Heat 2 of Melodifestivalen takes place this Saturday (and here’s all that went down in Heat 1). It’s a very pop heavy and girl loaded line-up this week. So on name and song description alone, we are very much on board with this heat, as we imagine a lot of you readers will be too.
Charlotte Perrelli was due to be co-hosting with Gina Dirawi this week, but she was sacked (amicably) as she is starring in an advertising campaign right now. Instead she’ll be performing a song – which we hope is in keeping with the girl-pop theme of the week (did we really need TWO musical theatre numbers last week?).
You can watch previews of each of the songs from Thursday’s rehearsals over on SVT’s website.
Here is all you need to know about the artists and songs competing this week, in the order that they’ll be performing;
David Lindgren – We Are Your Tomorrow
(Anderz Wrethov, Sharon Vaughn, Gustav Efraimsson)
David Lindgren returns to Melodifestivalen for a third time on Saturday night. It’s worth noting that in his previous two years competing (in 2012 and 2013), he’s made the final both times. Since then though, he’s mostly busied himself with musical theatre. He describes his song as a lot more stripped back and lyrically meaningful than his previous two entries. And that while we shouldn’t expect the sort of club track we had from him before, there is still a dance element to ‘We Are Your Tomorrow’. He’s a difficult one to predict, David Lindgren. While he’s obviously been quite popular to the Swedish voting public in the past, is he really anything more than an adequate vessel for a good pop song? And would anyone really care (or notice?) if one of his dancers came to the front and decided to give the song a go on Saturday instead? Obviously a very nice chap and all that, and also extremely successful in his usual career as a musical artist. But popstar? We’re not entirely convinced in that respect.
Victor och Natten – 100%
(Dag Lundberg, Melker, Jesper Lundh)
An up-tempo pop song with a lot of energy, promises Victor about ‘100%’. He’s known for his rapping, so we’d expect an element of that too. Regardless of the song though, he’s a contender to do well on Saturday. If only for the fact he’ll stand out so much amongst this line-up of artists.
Molly Pettersson Hammar – Hunger
(Joy Deb, Linnea Deb, Lisa Desmond, Anton Hård af Segerstad, Molly Pettersson Hammar)
It was always a given that Molly Pettersson Hammar would be back again this year, after her disastrous debut in Melodifestivalen 2015. Disastrous in that she was eliminated in Heat 1 with the brilliant ‘I’ll Be Fine’, the scandal being that this elimination was solely down to the fact that she performed first – at a point in the evening when viewers hadn’t yet had time to familiarise themselves with the brand new voting app. Of course we’ll never know if that really made a difference. But ‘I’ll Be Fine’ DID go on to earn 2.5 million Spotify streams, in comparison to the 1.5 million streams that a finalist from that week could only achieve. Anyway, one year later and she’s a very welcome addition to the line-up here. She’s promised a more poptastic song than her previous two singles, but still with soul elements attached. We’re expecting Molly PH to deliver THE vocal performance of the night. And we’d love to see her qualify directly to the final.
Isa – I Will Wait
(Anton Hård af Segerstad, Joy Deb, Linnea Deb, Nikki Flores)
Following on from her pure pop finalist entry from last year’s contest, ‘Don’t Stop’, Isa returns to Melodifestivalen with what she describes as a ballad with a modern, youthful and cool edge to it. She’s a proper amazing popstar is Isa, and so we’re expecting a bit of a showstopper with this one. Like Ace Wilder last week, Isa is another surefire international pop superstar in waiting, so it would be MARVELLOUS if the Swedes could recognise this too, and send her straight to the final once again. She’s too young and too awesome to have her career marred by a bad Melodifestivalen result.
Krista Siegfrids – Faller
(Krista Siegfrids, Gabriel Alares, Magnus Wallin, Gustaf Svenungsson)
Most well-known for representing Finland at the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest with ‘Marry Me’, Krista Siegfrids debuts in Melodifestivalen with a song she has written in Swedish. We’ve loved Krista post-Eurovision for the excellent pop tunes she’s been unleashing. ‘Faller’ has been described to us as “it has a flavour of old fashioned good up-tempo schlager, but it’s also an infectious and modern, very radio-friendly pop tune. A bit like something Jakob Karlberg could do if he was a girl”. Sounds awesome. Two of the writers were behind Isa’s ‘Don’t Stop’, and the other was behind ‘A Million Voices’ by Polina Gagarina, which came 2nd at last year’s Eurovision behind Sweden.
Patrik Isaksson, Tommy Nilsson & Uno Svenningsson – Håll Mitt Hjärta Hårt
(Patrik Isaksson, Tommy Nilsson, Uno Svenningsson)
Three Swedish legends (one of them even a Melodifestivalen winner) come together for a song after touring together last year. It’s unlikely to be our personal favourite on the night, but on name alone (all three of them!) it IS quite likely to be popular with voters.
Wiktoria – Save Me
(Jens Siverstedt, Jonas Wallin, Lauren Dyson)
Wiktoria debuts in Melodifestivalen with ‘Save Me’, and indeed as a solo popstar too (after her brief turn in Swedish duo Dash 4). “An up-tempo song with a very modern and energetic sound to it” is how it’s been explained to us. And one with a memorable stage show. We’re expecting big things from this. Not only because SVT have given her the prime slot of performing last, but also because she’s the latest popstar to be launched by the same team behind Anton Ewald.
