Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Charlotte Perrelli ex-Nilsson ex-Ingrosso is taking part again in the Swedish summer institution, the Diggiloo tour . The problem is she's pregnant and due to have the baby in early August, while the tour end on August 17. What to do? Nothing. She plans to go on and hopes the delivery should happen on a day off and she'd be back on stage the after or maybe two. No subsitution for her.  Maybe the other starts like Lotta Engberg and David LIngdren will have to act as midwives for her this summer? "It's a popular show. I don't need to wear tank tops and shorts anyways " she comments, "I will take time in the fall and rest!" She's The Girl! Currently she is also working on a pregnancy training book....

Sweden picks up its entry for the home soil tonight. One can only hope they will pick a song that will do better than last time the Eurovision was held in Malmö.... (Mind you, Christer Björkman's Imorgon finns en annan dag is one of my Swedish favorites of all time). Unlike last year we don't have a clear favorite so anything can happen, even Swedes going crazy and voting for Ravaillacz and how funny that would be! Still, YOHIO is the one to look out for, but it's not yet sure that he will actually make it.... Despite a minor scandal has arisen as it is thought SVT favors him having a 24&7 crew filming his life and preparations, and even that the original golden boy was Ulrik, but now Christer & co prefer YOHIO...  Hmm, wasn't Sweden supposed to be one of the less corrupted countrie s in the world? Oh yes, that's in the real world and not in the glittery Schlagerwonderland! Once again there is also an international jury that has helped the Swedes to ...

The Melodifestivalen 2013, described as the worst ever in unison by everybody is coming to an end this Saturday.  Pre-contest favorites Army of Lovers rocketed out in fiasco so the field is left wide open to the other pre-contest favorite, Yohio . This 17-year-old creature took himself straight to the final from the first semifinal and has been patiently watching all the serious competition being voted out or failing in the second chance round last week. In Expressen he scored a 37% of the votes when the only lady left in the competition Louise Hoffsten was second with 15% followed by Ralf Gyllenhammar (14%), Ulrik Munther and Robin Stjernberg (8%), Ravaillacs and Anton Ewald (5%), Sean Banan and David Lindgren (3%) and State of drama last with 2%. I guess we can't rule Sean Banan out as he has topped some other polls and maybe David and Ulrik might have a chance, too.  This blogger agrees with this poll that Yohio will win but I wouldn't count Ralf out either. And...

Great show in Sweden, I have to say. The interval act and opening numbers with Gina Dirawi, Danny Saucedo, Kristian Look and ever wonderful Lena Philipsson were great, and the songs were as always well staged. And I'm not surprised Michael Feiner & Caijsa were out and finished 6th as it was rather horrible on stage. Jay-Jay Johanson's last place was no surprise, and even if I liked Anna Järvinen's song this is maybe not the place for it so it's 7th place was not a surprise either. But I was hoping for a miracle that didn't materialize. And I predicted the finalists Yohio and David Lindgren right so in the end it was all good and as expected. I think YOHIO will give a good run for Army of Lovers in final :-) YOHIO - Heartbreak Hotel - > final David Lindgren - Skyline - > final Cookies and Beanz - Burning flags -> 2nd chance Eric Gadd - Vi kommer aldrid att förlora -> 2nd chance 5.  Mary N'diaye - Gosa  6.  Michael Feiner & Cais...

Melofifestivalen kicks off tonight in Karlskrona and already the first semifinal gives us all sort of things from J-Pop to Finn-Pop when Yohio and Anna Järvinen take the stage . All but David Lingren and Cookies and Beanz are newcomers, even if Michael Feiner took once part with The Attic. As always you can watch it live on SVT's stream.From the reheardal videos I was pretty taken by Anna Järvinen's song, and Jay-Jay sounded pretty interesting, too. Yohio and David Lindgren are there to be watched out, too! Update: Relistening of full songs and new judgement, that is pretty much the same as before though. Anna Järvinen sounds like a love child of Mylène farmer and Eva Dahlgren, touching, fragile, fantastic! Yohio and Michael & Caisa both go ahead like a train, the latter helped with the saxophone, the first with the look. David and Cookies are good, too but Jay-jay didn't deliver in the end, mainly due to the rather pointless text. And Mary is unbearable.  Let...

Looks like there's a change in Sweden. The aertists for the first two semifinals were revealed today and most of them seem to be newcomers to the contest. We do have Cookies N Beans and David Lindgren trying again in the first one, Sean Banan and Erik Segerstedt in the second with some other familiar names like Jenny Silver and Pernilla Wahlgren, and then there's also Tone Damli after all. And a lot of familiar names among the songwriters, too, from Måns Zelmerlöw to Ingela Pling Forsman and Thomas G:son.  And we also have the songwriters of Eurovision winners of 2011 and 2012 neck to neck, too, as also Bjurman and Örn are there.... SEMI FINAL 1 KARLSKRONA (February 2) Cookies N Beans – Burning Flags (Fredrik Kempe) Mary N’diaye – Gosa (Åsgärde, Frändå, Mary N’diaye) YOHIO – Heartbreak Hotel (Fransson, Lundgren, Larsson, Göranson, YOHIO) Jay-Jay Johanson – Paris (Jay-Jay Johanson) Anna Järvinen – Porslin (Björn Olsson, Martin Elisson) David Lindgren – Skyl...

Anywhere else 2.549 songs sent to the national final would be a huge amount but in Sweden it's actually the lowest since 2002! And a drop of 936 since last year. But maybe it only means those unlucky ones that have sent their songs year after year, again and again have finally decided to give up? Or did simply Thomas G:son give up after winning, too, and didn't send in his usual about a zillion songs? :-) Seriously, all that matters here of course is the quality, not the quantity like in many other things in life, too.  Now the SVT jury will pick up 16 songs for the semifinals, one of them at least must come from the so called amateur selection (647 songs in total). Svensktoppen selection winner Terese Fredenwal has already her place secured and the remaining 15 places will be filled by SVT as they please; among the songs sent in or by inviting artists and songwriters directly to make the usual 32 semifinalists. The song titles and their writers will be publis...