Time to review this week’s Melodifestivalen entries. Yay! You can listen to them all here.
BWO – You’re Not Alone
It is well known that I adore BWO, but with the exception of Will My Arms Be Strong Enough, I definitely favour their upbeat numbers to their ballads. They’ve done much better in MF with upbeat songs previously, so I’m not sure why they entered this. It’s still very good, but I’d prefer another Lay Your Love On Me or Temple of Love.
Sofia – Alla
I thought this was terribly boring at first, but it develops into something rather enjoyable. Greek-Swedish Sofia Berntsson was previously in MF with a song called Hypnotized but I couldn’t remember it at all until I checked YouTube. It was actually a great Helena Paparizou wannabe, so I look forward to hearing this in full.
Maja Gullstrand – Här för mig själv
Her babyish voice is pretty annoying, and the song is so quiet and uninvasive it’s actually quite strange. I don’t mind it, but I can’t see this grabbing people’s intention tomorrow night. I am quite intrigued, though, to see what Maja is like in person. Her voice doesn’t seem to match her look at all.
Mikael Rickfors – Du vinner över mig!
Quite a jolly, energetic rock song by an older singer. It will be good if he sings it well, which I suppose he will as he’s been a musician for many years. He was a member of The Hollies for 3 years as the lead singer, then went solo and was apparently successful, but I’d never heard of him, so I guess not that much!
E.M.D. – Baby Goodbye
It’s amazing that Sweden never had a boyband until E.M.D. and still they’re not a really great one. They’ve had some OK songs, nothing incredible, but perhaps their success means their next album will be better. This is more poptastic and less wimpy, almost *N Sync-ish. I think they’ll definitely go to Globen.
Molly Sandén – Så vill stjärnorna
Molly has had a brush with Eurovision fame before, having represented Sweden in Junior Eurovision in 2006, where she came 3rd. She is 16, even younger than Amy Diamond (by 3 months), but this song won’t appeal to many people of her age. It’s a typical MF big ballad, nothing special but could be popular with older viewers.
Rigo & The Topaz Sound feat. Red Fox – I Got You
Rigo has had some hits in Sweden, and even featured the fabulous Pauline on one of his singles, but it’s still not really my kind of music. I don’t think this will be to many other people’s taste either. It’s very annoying actually. I really can’t imagine this going though and will be shocked if it does.
Velvet – The Queen
Velvet’s made several good singles, but only a few great ones. Déja Vu was her MF entry last year and failed to get through but was a big hit anyway. The lyrics are very simplistic here and I don’t find it super-catchy like Chemistry or Fix Me. It may be better in full, but I loved Chemistry instantly, so it’s already lagging.
So, a little bit underwhelmed this week compared to the last two, despite two of my favourite Swedish pop acts being among the contestants. Still, that does mean BWO have a very good chance of success, which is naturally important to me as a BWO-megafan. Hopefully some of the songs will click more when we see them live. My prediction is that EMD and BWO will go through to Globen, with Molly and Mikael going to Andra Chansen. However, I also think Velvet and Sofia have a chance of going through in Molly or Michael’s place. Riga and Maja I think have no chance unless they really pull it out of the bag. You never know what may happen!