The fourth and final heat of Melodifestivalen took place last night. Despite earlier lapses in good sense, the Swedish public were once again given the power to vote. And here’s what they decided;
(links to performances, in the song titles)
To the final;
Ralf Gyllenhammar: ‘Bed On Fire‘
Ulrik Munther: ‘Tell The World I’m Here‘
To Ándra Chansen;
Robin Stjernberg: ‘You‘
Behrang Miri: ‘Jalla Dansa Sawa‘
5th. Terese Fredenwall: ‘Breaking The Silence‘
6th. Army of Lovers: ‘Rockin The Ride‘
7th. Sylvia Vrethammar: ‘Trivialitet‘
8th. Lucia Pinera: ‘Must Be Love‘
Perhaps it speaks a lot of volumes that it took us getting behind a rock track, for us to finally be pleased with a Melodifestivalen heat result this year. But for once, our favourite song of the week went straight to the final – Ralf Gyllenhammar’s ‘Bed On Fire’. It’s also the song that we’re gonna be rooting for in the final. We want it to win Melodifestivalen 2013. And we think it could be a strong contender to win Eurovision 2013 too. And yes – we’re as surprised about that as you probably are.
On the subject of surprises, there were no real ones amongst the other three qualifiers. We suspected it would be those four progressing from the heat, we just weren’t too sure in which order they would end up. But both andra chansen qualifiers this week, Robin Stjernberg and Behrang Miri, must surely be amongst the favourites to qualify from andra chansen next week.
One pleasant surprise though, was Sylvia Vrethammar not finishing 8th. Bless her. And we still do love that song a whole lot more than we should.
As for Army of Lovers – well that was a disatrous result for them. Ok, the song wasn’t as good as it really needed to be, but if ever a performance was to make up for its song’s shortcomings, it was theirs. In fact it wasn’t even a performance, it was an absolute spectacle. The final will be a worse place without them. And after last night’s result, we think it’s safe to say that we won’t be getting blessed by any further Army of Lovers large scale stage spectacles on our television screens any time in the near future. And that’s a bit of a shame. We loved it while it lasted.
Once again though, the highlight of the whole thing (yes, even including our favourite song getting to the final) was the interval act. The almighty Alcazar reformed especially for the occasion, performing a medley of their three Melodifestivalen final entries – ‘Stay The Night’, ‘Alcastar’, and ‘Not A Sinner Nor A Saint’. And for the last of those songs, they were joined by a fourth member – a one Danny Saucedo. Oh yes – it really was just as amazing as all that reads. It was an admirable move on SVT’s part. Not just because it ended up providing us with a sensational few minutes of entertainment, but also because it embodied pretty much exactly what so many people have been complaining has been lacking in the actual entries this year. And so to the contest’s detractors, the Alcazar amazingnessness only served to highlight the differences between the songs of Melodifestivalen 2013, and the songs of Melodifestivalen 2003, 2005, and 2009. However, we believe that it showed that SVT haven’t completely turned their back on that kind of music and on that kind of artist. It proved that they still believe that it’s an undeniable force of entertainment. And whatever transition it is that they’re trying to make Melodifestivalen go through right now, they’re obviously still well aware of just what the big guns are. Whether those big guns are brought back in future years as half time entertainment, or actual contenders, we don’t know. But we do know that they’ll be back. They’ll never go away. And for that we’re grateful.
The Melodifestivalen 2013 CD featuring all 32 songs has now been released, and you can pick it up from our store.
Now though. The highlight of last night;
