Whoop! Seven more songs. Two more finalists, two more andra chansers, and three who today might well be wondering why they even bothered.
Who’s through to the final? Wait, no, bet I can guess! Bet you can’t, actually. 15-year-old unknown, Malou Prytz, caused the big upset of the night. Upset not so much for going direct to the final, because her song is a bop after all, but upset more so because she bet a lot of favourites to take that slot. But one can never underestimate the appeal of a youngster coming out of nowhere to give a proper popstar-worthy performance of a catchy tune. She performed on that stage like a younger generation’s Zara Larsson, and apologies if that idea makes you feel old. It should.
Who joins her in the final? Less of a surprise was the success of ‘Hold You’ by Liamoo & Hanna Ferm. A very modern interpretation of what was actually a very traditional and classic love duet. We did NOT know that Hanna could sing like that though. Those pipes jumped the fuck out.
And heading to Andra Chansen? What Vlad Reiser lacked in vocal capabilities, he made up for in charm. Or at least that’s what we’re assuming, based on all the votes he got. And he’s joined in Andra Chansen by Andreas Johnson, for further reasons we fail to comprehend.
And leaving the competition? Well in the wake of Malou’s shock final qualification, that means that there must be some shocks at the bottom of the leader board as well. After falling in love with ‘Cool Me Down’ in 2017 and ‘In My Cabana’ in 2018, it looks like Sweden might finally be ready to wave Margaret back to Poland on the first available Norwegian flight. A shame really. ‘Tempo’ is a tune. Perhaps it was that sodding unforgivable dress they made her wear. Anyway, she finished in 5th place, with Jan Malmsjö coming in 6th. Which means that Oscar Enestad had the shock humiliation of a 7th place finish to endure. We’re gonna go out on a limb, hold our hands up, and admit that in actual fact, Oscar had our favourite song of the night, performed via our favourite staging of the night. That hair, that blouse (both of which he’d probably borrowed from his lady friend), that box, those petals, that drama. We stan. Are we really alone in that?!!!
Anything else of note? The hosts. Despite 50% of the team being absent for the majority of the show, we still have to rave about that foursome. They are terrific together and elevate an already exciting and entertaining contest even further. They are all excellent and we want every single one of them back in 2020.
You can find the Andra Chansen and eliminated songs in our Best New Pop playlist.
