martin stenmarck

Each of the second chance “losers” of the “winners” entered the competition in a free-for-all to get your votes. The top five voted songs progress to the second second chance round, and from those the top 4 are placed into duels.

The first 5 qualified for the second second chance round were Linus Svenning, J.E.M., State of Drama, Martin Stenmarck, Helena Paparizou, and Outtrigger.

Features of this part of the program is our lovely host in drag finding some piercings that are “secret”oops!

Then of course we have last year’s Eurovision sinner Emmelie de Forest who performed her Rainmaker song which will no doubt be performed at the Eurovision Song Contest. It featured a bunch of shirtless men dancing around.

Of those top songs the following duels were arranged, with my thoughts.

Duel 1 : Outtrigger – Echo vs. Helena Paparizou – Survivor

I wasn’t all that surprised that Outtrigger did well in this competition because really it grew on me, but they couldn’t overcome the power that is Helena. She garnered over double the votes, and progressed to the Final of Melodifestivalen with her diva anthem “Survivor.“

Duel 2 : Linus Svenning – Bröder vs. Martin Stenmarck – När änglarna går hem

The soft yet hard representation of Linus is very interesting, and his soft yet powerful song about his brother clung to hearts of the whole country. Despite Martin’s attempt at a weak comeback and a song that it outside of his abilities, the voting was within 6’000 televotes and Linus Svenning progressed to the final.

Surprisingly State of Drama was not chosen, and fell at 5th place, where I believe it could have replaced Martin Stenmarck who was really only a couple of thousand votes ahead. The song was better, but there was no clear favourites in this one.

Off the races we were last week with a somewhat weak semifinal, here’s to hoping that this weeks competition is much more positive and enlightening.

J.E.M. – Love trigger
=> Andra Chansen

What to do with two women and a man, one of which raps in English that is barely comprehensible, and the other two that give their charm and odd beauty in the form of shaved head and tons of jewellery? Well this one is catchy to say the least, and I really just want to shake my booty to – although the middle part in terms of production value is very amateur and not very good – the overall performance is pretty decent.

The Refreshments – Hallelujah

Nothing really to write home about this one. It’s boring and simple with unattractively dressed people on stage. Why in the world would this song be selected in the pre-selection? I really don’t understand how the criteria was met, but alas it’s a major flop. Sorry!

Manda – Glow

With the semi-hipster hair that just is gorgeous but odd, and the nails to cut like a cat, this song leaves much to be desired. It’s modern and upbeat, but it’s just too much of a mainstream pop song to be attractive to me. The strings are similar to many songs that I’ve heard and thus it lacks originality. The vocals are alright, but doesn’t sell with me.

Panetoz – Efter solsken
=> Finalen

This one qualifies and I don’t really understand why. I don’t see at all what the appeal is – it’s a bunch of reggae grassy men singing and it just looks awkward on stage. It’s a group of five black guys and a white guy that raps – and stereotypically shouldn’t it be the other way around? The choreographs are awkward and it just looks like a mess on the stage. What were you thinking, Sweden?

Pink Pistols – I am somebody
❗ Personal Favourite

When you get two homosexuals and two drag queens together to sing against inequality, what else could there be but fabulousness? The men have fantastic vocals, but the ladies struggle a bit and look a bit awkward. Black and pink go perfectly together, but really when it comes down to it, the song might have been too political for the contest. It has a good message of tolerance, but Sweden didn’t buy it. 🙁

Sanna Nielsen – Undo
=> Finalen
❗ Personal Favourite

Well she’s back, and she come back with a punch that could quite possibly win the competition. It’s classy, it’s simple, it’s an epic power ballad that speaks about past relationships and wanting to undo the mistakes that have been made. Her vocals are flawless and it’s about time that she deserves to win – it’s been forever and she’s tried many times. This may just be her moment, but it depends on what other songs are in the next few semifinals.

Little Great Things – Set yourself free

It’s bad, it’s just plain bad. I don’t like it and there is nothing about it that appeals to me is perhaps the mascara on the lead singer. The green isn’t so bad either, but really it’s just annoying and the song has no thrust. Bunch of youngsters rocking about with no real purpose, cause we all know that they won’t win!

Martin Stenmarck – När änglarna går hem
=> Andra Chansen

He’s back, after a long break and with a song that really strains his abilities. He’s a professional artist but for some reason he elected to sing a song that’s on the top end of his range and the strain is visible in the production of it. It’s bright with lights, and it’s a decent enough song, but boy does it show the aging of Martin. He’s not 18 anymore, clearly!

So-so semifinal, possible winner in this one, but what do the next two have in store?

As per my usual annual analysis here it comes for Melodifestivalen 2009; the clearly most exciting event of the year. So far this year seems to be quite good. We don’t have Kristian Luuk this year, which is sad, but we have Petra Mede which seems to be doing quite well considering. Clearly a comedian, and with an accent that I can’t quite place. I only wish that we didn’t have to see the International Jury as it’s kind of cheesy and the guy is French, so it’s even more pathetic in my opinion. She changes dresses at every interval, and has a great sense of stage-presence! I think that however well she and the show is, it’s sort of compounded by the great music that SVT provides. Before each act, there is a little biography with “powerful and triumphant” music. It’s a good idea, in order to give some info for the artists and what they are doing. So without further wait, here we go!

Nina Söderquist – Tick tock
Personal Favourite

Although unfortunate that she didn’t make it to the Andra Chansen (where she belonged) this song is a great hit and really catchy in my ear. It starts out with a sort of operatic-opening by Nina, who is a West-End Show-Girl. Man can she sing right on pitch (being professional and all!), and dance along with it! I feel that she’s portraying herself as a dominatrix in this show, but otherwise it’s a great hit. I see myself bopping to this all the time. The men are wearing skirts, however which is odd, but you go girl! Luckily it made the Andra av gången, but came fifth finally. What a shame, but for an opening number I think it’s a damn good way to open the show.

Jonathan Fagerlund – Welcome to my life
Personal Favourite

What a cute little piece from Jönköping, who wanted to be a web-designer? So far, good on my books! But then it all went down, singing on Supertroupers and then being in a boyband Streetwise. The brunette is clearly out of a boyband era, but there is something special about this number. Perhaps it’s a boyband star singing with a girlband, to a girlband song. The song itself is really catchy and I like it. It’s cute singer that knows how to shake his hips (being a boyband creation of course), but I keep getting a vibe from him and his performance. It’s a gay vibe, but I feel that it’s way off, but the clothes, the hair, the eyes, the everything. Even the girl-band of course! Anyways, the song is great, it’s got great lyrics, he sings it really well. Back to appearances though; he’s a boybander and he doesn’t have tattoos (at least to that I can’t see) and to compound it there is very little hair on this boy’s body, if you know what I mean. 😉 Damn you public for not accepting this star!

Shirley Clamp – Med hjärtat fyllt av ljus

Shirley is back, but what the hell is she doing? I love her as singer. She’s experienced, she has great skill and a distinctive voice, but what the hell is Plingy, Bobby and Henrik doing? This song has the weirdest melody, and text that makes it sound like her heart is filled with juice, and not light. It just makes me kind of cringe inside, and the thought of her doing a ballad makes me even more sad. She needs an uptempo sort of tune to get the toes tapping, but this is just cheezy lyrics, horrible melody and harmony, and a song that just I want to forget. She does have a beautiful dress, however, and sparkles!! Yay glitter on her eyes, it makes me so happy, but still I don’t accept this song at all!

Scotts – Jag tror på oss
Andra Chansen

I won’t lie about this one. A boyband from the 90’s, that look a lot older and struggling to stay young, with a song like this makes me sort of question what the Swedish public was thinking. The guy(s) can sing, but the song isn’t really that difficult. It’s too rockish and a post-boyband teeny-bopper kind of way. I just think it would have better suited for other people, but apparently people want to see it again because it’s in Andra Chansen. I think that it’s just sort of tragic, because there were better songs. Given the songwriters, however, it’s not surprising that it’s sort of “awkward.” I’m sad from this one.

Emilia Rydberg – You’re my world
Qualified
Personal Favourite

What a bloody marvelous piece of music this. She’s a great singer, she’s a pretty girl, she’s got a song that simply speaks to everyone. I thought it was going to be jazz tune at the beginning, but then we just get a great surprise. It’s inspirational, it’s flashy, and it’s got a ton of people on stage (did the rules change?) I think this song gets more sexy points also because there is a contrabass on stage, and that makes me drool! It makes me feel like I’m in New York, and I think it’s fabulous and can do great things, but this is the only first Semifinal and it’s possible to get lost in the shuffle.

Alcazar – Stay the night
Qualified
Personal Favourite

I think I exploded a little bit in my pants when this song started. Being Alcazar, reunited for the first time in like forever, made me happy. Tess, Andreas, and the new member Lina (remember Nothing can stop me!? — I do!!!) take sexy-disco outfits, a fucking amazing disco-pop song and bust a move on stage. I must admit that they do look a lot older (especially Andreas who has shaved his head because of probable balding, and sporting sexy eyeliner). This song is pure sex, and when I say that I mean truly. The dancing is precise to the music, the choreographers deserve a clap, and then the singers deserve another great pat because the singing is class. They are hawt, they are sexy, they have a hawt song and don’t need to be on stage with anyone else but themselves, and it makes me so happy. I want to stay the night, cause I can be your lover, so hold on tight, and be your guide to paradise! The only critique on clothes that I would give is Andreas’ shoes which are tacky. The pink bodysuit and turquoise dress is bloody sexy.

Caroline af Ugglas – Snälla snälla
Andra Chansen & International Jury Choice

A normal Caroline af Ugglas song. Always inspired by Janis Joplin it just sort of rasps off of her vocal cord, but this song makes me hate the word snälla, because she says it so many damn songs. Also do you realise how difficult it is to take a decent screenshot of her? She always has this weird constipated look on her face. Bar all that, she’s a good performer, and it’s simple enough. The style is Swedish, and I don’t see it winning, but it’s going to make it to the Final (quite possibly) after the second chance round and the jury. I don’t really see what the jury saw in it though, considering they are not Swedish…

Marie Serneholt – Disconnect me

I’m not sure really what to think about this one. It’s Marie, ex-member of A*Teens. How do I know this? Because A*Teens was my favourite band. I joined their fan site in 1999 and have been a member since (even after their break-up!) Sadly most of the members went sour: Dhani became a man-whore looking singer who can’t sing (why, he was so cute as a blondie innocent boy!), Sara is well who knows, and Amit had a go at a career but I reckon it was all done after they split. This song is catchy, but it’s like a weird pop song that has a bit of funk. The dancers bedazzled me more than her though, because she sort of looks like a bimbo. Plus the dancers hadd a shirt that opened low in the front, and high in the back, which means we got to see sexy dancer backs the whole time. Even still, I think the song is a little immature for the older-Marie. It was the wildcard and got dropped, oh well!

All in all the night was great, but the interval acts were… strange. I particularly liked the opening sequence with Charlotte (last year’s winner) and past winner Martin Stenmarck. I have to say that he’s certainly gotten more ripe and golden with age, and is drop dead gorgeous. And as always the song that he busts out could have even been a song in the competition and have done well; haha! Maybe it was one of the songs submitted that they decided to get them to sing to; whatever, take away his tattoos and I could find about a dozen people to shag him!

Comments are welcome, by the way!