danny saucedo

Six weeks later we travel to (sort of) the capitol of the country (or at least the capitol län) to the newly presented Friends Area in Solna. A largely huger venue to host the final of Melodifestivalen, the night was a huge success and I will highlight the moments that stuck out to me as being the most important and amazing.

Firstly our faithful hosts for the competition this year, Gina Dirawi and Danny Saucedo opened the show with some others with a musical number about going to Malmö. As people who follow the press would know, Danny has admitted that hosting is not his thing, but he had a huge awesome time and likely won’t do it again. Having said that, I have to say that two years later Gina Dirawi is absolutely amazing and quite honestly I can’t think of a better person to do the job. She’s smart, funny, versatile, professional and added that extra magical sparkle in arguably a lack-luster competition this year. Hats off to both of them, on a super job well done! :wave:

In the aforementioned musical performance we had a few guests, from new and old. Former host and future Eurovision Song Contest 2013 host Petra Mede made an appearance to sing along with the other past hosts for Eurovision: Anders Lundin & Kattis Ahlström from 2000, Harald Treutiger & Lydia Capolicchio from 1992. Great cameo’s and a great beginning to the night.

Ulrik Munther – Tell the world I’m here
=> Second runner up
❗ Personal Favourite

What can we say about Ulrik? Well he has a very Coldplay type song that really was lucky to come in third place with all the vote splitting. His song is appealing to a wide variety of people but I really think that his performance in the semi-final heats were much better and packed a lot of a punch. It’s also interesting to note that in the semi-finals he was far and away the winner of the heat with the most votes of all the previous entrants combined. Pretty crazy for me to think that this was one of the favourites to win, and given how the evening went I was very surprised because I don’t even think SVT was ready for what happened. Needless to say this song will be a radio-hit for a long time. Good job and good song, Ulrik even if I don’t exactly like your voice.

David Lindgren – Skyline

This song is just a flop in a group of songs that really are mostly flops, but it’s just a copy of his song from the previous year. It lacks originality, and is a great dance number but I get irritated watching David bounce around the stage making weird excited faces. I think he was just a bit too excited the whole evening considering he had little chance to actually win. It was a decent song but nothing to write home about.

State of Drama – Falling
❗ Personal Favourite

Despite this being the “odd one out” in the final in terms of not really fitting in, I think that it was a good addition to the line-up in the ballad department that was a lot more mainstream than any ballad could ever be. I know that there was little to no chance of this song winning, but I think they should be proud of what they did and how far they came against all odds. Edging out the old fogies, they luckily didn’t come last and provided the indie-pop-ballad to ease everyone into the show.

Anton Ewald – Begging
❗ Personal Favourite

Just barely out of the top-3 finalists, Anton the dancer turned singer after being asked to participate makes me wonder if I would ever be able to do be in the competition with a self-written-collaboration song. I likely sing a ballad of some sort, but in any case after the Andra Chansen journey for Anton and Robin it’s no surprise that he had a lot of support from the viewers. I just think that there were too many of the same images (attractive young boys) that split the votes across the board. The song grew on me and the more I listen to it the more catchy I feel it become, but really I think Anton is a better dancer than singer and should probably stick to that. I doubt he will go far, but this song will be a radio-hit for awhile, but maybe I will be proven wrong and he won’t be a one hit wonder!

Louise Hoffsten – Only the dead fish follow the stream
❗ Personal Favourite

University of Linköping’s very own Professor of Philosophy should be very proud of her path to the final with her oddly named song. Although she admittedly was very bitter about not being able to tour in the spring due to Melodifestivalen and lack of promoter interest, this long time artist represented the only woman in the final for the first time in a long time, and ironically a day after International Womans Day, she represented her gender with honour, interest, and with a lot of confusion. I’m not convinced she knew what was going on, but she garnered a great number of votes because he song was very powerful and odd. I really enjoyed it and I’m sure it will be a hit for a long time at least in my playlist. Congratulations Louise, you did us proud!

Ralf Gyllenhammar – Bed on fire

For all those hard-rockers out there, here is that number that appeals to you and the pyros of Sweden. After a semi-final where there were many jokes about the front rows of spectators being lit on fire, Ralf takes to the stage with his career and Grammy award and nominations and gives it his all. I think it’s also important to note that while his song is interesting, not my thing mind you, but that he was able to embrace the competition in a positive way and all it stands for. As shown in a later picture he even homo’ed it up a bit to add to the festivities, yay homofriendly! :DD

Ravaillacz – En riktig jävla schlager

Part of this year’s gag act and commentary on schlager singers Tommy Körberg, Claes Malmberg, Johan Rabaeus and Mats Ronander took to the stage to use text and cheesy melodies and background music to appeal to the older generations of voters but I think it was clear from the start that although being the top voted in their semi-final the song wasn’t going anywhere fast. They are figures in Swedish culture, and although trying to stay classy even become the joke of the host. When asked who made their clothing, Tommy Körberg referred to the making of them being kept in the family, which was quickly retorted by the comedian Gina with commentary about incest. It was a golden moment, though they didn’t seem too interested but I laughed! :))

Sean Banan – Copacabanana

Well two gag-acts in a row made for an interesting middle-end of the show. Sean Banan is rigorously popular figure and represents the cheesy population and parodies of Swedish culture. He has commentary on just about everyone and has the painfully unattractiveness of an act that is by and far over the top. I guess that’s what Sweden likes about it, him quite frankly his song was nearly the same as last year and I hope that he gives it up after this. He’s entertaining in a “I can’t look away cause it’s such a disaster” way, and his song (albeit catchy) is just equally as disastrous. Having said that, he still brings to the final one of the few glamoured schlager-eque numbers that were lacking, I doubt it was his intention though!

Robin Stjernberg – You
=> Winner

Arguably a surprise winner this year, Robin will be representing Sweden at home in Malmö this year with his pop-ballad You which is the first winner to come out of Andra Chansen in the competition. Strongly favoured by the international juries and playing second fiddle to the publicly popular Yohio, Robin represents a surprise winner that’s deserving in his personality, and somewhat of his song. I think the song is good, but it’s not great. He’s been a long-shot winner from the start as his song sort of irritated me (especially his boots), and even as it was announced for the third time by Edward af Sillén over the loudspeakers he still didn’t believe that he won. I guess it’s nice to have a surprise, and a good figure. Europe will struggle to pronounce his name (obviously), but he will still be a good choice for Eurovision. Will his song win? Remains to be seen what the competition is, but I’m doubtful.

Yohio – Heartbreak Hotel
=> Runner Up
❗ Personal Favourite

Interesting how the competition ended, with Yohio getting the most televotes but was in no way a favourite by the international juries. Essentially it was the lack of these votes from the juries that was his achilles heel to win the competition with his j-rock song Heartbreak Hotel. Massively popular and the highest voted combined total in the semi-finals and finals, it still wasn’t enough to stop Robin Stjernberg with his ballad. Visibly upset, Yohio clearly just wanted to be noticed by Swedes as the majority of his career has been in Japan and not really “fitting in” in his home in Sundsväll, it’s sad that it didn’t come to be. I think that his song was okay, and his character and image was very interesting and out there in a way that’s memorable and positive. Commanding in performance, graceful in defeat he was a good sport for losing but maybe Sweden will see more of him after this.

---

Other features of the competition were the always funny Lynda Woodruff from last year, played by the awesome Sarah Dawn Finer presenting the venue for the Eurovision Song Contest 2013: Friends Arena in Solna, oops she meant the smaller more intimate venue in Malmö. Clearly a commentary and poking fun at self for SVT for choosing a smaller venue in the south, in order to return the competition to it’s roots and not be such a huge financial burdon for possible winners it renews in a funny way the state of the economies of the possible winners in Europe. Some countries already had to pull out due to financial constraints, it renews hope to possible winners that hosting the show is still possible with a decent budget.

And after all, even if it’s a small venue there are cultural things about Malmö that you can experience like spit-cakes… Oh Skåne… :lalala:

This year, Loreen’s winner Eurphoria in a whole new way was performed by Manillaskolan & Adolf Fredrik Musikklasser feat. Loreen in a rendition that was bost moving and something close to Loreen’s heart: children. The child’s choir featuring children from what seems to be as young as eight years old to teenagers, featured boy-sopranos, and a lovely arranged rendition to the former winner. If you even look hard enough (outlined in the picture above) there is even a future pop-star Eric Saade style kid who’s got that charm that could win him some hearts. Otherwise it was a fantastic tribute to the Eurovision winner from the last year.

The “gayer” part of the show came in the most unlikely of places: Ralf Gyllenhammar enthusiastically accepting and wearing a furry pink cowboy hat and bright fuschia boa. He demonstrates that even the hard rockers can be gay-friendly and have some fun lookin’ good. Keeping on the gayer subject, it was the 30th year anniversary of Carola’s massive hit Främling, which was re-written and re-performed (with wind machines yes) as one of the middle-acts. As always Carola was all about herself and preaching her Godly ways for being so fabulous. The gays love her because she’s fabulous, but she hates the gays because God says they are evil. :crazy:

Presenting the Ukraine’s jury this year was Gina Diranova (hah! :wave:) who didn’t understand why she was talking in English, but it didn’t stop her from being really funny without even trying to be!

Keeping with the “gayer” theme, the winner however tragically heterosexual had one of those “OMG it’s me?” moments when he wins, and then comes my favourite part of the night: when all the boys start kissing each other. Why do I like this? Well because it shows the world that it’s totally okay for boys to touch each other, or even on occasion kiss, and it doesn’t make them homo! Here one sees Yohio kissing and congratulating Robin who probably has no idea that he’s being kissed by a cross-dressing man. Whether he cares about that or not will never be known, but who cares? Yay!

As illustrated and talked about above, you can see the bromance of the year Anton Ewald and Robin Stjernberg whom during Andra Chansen bonded in many ways (clearly emotional and possibly otherwise). The final image is of this year’s winner really living his dream for winning and his competitors around him congratulating and being happy for him, no matter the heartbreak. That’s an amazing thing!

In conclusion, while talking with a friend of mine who’s from America I started on a rant about how much I love my country and why. It’s a place where no matter how old, how young, how hot, how ugly, how you love, who you love, where you live, or who you are, you’re all accepted and don’t need to worry about expressing yourself or why you’re different. It’s diverse, it’s happy, it’s sad, it’s emo, it’s expressive and as long as you’re not hurting other people, it’s okay! Melodifestivalen and Eurovision represent this diversity and this acceptance of fabulousness in all it’s forms and is a reason why I love it so much!

So until next year for Melodifestivalen 2014, I’ll keep doing my Eurovision Song Contest reviews as well. Take care! :wave:

As per usual, the Andra Chansen (or Second Chance Round) took place this past weekend in Karlstad to decide the final two spots that go to the final of this years competition. Tough competition and changes in the qualification meant that there was a shorter and more “normal” feeling and not so much of the duel feeling as in past years.

All eight songs performed, three were eliminated, and the remaining five were revoted, and the top four went into either duel-1, or duel-2 where their songs were performed again and televoted. Here are the results and my overall thoughts:

Duel 1: Behrang Miri – Jalla dansa sawa vs. Anton Ewald – Begging

Unsurprisingly the winner of this one was Anton Ewald, who’s dance number brought him to tears and a complete inability to talk in the after-show. It was very touching yet very unprofessional in the sense that he couldn’t literally put any words together apart from “yes.” I think that the song is decent, but there were better songs in this competition, like for instance Caroline af Ugglas who’s song still is haunting me, and Cookies N Beans who crashed their burning flags and their chance for the final.

Duel 2: Robin Stjerberg – You vs. Martin Rolinski – In and out of love

A really surprise duel that resulted in Robin qualifying and Martin being disappointed with his amazing disco song. I really think that this was a mistake over all and was a result (like the first duel) of teeny-popper voting for the Idol stars. I don’t really think that Robin’s song was strong, nor was his vocal performance or looks. Martin’s song was more polished, more interesting, and more professional in all respects and fully deserved to go to the final. Having said that, the huge favourite for the second chance round was none other than Erik Segerstedt & Tone Damli who failed to even qualify for the four spots. As shocking as it was, I’m very disappointed, and fear that the voting was really flopped.

Overall this means that the final will be a sausage fest, with only one artist being female and the majority of entrants being single-male-singers (with the exception of State of Drama and Ravaillacz). Although doubtful that Louise Hoffsten will come out on top, I really think that the results may be a surprise despite SVT’s obvious promotion of Ulrik Munther being the favourite.

In general I think that the the final selected two songs were the poor choices, and I think that Caroline af Ugglas and Erik Segerstedt & Tone Damli were the right choices. However, next week we will figure out who will represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 at home in Malmö. Fingers crossed for Louise Hoffsten, Ulrik Munther, or Yohio.

Ironically the final heat of the competition, introduces the final eight songs for the competition in the location that will be hosting Eurovision Song Contest 2013. The semi-final is viewed as the most competitive and producing the best music, and produced upsets and surprises on many levels.

Army of Lovers – Rockin’ the Ride
❗ Personal Favourite

As much as I really hate Alexander Bard and his audacious attitude and narcissistic attitudes, this was one of the most interest, strange, and glamourously fabulous entires this year. Despite being a classically awesome Melodifestivalen entry, it crashes and burns the same as Swedish House Wives, which 10 years ago would have assuredly successfully qualified. With strange outfits, regality of La Camilla, and body glitter to the max mixed with tiger, this disco-pop hit is much better than it did. I was confused for awhile thinking that Jean-PIerre was wearing a bodysuit, as it turns out it was all skin, scruff, and body glitter on every single inch of his visible body. He took fabulous into it’s own right, and represented. I just can’t help but wonder how much more the house dancers had to get paid to walk around in skin tight underwear and jock-straps. Also, was it just me or was La Camilla (as fabulous as she is) lip-synching? Alexander Bard and his ugly beard has nothing on them.

Lucia Piñera – Must be love

A lovely entry but it lost a lot of it’s originality because it sounds like a direct copy of Adele’s Rolling In the Deep, of which any person who’s heard it would recognise the similarities. The act was very simple and straight forward and well executed, but frankly was very boring with nothing exciting.

Robin Stjernberg – You
=> Andra Chansen

Another Idol graduate was favoured in this competition and sent to the second chance round, but quite frankly this song irks me and I don’t know what it is. It may be the seeming fake boyishness that Robin exudes, or the fact that I don’t like his style of singing or execution of the song. There is something odd about his guy that doesn’t sit well with me, is it his oddly sharp eyebrows, or his dimples, or the fact that his forehead is huge, or that his smile is super fake? I believe him to be heavily favourites in second chance round, because Lord knows that every teeny-bopper in the world will be voting for him and Anton Ewald in hopes that one day they will get to marry them. Dream on, and stop playing this annoying song!

Sylvia Vrethammar – Trivialitet

If someone would have told me that this was a Thomas G:son composition I never would have believed it. This is a very strange song, and oddly classic jazzy-pop, but in my opinion not a winner by any means. Sylvia executes the song decently but I found the “SYLVIA” stage props to be a little bit narcissistic. Never a threat, and unsurprisingly ended up in seventh place.

Ralf Gyllenhammar – Bed on fire
=> To Final
❗ Personal Favourite

However the negative emotions in the past, Ralf Gyllenhammar brought talent to the competition with an originally rock-pop song that unsurprisingly was a direct qualifier to the final. Almost expecting to qualify, his disgusting dirty moustache and piano-fire act earned him a spot in the final. The song is very powerful and attractive to many people, but really I just think that it won’t have much contention in the final. I just wish that qualifiers had a better attitude about Melodifestivalen from the past, and the ones that don’t who qualify makes it a very unattractive quality. Why even compete if you don’t like the competition? Either way, as Ralf says (oddly) fire is Melodifestivalen.

Behrang Miri – Jalla dansa sawa
=> Andra Chansen
❗ Personal Favourite

Who knew that rap could be fun and actually sung? This is a fun song with a really enunciative rap-style from Behrang and his ensemble. It’s fun, it makes you want to get up and dance (as the title suggests) and is a good and different addition to the competition. At times I think it’s a bit bouncy and spastic, but really the whole point is to be having fun. I think that the backing singers are very good and provide the rap song with actual music (note that I don’t like rap) which creates a nice blend. I think it will do well in Andra Chansen but won’t eventually qualify.

Terese Fredenwall – Breaking the silence
❗ Personal Favourite

A lot of people have been saying that this song is boring, and well in some ways it really is, but it’s a lot better than a majority of the other songs this year. I frankly think that it’s a very lovely anthem and it’s a step above about half of the entrants, but still gets lost in the frizzle. Charming and simple, yet quiet and beautifully executed. Well presented with a good voice, but really didn’t pack enough of a punch.

Ulrik Munther – Tell the world I’m here
=> To Final
❗ Personal Favourite

Well everyone has this one poked out to be the far-and-away favourite to win the competition and to represent Sweden in Malmö this year. It’s clear that despite Christer Björkman not claiming that he has a favourite, that when it comes down to it it’s clearly going to be the result. As for the song, I think that it’s a good song but it’s eerily like most Coldplay songs. At one point I actually thought that I had heard a song that was similar. The background graphics were fantastic and really made a good and simple impact for the song. I think the thing that Christer wanted for this one was to focus on the song and bring more focus to the talent of the artist, and take away from the “frill” for a winner that has been a Swedish norm for a really long time. A great song, but I’m not an Ulrik Munther fan so I’m hoping for something else in the final.

The fourth and final semi-final heat in the competition produced by and far the best music of the competition and ends up setting up the Andra Chansen round to hopefully produce another female into the final (as for right now only Louise Hoffsten). It’s a sausage fest, and I’m hoping that Caroline af Ugglas can represent! Just a couple of weeks to go!

On another note, it’s important to note some cameo appearances by this year’s Eurovision Song Contest host Petra Mede, who’s French is sounding perfect, and a desperate attempt by Sarah Dawn Finer to make an appearance in the show in her fabulous gold sequinned dress. Though the show-stopper was by far the return of Alcazar who performed a medley of their songs including Stay the Night, Alcastar, and Not a Sinner Nor a Saint featuring Danny “Seduco – the Alcaboy.”

As the Swedish population grapples itself with returning Melodifestivalen to it’s proper home in Norrland, Skellefteå’s Kraft Arena was the host location for this weeks heat which, given the past few weeks was hoping to spice up the competition a little bit and produce some leaders in the competition.

Eddie Razaz – Alibi
❗ Personal Favourite

He looked really familiar to me when I saw him first, and given that I don’t watch Swedish Idol (for somewhat obvious reasons living abroad) I would never have known that he was in it if it weren’t for some research. But then it hit me, he looks a bit like Edward af Sillén (of whom I’m a major fanboy and hoping one day will be my partner in crime and fabulousness (read deeper into that please)) but with a more bad-boy attitude. On a song level it’s very similar to David Lindgren’s entry, but is far superior in a lot of ways. It’s catchier, better lyrics, and actually is frankly a better performance. However, his style was very lacking and he needs a better stylist. Glitter on the knees, really? Christian cross earring, really? You could be so much sexier if you simplified a bit!

Elin Petersson – Island

Well this year’s web joker wildcard officially crashed and burned, but at least she got to make an appearance into Melodifestivalen. I really couldn’t get into this generic song and I was just irritated that it continued on with very little attention grabbing details. I usually like to support the under-dogs but this one just couldn’t get any steam and crashed hard!

Ravillacz – En riktig jävla schlager
=> To Final

Fascinating that the somewhat comic relief of the evening ended up qualifying to the final directly versus the favourite. Consisting of Tommy Körberg (who looks 4x his original size), Claes Malmberg, Johan Rabaeus and Mats Ronander they returned us to the schalger dansband times and made every smile with glitter. Really cheesy, but sometimes Sweden likes the cheesy entry by famous people. Though in retrospect is this song really better than that of Swedish House Wives? I don’t think so, and in the grand scheme of schlager-rights the wrong one qualified. However, great to see that some traditions are upheld in the competition!

Amanda Fondell – Dumb

Well the title of the song sums up the whole performance which was, for lack of a better expression a hot mess. The mirror getup was uninspiring and it felt like she was just performing a ridiculous photo-shoot with sexy pouty expressions the whole first part. The song was uninspired to my ear and the lyrics were horribly mispronounced in English. Really, another Idol gone flop, tragic but I’m not going to a cry a river over this one at all!

Martin Rolinski – In and Out of Love
=> Andra Chansen
❗ Personal Favourite

I didn’t recognize Martin from being in BWO until he opened his mouth and sang. He looks completely different, and somewhat better in some ways and worse in others. What he brought to th evening was a jam-packed performance that was musical and interesting to watch. Very creative, very well executed song that is catchy (as all his other songs are) and quite frankly is better than Andra Chansen. Though it’s odd, that the second chance round is shaping up to be much more dramatic and competitive than the actual Final (strange eh?). I think that the sexy dancing, and coloured paint in boxes is a super sexy-hawt idea, good job Martin!

Caroline af Ugglas – Hon har inte
=> Andra Chansen
❗ Personal Favourite

I quaver with this one when it comes to if I like it or not. As most people know, Caroline has a very distinctive voice and style, and quite frankly I don’t think it suits the song in the slightest. I prefer my ballads extremely strong, or airy light, and not a scratchy jazz-rock feeling that she personifies. Fantastic performance, don’t get me wrong, but it’s just on the fence as to whether it’s a personal favourite. I love Caroline, I think she’s a great performer, and she’s quirky (to say the least), but all in all, it’s a god song and deserves to qualify!

State of Drama – Falling
=> To Final
❗ Personal Favourite

What a completely unexpected turn of events; I actually like this song. It’s classic and catchy, and sufficiently good but truth be told it’s destiny should have been for Andra Chansen for the final, and truth be told I don’t think that thy expected it either. Either way, it’s such a 2000-something hit and I guarantee that it will be a radio hit. It has that “sound” that the radio needs! A pleasant surprise and whoah hot guitarist.

Janet Leon – Heartstrings

There was a lot of talk about this one, being the song that Agnes denied to sing, and the catastrophe rehearsals and that it was supposed to be the winner this year (this was on several other blogs that I read in terms of predictions). When I listened to it, I was thinking okay this is definitely the style of the songwriter, but it was awkward. Too much of a mix of modern dance song with a pop and slow R&B tempo that at times is too Lady Gaga rip-off for my taste. I had difficulty finding rhythm in the entire performance it left a lot to be desired for me. I wonder now what kind of results the competition will have seeing that the favourite is now out!

Well the north sure knows how to do a party, and things heated up this week on several ways. For one there were better quality songs, and now that we only have eight more songs to hear, I’m praying that the quality of songs improve, and the winning song is found in the final heat. Who knows, we might just have a lacklustre competition this year in Malmö…

If you’ve never seen what happend when you mix Swedish-dance-pop with Bollywood, you totally missed out on last weekend’s absolutely fabulous mellanact with Danny Saucedo and Gira Diwali doing their own rendition of last year’s failed “In Da Club.” Whoever came up with this idea and choreographed this materpiece deserves a prize.

If you didn’t catch the performance you can click the video below to view it, along with the awesome posted screencaps below.

>

If it’s not clear, Indie Club 12 Points and for the Melodifestivalen Win!