Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Sweden's Melodifestivalen 2023 has cut down the songs in the previous four heats (here) and it's time for the semi-final, formerly known as Andra chancen aka Second chance round. In previous four heats two songs qualified for the final directly, and the 3rd and 4th placed ones are here fighting for four places in the final line up. It may not be a big surprise I haven't been a Mello fan for years anymore; great looking show, usually also very funny and entertaining but the songs haven't really made any impact on my own personal playlist, so let's see what they have in offer. I haven't followed the heats with attention, barely watching them when run on Finnish television delayed so basically all these songs are new to me.  Theoz - Mer av dig *** Old school schlager and he's quite likable but there's zero emotion, just perfect choreography and performance. Sterile. But the song echoes mello of the yesteryears. More like an opening number than a competing e...

  Sweden has been selecting its entry for Lisbon 2018 Eurovision song contest the past five weeks around Sweden but tonight the show moves to Stockholm for its grand final. The viewing figures may have been dropping along the way as well as number of voters, and more and more international fans have woken up to the fact Mello isn't all that great it used to be. Haven't been for years now but in the end, like in all the national finals, all that matters is the one song. The one that will go to Eurovision and as Björkman and Swedes hope would continue Sweden's incredible success in the past seven years: two wins, two third places and two 5th places. And of course getting the 7th victory and thus making Ireland tremble. But do we have Eurovision winner among these entries? Most likely not, but a few that could sneak into the top-5 again. Two songs seem above the others in early polls, Jessica and Benjamin, but Jessica seems to have lost some of it's popularity along...

Sweden has its fourth semifinal of Melodifestivalen 2018, that has been a bit of a flop it seems and no wonder. It's about the time people wake up and see it's a lot of nothing but great television. Maybe it's time they do some major changes to the program and realize without great songs you have nothing really. Break that chain indeed. Mariette is once again the top favorite, but let's see if she manages to win it this time? This said, after hearing the snippets it's sad. As it's even worse than I expected. I'm ready to jump on Party Voice 's wagon and hope for its win..... And secretly hope somebody like Rolandz or Moraeus will win and shock the entire Eurovision fandom and flop in Lisbon.... ;-p Emmi Christersson - Icarus  - 7th Elias Abbas - Mitt paradis - 5th Felicia Olsson - Break that chain  -  6th Rolandz - Fuldans - FINAL Olivia Eliasson - Never learn - Andra chansen Felix Sandman - Every single day - Andra chansen ...

Yawn. In a Million years I wouldn't have thought this could happen. That's the first reaction. Not really, lol. For a change it's a worthy winner and was one of my faves in Melodifestivalen.  Sweden wins with Mariette the OGAE Second chance contest for the 16th time. Add nine 2nd place sand one 3rd places and that leaves us only six Swedish participations that didn't land the Top-3. The lovely surprise is Italy's second place. Paola Turci 's anthem for loving yourself Fatti bella per te is Italy's third second place (added to two wins and one third place).  Check out the full results after the jump.....

This is one very happy blogger; after the international jury votes my only three songs I liked were the top-3, and even after the televotes they were 1st, 2nd and 4th. Whatever happened to the fan wanks Wiktoria, Ace and Lisa (and Loreen)... I can only giggle. Feeling any wet slaps in face euroboys? Anyways, like I wrote before Robin, Nano and Mariette had the best song+staging combo, and I'm also pleased for Jon Henrik's third place. I'd love to have liked him more but the song left me a bit numb, even if Sami culture would have made a nice addition to Eurovision and should return again sooner or later; from Sweden, Norway or Finland... However it seems Melodifestivalen is getting to a turning point. All final songs were within 6,2-11,9% of the televotes so there was no real favorite for the great public. The highest scoring for them was Nano followed very closely by Wiktoria and Robin. As for the international juries Robin was a clear winner, followed by Nano, Mari...

Sweden's Melodifestivalen 2017 comes to an end tonight, thankfully without that overrated crap Loreen proposed in the line up. I have said this before but it's yes, it's a great show but the songs? Sigh. Most of them are mediocre pop tunes I have no wish to listen to when this is over. My wet dream is Owe will win in the end just to piss off the Euroboys ;-p The f-word is still flying around thanks to Lisa while Robin apparently has changed it getting ready for Kyiv. His is one of those where the show and song meet each other and are in balance. Same goes for Mariette. The most original and real song is maybe Nano's. Wiktoria is as overrated as she was last year. So in short my Top-3 is Nano, Robin and Mariette. Anyone else will have no place in my Top-20, or maybe eben Top-30....  And yes, I'd love to like Jon Henrik but the song isn't good enough this time.  Ace Wilder - Wild Child Boris René - Her Kiss Lisa Ajax with - I Don’t Give A Robin Bengtss...

Melodifestivalen continues tonight with the second semifinal. As always two will make the final, two wil make the andra chansen and three will say adjö to Eurovision dreams and rush to the charts. Or so they hope. Mariette returns and even if I never was a fan of hers she sounds pretty good! Then we move from Pontare's mysstic sounds to Etzia's very Swedish rhythms, you know. Sweden is in the Caribian tropics for all I know. Some useless hiphop follows with some androgyneus poprock that was born old. Then enters Lisa Ajax with a lot of f*cks all over the place. Finally Pernilla's son and a relative to Swedish House Mafia offers some anonymous pop. All this said this is an improvement from last weeks all time low.  Semifinal 2: 11 February, Malmö Mariette – A million years -> FINAL Roger Pontare – Himmel och hav Etzia – Up Allyawan – Vart haru varit Dismissed – Hearts align -> Andra chansen Lisa Ajax – I don’t give a - > Andra chansen Benjamin ...

Sweden has never won the Eurovision song contest with a male solo artist but this year they are really trying. The final next Saturday (along with the one in Norway) is the last of the season 2015 and it is filled with muscled guys who seem to love parade half naked showing off. Some of them can also sing and perform, some... well, a bit less so. The main contenders seem to be Måns Zelmerlöv and Eric Saade . Then there's  Jon Henrik Fjällgren to shake the things a bit. Let's see who wins that fight. It seems both Måns and Eric need to beat Jon first, but then also each other to win.  Samir Badran and Victor Frisk are also ready for the battle even if they had to make it through the second chance round. They know how to pose but that's just about all it is about... Barking dogs don't bite. Samir also challenges Linus Svenning  with the tattoo department. Linus can deliver, we know that, but Samir ... well, he gives great poses. And what about th...

Malmö hosts the second Melodifestivalen semifinal this season. Eurovision superveteran Marie Bergman is in the line up with national final veteran Sanne Salomonsen. Also Linus Svenning and Magnus Carlsson are back and the line up features reality tv stars Samir & Victor who apparently can't sing but it doesn't matter because they are famous for being... famous. After hearing the short snippets I'm still not impressed. Mariette could be something interesting, Magnus will fly to the final, Linus either final or Andra chansen....  Linus Svenning - Forever starts today Emelie Irewald - Där och då med dig Samir & Victor - Groupie Neverstore - If I was God for one day Marie Bergman & Sanne Salomonsen - Nonethless Magnus Carlsson - Möt mig i Gamla Stan Mariette - Don't stop believing UPDATE: Magnus and Mariette to the final, Linus and Samir & Victor to Andra chansen. Neverstore 5th, Emelie 6th, Marie & Sanne 7th.