Swedish~ Stereo~

Schlager-circus is back in town, this time this town is Skellefteå!
Last week we've got Sean Banan and Louise Hoffsten going to the final, Anton Ewald and duo of Erik Segerstedt and Tone Damli to Andra Chansen while Swedish House Wives have gone out of the game. Very disappointing but still we have more songs to be performed at melostage and let's check what this meloweek has for us.
Eddie Razaz has delivered dance-song with RedOnesque verses and epic club-production of choruses from "Euphoria" songwriters, one of our favorites!
Webbjoker Elin Petersson's acoustic ballad was upgraded by Salem al Fakir though you don't directly feel Salem.
Ravaillacz perform Irish pub-schlager which feels unexpected for Tommy Körberg big ballads.
Amanda Fondell makes dark utterly dramatic ballad with a retro feeling.
Martin Roolinski's performs dance-pop which is quite Modern Talking's "Brother Louie" and "Cheri Cheri Lady" and "You're My Heart, You're My Soul" and... But it's very BWO at the same time so BWO fans shouldn't complain.
State Of Drama makes lighter version of Dead By April's "Crossroads" and Hoobastank "The Reason".
Caroline Af Ugglas grows up tempo after her last participation but still it's very classic Caroline's dramatic album track.
And finally Janet Leon's participates with Agnes-pop, modern disco with a heavy production.
I find Eddie and Janet having the strongest entries this week though Amanda and Martin's songs are quite pleasant too. I expected more from Caroline and State Of Drama but they're not bad at all. But do we still have melowinner hiding in the 4th semifinal?

The second bunch of Melodifestivalen-2013 artists is on the way to compete in today's semifila and what do we have this time?
Fredrik Kempe has unexpectedly prepared the song for Anton Ewald that we could expect from some modern Swedish club-act doing pop-single. Fredrik's best dance-song since... Andreas Wijk's "Like My Style"? Probably. And Anton looks like Andreas' brother, no?
Sean Banan makes follow-up of previous melo-single of the same direction.
Louise Hoffsten presents country-pop-rock that she could easily release back in 90s.
Rikard Wolff is in with minimalistic theatrical ballad.
Erik Segerstedt and Tone Damli join forces for a cute county-pop ballad.
Joacim Cans will surprise audience with completely non-hardrock folky indie.
Swedish House Wives sing Brittish girlsband track sounding like a big schlager-mix of "Judas" and "The Edge Of Glory".
Newcomer Felicia Olsson makes a beautiful soul-ballad breathing with both Alicia Keys and Maria Haukaas (the last one has actually written it).
My pop-heart in this line-up melts while listening to Anton and Swedish House Wives. But Erik and Tone have definitely turned quite pleasant in a full length studio record. Felicia sounds quite impressive too. But it's all about the first ones! So let's put entries on replay and wait for the semifinal.

Yesterday we've got the first melofinalists of this year and it was unsurprisingly but rightfully David Lindgren and Yohio.
As I said David has delivered the most complete pack giving everything he was expected to give and growing enough this year but the biggest breakthrough was made by Yohio, he has delivered powerful performance, properly energetic and colourful. After I've heard the song it has become my semifinal's favorite and Yohio has made 200% out of it on the stage. Looking at Aftonbladet's poll we can almost don't have doubts he has won semifinal.
I'm also glad that my second favorites Cookies N Beans have qualified, their expressive, emotional performance with "Burning Flags" definitely was their new artisitic step. Eric Gadd also has got a pretty nice spring entry I'd like to put on repeat if I visited this year's schlager-Stockholm in March.
Unfortunately Michael Feiner and Caisa's song hasn't qualified becoming 6th (Mary N'diaye was 5th, Anna Järvinen - 7th and Jay-Jay Johanson - 8th) but it's still one of the best things coming from solo-members of The Attic and I hope this wonderful duo will keep working together.

Though I've put a blog to a slower tempo, you can always feel my presence on twitter and you know that I'm somewhere close when Melodifestivalen season is on.
The first bunch of Melodifestivalen is finally delivered ready to compete for the tickets to Friends Arena tonight.
This week David Lindgren is coming back with "Shout It Out" follow-up, sounding more mature and a bit smelling with SHM's "Save The World" (though probably with not as instantly sticking chorus but with a tougher production).
Michael Feiner and Caisa perform wonderful The Attic-sounding dance-anthem with saxophone.
Yohio surprisingly makes Cinema-Bizarre-goes-schlager-rock track.
Mary N'diaye is doing afro-dance track out of "Waka Waka" family.
Eric Gadd leaves his soul-past behind to explore Oscar Linnros-style.
Anna Järvinen though being compared to Caroline af Ugglas-2009 sounds quite Anna Maria Espinosa to me but looking at press hailing it seems like she has much bigger chances.
Jay-Jay Johanson performs the song which could be one of his non-MF singles though quite stronger and lighter than usual.
Cookies N Beans has Fredrik Kempe-penned song looking like a distant dramatic country-relative to Fredrik's Moving On/Alive/Hollow. Particularly production of bridge sounds very Hollow.
In this bunch my The Attic-loving heart falls instantly for Michael Feiner and Kempe-drama of Cookies N Beans. But David has prepared the most complete pack this week and I do like a spring Linnros-mood of Eric's song. But after listening to full versions I'm completely team Yohio. Really worthy piece of schlager-rock with amazing dramatic verses and pretty catchy choruses (and Yohio is already #3 by final winning odds by the way). So this is pleasant line-up, not as strong as it could be but some good stuff to stick into a player is there.
P.S. If you've missed the most awesome annual schlager-photoshooting, download fresh QX and enjoy this year's participants like you've never seen before!

Melodifestivalen-2001 winners Nina Inhammar and Kim Kärnfalk have come back to participate in Så ska det låta against another schlager-icons Lili & Susie.
After split of Friends they've made their breakthrough winning Melodifestivalen with Nina and Kim have started working in duo releasing new album, coming back to MF and even making Stockholm Pride-anthem in 2004. We didn't hear anything new from girls since that so it was especially great watching them performing not just "Lyssna till ditt hjärta" but also "Waterloo" and "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley".
Can Christer Björkman bring girls back next year? Yes, we've got two MF-winners flopping at MF-2012 but surely it was an exception and everything will be absolutely different next time, no?
Watch the show in its full version here.

Annual tradition of Melodifestivalen is inviting some non-schlager artist to make cover of previous winning song. This time SVT has made exception, cover of Eric Saade's "Popular" was made not less than by Eurovision-2005 winner Helena Paparizou who has delievered her very special version growing from Broadway musical sound to electropop heavy beat. Does it mean Christer Björkman is halfway from getting Helena to MF as an artist?

One week left before Melodifestivalen-2012 grand final and participants of this year present their songs on TV-shows, record promo-stuff for web and doing all the rest to get more attention bonuses in this really short period.
Below you can watch performances of Molly Sandén visiting Nyhetsmorgon with "Why Am I Crying?", "Spread A Little Light" and Whitney's "I Have Nothing" (and two first ones in XL Live), Danny Saucedo and Lisa Miskovsky with acoustic versions of their songs and Sean Banan performing his schlager-entry in Nyhetsmorgon.
Tonight Sweden will decide who will be the last two finalists of this year. You can watch rehearsals of Andra Chansen on SVT site (just scroll down a bit).

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.

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?

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".

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

We've got 3 weeks left before melotour will start and we'll keep following all news of Melodifestivalen rehearsals and presentations like we did last year.

First of all SVT has announced rules changes:
1) After the first round of voting we'll get 5 qualifying participants without revealed semifinal winner. In a second round (where all five participants will keep votes earned in the first round and new votes added) we'll get two finalists and two participants of Second Chance (without a winner announced again).
2) Second Chance duels won't be pre-defined (like 3rd place of 2nd semifinal against 4th place of 4th semifinal) but defined by draw. Still possibility of the same semifinal participants fighting in Second Chance will be excluded.
Though I don't really care about 2nd change, 1st one is what I was missing as last two years we had 4 real candidates for the win and the rest. That was decreasing excitement twice.

Second important news are official order of performances that you can see below.
Danny gets the most respectable last spot from which Carola, Malena and Charlotte won. Other opening/closing spots usually given to favorites have gone to Loreen, Youngblood, Ulrik Munther, Charlotte Perrelli and Thomas Di Leva. Sean Banan is responsible for a funny MF-starting performance and Björn Ranelid should work for statistics "finishing semifinal doesn't mean you should qualify somewhere".

In other news Molly Sandén and Eric Saade are not together anymore so Molly's MF-song gets real fresh story.

Mimi Oh keeps teasing with behind the scenes clips of her "Säkerhetsnål" video (part 1, part 2).

Talking about preparations - many participants already rehearses their performances and you can already see that Timoteij will use the same dance gang as in 2010 (except Fredrik Olofsson)...

...Afro-dite are working with choreographer Damon Frost and seems like they won't use other dancers (but it's not clear yet!)...

...Andreas Lundstedt puts on a show with performance choreographed by Jennie Widegren ("Deja Vu", "Lucky You")...

...and Molly gets tips from Rennie Mirro about her ballad performance.

And finally check who's becoming the biggest bookies favorites (according to unibet.se in this case).