The Melodifestivalen final in March gained two more songs last night. Unfortunately THIS SCHLAGER BELTER couldn’t be one of them. But it was a strong heat nonetheless, with six of the seven songs being of good quality, and that we’ll be coming back to throughout the rest of the year.
To the final – Wiktoria’s ‘Save Me’ and David Lindgren’s ‘We Are Your Tomorrow’
To Andra Chansen – Isa’s ‘I Will Wait’ and Molly Pettersson Hammar’s ‘Hunger’
You can watch the whole show again (until it gets taken down on Monday night) right here, including the two songs which went to the final. All other performances are below.
19 year old Wiktoria found herself the breakout star of last night’s Melodifestivalen. Unassumingly performing her debut single ‘Save Me’ – a subtle yet very catchy countrypop number – she made her way into the Melodifestivalen final. Helped along with a striking staging, she became a legitimate popstar in a mere three minutes. It’s a really sweet song which will hopefully be the launchpad to a lengthy succession of more pop tunes.
The second finalist of the evening was ‘We Are Your Tomorrow’ by David Lindgren. His third time in Melodifestivalen, his third time going straight to the final, and his third time delivering a dancepop gem that we’d love a whole lot more if it was being performed by……well, an actual popstar would be preferable. He’s obviously got his appeal (on a massive scale), but once again we’re just not getting it. ‘We Are Your Tomorrow’ is a tune and a half though – and we’ll be undoubtedly hammering it. It’s a testament to the quality of the Melodifestivalen final that this is the weakest of the four finalists so far.
The biggest shock of the night was the fact that the best song and performance of the heat DIDN’T progress straight to the final. And instead Isa will have to take ‘I Will Wait’ to the Melodifestivalen final via Andra Chansen – which we believe (and hope) she will. It’s a massive ballad banger – performed to perfection by Isa and with the sort of staging that (along with Wiktoria’s) puts and keeps Melodifestivalen in a league of its own. Totally baffling that this didn’t go to the final. It felt like we were watching a Eurovision winning performance.
Molly Pettersson Hammar returned to the competition to improve on last year’s defeat – which she did last night, by progressing to the Andra Chansen round. ‘Hunger’ combined the soulpop sound she’s most known for, with a more modern dancepop sheen. And once again it provides a big platform for Molly to show off that incredible voice of hers. And in this case, what a great performer she is too. The final thirty seconds are LIFE GIVING.
Finland’s Krista Siegfrids had to settle for a 5th place finish with her contemporary schlager track ‘Faller’, and therefore crashes out of the competition. The song and her performance of it were more than amazing enough for ‘Faller’ to inevitably become a cult favourite for Melodifestivalen fans going forward. And she’s promised more songs in Swedish too. Or at least she did before her first one got kicked out of the contest by the Swedes!….
It’s baffling that SVT put ‘100%’ in the same heat as ‘Faller’, given that they’re pretty much the same song. If one were to be allowed shine without the other in different weeks, then they might well have fared better. But it stands to reason that they end up side by side – it’s just a shame that it was on the wrong end of the results table. Both good pop songs that we’ll be listening to a lot post-contest.
Patrik, Tommy & Uno – three Swedish music legends who are all big enough and old enough for a last place finish to barely register as a blip on their careers. They’ll be fine. And really, it was for the best. ‘Håll Mitt Hjärta Hårt’ will have its audience, but that audience was never going to be the Eurovision Song Contest, and this song was never going to be a contender to do well in the Melodifestivalen final. It’s for the best that it ended its journey here, rather than causing the end of another song’s journey.
