It’s QUITE the assembly of artists in this week’s final heat of Melodifestivalen. A returning hero meets a returning zero. We have two bright young debutantes, as well as two more seasoned debuts. And a musical star who is behind the Swedish version of the most famous song in the world over the past couple of years.
Check back here on Thursday for the first rehearsal clips, and then Sunday for the results analysis and all of the performances. You can watch the show live on svtplay.se at 7pm UK time on Saturday. And you can pre-order the Melodifestivalen 2015 CD, featuring all 28 songs, over in our store.
Here’s your introduction to the seven songs and artists competing in Heat 4;
EDIT: YOU CAN NOW WATCH CLIPS OF ALL OF THE ARTISTS’ FIRST REHEARSALS OVER AT SVT’S WEBSITE.
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Midnight Boy – Don’t Say No
Låtskrivare: Johan Krafman, Kristofer Östergren, Olle Blomström
Midnight Boy aka Johan Krafman shares the same management as Ace Wilder, and debuts in Melodifestivalen this year. He promises a synth based pop song with inspiration from the eighties – so not unlike his previous two singles that we’ve featured on here then, ‘Roll With It’ and ‘When You’re Strange’. Melody Club’s Kristoffer Östergren co-penned ‘Don’t Say No’ – and he’ll be hoping not to repeat what happened when his own band competed in slot 1 of Heat 4 in Melodifestivalen. He finished 7th!
Caroline Wennergren – Black Swan
Låtskrivare: Nicklas Eklund, Joel DeLuna, Aimee Bobruk
It’s ten years since Caroline debuted – and last competed – in Melodifestivalen. Back then she was a fresh faced 18 year old, hot from winning the hearts of Sweden by impersonating Ella Fitzgerald in the final of Swedish version of Stars In Their Eyes. It’s fair to say that ‘A Different Kind of Love’ was an acquired taste. This time around she describes ‘Black Swan’ as a modern take on retro flavours. And with a strong melody (there’s a first time for everything!…). She’s had quite some time away from the spotlight though, so her progression to the final might not be as straight forward this time.
JTR – Building It Up
Låtskrivare: JTR (John Andreasson, Tom Lundbäck, Robin Lundbäck), Erik Lewander, Iggy Strange Dahl
A Swedish boyband of brothers, who found fame on the 2013 series of Australian X Factor (they moved to Aus when they were young). They’ve recently released their debut album ‘Touchdown’, and while there wasn’t a bad song on there, we did also remark last year that every song sounds similar to the previous one. So if you’re looking for an indication of how ‘Building It Up’ sounds, we’d put forward a guess that it sounds something like their biggest hit ‘Ride’. Songwriter Erik Lewander has written for September in the Nordics, Girls Generation in the far East, and Sarah Connor down in Germany. While Iggy Strange Dahl has joined Erik on his September contributions, and previously entered Melodifestivalen in 2010 as a composer of the underbart ‘Underbart’.
Hasse Andersson – Guld Och Gröna Skogar
Låtskrivare: Anderz Wrethov, Elin Wrethov, Johan Bejerholm, Johan Deltinger
A former rock, country and dansband star who has released in and around 20 albums. And this is his biggest hit. He’s always said NO to Melodifestivalen before, but with a book to promote he’s finally said yes. He enters with a dansband song. And we’re ALL for a bit of dansband here at Scandipop.
Dinah Nah – Make Me (La La La)
Låtskrivare: Dinah Nah, Dr Alban, Jakke Erixson, Karl-Ola Kjellholm
She’s most known from her time in Eurohouse act Caramell, but we’re far more into the two solo jams she released recently – ‘I Am’ and ‘Like You’. Karl-Ola Kjellholm has most recently been making Helena Paparizou sound awesome again, and Jakke Erixson has been behind Alvaro Estrella’s first two hits. And the inclusion of Dr Alban in the composers list is – WELL. Dinah promises an energetic number, and we get the impression she’s going to give us exactly what we want from her!
Annika Herlitz – Ett Andetag
Låtskrivare: Amir Aly, Maciel Numhauser, Robin Abrahamsson, Sharon Dyall, Sharon Vaughn
Annika Herlitz played the voice of Elsa in the Swedish language translation of the Disney film Frozen, singing what’s arguably been the most famous song of the past 18 months, ‘Let It Go’ (or ‘Slå Dig Fri’ as Annika performed it). So while most of us might not be familiar with her name, it does make perfect sense that Annika Herlitz should compete in Melodifestivalen 2015. A very topical addition to the line-up. About the song, we’ve been told by one of the writers: “I would describe ‘Ett Andetag’ as a classic big ballad with elements from modern musicals. Lush strings, big orchestration and powerful backing vocals. The song is about when you come to the point in a relationship where you are just seconds away from either saving or destroying it. Annika’s voice is a perfect match to the song’s melody (which spans two octaves…)”. Annika’s been starring in the Swedish stage production of Evita alongside Charlotte Perrelli, and describes her song as a powerballad.
Måns Zelmerlöw – Heroes
Låtskrivare: Anton Malmberg Hård af Segerstad, Joy Deb, Linnea Deb
His third time competing in Melodifestivalen, but his first time in six years. He’s made the final both times before, and he’s the favourite out of this lot to head straight to the final once again. Sweden adores Måns, so he’d be pretty much guaranteed a place in the final with even a slightly above average song. As it happens though, ‘Heroes’ is anything but average. In fact, EPIC is how the man himself describes it. It’s also been called John Newman meets Avicii’s ‘Wake Me Up’. Its co-writers Joy and Linnea Deb have now had the big breakout hit of Melodifestivalen for the past two years running – Robin Stjernberg’s ‘You’ in 2013, and Ace Wilder’s ‘Busy Doin Nothin’ in 2014. And it’s quite likely that 2015 will end up being the year of the ‘Heroes’.
