1. Swedes know a good song when they hear it. Gavin DeGraw seems to be the most popular artist to sing songs by, yet if you performed one on X Factor you’d be met with blank looks. I’ve also heard Anouk (ace Dutch angst-poppet) and Nanne Grönvall (Melodifest favourite)!
2. Whoever chooses the backing music has great tase. Bertine Zetlitz, Fannypack, Vincent and Marit Bergman were all heard in the third episode.
3. I think when a girl sang Life by E-Type it was the first audition I’d seen where the auditionee didn’t sing anything originally sung by the artist, as all the lyrics she sang were those of the female singer who sings on Life. I would have laughed if she’d broken into E-Type’s comedy Svensk-rap, though.
4. The judges are quite harsh on this show, as there have been several I thought would go through that didn’t, unlike the UK where it’s usually the other way around. Considering the population of Sweden is so much smaller, it must be a good sign for their talent that the judges can be so picky.
5. They don’t just show the very good and very bad on Swedish Idol, but a lot of normal-looking people who sing just like the average person on the street. Not particularly impressive or even tuneful, but not hilariously weird either. Perhaps there’s a national shortage of weirdos? I guess that’s a good thing for me. I have noticed I have many more options of sane-seeming people to sit next to on buses than in England, but then again I do work in Reading…