The second heat of Melodifestivalen is here, this week in Gothenburg. And it’s a big week if you’re into this sort of thing.
It’s fair to say that there’s a lot of pressure on the songs this week to be of a high standard. A pressure that’s coming from a certain section of longtime fans of the contest who despair at the lack of schlager and the lack of ‘gala’ in the contest these days (and particularly last week), and who are calling out a dip in quality, and blaming an emphasis on diversity. These fans are pinning a hell of a lot of hope on one artist in particular this week. Swedish House Wives – the sole representation of yesteryear that has been given a slot in this year’s contest. Seven, eight, nine years ago we were given three artists of this ilk per heat. This year there’s only one, in total. So there’s a lot riding on this performance. And falling short of one of them bending over and shooting glitter from her chuff, they really do need to pull out all the stops for a show stealing number of fabulous proportions, if they’re to keep a sizable section of the Melodifestivalen fanbase happy.
Although even then, will the other demographics of the Swedish fanbase vote them through?
Not to over dramatise things here, but it does seem like an important week in the history and for the future of Melodifestivalen. For certain fans at least.
This afternoon we sat through the rehearsals – each song being performed on stage three times. Here’s what went down;
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
1. Anton Ewald: ‘Begging’
(Fredrik Kempe och Anton Malmberg Hård af Segerstad)
Anton comes into this competition as a professional dancer and choreographer turned singer. Rightfully so, he’s taking this association and running with it. Or rather, bodypopping with it.
There’s no doubt that the star of this whole set-up is Anton himself. He outshines both the song he’s given to sing, and the stage he has to perform on. He’s what your focusing on throughout, and it never gets boring. The choreography is both complex and tight. We all know he’s no stranger to the stage by now, but when you take into consideration that this is his first ever outing as a frontman, it’s very impressive what he’s coming out with. And this is the Friday afternoon rehearsal – what’s he gonna be like by tomorrow night?!
As for the song, well that does play second fiddle to the singer. That’s not so much a diss to the song though, more of a continuation of us fawning over the artist. The song’s strength – and it IS a huge strength – is its production. It’s big, it’s modern, and there’s a hell of a lot going on in there. It’s ready made for clubs and radio in 2013, without compromising anything for the Saturday night Melodifestivalen audience.
The whole thing is let down by the lacklustre melody though. It’s just not strong enough, and certainly not memorable enough. And any chance of remembering anything is hindered even further by a really lazy lyric.
It’s a shame – a brilliant track and a phenomenal performer, but the last piece of the puzzle hasn’t been delivered, and the other two are left to work even harder to make for it. They really do though.
2. Felicia Olsson: ‘Make Me Number 1’
(Amir Aly, Henrik Wikström, Ingela Pling Forsman och Maria Haukaas Mittet)
We had no idea what to expect with this one. But even leaving aside the scope there was for it to be a pleasant surprise, ‘Make Me Number 1’ IS a really good song.
It sounds like Rebecca Ferguson doing a modern day remake of an olden day film theme. Perhaps a Bond theme, but with a little more soul mixed in. It’s very cinematic and very dramatic, and we love that kind of thing. It’s also got a strong melody delivered by her impressive set of VOX. And they are impressive. Especially for such a young newcomer.
The theatrics are mirrored in the staging of the song too. She stands there throughout in a long black dress and femme fatale red lipstick. Plus, she’s surrounded by film studio lights and bathed in multiple spotlights. The whole thing is extremely grand. And just a little bit camp too.
We love this, and we’re gonna be playing it long after the contest is over. We hope it’s one of the positive surprises in the results tomorrow night too, as we’d like to see it again.
She did four takes. Three were vocally flawless, one was awful and totally off throughout. Let’s hope those odds are in her favour come showtime.
3. Joacim Cans: ‘Annelie’
(Joacim Cans)
Joacim Cans with a song called ‘Annelie’. We would like this an awful lot better if it were Anne-Lie Ryde with a song called ‘Joacim’. And it’s even more infuriating when the announcer booms “melodi nummer tre….ANNELIE“, and it’s not the latter!
This is old fashioned rock music. It was really never meant for us. In fairness though, it does have a somewhat catchy chorus – much to our annoyance.
Everyone else here is calling this a qualifier. We’re already resigning ourselves to defeat.
4. Swedish House Wives: ‘On Top Of The World’
(Peter Boström och Thomas G:son)
Now. Unlike Felicia Olsson above, Swedish House Wives took to the stage with impossibly high expectations heaped upon it by us. And it’s suffered. Potentially as a result of those expectations. Or maybe because it’s just not strong enough….
The whole spectacle is amazing. The three of them taking to the stage in sparkling outfits, straddling a golden staircase, and then strutting down it to deliver the first chorus. They’re brilliant, and they’re giving us exactly what we wanted from them in a performance. They know exactly what they are, what they’re doing here, and they’re not just embracing it, they’re also ramping it up even further for full effect.
The production of ‘On Top Of The World’ is also pretty much all we wanted from it. It sounds like Lady Gaga’s ‘Judas’ gone even gayer, taking a hit of poppers, dragging up as Mary Magdalene and going out to flirt inappropriately with an unsuspecting town’s folk.
What lets everything down though, as with Anton Ewald’s ‘Begging’, is the melody of the song. We wanted it to be so much more than this. Fair enough they warned us that it was not gonna be typically schlager. But couldn’t we at least have had a 2013 version of ‘Stay The Night’? And where the HELL is the key change?!
This isn’t the classic we wanted it to be. That we sort of needed it to be.
5. Erik Segerstedt & Tone Damli: ‘Hello Goodbye’
(Robin Fredriksson, Mattias Larsson och Måns Zelmerlöw)
Erik & Tone quietly and subtly turn in one of the best songs of the week. Perhaps even the best. Actually, yes – the best. We say ‘quietly’ and ‘subtly’ because there’s no big show like Anton or Swedish House Wives. Nor are there any sonic theatrics like with Felicia. Instead, it plods along nicely, showcasing a sweet and catchy melody at every step of the way. That chorus is surprisingly memorable given how softly it’s presented to you.
What we also love about ‘Hello Goodbye’ is the bittersweet tone (damli). A happy melody paired with a quite sad lyric about how two people are not meant to be for each other. It’s unexpected, and it commands that you actually listen to the lyrics – which might not seem like much, but it’s certainly more than what the lyrics of half the other songs this week are asing of the listener.
The staging is pretty good too. Erik starting off the song on the catwalk on his lonesome, then joined by Tone on the harmonies (oh – that’s another thing we love about the song, strong harmonies throughout), and then the pair of them end up on stage together by a mic stand. And then at the end they leave to the mic stand and head to the front together. Ok look that doesn’t exactly sound very impressive on paper, but in a three minute mid-tempo pop song at Melodifestivalen, they’ve really made it work for them ok?!
The Swedish press are marking this down as a non-qualifier. That would be a terrible shame. This deserves a slot in the final above all other songs this week.
6. Louise Hoffsten: ‘Only the Dead Fish Follow the Stream’
(Louise Hoffsten, Sandra Bjurman och Stefan Örn)
Here’s another one that was never quite meant for us. But like Eric Gadd last week, we turned our backs on predictability and thoroughly enjoyed ‘Only The Dead Fish Follow The Stream’!
As ridiculous as the title suggests, it features backing singers echoing the sentiment “only the dead fish“, while an animated DEAD FISH is shown floating on a back drop of water. Taking it ALL a little TOO literal if you ask us, but what is Melodifestivalen if not cheesy, kitsch entertainment? Even the ‘credible’ artists can’t escape it. Following the stream, as it were.
What do we like about it? Well it’s just got an undeniably catchy hook to it. That, coupled with the jaunty and upbeat music, just leads to an enjoyable track really. We don’t quite know if we’re gonna be enjoying this out of the context of Melodifestivalen long after March. But we will be toe tapping along to it tomorrow night. Although still probably cursing it if it qualifies ahead of Felicia, Erik & Tone, Anton, or Swedish House Wives.
7. Rikard Wolff: ‘En Förlorad Sommar’
(Tomas Andersson Wij)
Sentimental and sweet, but ultimately very boring. Like a weird cross between last week’s Anna Järvinen and last year’s Thorsten Flinck. But not as good as her and even worse than him.
8. Sean Banan: ‘Copacabanana’
(Sean Banan, Ola Lindholm, Hans Blomberg och Joakim Larsson)
Well. Regular readers already know that we just don’t ‘get’ this guy, or Sweden’s amusement with him.
It’s just a load of shit. Yes we know that’s sort of supposed to be the point. But there’s so much material out there that falls under the ‘so bad it’s good’ category, why are SVT putting in songs that are just plain bad.
We miss the days when the likes of Christer Sjögren’s ‘I Love Europe’ was considered the ‘joke’ entry at Melodifestivalen. The Sean Banan joke wore thin by the time Andra Chansen came around last year. This is year it’s the same old thing, but with even less of a semblance of a tune in there.
Make it go away.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Check back here on Sunday for our full breakdown of the show’s results. Head-in-hands, or celebratory hangover, we’ll be here!
You can watch the show live on Saturday night at 7pm (UK time) at SVT’s website. And right here, you can watch 60 second clips from yesterday’s (camera and stage) rehearsals.
The Melodifestivalen 2013 CD, containing all 32 songs, is already available to pre-order from our online store here.
