Week two of the schlager circus. It’s not going to take a lot to beat the quality of entries we got in the first week, but it will take something special to find an entry as good as the best song last week.
On paper this certainly looks like a tough one. We can find four, possibly five names that look like they would be a guaranteed qualifier on any given week. And they’re joined by two fresh faced newcomers and a seasoned pro who will no doubt deliver the goods, but will have an uphill struggle to get the voters so overwhelmingly on his side against the other favourites. We’ve actually heard two of the songs this week. Both are better than seven of the eight songs that competed last week. So that’s a good start, we guess!
We’ll be travelling to Gothenburg on Friday morning, and reporting from the Friday afternoon rehearsals. We’ll also be staying for Friday night’s dress rehearsal and the live show on Saturday night. So check back here for updates, and follow us over upon The Twitter.
The Melodifestivalen 2012 CD, with all 32 songs, is now available for pre-order at our online store here.
Here though – is your guide to the eight artists competing in Heat 2 of Melodifestivalen;
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Ulrik Munther – ‘Soldiers’
(Joy Deb, Linnea Deb, David Jackson, Ulrik Munther, Johan Åberg)
“He will be popular, he will be popular“. Not just with ickle girls, but also with middle aged women wanting to Mother him. His music isn’t our kind of thing normally, but we’ll keep an open mind. We hope we like it anyway, as there’s absolutely no doubt in our minds that this will be progressing from its heat on Saturday.
Top Cats – ‘Baby Doll’
(Lina Eriksson, Mårten Eriksson, Susie Päivärinta)
Aaarrgh. We love dansband music, but not THIS kind of dansband music. The rock-a-billy type. But yet SVT love putting it into Melodifestivalen – see also ‘The King’ by The Playtones. Last year that song went straight to the final. Maybe this will do the same. Confusingly though, this song has some of the same writers as ‘Sweet Kissin In The Moonlight’ by Thorleifs – which is the kind of dansband that we DO love. So again – we’ll keep an open mind here. Susie of Lili & Susie also gets a writing credit.
Sonja Aldén – ‘I Din Himmel’
(Sonja Aldén, Bobby Ljunggren, Peter Boström)
Sonja! It’s marvellous to have her back in the contest. The last time she was in it, in 2007, her entry went on to become the most played Melodifestivalen song on the radio, of the ENTIRE DECADE! We hope that this is just as good. We’re very much expecting it to be.
Andreas Lundstedt – ‘Aldrig Aldrig’
(Randy Goodrum, Niclas Lundin, Maria Marcus)
This chap had a successful run in Melodifestivalen in the 90’s as a solo artist and in the 00’s as part of Alcazar. His last solo entry in 2007 stalled in its heat, but we’re hoping he’ll do better this time around. FACT: the final production polish given to ‘Aldrig Aldrig’ was done by none other than Felix and Märta of Le Kid!
Timoteij – ‘Stormande Hav’
(Kristian Lagerström, Johan Fjellström, Stina Engelbrecht, Jens Engelbrecht)
Another entry that we’re looking forward to immensely. These girls are our favourite act in this heat. We want them in the final very very badly. Particularly if the song is as good as ‘Kom’. Sources tell us that it’s even better.
David Lindgren – ‘Shout It Out’
(Fernando Fuentes, Tony Nilsson)
David comes from a musical theatre background. That’s pretty much all we know about him. We do however, know that Fernando Fuentes and Tony Nilsson are pop writing geniuses!
Mimi Oh – ‘Det Går För Långsamt’
(Niclas Lundin, Anton Malmberg Hård af Segerstad)
Regular readers of this website should know Mimi Oh well by now. But for many in Sweden, Saturday night will be her big introduction to them. We think they’ll like her. She’s bound to be quite nervous about the whole thing, but she only needs to have a look back at last year’s Heat 2 in Gothenburg when Sweden was introduced to two more female soloists – Loreen and Anniela – to see how far a confident performance can go, as opposed to a visibly nervous one.
Thomas Di Leva – ‘Ge Aldrig Upp’
(Thomas Di Leva)
We’re not big fans. It’s just not our kind of thing. He seems to be very popular though. Fuck.
