SVT have announced the first 14 artists to perform at next year’s Melodifestivalen; the complete 8 acts in Heat 1 (including wildcard entry, Salem Al Fakir), and the first 6 acts that will compete in Heat 2, with the 7th and then that heat’s wildcard entry to be announced at a later date.
Hmmm, it’s quite a fresh bunch. Out of the eight acts in Heat 1, six of them are debutants. And of the six so far in Heat 2, four will be competing for the first time. And they’re all quite young too. We hope that Melodifestivalen’s love affair with old schlager divas and ancient dansband gentlemen hasn’t run out entirely! We actually already know some of the other acts that will be announced next week, but can’t reveal here obviously. But there are a few bigger, more scandipop friendly names that will be revealed next Monday, don’t worry!
Here’s the list;
Heat 1 in Örnsköldsvik
Jenny Silver – “A Place To Stay”
Formerly the lead singer of the band, Candela, Jenny has also sang in musicals. But this will be her first time competing in Melodifestivalen. Citing Joni Mitchell and Paul McCartney as her influences, we’re not really expecting this one to be one of our favourites. But we made the same judgement about Caroline Af Ugglas last year and turned out to be proved very wrong.
Jessica Anderssson – “I Did It For Love”
We were expecting a return from Jessica, and are very pleased that it’s happened. Whilst it’s unlikely the ‘I Did It For Love’ will be the schlager joy that was ‘Kalla Natter’’, given the direction she’s taken with her latest album, we’re still very much looking forward to seeing and hearing Jessica back on the MF stage. We’re expecting this to be a big, melody driven ballad.
Salem Al Fakir – “Keep On Walking”
Announced a few weeks back, we were teetering towards the more positive end of indifference where Salem’s participation was concerned. Then we realised we’d spent many a night out in dancing merrily away to an Axwell remix of one of his tracks, ‘It’s True’. We’re certainly not expecting ‘Keep On Walking’ to be a house music stomper, but the realisation of his past glories has made us like him a lot more!
Frispråkar’n – “Singel”
Not really sure what to expect with this one.
Anders Ekborg – ”The Saviour”
The title sounds promising at least!
Ola Svensson – “Unstoppable”
OLA! We’re very excited about this one! Loved his first album and have liked the two tracks we’ve heard so far from his second album; ‘Sky’s The Limit’ and ‘Play Me’. Even the title of this track excites us!
Linda Pritchard – “You’re Makin Me Hot-Hot-Hot”
This is the one we’re most intrigued about. Linda appeared in last year’s Swedish Idol show, which was won by Kevin Borg. However, she didn’t even make the final 10 – instead being knocked out in the semis. Nevertheless, we’re expecting to really like this – because of the title, and because she’s posing like a pop tart in the photo on SVT’s website!
Pain of Salvation – “Road Salt”
We’ll listen without prejudice of course – we know we’ll definitely need to. What is that title about?!
Heat 2 in Sandviken
Andra Generationen och Dogge Doggelito – “Hippare Hoppare”
Urgh. Not looking forward to this. The last time Andra Generationen competed, they gave us ‘Kebabpizza’.
Andreas Johnson – “We Can Work It Out”
Andreas is back again! It’ll be his fourth participation at Melodifestivalen, following three highly successful entries. We haven’t really been a major fan of any of them though to be honest.
Anna Maria Espinosa – “Innan Alla Ljusen Brunnit Ut”
We’re filing this one alongside Jenny Silver from the first heat!
Erik Saade – “Manboy”
This is the one we’re most excited about of all. He’s a ‘’friend of a friend’’ and is ALL about pop music. He’s already worked on a few projects for the Disney Channel in Sweden. Plus his girlfriend is none other than the lovely Molly Sanden. On top of all our high hopes about him as the artists, one should also consider the fact that the song is composed by Fredrik Kempe and Peter Bostrom. This is going to be immense!
Hanna Lindblad – “Manipulated”
She cites Madonna, Beyonce, and Marilyn Monroe as her influences. And describes her music as club/dance music tinged with r&b. We think we’re gonna like this!
Kalle Moraeus och Orsa spelmän – “Underbart”
We genuinely have no idea what to expect with this one.
