These two have been grouped together because of their many similarities. Both had a shot at UK success in the late nineties, with varied results. And both are entering Melodifestivalen for the first time despite being recording for the past decade. And both have spent recent years in musical wilderness!
Emilia is best known for her quite large hit single ‘Big Big World’. It was a hit all around Europe, reaching the top five in the UK at the tail end of 1998. It was also a minor radio hit in the US. We liked it at the time and were tempted to get her album ‘Good Sign’ but were put off by the absolutely horrendous title track when it was released as the second single in 1999 – and we haven’t given her a second though ever since then. Until now! She’s participating In Melodifestivalen with the song ‘You’re My World’ – which she co-wrote with Fredrik Bostrom. It’s probably going to be a soulful track – given Redrik’s musical history and roots – but he has had some fine pop moments incarnated in albums by the likes of Meja, Ola, Magnus Carlsson and Afro-Dite.
Jennifer Brown released her first album in Sweden in 1994, and her fourth and most recent in 2003. Over the albums she managed to perfect a style that encompassed MOR pop, acoustic ramblings, soul, and r&b. Her music isn’t our type of thing at all though, so we won’t dwell on it, but she’s clearly a great talent, good voice, and a welcome variation in Melodifestivalen. In 1999, She released the song ‘Tuesday Afternoon’ and album ‘Vera’ in the UK. She’s been working on a new album for a few years and it’s ready to be released this year – with Melodifestivalen as the perfect springboard to let her fans and potential new ones that she’s back! The song is called ‘Never Been Here Before’ and she calls it a strong, soulful ballad – ‘’the saddest song that Burt Bacharach never wrote’’! She co-wrote it with Peter Kvint – who composed all three of Andreas Johnson’s Melodifestivalen entries, and also Sebastian Karlsson’s Melodifstivalen track in 2007.
Emila takes part in Heat One, and Jennifer will be in Heat Two.
