Swedish~ Stereo~

Amanda Jenssen is one of those Idol-wonders who has started erasing her Idol-label right after the show breaking up with any hint on commercial mainstream pop and unleashing her jazz-passion that has resulted in two Top-3 albums and loads of respect Sweden like to grace some independent original artists with.
Last year Amanda was touring in Germany getting positive response and trying to establish career there. During that tour she has performed new track "Dry My Soul" that is going to be her new single and you can already check teaser of video and live-version in quite good quality to realize what sort of wild 60s party it's going to be.
New Amanda's album is promised to be released already this spring and Sweden gets its official premiere of the single on Grammis-2012 show that will be held on February 14th.

Slowly coming back with some music pieces we missed last week I start with the most valuable one.
Velvet have presented video for her latest single "Love Struck" - with a pretty big delay after release but still watching Jenny always warms up Swedish pop-fan's soul with her cool attitude. "Love Struck" has become one of the most underestimated pop-singles of 2011 in Sweden so maybe it's time to push it abroad to remind Europe about Swedish disco-queen?

First semifinal of Melodifestivalen was finished by victory of Loreen and Dead By April - the most worthy couple of winners I can directly remember. Dead By April has passed all goosebumps-passing expression of their dramatic rock-song and Loreen looked so much better and different than the rest of participants with vocals bigger than VIDA Arena. Sean Banan's show has really deserved ticket to Andra Chansen. I haven't really understood Thorsten Flinck in what we've seen in the final pack but I realize it has its audience in Sweden.
I'll be missing Marie Serneholt (6th) a lot, she has given as much of charizma and vocal as she could and even more, she was interested to look at and to listen to. Afro-dite (5th) have delivered nice disco-party and The Moniker (8th) did the best of him. We're really sorry about Abalone Dots (7th) too, it's a better band than the song they performed. You can watch videos of all non-qualifiers below.

Seems like I really underestimated Sean Banan, it's just too catchy and after winning public poll on yesterday's rehearsal I easily can imagine it winning semifinal. Abalone Dots get lost among more dynamic entries which is really pity. Dead By April's in full length are much easier to catch for pop-ears and their fans still should be satisfied. Marie's song is very stylish, verses are as good as choruses we heard before and this song has really deserved its spot in the final that it won't get. I've caught the problem Schlagerprofilerna mentioned regarding Afro-dite's song, it's starts in a wild disco-rhythm but there's no place for it to grow and it the end you get tired of this party but the song is still good. Thorsten Flinck is too monotonous in full length, it doesn't seem to be "Snälla Snälla"/"Road Salt" league to fight for the final. The Moniker has pretty cool song that I hope will get a future on the radio but Andra Chansen? Don't think so.
Loreen is absolutely incredible, as she promised this song is crawling under your skin. It's not a song, it's a tangle of feelings, it's international level club anthem performed by one of the best Swedish pop-vocalists. My first reaction to Loreen's comeback was - no, she's too good to make it again, now I think - how wonderful she has done it as the song is her perfect comeback no matter how far it will go. Loads of luck to you tonight, Loreen!
And you don't miss semifinal here tonight at 20.00 by local time.

Sorry for a little blogging break that I absolutely will compensate with everything interesting I've missed during last week, just give me a little time.
Awesome day for all melofans as we've got 8 first Melodifestivalen-entries. To be more exact, 1-minute snippets of the first participants and here they are. Get ready for studio-version on Saturday at 14.00 of local time

Sean Banan has become famous with sommarplåga (summer plague - incredibly infectious track that loads are going to hate fast but it doesn't leave dancefloors and the radio till the end of summer) "Skaka Rumpa" last year and he has tried to deliver another one with "Sean Den Förste Banan". Problem that I see here is really messy verse, chorus sticks from the first listen though and I can imagine Sean's colourful show qualifying to Andra Chansen with his fans' support.

Abalone Dots sing country-ballad "På väg", pretty dark moody country-ballad with beatiful instrumental part but not as American sounding track as "Solo" and too complicated to go Pernilla Andersson's road I guess.

The Moniker turns from utterly positive "Oh My God!" show to his calmer music side he has represented on the debut album, not too calm, I'd say "I Want To Be Chris Isaak (This Is Just the Beginning)" to "I'll Drag You Up" is what "I'll Drag You Up" was to "Oh My God!" and this progress puts The Moniker on a really risky path. If Melody Club and Sebastian haven't qualified last year can The Moniker do?

Afro-dite make glittery disco-comeback with "The Boy Can Dance", it's melodic warm old good retro-disco that worked so good for them back in the past. Will it work still? Well. Last year we had Sanna and Linda winning semifinals and Shirley getting to AC - all with their classic sound. So I don't see a problem for them to get their ticket at least to Andra Chansen. Girls have prepared a big show, they're huge professionals and perform after two calm songs so they have a chance.

As Dead By April promised the sound of "Mystery" isn't too different from their last album. It's half-growling verses moving into a big expressive pop-tune of chorus that they're really skillful in. I think we haven't got the best snippet to judge but due to response from Växjö it's a really strong entry.

Marie Serneholt is almost as light, sweet and dancey in her "Salt & Pepper" as she was in 2009 with "Disconnect Me", as Schlagerprofilerna mentioned the chorus sounds VERY "The Boy Does Nothing", melodic girly swing-pop which is hard to believe in as in strong MF competitor though.

Initially I was pretty sceptical towards Thorsten Flinck's entry, it sounds theatrical and hm...weird with a dark combination of electronic organ and castanets in "Jag reser mig igen" but that electronic organ and Thorsten's theatricality makes me thinking about Caroline af Ugglas and Lykke Li. You can find it weird, but can't you imagine this song performed by them? It's a big question if this entry has a future but I believe it can surprise.

And finally Loreen expected by many Swedish pop-fans. Loreen is back with dramatical emotional dance-pop "Euphoria" and this time she moves forward anthemic club sound with Avicii's taste but the vocal is the key that makes it all so much bigger than just modern club-hit. This girl sings her soul out and if she won't qualify it will be even bigger injustice than whole Andra Chansen-2011.