First I must apologise for my lack of coverage of last week’s first round of Melodifestivalen – I was in fact in Belgium, but I did pick up a copy of Kate Ryan’s excellent Eurovision entry, Je t’adore, which surely makes up for it! So, this week’s songs have just been posted up on www.melodifestivalen.se, and here are my initial reactions.
Magnus Carlsson – Lev Livet
This is Magnus from Alcazar making his first attempt at solo success, although something like his 5th attempt at Eurovision! The song is in Swedish but I really like it – a very catchy chorus with girls singing backing vocals so it could just be an Alcazar song with Magnus singing lead. Definitely a big thumbs up from me!
The Elephantz – Oh Yeah
This song begins with cries of “Wassup!” which is never a good sign. It’s in English with a rapper who sounds typical of European rappers, although also a lot like Eminem. It’s like D12, the Euro novelty version. I am not impressed. Luckily I am confident that they haved little chance of doing well.
Sonya – Etymon
I’ve not heard anything of Sonya before but I read that her song is similar to Elena’s winning entry from last year and that’s certainly true. It’s pretty good though, and in English despite the title. It’s very unoriginal sounding though, reminding me of many Europop singles, and not up to Elena’s standard.
Osten med resten – Ge mig en kaka til kaffet
This is very jolly! Old-fashioned sounding and the singers look hilarious. The singing is a bit fast, not catchy like Magnus’ song, although it improves towards the end. The style is certianly appealing more to the families and older people who watch Melodifestivalen, rather than young pop fans, but you could at least do a bit of crazy dancing to it if you were so inclined!
Pablo Cepeda – La chica de la copa
Sounds like a Ricky Martin wannabe but he’s not good looking enough. The song is really catchy though – the first example of true cheesy pop. Another one with a title in a language different to the rest of the song. It’s no way good enough to win as it’s even less original than Sonya’s song, but I’m sure I’ll give it plenty of listens when I get the Melodifestivalen CD.
Kikki Danielsson – Idag & imorgon
This is typical Melodifestivalen, very ABBA wannabe, which of course is never a bad thing. I’d personally much prefer the young groovy kids to get through, but I won’t be at all upset is Kikki is successful. However, she has little chance of being the most popular “older lady” of the competition with the legendary Carola coming up in a few weeks’ time.
Niclas Wahlgren – En droppe regn
What’s the betting that means “a drop of rain”? I actually saw Niclas sing live last summer as part of an NRJ (or it might have been Rix FM, I actually can’t remember) concert. It’s a ballad and very boring, and he’s a bit weird looking so I hope he doesn’t get through. I don’t think he will but I don’t know how popular he is. It reminds me of that song “Lorraine in the rain” from Bulgarian entry Kaffe last year.
Velvet – Mi amore
Yet another song with a title in a different language to the rest! Velvet has already made one appearance on the Eurovision stage, as a dancer for last year’s Swedish entry, Martin Stenmarck. She usually does more disco-pop songs compared to this which is, as you’ll guess, a Spanish style song. Again it sounds like quite a few other songs but I like it. This would probably be my choice to go through, along with Magnus. Good luck to them!