Melodi Club: First Listen

This is the 4th week of Melodifestivalen rounds and the last time we’ll hear new entries. Next week will be the Andra Chansen round, where the songs that came 3rd and 4th are performed again, resulting in the 2 most popular winning places in the final. Here are my thoughts on listening to each of this week’s entries for the first time – as usual you can listen yourself at www.melodifestivalen.se

Roger Pontare – Silverland
This is horrible! I suppose it stands out, as does Roger who is well known among Eurovision fans for his general insanity. He has already won Melodifestivalen once and managed a fairly impressive 7th place in Eurovision 2000, but I really don’t think he’s going to be improving on that this year.

Laila Adele – Don’t Try To Stop Me
This song is almost good but it just doesn’t go anywhere and this faux-60s slightly Motown (but not of the ace Supremes kind) style is so over-done. Whoever thought this could win Eurovision knows nothing about music.

Gunther & the Sunshine Girls – Like Fire Tonight
You may know Gunther already from his minor hit 2 years ago in the UK, the Ding Dong Song. This song, like most of his, would be pretty good if he wasn’t in it. The Sunshine Girls need to go solo!

Sandra Dahlberg – Jag tar det jag vill ha
Now this has got the oomph I was looking for! Sandra has a good voice and the song is energetic, sure to have a fun performance. Sandra, who turns 27 on Monday, found fame in Sweden’s Fame Factory TV programme, entered Melodifestivalen 2004 and I think she is the girlfriend of the lovely Jimmy Jansson who was in the final last year.

Evan – Under Your Spell
Wow, this is good! Evan is a young male pop star who has had a few good songs, but he’s outdone himself with this. The sound is quite BWO-esque, although not as good as them, but lets not be too ambitious – a very good effort and nice to hear a male entrant doing something disco-poppy as opposed to the ballads of past weeks.

Rednex – Mama Take Me Home
Yes, this is the same band who released Cotton Eye Joe! I loved that song in the 90s, but strangely they seem to have turned into the Cartoons since then and this is not a good thing – the song is really weird. The chorus is jolly and catchy, but it’s nothing amazing. Also they seem to be living on past glories, inserting a bit of Cotton Eye Joe at the end, presumably hoping no-one will notice – too late!

Bjorn Kjellman – Älskar du livet
It seems that every week has to have an ageing guy singing a dull Swedish ballad and this week that ‘honour’ belongs to Bjorn.

Carola – Evighet
This lady is the one to watch – she’s a huge star in Sweden because she won Eurovision for them in 1983 and again in 1991! This means she has a huge following and will definitely go through to the next round, regardless of her song. She is getting on a bit now but with her new Catherine Zeta Jones-esque look and a belter of a song, she has a new lease of life and as much as I want BWO to win, it won’t be a travesty if she beats them. Coming 2nd to Carola would hardly be a failure.

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