So, last night’s result at Eurovision Semi Final 2 was very pleasing in some ways (Denmark, Ireland, Azerbaijan, and Israel progressing to the final), but it was utterly disappointing in one major way – the failure of Sweden to qualify to the final.
Long time fans of both Eurovision and Melodifestivalen, will say that the song ‘This Is My Life’ should never have won Melodifestivalen, and thus gone to Eurovision to represent Sweden. It’s not the schlager music that Sweden is known for in these competitions. It’s not the uptempo, bpm heavy song performed with an eye catching routine, in a fabulously glamorous fashion. But at the end of the day, nobody can deny the fact that Anna Bergendahl’s ‘This Is My Life’ is good song. And in the context of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, it’s actually an amazing song!
Last night’s performance of it was beautiful. Perfectly staged, flawlessly delivered, and the inclusion of the red glow sticks transferred amazingly on screen. It was a great moment on tv. It was also one of the few times in recent history that the Swedish entry actually looked better at Eurovision than it did when it was performed at Melodifestivalen. Think of Malena Ernman’s ‘La Voix’, Carola’s ‘Invincible’, and especially Charlotte Perrelli’s ‘Hero’. All amazing performances when they won Melodifestivalen, but all that lost a little something when they were transferred onto the Eurovision stage. ‘This Is My Life’ looked even better on stage in Oslo last night than it did in Stockholm in March.
Basically, we just wanted to say that Sweden really deserved to be in tomorrow’s Eurovision Song Contest final. Especially over six of the songs that actually did qualify from last night’s semi final. The song, the performance, the singer, didn’t deserve to be sent home from the competition. But then, that’s always the way with Eurovision of course. And so trying hard to blame a certain factor, is usually mostly pointless.
Because of this, we don’t agree with some sectors of the Swedish press today dropping the axe on Christer Bjorkman, calling for him to be sacked as head of the Swedish delegation. And we don’t think too fondly of the reports blaming Anna and her performance. But most surprisingly of all possibly, is that we disagree with the online blogs that are taking great delight in berating Sweden for temporarily turning their back on schlager music and championing a song that they think is unforgivably boring in comparison. No other country sticks to a certain type of song at Eurovision every year, so why should Sweden? This year’s Melodifestivalen ended up doing what it does every year – choosing a great song as it’s winner. And as always, we got a dozen or so other great songs to cherish too!
Next year’s Melodifestivalen was rumoured to be Christer Bjorkman’s last anyway. And those in the know have been predicting that it’s going to be a spectacular contest, as he’ll want to go out with a bang. So it’s fair to say that all types of Melodifestivalen fan will be catered to, and it’ll continue to be the amazing show that it always is – with the actual prize of going to Eurovision, really just being an add-on to it, as opposed to the ‘be all and end all’ of it. It stopped being that earlier in the last decade!
Oooh, we do love a good ol’ rant don’t you?!
And here’s that performance again in case you missed it.
