Here´s the latest Melodifestivalen blog for scandipop, from the ever fabulous Linda Sonnvik! She co-wrote ´Try Again´which will be performed by Dilba in the contest in February, and here she tells us a bit more about editing the song from being a full length club anthem to a three minute peice of Melodifestivalen magic!
Toodles Pop-o-holics,
I hope you’ve all had a lovely Christmas! I did, and caught up by joy I died my hair red.
I thought I should tell you about the process of making “Try Again” exactly three minutes. The original is almost an entire minute longer and that version is planned to be released alongside the Melodifestivalen edit. I recently met a member from the jury, that guy loves the song, but he said I had quite a nerve submitting such a long song! Haha… Oh well, me and my co-writer Niklas had to kill some darlings. Removing a minute is
a looot though, and we felt kind of nervous about that, what if the spirit of the song got lost!? We thought this through a while, what to toss and what to keep, and got back to each other. And like a wonder we had thought exactly the same! Without disagreements we ended up with a three minute version that rocked. And when we played it to Dilba she loved it too. So that was that. Phew!
We didn’t make any changes from the original version to make it sound more schlager, no tricks to make it TV friendly… In the end, the most important thing is that the song gets a life also outside of Melodifestivalen, such as on radio. When I write songs I just love adding a key change and when I listen to songs in Melodifestivalen I can’t wait for the key change. So this might come as a shock to you… But there’s no key change in “Try Again”! And I wouldn’t want it any other way, there’s no need, the goose bumps will appear any way! And there’s no classic symphonic schlager ending. The ending was my idea from when we put the song together, long before we had Melodifestivalen in mind for it. I think the song contributes to the modernization of “Mello” without getting too edgy for everyone to enjoy.
Then there was numerous of other versions SVT needed, loads of work for Niklas to fix and mix. Versions with and without backing vocals here and there, the one minute teaser that will be played on radio and on the SVT-website on February 5th and so on. Six, or seven versions. Finally, Niklas came to Stockholm and made sure the master sounded ok at Cutting Room. The feeling, to finally get the mastered file and listen to it in my head phones was magic.
The year is coming to an end… I wish you all a great New Years eve and especially a really great 2011. Dilba says hello too! Check out the Dilba vs. Deejay Jay version of “I’m Sorry” that just was released world wide at
iTunes. Dance your way into 2011!
Love, joy and glitter confetti!
/Linda
Everyday blog: http://finest.se/sonnvik
Contact: Linda@soworks.com
