Phase one done? Four heats, 28 songs – we’ve now heard the song that Sweden will be sending to the Eurovision Song Contest. We have the final in two weeks’ time, which has all eight of its automatic qualifiers, and then next week four more will join them from the Andra Chansen round.
What happened last night? Here were the results;
To the Final: Brave – Hanna Ferm
To the Final: Troubled Waters – Victor Crone
To Andra Chansen: We Are One – Frida Öhrn
To Andra Chansen: Surface – Ellen Benediktson & Simon Peyron
5th place: Molnljus – William Stridh
6th place: Om Du Tror Att Jag Saknar Dig – Jakob Karlberg
7th place: Carpool Karaoke – Nanne Grönvall
All good? No! Look at what finished in last place. And if you haven’t seen it yet, here you go, for reference, for knowledge, for education. An icon, an actual legend, delivering a performance that was more entertaining than any interval act or opening number this year, more creative than any finalist this year, and more memorable than all 27 entries it was in supposed competition with. In what is the biggest annual circus of music and television every year, Melodifestivalen, Nanne Grönvall out-clowned them all last night. And was awarded a paltry last-place finish in what was probably the most dull heat since we started watching, many many years ago. A new low for Melodifestivalen, on a number of levels.
So you don’t agree with the result then? We think it’s fair to assume that ‘Carpool Karaoke’ suffered the same fate as, and we mean this in all sincerity, ‘Statements’ by Loreen.
WTF? In that there was so much taking place on that stage, so much to be enthralled by, that Sweden collectively could not look away while it was happening – not even enough to look down at their phones, at their open Melodifestivalen app, to actually vote for it. There we are – it was too entertaining to gain any votes. It happened once before with ‘Statements’. It happened again last night with ‘Carpool Karaoke’.
Wow. Two words: Human. Car.
Fair. And the Top 6? Yeah fine – Hanna Ferm’s ‘Brave’ was the obvious direct-to-final qualifier, and it deserves its place there. We didn’t see or hear the attraction of ‘Troubled Waters’ by Victor Crone last night, but it does come alive on record. Personally, we would have liked to have seen William Stridh’s ‘Molnljus’ do better than it did – it’s a well-composed, modern ballad with a lot of intricacies that perhaps needed a listen or two more to make themselves known. Not the best entry in the context of the contest, but certainly a keeper going forward. ‘Surface’, by Ellen & Simon, had a similar story to ‘Troubled Waters’ – a song that comes alive more on record than it did on stage. Although, in fairness’, both ‘Troubled Waters’ and ‘Surface’ did have the unenviable task last night of directly following ‘Carpool Karaoke’, so…..
You can watch ALL 28 of this year’s performances on SVT’s Melodifestivalen YouTube channel.
You can find the best of this year’s songs on our Best New Pop playlist;
