Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

After four heats of Melodifestivalen it's time for the second chance round aka Andra chansen of those who finished 3rd and 4th. Sadly it's once again made in duels so one can only guess this system's fairness. The duels are based on simple rules: they must be 3rd and 4th placed ones against each other, and they can't be from the same heat. That already pretty much sets who's against who.... According Björkman also they try to put songs aiming to be liked by same groups of fans against each other... My winners are Anna Bergendahl, Nano, Arvingarna and between Stenmarck and Ajax I don't really care.... Andreas Johnsson Vs. Anna Bergendahl Vlad Reiser Vs. Nano Martin Stenmarck Vs. Lisa Ajax Rebecka Karlsson Vs. Arvingarna All is good in the end

Melodifestivalen artists guessing goes wild when tabloids Afronbladet and Expressen try outdo each other in revealing the names before SVT does sometime in December most likely on November 27, 2018. So far we have a 15 year old Youtube star (he'll be 16 in time though) Bishara Morad in the list, as well as 86 year old Jan Malmsjö who could return to contest 50 years after his last appearance when he tied for the win with Hej clown co-written by ABBA's Benny Andersson but lost in revote.  Other rumored returnees are Arvingarna ( ESC 1993 ). Ann-Louise Hansson (74) could return for the record breaking 14th time. She first took part in 1963 and last 2004. Her best placing so far is 4th (1966, 1969, 1973). Jon Henrik Fjällgren could become third time lucky having placed 2nd and 3rd already. Last year's 3rd placed John Lundvik seems to be back as well with other recent participants Anton Hagman , Nano , Polish Margaret and Wiktoria . Add ex-Barbados and ex-Alcazar M...

Mario Venuti is a name in the Italian music scene that is worth remembering in case Rai desides to select internally for Eurovision 2018 instead of Sanremo. Or who knows, maybe he will debut in Sanremo? Tutto questo mare is his latest hit and oozes summer! Omar Naber comes with Freedom and sounds completely different and a bit Enrique Iglesiasesque to say the least. A nice song for summer.  Nano may have lost in Melodifestivalen but he proves his song has staying power, and now comes with a music video, too. Finally. Hold on is still haunting and interesting piece of music. It would have been very interesting to see how it would have featured in Kyiv..... Karel Ullner and his sister Janiela aka XoJani are Finnish siblings based and raised in New York doing dance music and We get high is their latest. Have you heard of UMK, Ullners?

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...

Sweden kicks of its Melodifestivalen tonight, the most overrated and hyped about national selection in the universe. Sure it's great entertainment and show, but what about the music? Oh well... After hearing the one minute snippets from semifinal this is more true than ever before. It's more boring than any other selection I have heard this year from any country. Period. Out of seven songs I only got minimally interested in that one of Nano. The only one I have never ever heard of. Save the best for last indeed. He should win this hands down and become this year's phenomenon and as I have no high hopes for any other act in coming weeks even win the whole damn thing. As usual people will vote two songs straight to the final, two to the second chance round and for the other three it's game over and fight for the place in the charts..... Watch here from 21 CET Semifinal 1: 4 February, Göteborg Boris René – Her kiss -> Andra chansen Adrijana – Amare = 6...