jenny silver

With the highly anticipated matches of the second chance round, needless to say I was highly disappointed and shocked. Here’s why:

Quarterfinal 1: Jenny Silver vs. Love Generation

In by far the most contested battles of the evening, my favourite Jenny Silver lost out to Love Generation and not by much. Both songs are fantastic and it’s sad to see the classic ABBA influenced schlager go up against the dance-pop contestant. Either way I would be happy for them to go onto the final, but the road never ends up being as straightforward.

Quarterfinal 2: Loreen vs. Sara Varga

Unsurprisingly Sara won this contest probably quite handily. Loreen’s song is good but it’s highly introverted that it’s almost awkward. Sara herself seems quite introverted and unsure of herself, but the song is a feel good favourite, and it’s no surprise that it beat out it’s competition.

Quarterfinal 3: The Moniker vs. Linda Pritchard

I am shocked beyond belief at the Swedish voting this evening. The absolutely epic ballad (no matter how better she sang before) still should have outplayed the corny happy-go-lucky song of The Moniker. I like both songs, but the power and versatility of Linda’s song puts goosebumps down my spine. Absolutely robbed in my opinion.

Quarterfinal 4: Shirley’s Angels vs. Pernilla Andersson

The raging homosexual in me cries out for this loss. The awesomely popular Shirley Clamp and her sexy ceorigoraphs were no match for Pernilla and her guitar. I like both the songs, but I feel like Shirley’s Angels fits Melodifestivalen a little bit more. Perhaps given the amount of English songs in the final, the Swedes needed to push something more Svensk through.

Semifinal 1: Love Generation vs. Sara Varga

This is the feel good favourite win of the year I think. The fact that Sara could fend off the popular dance song is amazing and I’m glad that the Swedish public was able to choose the better song. No matter how much it sounds like I prefer the latter, I absolutely love the former!

Semifinal 2: The Moniker vs. Pernilla Andersson

As surprised as the rest of us, The Moniker becomes the second finalist tonight. It’s good, and seemingly popular, but if that’s the case, why didn’t it go directly through Globen instead of taking out the other good songs in the second chance round? :crazy:

So despite the phone number fiasco of the wrong numbers showing and SVT announcing that it didn’t affect the voting (right…! 8|), the results could have been worse. One good song gets through and likely will flop in the final for lack of excitement, and the other is okayish and will probably end up being in the top 5. Only one more week!

This was a few weeks and a long time coming, but I can do nothing short of pay hommage to the great Jenny Silver. Last year she competed with a very strange, but interesting song, and this year she comes with what I’d like to quite frankly call… an anthem.

With flashes throughout of ABBA, and lyrics that are fluid and inspiring, Jenny not only hits the high notes, but also graces us with the basso-alto notes that make such an impact on the sound of the song, that it actually shows the huge range that she can sing.

The theme of blue is my favourite, and the fact that her microphone stand was glowing blue makes it that much better. The choreography is very simple yet effective. Everything improves about 100% when the dancers come out, and it features the famous mystery dancer (of whom I’ve spoken in several other posts, and will continue to do!).

This song is everything that I have my heart, and it’s such a shame that it doesn’t go directly to Globen. It deserves it, because it lights the fire within my soul like Linda Pritchard did last year. It’s an anthem, and it’s the anthem of my love, my heart and my world.

Go Jenny Silver, Go!

In my hometown begins the quest for another champion of the Melodifestivalen stage. The excitement ensues and for the first time I connect my laptop to the 52″ TV downstairs connected to the huge sound system, to watch live on the webcast. Did I mention I love SVT? Yes I think so…

Dilba – Try Again
❗ Personal Favourite

With what beings to look like a rip-off of the film Tron, the singer Dilba actually produces a really polished dance song that ultimately saw the demise by the Swedish Televoters. I really like the simplistic and polished nature of this song. She has a lovely voice and it compliments the strong bass beats really well. Unfortunately she’s not a super-popular singer and thus was facing a huge hill to climb up. I would have loved to see this go to Andra Chansen, but oh well. I expect to hear this song in the clubs in Scandinavia however…

Swingfly – Me and My Drum
=> Globen

I’m offended to see this song progress to Globen, quite frankly. I will explain why: 1) The singer can’t speak Swedish, 2) I speak better Swedish, 3) I hate rap, and 4) He obviously had no idea what was going on the entire show. I’m offended by rap, but his saving grace was that he actually had a singer that could carry him through to the final. How could the telvoters vote for this instead of Jenny Silver? I’m at a loss for words.

Jenny Silver – Something in Your Eyes
=> Andra Chansen
❗ Personal Favourite

What do you get when you resurrect ABBA, add a huge beat, dress an awesome singer and performer in a silver dress to match her name, and then add confetti? Sadly not a direct qualifier to the final. I absolutely adore this song, as it had me dancing around my living room. I was singing along with it, clapping, and imaging prince charming popping up somewhere to charm me. It was something in his eyes, something in his smile, just tells me that he’s mine, he tells me that I am, the only one for me, I would never leave him, never let him go… la la la la *clap clap*

Jonas Matsson – On My Own
❗ Personal Favourite

I’m surprisingly enjoying this song greatly. Apart from my dislike of shown tattoos on hunky blonde guys, seeing a cute guy on screen who can sing decently to lyrics that make sense, in an non-nasal way actually displays great musical quality. I can see this being a radio-hit, but the fact it was the web joker sort of made it turn out to be a bit of a flop.. it had all the momentum, but got outshone?

Le Kid – Oh My God
❗ Personal Favourite

This was robbed a spot in Andra Chansen, I believe. Its so 60s 70s mixed with a modern beat and a humouristic approach. I don’t like the constant “oh oh oh” repeats, but it just makes me laugh because the musicality of singing “Oh My God” actually matches an anglophones usage of the expression in a more.. Mean Girls way. Totally fun time with lots of bright colours and awesome makeup. Like OH MY GOD, they didn’t qualify!

Rasmus Viberg – Social Butterfly

The nasal tone of this singer makes my head hurt. It just gets worse and worse, and with an accordion just makes it even more irritating. How could it have become even more of a train-wreck? Well he has a lip piercing, which I really don’t like, plus his hair has so many wrong aspects it makes me want to barf! And towards the end I sort of started thinking of Alexander Rybak… Am I the only one? Too bad too, cause Henrik Wikström is a great composer.

Pernilla Andersson – Desperados
=> Andra Chansen
❗ Personal Favourite

What has become this fascination of countryesque music for Swedish people? It’s a lovely song, and the only Swedish entry of the evening. I am not a fan of country but this speaks to me in some strange way, perhaps it’s all about leaving someone, or at least the chorus is. This might have a decent chance in Andra Chansen, but everything depends on the other songs presented in the competition. It’s fresh, at the very minimum.

Danny – In The Club
=> Globen
❗ Personal Favourite

Unsurprisingly, Danny the former singer of E.M.D. a few years ago successfully presented a techno-dance number that not only featured fantastic singing, but also a visual spectacle that earned him the right to go to Globen. It wasn’t a surprise at all, and SVT tries to make it more dramatic, but it was hardly a surprise (at least to me). Just about every teenage girl in Sweden must have voted for him… I’m sorry for the screenshot, but really it’s hard not to get a photo of him not looking constipated during the performance! I’m in awe at how he can dance in such a way, and sing effectively… just wow!

So all in all, my hometown put together a huge show. In general, Jenny Silver was robbed, and Swingfly shouldn’t have advanced. Dilba was just too good for people to get, and Nanne Grönvall being Whitney Huston makes me smile. I saw Pekka Heino in the audience (I know; random eh?!) and the mistake of Marie (and/or SVT) with announcing the wrong versus contestants made me laugh. Until next week, (un)faithful readers…

In other news, who is this Rikard Olsson? He’s nervous, but I’m somewhat drawn to him… blah!

*Note: Photos posted and comments amended!

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!