Week two of Melodifestivalen hot foots it into Gothenburg this weekend, to find two more finalists, two more second chancers, and four unfortunate also-rans.
Here are the eight artists and songs battling it out, and all you need to know about them;
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1. Anton Ewald: ‘Begging’
(Fredrik Kempe och Anton Malmberg Hård af Segerstad)
The next Swedish pop boy sensation, with a Fredrik Kempe topline and an Anton (formerly) of Le Kid production. What could possibly go wrong? Well, we’ve heard it already and unfortunately there is something amiss amongst those. The melody and the lyric leave a lot to be desired, and show themselves up to be a weak link here. The good thing though is that the production is fantastic. Amazing enough so that all Anton really has to do is go out there and put on a stellar performance, so that people can perhaps overlook what’s regrettably missing in the song department, and vote the bugger through anyway. We reckon he can though. And we also assume that his (soon to be) fanbase might just be enough to rescue him too, should all else fail.
2. Felicia Olsson: ‘Make Me Number 1’
(Amir Aly, Henrik Wikström, Ingela Pling Forsman och Maria Haukaas Mittet)
Lionheart Music’s newest songbird. The fact that it’s them behind it and with those songwriters on board, gives us a lot of hope that ‘Make Me Number 1’ will most probably Make Our Top 4. Whether it makes the actual top 4 on Saturday night though, is potentially a long shot. We’ve heard that it’s a ballad, and Sweden just doesn’t seem to be voting for ballads anymore. Not at all. Can Felicia and her hefty team of songwriters buck the trend?
3. Joacim Cans: ‘Annelie’
(Joacim Cans)
A former heavy metal frontman who has mellowed with age and is bringing to the contest a rock ballad. He’s enough of a name to have been invited onto Körslaget (like an X-Factor for choirs, led by celebrities, big in Sweden), and popular enough with the viewers for him to have gone and won the whole thing. He’s got fans from his solo act AND from his HammerFall duties. So we’re expecting him to be a real threat to the top 4 with the right song.
4. Swedish House Wives: ‘On Top Of The World’
(Peter Boström och Thomas G:son)
Three darlings of schlager team up and go all clubland on us with a song from the same two writers as ‘Euphoria’. It’s fair to say our expectations on this are mighty high, and we’re gonna be sorely disappointed with anything less than jaw droppingly amazing, with those old gay cliches Fierce and Fabulous thrown in for good measure. They wouldn’t deliver anything less – would they?
5. Erik Segerstedt & Tone Damli: ‘Hello Goodbye’
(Robin Fredriksson, Mattias Larsson och Måns Zelmerlöw)
A Swedish Pop Prince who has been a bit quiet lately, and a Norwegian Pop Princess who is currently at the top of her game (her own TV show, a clothing line, a judge on Idol, working with Rodney Jerkins on her next album, ETC). Together they’re performing a song by two of our favourite songwriters (and Måns Zelmerlöw). Theirs is another one this week that we’ve already heard. It’s brilliantly catchy, mid-tempo guitar pop. Very sweet, and even if it doesn’t do anything in the contest, it should be a big hit outside of it. It’s a tough heat for them though, considering that the gay vote is being taken up by Swedish House Wives, and the young girl vote will probably go to Anton Ewald. Still, if a good song always rises to the top, then ‘Hello Goodbye’ should follow suit.
6. Louise Hoffsten: ‘Only the Dead Fish Follow the Stream’
(Louise Hoffsten, Sandra Bjurman och Stefan Örn)
Well if ever there was a song title to stir up some excitement in our pop loins. Not. However it’s been co-composed by two of the writers behind two of Azerbaijan’s Eurovision entries that we loved – ‘Drip Drop’ and ‘Running Scared’ (the latter being a Eurovision winner). Louise Hoffsten’s music history spans mostly blues. However, she was also part of one of our favourite Christmas songs of recent years, Sarah Dawn Finer’s ‘Winter Song’. So we’re anticipating this with interest. After Anna Järvinen’s result on Saturday though, surely Louise must be Running Scared herself, right?
7. Rikard Wolff: ‘En Förlorad Sommar’
(Tomas Andersson Wij)
Predominantly an actor, and probably one of the biggest ‘names’ of this heat. His musical past is untested though, but then look what happened last year with Thorsten Flinck and Björn Ranelid.
8. Sean Banan: ‘Copacabanana’
(Sean Banan, Ola Lindholm, Hans Blomberg och Joakim Larsson)
Why, Sweden, why? Why must you keep giving this buffoon the attention and the airtime that he needs to keep peddling this…this….buffoonery?! You already know what this is going to sound like, don’t you? Like shit. That song title isn’t a spelling mistake – it’s intentional. So expect a tropical version of last year’s ‘Sean Den Förste Banan’. Come back ‘Ge Mig En Spanjor’, all is forgiven! Make no mistake though, this man is immensely popular in Sweden. He had so many gigs last summer that on at least one occasion, he had to be helicoptered between two shows – as missing one of them would have cost him more money. He also sold more albums last year than LOREEN. Ponder that for a minute.
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Check back here on Friday for our full report from the day’s rehearsals, and on Sunday for our breakdown of the results.
The Melodifestivalen 2013 CD, containing all 32 songs, is already available to pre-order from our online store here.
