättre* started in Sweden last week. Among the artists this season we have finally Carola along with The Ark's Ola Salo, Orup, Amanda Jensen, Kajsa Grytt, Familjen and Love Antell. Blame it on Carola but the show broke its viewing record when 2.245.000 Swedes turned in to watch it. After all she's responsable for many Swedish records of that kind.... Update: the Carola episode was the most watched of them all. Of course.

All good things come to an end and this was the last week, dedicated to Love Antell. If you missed the post about last week's Carola Day, it's here. Next week it's still time for one special edition, with duets. But back to Love Antell. Carola took on his Gatorna tillhör oss. She lets herself wild, brings in the trademark wind machine and jumps on the table and gets everybody up and dancing. And yes, makes the song a Carola anthem. Next single?

Carola - Gatorna tillhör oss Vs. Love Antell - Gatorna tillhör oss

Fifth week already. Dedicated to Familjen. Her hair gets bigger and shorts shorter and she strips down the original song turning it into a growing anthem. Nice job.
Next week it's finally Carola's day and all the others will perform her songs. Can't wait!

Carola - Nyår Vs. Familjen - Nyår

Fourth week it's time for Kajsa Grytt and Carola takes Bakom allt and turns it into a lot poppier version. Nice job but like the other artists she didn't quite success to give a new life to her song.....

Carola - Bakom allt Vs Kajsa Grytt - Bakom allt

The third episode was for Amanda Jensen and Carola chose For the sun. She covers it in a quite different way but it's great. Simple and elegant and it brought a tear out of Amanda.....

Carola - For the sun Vs. Amanda Jensen - For the sun

The second episode was dedicated to Orup and Carola had chosen a song that could have been hers to start with, dealing with God and angels. Orup may have been ironic in her version but Carola went all for it without a trace of irony, just belief. This said this woman can sing, hallelujah!

Carola - Sjung halleluja (och prisa Gud) Vs. Orup - Sjung halleluja (och prisa Gud)

The first episode was dedicated to Ola Salo and Carola had chosen The Ark's Tell me this night is over. And she did such a great job she landed #1 in the iTunes immediately and may have a similar hit in her hands like Lena Philipsson in season 2 with Laleh's Live tomorrow. Ola seemed to approve and the other were jamming along. Great job. Indeed Ola chose Carola's the best version and dueted with her in the end of the show. (And no, no one covered The worrying kind....)

Carola - Tell me this night is over Vs. The Ark - Tell me this night is over

I will follow Carola's path in this TV-series every week so stay tuned for more covers by Carola and of course the new versions of Carola's songs by the other artists! Now that will be interesting!

You can follow the current Swedish series here and the Finnish here.

*Så mycket bättre is a reality show were seven artists are put together for a week 24/7. Each day is dedicated to one of them when the others do covers of her/his songs over lunch and dinner while the rest of the day is dedicated to activities chosen by the artist in question to let us know her/his world better, as are the stories before the songs to tell about their lives, the song in question and their career. This show has been also a megasellers with albums and singles and especially download charts relaunching a few careers and lifting some career to all new highs.

The show is enjoying hge success in Sweden (Så mycket bättre), Finland (Vain elämää), Norway (Hver gang vi møtes), Netherlands (De beste zangers van Nederland) and Denmark (Toppen af poppen). The format has been sold also to France, China, Estonia, Germany, Brazil, United Kingdom, Australia, USA, Italy, Spain and Russia so far.

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SONGS OF THE YEAR 2015: #5 KRISTA SIEGFRIDS - ON & OFF

Krista Siegfrids is delivering nice pop tunes one after another and this one is particularly catchy and soon you will be singing along..... Hopefully her Melodifestivalen entry will be equally good!

ESC 2016 WISH LIST: MARGARET FOR POLAND

Małgorzata Jamroży aka Margaret has also been tipped for Eurovision and apparently she did turn it down but she'd be perfect. She's got a look and persona you can't unnotice nor forget, she's got hit songs, she has been voted or nominated for everything from Trendy artist to the Hope of the Year, Fashion Icon and Glamour Woman of the year besides the usual best video, song, album, debut..... Oh she's also a fashion designer! She's very clever with social medias and would surely use it to her advantage if selected for Stockholm 2016. Her debut album is titled Add the blonde , do we need to say more? Except it includes mostly Swedish written pop tunes like Tell me how are ya , Wasted , Start a fire and Heartbeat . And of course her debut single and internationally noticed Thank you very much that you can enjoy below with all its anti-textil feel. I think she's Eurovision perfection, she's cheeky and fun, can we have her?

ESC 2016 BELARUS: NAKED WITH WOLVES?

Today's funniest Eurovision related story comes from Belarus. Some sources claim Ivan wants to perform on stage naked and with live wolf or wolves. It surely would be a first on Eurovision stage! We have seen some forgotten underwear over the years, and some cardbox animals though..... Is it time to take things a bit further? No, according the rules live animals are not allowed, and Eurovision being a family show nudity won't do either. (It seems to be ok to be half naked if you are a dancer though..... )

Rumors, rumors, rumors....

While the national selections for Junior Eurovision are going on around Europe and Ani Lorak's been confirmed as host all sort of rumors about the real thing are beginning to be the order of the day. Austria returns - or then not. Andorra stays home - or then not. San Marino returns - well, most likely but not surely. Luxembourg should make a come back - or then maybe not. Liechtenstein is still in the running - or has it ever been for real? Has the local TV ever confirmed anything? Is it just wishful thinking by the fans? Poland on the other hand has confirmed they will be in Oslo. And Italy will be still out. And apparently there will be no ban or such for Azerbaijan nor Spain for the irregularities in and after the 2009 edition. EBU had to change the text in the rules to make it sure nothing like that what happened in Azerbaijan could happen again. Or if it will they have means and rules to back up a ban or sanction.... Katerina Avgoustakis has been rumored to be in Oslo...

JEDWARD GETS NAKED FOR THE FANS

Well, almost. The boys celebrated their 650.000th follower on Twitter by being photographed fresh from shower as promised. It's not the first time they drop their clothes as you see here . Meanwhile their second album is nearly here and the title track Young love is hitting the charts....

UK: Naked Blue

The boys of Blue have posed nude again. This time for the Attitude magazine's annual Naked issue and they are also in the cover. Watch the video of the shooting here . Band member Duncan, who is bi-sexual, recently told The Daily Star : “We are getting our kit off for Attitude magazine like the McFly boys did. I’m up for showing everything off. I’m happy enough about the size of my manhood. ” Extra media attention won't hurt their changes in Germany to win it for the UK for the first time since 1997... They will and they can!

CAROLA'S BOOBS STEAL THE SHOW, SVT APOLOGIES

Update! Another thing got Swedes talking last night: Carola's boobs when she was giving away an award. This is not the first time her boombs cause headlines; her misfortunate adventures in the 80's in Japan wer explained with her boobs being too big for Japanese market. Ok.... Or was it the song ? Anyways, Carola apologies and says she thinks the dress is stylish and elegant (even her friends said so) and she's a mature woman in her 40s, not a 16-year-old girl and looks like one. The Swedish Oscars, Guldbagge awards were given out last night. Carola was there as a guest star to sing Barbra Streisand's The way we were when honoring the movie stars who passed away during 2012. However, the cameras were too much on Carola, not on the stars showed in photos in the background and that upset many viewers as that part of the show was to celebrate them, not Carola. Oh well... The producer of the show tells in Aftonbladet the part of the show was made the sam...

GREECE: HELENA PAPARIZOU HITS AGAIN WITH HAIDE

Eurovision song contest 2005 winner Helena Paparizou has been enjoying Top-5 hits every year since 2003 with the exception of 2010 and 2014, this latest one being already her 27th! And Haide is charting also in Bulgaria and Finland, of all places. The catchiness of her hits has changed less over the years than her face.... Here's the English version , below the Greek version.

FINLAND: REMEMBERING KIRKA

GOODBYE, FAREWELL...

The time has come. After all these years, 5,7 million visits, 12.000 articles I guess the time has come. As much as I love and care for Eurovision it just doesn't feel the same. The Corona years took their toll and the past two years and certain decisions have helped me to mature the idea that next year I will hear the songs for the first time in semi-final just like any so called local. The bubble has burst. Add the toxicity in social medias and fandom. The arrogant teenagers who saw their first contest somewhere 2017 or even 2021 who think they know it all and only their opinion matters. Did I mention the toxic atmosphere on social medias? I'm too old for that sh*t. It's been a long ride that took me to various Eurovision on spot as a fan and tourist, as a journalist, as a delegation member. I met some great people, made memories of lifetime. In stressful, sad periods of my life this blog has been my safe place, a place to escape and forget everything else for an hour o...

Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

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