rasmus viberg

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!