As regular readers of this blog now, I have always followed the Swedish Eurovision song selection well. In the past 10 years, Melodifestivalen has often been even more fun to watch then the actual Eurovision. But sadly, this year has been a different story!
The songs have been more or less dreadful, the staging been as boring as any TV "talent" show and most of the performers looked and sounded like that's exactly where they should be - on something like X-Factor.
The final is next Saturday and the running order of the 10 final songs has been decided:
1. Anton Ewald – “Natural”
2. Ellen Benediktson – “Songbird”
3. Alcazar – “Blame It On The Disco”
4. Oscar Zia – “Yes We Can”
5. Linus Svenning – “Bröder”
6. Helena Paparizou – Survivor”
7. YOHIO – “To the End”
8. Sanna Nielsen – “Undo”
9.Panetoz – “Efter solsken”
10. Ace Wilder – “Busy Doin’ Nothin”
Out of these 10 songs, only two manage to be somewhat interesting.
Sanna Nielsen has always done well in Melodifestivalen and her entry this year (almost a ballad version of Eric Saade's "Popular") is most likely to win, in my opinion. It's nothing terribly special, but compared to most of the rest of this years songs, it is a cut above the rest. Wouldn't surprise me one bit if it wins (that is, if the dreadful Ace Wilder track doesn't - it seems to be a big favorite in Sweden, for reasons unknown by moi).
Much less likely to win is this one. Ex-Eurovision winner (for Greece) Helena Paparizou didn't qualify straight to the final but got her ticket through Andra Chansen (Second Change) this weekend. The song seems to be going down very well in Sweden and might do quite well on Saturday - but if memory serves, a song that did not qualify straight to the final has never actually won. Again, not a fantastic song per se - but much better than most of the other entries.
BUT: there is one more thing that will make the final ever so worth it! The return of the glorious Alcazar!
"Blame It On The Disco" sounds quite a bit like their previous entry "Stay The Night" - but this time they decided to make their entrance a la Madonna (Confessions Tour). Dressed in their most glittery outfit, the injected a MUCH needed life and fun into an otherwise terrible boring competition. Of course I hope this will win on Saturday, but I suspect it just might be a bit too camp...
In any case: my favorite this year:
4 comments:
I will take a listen when I get home - but to my mind Alcazar are always fun, so I imagine this to be the same...
However, no matter what dross you get in Melodifestivalen, surely nothing can be duller than the dreadful "Children of the Universe" by the squawky Molly Temple-Savage, sorry, Smitten-Downes that was chosen to represent the UK today?
Unless some country somewhere enters a glittering troupe of drag queens making explosions in a cloud of dry ice this year, I fear this is the beginning of the end for Eurovision (and just imagine what the Russian and Ukrainian entries are going to be like). Jx
The Alcazar song is not quite as good as some of their previous entries ("Alcastar", "Stay The Night", "Not A Sinner Nor A Saint") but it is still the best thing to come out of this years Melodifestivalen!
I haven't heard the UK song yet, but it seems to be generally well received. In any case, it simply can not be worse then the absolute HORROR we are sending this year! Let's hope there will indeed be some drag queens etc to spice things up...
The UK entry is just pitiful, although I must admit that Sanna Nielson's yodelling got on my tits after the first few bars, so she's not much contest. Miss Paparizou's is marginally more palatable, although I can't see it doing very well if it did by chance be the one to go into the actual Eurovision Song Contest.
I was however correct in my instinct - Alcazar are fun, if for their trash value alone! The song, however, does sound more like an album filler or a b-side than one with a real chance of success in the contest...
We need fun! It is Eurovision, for gawd's sake! Jx
Alcazar should have won at least three times in the past - shame that song (although I do love it) is not quite as good as those three. It is however much better then their previous effort, "Headlines".
There seems to be a lot of support in Sweden for a song by someone called Ace Wilder - it's rather terrible, so I suppose it will be the one to win...
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