Goooooood afternoon euroblog fans and welcome to the 2010 edition of Melodifestivalen; first deltävling from Örnsköldsvik hosted by the edgy Christine Meltzer, the empowering model Dolph Lundgren, and the man who still hasn’t realized that I will bare his children, Måns Zelmerlöw.

What could beat starting the schlagerfestival without some divas on stage; most notably Charlotte Perrelli, Sonja Aldén, and Nanne Grönvall with a tribute to Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding out of a Hero.” My Finnish friends think that they raped it, but I think that it was highly entertaining and very fitting. I will never grow tired of Sonja Aldéns voice, quite frankly.

Ola – Unstoppable
=> Final

So what is surprising about this entry, first off the block? Well it’s weird that Ola is always drawn to go first or last. In any case, my first though weins towards the fact that his new haircut makes him look like he’s a shaved rat. I’m not joking, it’s really quite tragic because he’s quite attractive; though his song is a popish that is oddly catchy though if I continue to hear “oh oh oh” it makes me want to barf. Though with Ola on stage all by himself it makes it for quite boring to watch. It goes to the Final, but I would have thought it should go towards the Andra Chansen.

Jenny Silver – A Place to Stay
❗ Personal Favourite

The funkiness of this song makes me so happy. Minimalist, funky tune that is all vocals. It displays the great skills that Jenny has, being a singer, and having the focus squared on her the entire time makes for an interesting analysis. First off, the things on her hips were distracting and very ugly; the metal arm I didn’t understand, the mix of silvers and red hair was a quite distracting thing. On the choreography props to that, as her arms and legs are so disciplined in order to understand and interpret what was going on. I don’t think that Eurovision wanted to be ready for the funkiness and minimalism.

Linda Pritchard – You’re Making me Hot-Hot-Hot
❗ Personal Favourite

Can we say Shakira à la Madonna, à la bitchin I love this shit so much that I had it on repeat whilst in the shower. The divans makes me want to cry; and the polished nature of this performance devastates the mind that this didn’t qualify in any form. The dancing is hypnotic, and so fantastic that it mask me want to get up and dance. She’s a good and an even more entertaining performer; it just pains me to see a song so hawt not advance. This song will be in my playlist until the end of time and I will be shaken’ my hips like that for years to come!

Pain of Salvation – Road Salt
=> Andra Chansen

When I heard the name Pain of Salvation I thought of some hard rocker God-bible-thumping group that would just make me confused. Instead we get an emo song that everyone seems to like but I struggled to get into. It is minimalist in the music type; but seeing a dirty man up close doesn’t really do it for me in any ways. I think it’s a good song, but it doesn’t stand out at all for me in any way. Booo for taking Linda’s Spot!

Anders Ekborg – The Saviour

Anders is an attractive older man who sings a very operatic style; but I have to agree with most critics about this in the fact that it’s too pretentious and ‘out there’ for the Swedish public to be able to get. The fact that the chorus line seems to be in Italian makes me sort of confused as to what is going on, and the song really only gets going until after the verse, chorus. It didn’t help his case that the dancers that got up into the camera weren’t attractive at all. This song didn’t go anywhere, for good reason I think?

Jessica Andersson – I Did it For Love
=> Andra Chansen
❗ Personal Favourite

Jessica has always been a favourite of mine and this song just makes it even greater. En heftig kvinna självklart!! I keep thinking that this song is going to break out into country chords, but it’s quite upbeat despite having a very deep dark message. Jessica has thrown away the skanky Kalla Natter clothing and has a very elegant dress without arms. Though I dare say that the fabric around her neck could be used as better arms. This song is a strong contender thus far, and it’s no surprise that it went on into a round farther. I still don’t think that anything can top Vindarna Vänder Oss! Hej Jessica!!

Frisprårkan – Singel

There is disputing that this guy is? singel and will remain so (or at least should). To be fair, the song is ok for rap-standards but it’s just not for me at all. His outfit is a mix between 70s preppy, but lacks the ‘finish’ and has an undershirt hanging out. The only saviour for this entire song is the fact that the dancers can dance and look good. The farthest this will go is as a single, and a one-hit-wonder, if even that. Just a shame that it couldn’t have been further salvaged by him being half decent looking?

Salem Al Fakir – Keep On Walking
=> Final

Salem, from a Syrian immigrant family that is musical; he really is quite charming with this song on piano and voice. I just think that his hair and his voice is so strange and whiney that despite the song being good, the execution is a little bit iffy. He’s into the song, which makes it much better, but I still don’t ‘feel it’ and I hope that going to the final, there will be other better songs so this can get caught in the middle. It wasn’t a favourite, but what can I do?

What a night, what a night.. It was filled with highs, lows, weirdness and the strange occurrences. I can’t say for certain if I’m going to thoroughly enjoy this year, because for me there wasn’t a huge lead up due to work, but also because the opening flight wasn’t so good. I think it was mediocre at best; and that’s sad for Melodifestivalen standards.

Next stop: Sandviken, one week left!

• frispårkan måns zelmerlöw örnsköldsvik anders ekborg christine meltzer dolph lundgren jenny silver jessica andersson linda pritchard melodifestivalen 2010 ola pain of salvation salem al fakir