On Saturday night just gone we had the third semi-final of Melodifestivalen 2024 – as the Swedish song contest rolled into Växjö and gave us two more finalists.
Jacqline and Cazzi Opeia scored the tickets to the final, with Gunilla Persson and Klaudy making it into the second-chance round. Clara Klingenström and Kim Cesarion were eliminated from the competition.
This coming Saturday, we head to Eskilstuna for the fourth semi-final!
You’ll be able to watch it live at 20:00 on SVTPlay.se – and that’s also where you’ll be able to hear snippets of the songs from 07:00 on Thursday morning, as well as clips from rehearsal performances at 07:00 on Friday morning.
SVT gave us a preview listen of all six songs ahead of the weekend’s fourth semi; so to get an idea of what it’s all gonna sound like – read on…
‘Done Getting Over You’ – Albin Tingwall
(Jimmy “Joker” Thörnfeldt, Joy Deb, Linnea Deb)
Since his time on Idol, Albin’s first two singles have brought us great joy. And so expectations were high here, even before looking at the names on the song’s credits.
‘Done Getting Over You’ takes Albin in a different direction to his electropop beginnings. It’s a more organic sound, with plenty of instrumentation thrown into the mix. Although it’s so fast-paced and plentiful that it still feels like a big pop production – the kind that’s been mixed to fill the very arenas that Melfest tours around.
It’s rousing, it’s infectiously upbeat, it’s got a key change, and it’s the perfect song to open a Saturday night primetime TV show with, making voters feel good in an instant.
Expectations were met.
’30 km/h’ – Lia Larsson
(Axel Schylström, Jimmy Jansson, Lia Larsson, My Söderholm, Thomas G:son)
Like our girl Fröken Snusk from two semi-finals ago, Miss Lia Larsson is a big name on the ‘epa dunk’ scene in Sweden, who releases what seems to be one single per week in the hope that one of them goes big on streaming – and many of them indeed do.
This song places what feels like the majority of its available emphasis on those epa dunk beats. It’s got plenty of bounce, and goes big with it. But the song’s melody takes something of a back seat as a result.
It’s all very ‘one note’ unfortunately. Though admittedly that’s a pretty popular note in Swedish listening habits right now.
‘It’s Not Easy to Write a Love Song’ – Dotter
(Dino Medanhodzic, Johanna “Dotter” Jansson)
A big Scandipop fave – both in the context of Melodifestivalen and outside of it, too. Dotter might not have won the contest yet, but she’s made a mighty big impression on it, and contributed what will remain two all-time fan faves in ‘Bulletproof’ and ‘Little Tot’.
This song feels more like the spiritual follow-up to ‘Bulletproof’ that we wanted as soon as Melodifestivalen 2020 was over with, but which of course she couldn’t have come back with too soon.
It’s an epic ballad with a production that builds to greater grandeur throughout. There is a real focus on song composition here – the melody of this song is so instant, despite its many interesting turns. And it really hits you in the heart, with lyrics behind it to truly make the impact sting.
One of the best songs she’s ever released.
‘Circus X’ – SCARLET
(Upphov: Emil Behmer, Henric Pierroff, Ian-Paolo Lira, Jessica Rachel Chertock, Scarlet, Simon Boustedt, Staffan Amberlind, Thirsty)
Two metal heads with bags of live-show experience behind them face their biggest and most diverse audience yet on Saturday night – as Sweden tunes in and sees what to make of them.
For their Melodifestivalen entry they’ve clearly put effort into making a song that they can put on a show with. At first, you wonder why they’re known as a metal act – with the production having more in common with Lia Larsson’s other releases than their own. A creepy, circus-themed take on the epa dunk genre.
But then…
The metal they’re synonymous with eventually rears its head in a major way in time for a ramped-up and raucous final 30 seconds. And it’s highly satisfying.
If the show they’ve crafted is strong enough, it could be a surprise threat on Saturday night. But it will most definitely come down to that. The song itself needs that elevation.
‘En Sång Om Sommaren’ – Lasse Stefanz
(Anders Wigelius, Anderz Wrethov, Robert Norberg)
One of the Sweden’s most adored dansbands of all time make a welcome return to Melodifestivalen, after their all-too short stint in 2011, when they took 5th place in a strong heat with the delightful ‘En Blick Och Nånting Händer’.
Unlike its Melfest predecessor, ‘En Sång Om Sommaren’ isn’t the kind of dansband-schlager that tends to get selected for this competition. It’s pure, traditional dansband – precisely the sort they’ve been touring for decades around Sweden. In that sense it’s far more likely to please their legions of fans. But perhaps almost as likely to alienate everyone else.
The song is strong enough to lend itself to a Hasse Andersson-style revolution in voting, however, so it’s not to be counted out at all.
‘Happy That You Found Me’ – Danny Saucedo
(Danny Saucedo, Kristoffer Fogelmark, John Martin, Michel Zitron)
Melodifestivalen’s most famous runner-up did the best thing an artist with that reputation could do after his time competing – he went on and did absolutely fine without it, scoring his biggest hits to date via Så Mycket Bättre, and producing multiple live residencies and tours afterwards.
Danny reunites with his ‘If Only U’ songwriter Michel Zitron here. Zitron has since the early Danny days gone on to write billion-streamed hits for Swedish House Mafia. And so ‘Happy That You Found Me’ understandably has more in common with the latter.
It sounds like what would have been the natural final part of the trilogy that ‘In The Club’ and ‘Amazing’ started – the part that was supposed to finally get him that win. And in 2013, it might well have. But in 2024, that’s much less certain.
At the very least though, he’s got another crowd-pleaser for his next sell-out residency.
