Swedish~ Stereo~

Right after the fourth semifinal of Melodifestivalen Ulrik Munther has re-released his debut album including the track "Soldiers" he participates with and completely new song "Fool".
It's a perfect summer pop-rock follow-up of "Soldiers" becoming natural progression of Ulrik's music he has presented on the album but warmer and happier with still nice post-chorus sing-along "o-o-o" parts.
"Soldiers" is currently in Top-10 on iTunes and Ulrik is definitely in the race for the highest places of MF-final.

New hit from Swedish House Mafia has arrived! Well, not really from Swedish House Mafia but at least from one of its members Sebastian Ingrosso who has joined forces with another fresh Swedish club-star Alesso and real world star Ryan Tedder who has provided vocals for their previously leaked in instrumental version track "Calling".
It's powerful energetic and though it's catchy enough to get stuck from the first listen I'm still glad it has got its vocal "ground".

Play's Fanny was intriguing us with her new solo-stuff during whole last year, presenting two new dark track first and then performing live in Nyhetsmorgon. Now she finally releases debut single "Come To Me" and comparing with previous track it's much more about cold electronic sound and less about vocal expression. Very artistic and special stuff.

Shirley's Angels' single "Love In The First Degree" that we expected so much wasn't released and though girls have taken part in some Christmas concerts there's no sign of new releasing plans for them. However Shirley Clamp has recorded Bonnie Raitt's cover "I Can't Make You Love Me" for the latest Niklas Andersson's album and while waiting for her comeback we can turn our faces to a wonderful Shirley's eurodance-past.
Did you know Shirley participated in the band Metrix founded by Ace Of Base's Ulf Ekberg in 90s? Band consisted of 3 members - Shirley Clamp, Katie Shade and Cream. They've released just 2 singles - "Slow Down" in 1995 and "City Of Sin" in 1999 (Shirley was just on backing vocals for this one). There's no available clip of radio-edit for "City Of Sin" on youtube (only this mix) but you can check full version of "Slow Down" and even piece of music video below.

Full studio-version of the fourth semifinal are here:
- Charlotte makes girly disco-Popular which is going to sound pretty effective with her expensive performance.
- OPA!'s song is probably difficult for those who don't listen to pure Greek folk.
- Dynazty are quite more interesting in its full version and it's right as good as "1000 Miles", not any worse but not any better.
- Lotta Engberg and Christer Sjogren present more melodic, warm and pleasant follow-up of "I Love Europe".
- Hanna Lindblad's song has turned to be quite Robynesque in verses which probably is not that good for MF but I still buy it completely for those amazing 80s dynamic choruses.
- Axel delivers good radio-hit for indie-lovers with recognizable Oskar Linnros vibes.
- Lisa Miskovsky does her soft and sweet guitar pop which in full version is probably a bit too calm for MF.
- And finally Danny's "Amazing" is nice "Save The World"-smelling club-track which goes hard right from the first verse, it's more modern and international than "In The Club" but now I'm wondering can it beat "Euphoria"? Loreen vocally fills her song with emotions and emphasizes all up and down moments better when Danny makes it all big, beautiful and spectacular. Loreen presents her song as a piece of art, Danny - as effective pop-entertainment. I can't predict what will work better at ESC and what Sweden will choose in 2 weeks but both of these winners are gonna give a tough fight at Eurovision and will be contenders for the highest places. Get ready for the show tonight!

The last bunch of Melodifestivalen rehearsals snippets is out and you can check all of them below.
Nice to see Charlotte trying the best of her to do a big show, even if "The Girl" hasn't become an epic follow-up of "Hero" it's still nice to get a new disco-single from her. OPA! delivers Greek pop with no hint at MF-adaptation. Dynazty continue the trend of The Poodles and Heat with 80s rock and big show. Lotta Engberg and Christer Sjögren come back with "I Love Europe"-smelling old-school schlager. Hanna Lindblad makes really tasty 80s "Maniac"-style electropop that I easily imagine Linda Sundblad singing on demo. Axel Algmark performs Håkan Hellström's indie-pop. Lisa Miskovsky has come up with beautiful melancholic pop she did on her early albums. And finally Danny has come back with a big Tron-inspired performance and Guettaesque track so now he becomes as stong rival for Loreen as it was expected from the beginning.

There's no better way to start a weekend than getting some cheerful dance track and original stuff is not the must, we're more than ok with some good remix.
Lena Philipsson has seriously taken promotion of new single "Du Följer Väl Med?" and has released two Soundfactory mixes - club and dub-version. Comparing with album edit Soundfactory mix makes verses more laidback when chorus gets more explosive and loud. Pretty enjoyable weekend dance-treat, isn't it?

Metro magazine has released a gorgeous series of schlager-birds as advertising of their melosite. I don't have idea if it's scans right from magazine's issue but these pics looks like a pieces of schlager-art!
I hope you've recognized all very important birds of Melodifestivalen world, haven't you?

They've made it again. One of last year's sensations Erato girls have performed medley of candidates for the Best Song at Grammis-2012. As you can expect there were nothing but the table, tubs and Erato voices. But girls have managed to create that magic again and audience obviously were charmed by this performance.

Melodifestivalen keeps surprising but it wouldn't be Melodifestivalen without surprises, right? Some are good ones, some are not really.
Molly Sanden with her big emotional ballad has become one of participants to go directly to Globen (and possible winner of semifinal leading after-polls and with final odds on her rising immediately). Björn Raneld with Sara Li have also got their spot in the final, in my opinion this place was intended for musicians (in this semifinal) whose music career can be ruined because of flopping on MF so I'm not very positive about it. Schlager-veteran Andreas Johnson and schlager-debutants Youngblood will go through Second Chance round. Mattias Andréasson was only 5th but has become #1 on Swedish iTunes right after so I hope he'll get commercial success he deserves. Love Generation (#6) and Carolina Wallin Pérez (#7) were also strong contenders. Probably MF wasn't really right place for Carolina, she could make a big radio-hit in Sweden without it. Webbjoker Maria BenHajji has become #8. Below you can watch performances of non-qualifiers and don't miss wonderful performance of Sara Dawn Finer and Gina Derawi explaining how their names should be pronounced and Sirqus Alfon with the cover of "Silverland".

Frida Hyvönen, recognizable Swedish indie-pop artist who has started her breakthrough back in 2005 with the album "Until Death Comes" well received internationally and released worldwide with following tour in UK and US, prepares new album "To the Soul" to be out this April.
First single from the new album is "Terribly Dark" - thoughtful rhythmic indie track mixing acoustic sound with lovely 80s synths and decent dose of artistic madness, quite representative stuff for Frida but still quite fresh.

Third semifinal of Melodifestivalen-2012 starts very-very soon, you can already watch countdown here and don't miss full studio-versions below. My personal favorites in this bunch are Mattias, Molly and after I've heard full studio-version of Love Generation I think they're absolutely worth qualifying.

The day before Love Generation's Cornelia Jakobsdotter Samuelsson will participate in Melodifestivalen her father - The Poodles frontman Jakob Samuel who has made his schlager-breakthrough 6 years ago premieres the first sneak peek of his solo-album "Pastpresent" that's going to be released this spring.
First single "Stars & Grace" is going to be officially released on Monday but you can already check it and find no The Poodles 80s rock completely! It sounds more like pop-rock ballad from Robbie Williams' 90s albums, soft and melodic with beautiful live band arrangement.

I've just found out that have completely forgotten to tell you about one of the most amazing comebacks of 2011 - Isabel Guzman, electropop artist which has delivered a big bunch of stylish music goodies for blogging community with two EPs back in 2007-2008. My biggest favorites were "Love Song" and "Wrapped Up In Plastic".
Isabel has come back last year with a new name Wolf Box and much darker melancholic electropop but still very tasty productions. "One For The Radio" is seemingly light melodic track starting with retro-layers growing into epic choruses, "Mirror Wisdom" (that you can listen below) is the darkest and deepest track I've heard so far from Isabel based on a piano sound and mystic atmosphere with howling wolf on the background. And today Isabel has premiered new track "Hollow" on her Facebook page, it's modern, still piano-based ballad with Ryan Tedder-esque heavy beats, the most commercial work of Wolf Box. I really recommend you to check all of these songs.

Amanda Jenssen's new single "Dry My Soul" is finally out!
Amanda has performed the track on Grammis awards and has packed it up with a bright show and loads of energy we expected from the first listen.
Full version of really stylish video hasn't disappointed and has become a nice way to present new Amanda. The girl is 23, she grows, finds her style and looks great.

Whitney Houston's death has shaken up music world and many artists who were inspired by talent of this legendary pop-star pay tribute to the memory of Whitney.
Shirley Clamp has become one of such artists, she has visited Efter Tio to sing "I Will Always Love You" and it has become really touching version with Shirley's voice.

Lena Philipsson's long-awaited album "Världen snurrar" is finally out and though after release of "Nästa Säsong" and unveiling list of indie and hip-hop producers in media I've started to be afraid Lena's over with disco, the album has turned to mostly dance-record. Very different album from cold 80s electro-sound of Christian Falk-produced "Blir Galen" and "Vart Tog Du Vägen" to 90s house of "Igen och Igen", from retro movie-ballad "Ett Hjärta" to utterly schlageristic "Live Tomorrow" produced by Peter Boström. Besides "Live Tomorrow" and "The Botten Is Nådd" Peter has produced two other biggest highlights of the album - brand new single "Du Följer Väl Med?" - cover from the latest Sarah Connor's album which has received a big Guetta club-production and Septemberish electro-disco track "Världen Snurrar" with pretty adorable dreamy piano part. Very tight album pleasing every Lena's fan with at least few tracks. You can listen to both of our faves below and "Blir Galen" here.

New bunch of Melodifestivalen participants is delivered and we check 1-minutes rehearsals of next schlager-heroes of this year.
Youngblood have presented "Manboy"-cousin armed with torches and Thomas Benstem's choreography. Maria BenHajji has brought 203 candles and her upgraded schlager-ballad. Mattias Andréasson from E.M.D. starts his solo-career with American electronic pop-mix of Oscar Linnros r'n'b direction (my absolute favorite of this semifinal by snippets). Love Generation are back with RedOne's marching dance-tune and Alex Sparrow-inspired show from Sacha Jean-Baptiste. Carolina Wallin Pérez has melancholic indie-track, bunch of drummers and butterfly-confetti. Andreas Johnson doesn't break what worked well for him when he has started with "Sing For Me" arena-oriented pop-rock. Molly Sandén's song is Leona Lewis-sounding dramatic ballad that I can't compare with any other song Molly did before but I save my judgments before I'll listen to it in a full version. And finally Swedish writer Björn Ranelid with ex-Caracola Sara Li. I'm not even gonna try to understand that buzz around Björn, I'll be just enjoying Sara Li's lovely bubblegum-part that sounds especially good after Björn's "there-is-such-a-promising-dance-production-so-read-faster-and-let-the-chorus-start" part.

Veronica Maggio has become a big winner of yesterday's Grammis awards, she has won Best Composer, Best Lyrics Writer and Best Pop. Avicii has taken Best Song ("Levels") and Best Innovator, Lykke Li has become Best Artist and also has won Best Album (absolutely rightful here, her album is the most inspiring and beautiful Swedish record of 2011 in my personal list). You can check full list here.
Today Veronica presents the video for the song "Mitt Hjärta Blöder" that has already managed to reach #5 of Swedish chart and has spent whole year in chart but seems like the label wants to keep promoting Veronica this year too and we don't mind.

Seems like we've lost Gathania's path forever, her last single "Spinning" was released almost two years ago and since that she has appeared only in the music theme to Swedish TV-show "Kär & Galen". But the wait is over as 4 On The Floor label has unleashed a snippet of the track with Gathania's vocals from Jonas von der Burg's studio (Gathania has also announced today on her Facebook page that she has prepared new Jonas' produced single). Snippet in the video sounds in pretty recognizable dancetastic Gathania's style with loads of vocal attitude and if you love Jonas' productions you're gonna enjoy this track a lot too!

Tomorrow Love Generation's week starts for real as the band goes to Leksand to perform in the third Melodifestivalen semifinal with a song "Just A Little Bit" co-written by RedOne, which is always very exciting thing. Cover of the single is unleashed and you can check it above.
Girls send St. Valentine's Day congratulations to their fans and have come up with a nice music gift which is more than actual right after six Grammy awards received by Adele.

Almost two years ago we've got quite unexpected news about Idol-2009 winner Erik Grönwall replacing vocalist of H.e.a.t. - a band that pop-fans can remember by participation in Melodifestivalen-2009 with a rock-song "1000 Miles". Erik has shown himself as a big fan of classic 80s rock with a loud screaming vocal so there seemed nothing wrong in this idea and here we have the first single of H.e.a.t. with Erik.
"Living On The Run" is absolutely worthy follow-up of "1000 Miles", it's a big 80s rock song with a strong tune sounding like an old anthem that everyone has ocasionally missed then but finally it has arrived and becomes pretty exciting introduction to H.e.a.t.'s new era that will be celebrated on March 28th with release of the brand new album "Address The Nation".
Last autumn it was rumoured that Fredrik Kempe has written a track for guys to participate in Melodifestivalen but seems like they didn't negotiated so I hope guys will change their mind for the next schlager-season.

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.

While we're waiting for ages when some of our favorite artists will shoot new video, Tove Styrke makes already second video for her latest single "Call My Name".
Girl definitely has high label's hopes on to be promoted internationally and it's great to see them ready to spend budgets on Tove.

Another semifinal of Melodifestivalen is over and Ulrik Munther with David Lindgren become a new couple of winners.
I never had a doubt Ulrik is going to go directly to the final but I underestimated David even after he has won public poll yesterday but after all "Shout It Out" is a good modern dance song and Tony Nilsson's second song-finalist after Darin by the way. This year's final in common is going to be very modern and much stronger than year before. Timoteij with their new folk-schlager and rockabilly-band Top Cats have qualified to Andra Chansen.
Di Leva's confetti fest was left 5th, Sonja's schlager-ballad was 6th (wondering if there'll be more schlager-ballads next year?), Andreas Lundstedt dance-comeback has reached 7th (first really painful moment for me) and Mimi's colourful performance has become 8th (another not less painful moment).
Among positive moments we've got Jessica Folcker back in a live mashup of Anniela's "Elektrisk" and "Electric" of Melody Club, Robyn and Leila K. We miss you, Jess!

Today I've got absolutely wonderful present from Mimi Oh and her label - stylish flash stick containing full promo-pack of her single "Säkerhetsnål" packed in a cassette box!
Not that I would be less glad if it was just a standard disk but look above what a creative idea it is.
Besides a video for "Säkerhetsnål" pack contains 8 mixes including three versions of Soundfactory mix that I was pretty positive about but what I was surprised by is that Anders Nyman's, Erik Emanon's and Golfinger mixes has turned even stronger club mixes. I was completely sold by Swedish House Mafia-breathing piano keys in Anders' mix, Erik Emanon's has more electronic sound with a heavily buzzing layouts and blossoming anthemic choruses, Goldfinger mix feels like a more rhythmic version of Erik Emanon's work but is still really loveable. You cacn check snippets of mixes at Schlagerfiasko.
I remind you that Mimi participates tonight in the second semifinal of Melodifestivalen with a track "Det Går För Långsamt" - big caramel synthpop-track with a beautifully developed tune written by Anton Malmberg Hård af Segerstad and Niclas Lundin. Mimi has prepared colourful performance with a lot of dancers and (I can't help but mention) with her new hairstyle she looks especially sweet with! So pay her a proper attention, this artist and the song are really worth it. You can listen to Mimi's song and songs of the rest of participants below.

Ladies and gentlemen, here's the greatest schlager-medley I've seen so far! Melodifestivalen-stars have joined forces on Gaygalan to perform for Christer Björkman and it has turned to 15 minutes of schlager-classics from Shirley Clamp, Love Generation, Andreas Johnson, Sarek, Sanna Nielsen, Linda Bengtzing, Afro-dite, Jenny Silver, Malena Ernman, Swingfly, Måns Zelmerlöw, Charlotte Perelli. Incredible summarizing of the latest Melodifestivalen decade!

Earlier today I told you about Darin's new single "Nobody Knows" and it's already #5 on iTunes!
Hope it will be one of the biggest summer hits in Sweden and now we've got Darin's performance of this song on recent Gaygalan where the artist has brought loads of Melodifestivalen dancers with "In The Club" style choreography, absolutely awesome comeback!

New Gravitonas year is not going to be any less active as previous one, Alexander Bard has announced that new EP will be out in March and will possibly include 2 or 3 brand new singles.
Not sure if it will be one of them but fresh Gravitonas' track "Call Your Name" has arrived on Russian radio and as "Lucky Star" it's something absolutely unexpected. It's a dance track clearly inspired by Romanian-club sound but still Swedish enough, probably something you can compare with SOJO style but still different in a common concept. Exciting and absolutely enjoyable premiere that you can find here or below!

After the year of active work with the most different songwriters on new solo-stuff and music for other artists Darin is finally back with a big dance premiere "Nobody Knows".
It's probably the most clubby record we've heard so far from Darin but still absolutely poppy starting with growing piano boyband intro and bursting in absolutely euphoric (word of this season?) dance-chorus. Darin is one of the most successful Idol-artists and the question is if Melodifestivalen hasn't affected his career negative way. I hope not as it's a gorgeous pop-track Sweden absolutely should accept. Single is out today, so we'll be able to watch its success in iTunes-chart very soon.

Latest Cazzi Opeia's single "My Heart In 2" we were so positive about is getting a video treatment.
I'm still sure it was one of the most catchy dance tunes of 2011 and it absolutely should be heard by fans of Swedish dance-pop. Cazzi Opeia mostly presents her traditional (if we can say so) image - aggressively special but utterly sweet and creative in this video. Wondering if Sweden can even realize this artist sometimes was Idol-Moa?

First we've met Elodie when we've found her name in credits on Play's Emelie Norenberg solo-track "Strong", then Elodie was working on some solo-stuff we were interested to dig into and here's her new dance single "Miss Vamberly".
It's an artistic, crazy in a good sense dance-music you can't directly categorize but it seems like it doesn't really want to be categorized going it's own weird way we're glad to follow.
If you like this song you should also check another Elodie's single "Go Away" - it's much more dreamier aesthetic electronic discopop but not miles away from "Miss Vamberly".

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.

Last summer Sebastian has visited Nyhetsmorgon with some pieces of his new music which were presented in acoustic so it was hard to judge what we should expect. But finally those tracks were released on new Sebastian's album "No Red Line" and Sebastian's back again but this time to present new songs - latest single "Sunday Morning" and "No Red Line" with full live band.

New international breakthrough from Sweden - Niki & The Dove present animated video for the one of earlier presented tracks "The Fox" almost in a year after release like it was with "DJ, Ease My Mind".
I've already said a lot of words of encouragement to this band but honestly "The Fox" wasn't that song I've accepted directly. Before I've watched this video that has made me pay a proper attention to this tune which is actually pretty awesome building really special haunting atmosphere with Niki & The Dove's electronic sound.

Not that we've got loads of video-premieres this year but I can already say that from what I've seen Miike Snow have delivered absolutely the best video for "Paddling Out" reminding me of the end of 90s/beginning of 00s when electronic artists like Fatboy Slim was making some amazing videos with plots, investing proper budget and earning loads of attention from pop-audience that would never start listening to this sort of music. It's a good track and awesome video that you absolutely should check.

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.