TV4 in Sweden have this morning announced the cast and premiere date of the first series of their newest TV music contest. Stjärnornas Stjärna!
Based on the Norwegian TV series of the same format, Stjernekamp, Sweden’s Stjärnornas Stjärna will see eight established artists compete over two months to prove that they are the ultimate popstar. With the whole thing hosted by the fabulous Petra Mede.
And how does one prove that they are the ultimate artist? Every week, a different genre of music will be assigned to the group. And within that genre, the artists must select known hits to cover, and then to perform live on TV that week. The artist that gets the lowest amount of votes from the television viewing public, leaves the competition. Until we have a winner.
It’s an interesting concept, in that it sees established artists with actual careers to concern themselves with, compete against each other. Obviously Sweden already has something similar in the form of Melodifestivalen, but Stjärnornas Stjärna puts the artists on a playing field closer to that of Idol or X Factor. With cover versions being all the performers have to impress with, and with the least popular each week getting the boot. Though in Sweden of course, TV viewers are more than familiar with artists performing cover versions of other people’s songs, thanks to the mammoth success of Så Mycket Bättre over the last decade or so. Still, one hopes that an early exit from this contest won’t be too damaging to an artist, particularly to one that’s in the early stages of their career.
March 17th sees the whole thing kick off, and we can look forward to our cast of artists take on genres such as disco, country, synthpop, musical theatre, latin, soul, opera, hardrock, and Swedish classics.
And here are our esteemed group of brave popstars who will take on the challenge of transforming their sound to various different styles, and putting themselves at the mercy of a public vote every week;
Ace Wilder: One of the more modern popstars in the line-up. You’ll know her from her three attempts at Melodifestivalen, making the final every time.
Casper Janebrink: One of the founding members of dansband Arvingarna – who represented Sweden at Eurovision in 1993 with the brill ‘Eloise’.
LaGaylia Frazier: A musical theatre stalwart with a lengthy career performing in Sweden and abroad. Currently a judge on Sweden’s Got Talent.
Linda Pira: Critically acclaimed hip-hop and r&b artist, who has been something of a radio staple in recent years.
Ola Salo: Legendary frontman of iconic Swedish group The Ark.
Roger Pontare: In his decades as an artist he’s gone from rock to sami-style schlager, representing Sweden at Eurovision in 2000.
Tommy Nilsson: The Swedish housewives’ fave. Amongst his many hits through the years, he’s most well known for his classic ballads.
Wiktoria: Our darling of Swedish country pop has made the Melodifestivalen final both time she’s entered, and scored a couple of hits outside the contest too.
We’ll be covering the show on here, so check back from March 17th to see how it all plays out!
