Swedish~ Stereo~

Christmas time and Caroline Roosmark shoots with a new wonderful charity calendar full of cebreties musicians (that this blog is basically interested) in quite unexpected images. Can you even guess everyone? Personally I wouldn't guess Moa Lignell, though she's looking incredibly charming. Thorsten Flinck, Lisa Nilsson, Nassim al Fakir and Andreas Lundstedt have also got their special images. Lisa has almost turned to Swedish Monica Bellucci becoming a real fiece of collection. You can buy calendar and watch the rest of photos here (also check some pics of 2012 and 2011 calendars).

Third wonderful summer show of Swedish TV comes back this week and it's a Sommarkrysset starting with Andreas Lundstedt singing his Melodifestivalen entry "Aldrig Aldrig", eurodance-veterans Haddaway, La Cream and Dr Bombay, Alina Devecerski with her big hit in Sweden "Flytta på dig" and Moa Lignell performing "When I Held Ya".

Haddaway - What is love
90-talsmania med Dr Bombay och Tess Mattisson

Wow! Has Andreas Lundstedt just released fist video in his solo-career?
Though Andreas hasn't qualified further in MF his single "Aldrig Adrig" stays in Top-10 on iTunes. Song is written by Niclas Lundin, Maria Marcus and Randy Goodrum, production was polished by Le Kid's Felix and Märta who stand behind Agnes' "Release Me" so you can clearly get similar lovely strings part (and I do love when dance music meets strings).
Andreas Lundstedt's album is planned to be released this Autumn.

Vdeo snippets from rehearsals of the second semifinal are out and here's what we get.
Ulrik Munther has presented new radio-hit sounding in my ears like JoJo going pop-rock. I don't think it's going to get MF-winner buzz but it's very well done and should be adored by fans on summer pop-fests.
Top Cats are Playtones without Kempe (read as without extra-something), rockabilly-stuff, not "The King" level in my ears.
Sonja Aldén comes back with a new Bobby Ljunggren schlager-ballad and Bassflow production, it's nice and should sound touching with its lyrics about passed away close person but after all flops of schlager-ballads can it have really huge success on MF?
I didn't imagine Andreas Lundstedt can surprise me singing dance-music I never heard from him but he has managed, it's a sweet melodic electro-dance pop with schlager-touch, probably what Shirley should sing in 2012 but it's lacking Shirley's drive unfortunately.
Timoteij have beautifully developed tune with energetic folk-schlager sound, I wish loads of luck to girls but I've got a feeling it won't be as big fans favorite as "Kom" was.
Nice to see Tony Nilsson persenting something fresh for David Lindgren, modern dance-song that would be a good album track for Darin or Ola but is it going to work on MF?
Mimi Oh has presented very nice electropop mix of what Linda Sundblad and Le Kid were about last year, you will hardly find from her 80s-vibes here but it's catchy, stylish and I really like production, her best single so far.
I was initially sceptic to Di Leva, I rarely put his stuff in my player but I think his arena-oriented positive pop will work good on MF. And here I've changed my mind right like I did when I've heard Thorsten Flick.

You probably have already managed to read about official line-up of Melodifestivalen-2012 on some ESC or Swedish music related sites. I wasn't in a hurry as all of these artists but one were quessed before and you could read about them here. Anna Järvinen has refused to participate in the last moment so she was replaced by David Lindgren. Danny has also changed his song for more proper for MF right before official announcement.
I've collected some descriptions of tracks from SVT, QX, Schlagerprofilerna, Scandipop and Schlagerzoot so you could realize in common what should we expect from MF this time.
Pictures are taken from expressen.se and svd.se.

Semifinal 1: Växjö

Loreen "Euphoria"
(Thomas G:son, Peter Boström)
- dynamic, mystic and dramatic song with "Cry Me A River"-feeling and ambient-sound crawling under your skin.


The Moniker "I Want To Be Chris Isaak (This Is Just the Beginning)"
(Daniel Karlsson (The Moniker))
- track having nothing common with "Oh My God", it's more green than golden, not attached to any genre, more rhythmic and oriental.


Thorsten Flinck & Revolutionsorkestern "Jag reser mig igen"
(Thomas G:son, Ted Ström)
- heavy melodic track in classic schlager-tradition with at the same time personal and common lyrics.


Dead by April "Mystery"
(Pontus Hjelm)
- epic (not a ballad) pop-metall in-your-face track with a strong chorus not written especially for MF sounding in a vein of the latest band's album, the hardest MF entry ever.


Abalone Dots "På väg"
(Rebecka Hjukström, Sophia Hogman, Louise Holmer, Viktor Källgren)
- melancholic love ballad with banjo in a minor and nyckelharpa typical for Abalone Dots style.


Marie Serneholt "Salt & Pepper"
(Lina Eriksson, Mårten Eriksson, Figge Boström)
- swinging and spicy uptempo-track.


Sean Banan "Sean Den Förste Banan"
(Sean Simadi (Sean Banan), Joakim Larsson, Hans Blomberg, Mårten Andersson)
- typical Sean Banan's entertaining track without any calm moment and with a message that everybody can be a king in their own ways.


Afro-Dite "The Boy Can Dance"
(Figge Boström, Catrine Loqvist, Johan Lindman)
- 70s inspired happy disco track with a modern sound.


Semifinal 2: Göteborg

Andreas Lundstedt "Aldrig Aldrig"
(Niclas Lundin, Maria Marcus, Randy Goodrum)
- melancholic uptempo song about breaking up, not a disco but this is the song you can dance and cry listening to.


Top Cats "Baby Doll"
(Mårten Eriksson, Lina Eriksson, Susie Päivärinta)
- positive energetic rock'n'roll track in a full tempo.


Mimi Oh "Det går för långsamt"
(Anton Malmberg Hård af Segerstad, Niclas Lundin)
- slightly 80s inspired honest and straight bombastic pop-track with catchy choruses and modern sound.


Thomas Di Leva "Ge aldrig upp"
(Thomas Di Leva)
- uplifting energetic song with a certain message.


Sonja Aldén "I din himmel"
(Sonja Aldén, Bobby Ljunggren, Peter Boström)
- recognizable follow-up of "För att du finns", calm but strong and pulsating.


David Lindgren "Shout It Out"
(Fernando Fuentes, Tony Nilsson)
- positive dance-track requiring big dance-performance.


Ulrik Munther "Soldiers"
(Ulrik Munther, Johan Åberg, Linnea Deb, Joy Deb, David Jackson)
- fresh pop-rock song about relationships and forgiveness with millitary feeling not going too far from Ulrik's debut album sound and closer to his "The Box".



Timoteij "Stormande hav"
(Kristian Lagerström, Johan Fjellström, Stina Engelbrecht, Jens Engelbrecht)
- energetic pop-folk uptempo schlager with Irish influences and heavier than their previous stuff though in a same vein.


Semifinal 3: Leksand

Mattias Andréasson "Förlåt mig"
(Mattias Andréasson)
- fresh Swedish pop with American influences (earlier described as r'n'b in Swedish sounding in Oskar Linnros' style).



Maria BenHajji "I mina drömmar"
(Nanna Sveinsdóttir, Thomas Cars)
- webjoker - classic schlager-ballad from "För att du finns" and "Med hjärtat fyllt av ljus" family.


Love Generation "Just A Little Bit"
(Nadir Khayat (RedOne), John Mamann, Jean-Claude Sindres, Teddy Sky, Yohanne Simon, Bilal "The Chef" Hajji)
- explosive pop-track with attitude, power and happiness.



Andreas Johnson "Lovelight"
(Andreas Johnson, Peter Kvint)
- Faces go partying with T Rex, Blur and Robbie Williams, positive track with gospel-touch closer to a style of Andreas' first MF-entries "Sing For Me", "A Little Bit Of Love".


Björn Ranelid feat. Sara Li "Mirakel"
(Fredrik Andersson, Björn Ranelid)
- clubby track with happy chorus and poetic lyrics.


Carolina Wallin Pérez "Sanningen"
(Michael Clauss, Martin Bjelke, Carolina Wallin Pérez, F Dread)
- drum cavalcade melancholic synth-pop crossing borders and flirting with rock.


Molly Sandén "Why Am I Crying"
(Molly Sandén, Aleena Gibson, Windy Wagner)
- modern pop-ballad with honest lyrics about broken heart that many are gonna take as personal.


Youngblood "Youngblood"
(Fredrik Kempe, David Krüger)
- uptempo feelgood sing-a-long track with modern sound and recognizable Fredrik Kempe's style.


Semifinal 4: Malmö

OPA "Allting blir bra igen"
(Michael Sideridis)
- swinging, catchy, Greek folk-pop.


Danny Saucedo "Amazing"
(Danny Saucedo, Peter Boström, Figge Boström)
- uptempo track from "In The Club" team, more positive and arena-oriented.


Lotta Engberg & Christer Sjögren "Don't Let Me Down"
(Lasse Holm, Lars "Dille" Diedricson)
- mature euroschlager with modern sound and adrenaline rush.


Hanna Lindblad "Goosebumps"
(Hanna Lindblad, Linda Sundblad, Tony Nilsson)
- 80s inspired song with loads of energy and love.


Axel Algmark "Kyss mig"
(Axel Algmark, Mattias Frändå, Jonathan Magnussen)
- happy pill with party feeling.



Dynazty "Land Of Broken Dreams"
(Thomas G:son, Thomas "Plec" Johansson)
- 90s hardrock song hitting you like a punch.


Charlotte Perrelli "The Girl"
(Fredrik Kempe, Alexander Johnsson)
- fresh clubby uptempo sing-along track with electro-sound and schlager-glitter.


Lisa Miskovsky "Why Start A Fire"
(Lisa Miskovsky, Aleksander With, Bernt Rune Stray, Berent Philip Moe)
- forest minstrel in love with Prince and Kate Bush.

Petra Mede turned to be real sensation of Melodifestivalen-2009 when she has become host of the show with her wild energy and humour understood even for international viewers who didn't know Swedish. Before and after Petra constantly was quite demanded comedian participating in different comic show. This year shу's got her own Petra Mede show and she's made it with her best friend Andreas Lundstedt from Alcazar. It's gonna be difficult to understand jokes if you don't know language but still you can enjoy with nice scetches from Petra and Andreas where Petra's saving Andreas from Village People, remembering when she has fallen in love with Andreas in school refusing to realize she don't have chances and going for a walk with her friend to see real face of thriller-Andreas.