Well well well. That Björn Ranelid comment DID come back to haunt us! Straight through to the final he went last night – knocking our favourite song out of the competition in the process – ‘Just A Little Bit’ by Love Generation. Hmmmm.
It’s very disappointing to lose the Love Generation girls. And quite unfair too, since it WAS the best song last night – to these little ol’ ears anyway. But it’s hard to be bitter about Björn’s result. Like we said on Friday, there’s something a little bit brilliant about the whole thing. It’s catchy, it’s mental, and it’s difficult not to fall in love with what’s unfolding on the stage in front of your eyes and ears. And it certainly got people talking, as well as voting – “Björn Ranelid” and then “Ranelid” both became wordwide trending topics on twitter last night after his performance.
So then. Last night’s result;
Direct to the final
Molly Sandén: ‘Why Am I Crying’
Björn Ranelid & Sara Li: ‘Mirakel’
Qualifying for the second chance round
Youngblood: ‘Youngblood’
Andreas Johnson: ‘Lovelight’
Bravo for Molly, and for Sweden voting her through. It’ll be as much a pleasure to watch her again in the final, as it will be an unbridled joy to watch Björn & Sara again. Youngblood and Andreas Johnson go into the Andra Chansen round, instantly becoming what must be considered the most likely candidates to then progress to the final – considering what else is in there so far. We’re still rooting for Timoteij though. Naturally.
In amongst the songs and the results last night, was further evidence of how great it is to have Edward and Daniel back as the shows scriptwriters. The show was salt and peppered with more musical numbers, amusing video skits, and high-larious banter from the hosts – and of course all executed brilliantly by the hosts themselves. We’re loving the side entertainment of Melodifestivalen this year more than ever.
You can watch the whole show again over at SVT’s website for the next couple of days (and thanks to SVT for the image of Molly above). Below though, are the four songs that got knocked out of the competition.
Mattias Andréasson had to settle for 5th place, but sees his song already top 10 on iTunes (when he was showing us the iTunes chart on his phone at the after party this morning, he inadvertently gave us a glimpse of a topless photo of him – Christ, that man is RIPPED!). Love Generation’s ‘Just A Little Bit’ was obviously not deserving of its 6th place finish. The song is fab and their performance was immense. Insert big sad face here.
Carolina Wallin Pérez and Maria BenHajji’s respective 7th and 8th place finish weren’t really a surprise. Perfectly competent songs both of them, but easily getting lost amongst the rest of what was going on up on the stage last night. Maria’s setting of a new record of lowest placing webjoker entry so far though, is undeserved.
Sweden and Melodifestivalen, you did it again – a corker of a 90 minute show, and at least one heartbreaker in the results. We’ll be back for more of the same next week please!