Swedish~ Stereo~

Sanna Nielsen who has released new Christmas-album "Vinternatten" few weeks ago has arrived to Nyhetsmorgon studio today to make very nice acoustic set performing classic song "Drummer boy" and new single "Viskar ömt ditt namn", both are very pleasant and Christmas-mood raising!

Sanna Nielsen comes back with a Christmas album "Vinternatten" to be out on November 21st. Few weeks ago I already wrote about Sanna's announcement of Christmas tour and now tracklisting of the album is also revealed and among some Christmas covers you can also find "Bleeding Love", "Utan dina andetag" and "I'm In Love" which would be interesting to check in its studio Christmas version.
Today Sanna releases the new single from the album - "Viskar ömt mitt namn", very light and pleasant classic piano-based ballad, really nice gift to fans that you can pre-listen here at 10.56.

It's hard to imagine Christmas in Sweden without Sanna Nielsen being involved somehow lately and this year won't be an exception. The artist will release acoustic album "Vinternatten" consisiting of classic Christmas songs like "O helga natt", "Jul jul strålande jul", "Stilla natt", "Drummerboy" and not really Christmas like "Utan dina andetag" on November 21st. In the end of October Sanna will also release brand new single "Viskar ömt mitt namn" and will be touring around Sweden. Below you can watch her telling about upcoming tour and doing small acoustic performance.

Some bad news for those who have got to watch daily live performances in TV4's Nyhetsmorgon, management has decided to get rid off them during working days and invite artists only at weekends. Still we have loads of TV-shows to get some music goodies from.
For example Sanna Nielsen has become a guest of Bingolotto performing very nice cover of Neil Young's "Heart Of Gold" with a string orchestra behind. Ulrik Munther was another guest singing his MF-entry "Soldiers".

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!

Taking part in shooting for charity calendars has become an amazing tradition among Swedish musicians.
Last year I told you about Caroline Roosmark's calendar. If you haven't heard about it - it's made for charity collecting some biggest Swedish celebritites who participate for free. This year all income will be aimed to help children living in families with the only one parent and low budget. We've got not so many pop-artists - it was only Sanna Nielsen, Ulrik Munther and Marie Fredriksson this year but their images have become as impressive as we use to see in Caroline's works. You can check calendar and order it here.
Alsoe you can find another great calendar with loads of well-known faces of pop-music (Eric Saade, Danny, Loreen, Sara Varga, The Moniker, Nicke Borg, Martin Rolinski, Adam Tensta, Lisa Miskovsky) helping two organizations - Friends (against bullying in schools) and Naturskyddsföreningen (ecology organisation) here. And don't miss some videos of making it.

For all who was missing Lotta Engberg's show in Liseberg TV4 has started traditional series of four Christmas shows JulLotta på Liseberg featuring among others Sanna Nielsen, Roger Pontare, Ulrik Munther, Magnus Carlsson, Elisas, Jill Johnson and Magnus Uggla this time.
First episode was guested by Sanna, Ulrik and Roger, you can watch whole show here and below you can check Sanna performing beautiful ballad "Just Like That" written by Henrik Wikström and Kristian Lagerström from her latest album which sounded especially magic and touching in the context of show's Christmas atmosphere. Ulrik was great as always and crowd's scream in the end was confirming that he's gonna be one of the biggest favorites of Melodifestivalen-2012. Maybe competing with Lotta if she'll also be confirmed on Monday.

This is a nice experiment, isn't it?
Yesterday Sanna Nielsen has visited studio of Den Flyggande Mattan to perform medley of the best Michael Jackson hits along with a crowd of jumping kids and though this year's studio is far from fabulous, Sanna has taken a pot of fabulousness with her. Beautiful cover of "Teddybjörnen Fredriksson" and sure "I'm In Love" were also there.

We've lost a track of the latest episodes of "Moraeus med mera" that had more than worthy line-ups all the time though. Today Andreas Johnson and Tove Styrke performing their latest singles couldn't leave us silent so here are the most interesting performances of the last month from Sanna Nielsen, Charlotte Perrelli, Daniel Adams-Ray, Serenades, Lisa Misovsky, BAO singing ABBA-classics and Veronica Maggio performing with Benny Andersson.

If you're big fan of Swedish pop and gonna be in Sweden this Christmas you should know that Sanna Nielsen plans new Christmas tour Stämningsfullt around Sweden in November-December, it's gonna be acoustic, very intimate and it's the first time for the recent few years when Sanna doesn't take her friends (Shirley and Sonja), this time only Sanna's boyfriend Joakim Ramsell is going to join her.
We don't know if it means we'll get Sanna's acoustic compilation soon but below you can check how it's gonna sound live.
Did I promise that you won't manage to miss Swedish Christmas pop before I'll get back to news about another season? Here we go!

If you told me in the beginning of this year that Eric Amarillo will be all over Swedish TV whole summer I probably wouldn't believe you because we were waiting for The Attic's comeback too long and even if they'd be back we can't imagine dance club-project could be such a huge folk-favorite in Sweden even if it's all sorts of genial. However yesterday we had Eric appearing at Sommarkrysset and performance obviously had a great audience response. It's especially pleasant to see Jessica Marberger at backing vocals after her participation in Shirley's Angels and singing behind Azeris at Eurovision, don't you think? Sanna Nielsen has performed her newest single "Can't Stop Love Tonight" (expectedly) and Robyn's "Be Mine" (absolutely not! But very emotional, strong and bringing reasonable schlager-doze into a whole thing). Finally schlager-veteran Tommy Nilsson was singing two of his biggest hits - "Öppna din dörr" and "Dina färger var blå" with Eric Amarillo accompanying with flute.

Sanna Nielsen - Be mine
Sanna Nielsen - Can't stop love tonight
Eric Amarillo - Om sanningen ska fram
Tommy Nilsson - Dina färger var blå
Tommy Nilsson - Öppna din dörr

26-years-old Sanna Nielsen celebrates 15 years of her music career this year. Can you imagine? 15 years ago this legendary schlager-lady has released her first huge hit "Till en fågel". Later she had 9 albums (including best and Christmas compilations) and six Melodifestivalens where Sanna never missed the final. Absolutely fabulous career and Sanna celabrates anniversary with big tour "En Gång När Jag Blir Stor", P4 gives us a chance to visit one of concerts virtually. What can we say about? This gig is gonna be 1-hour schlager-heaven for all fans of Sanna or just those who enjoyed her hits more or less through all these years. You're gonna listen to some biggest Sanna's Melodifestivalen-entries with live band, songs from the newest album "I'm In Love" and nice acoustic versions of other old beloved hits, it all feels classic and really homey and warm.
And as small video-bonus check latest Sanna's performance with "I'm In Love" at Kvällen Är Din.

Setlist:
I Drove All Night
Devotion
Part Of Me
Rör vid min själ
Till en fågel
I går, i dag
Demolition Woman
Not Afraid To Love
Vågar du, vågar jag
Hela världen för mig
I'm In Love
Empty Room

This year season of summer tv-shows starts lately but finally it's here. Allsång På Skansen, Lotta På Liseberg and Sommarkrysset have already announced lineups and the first show to start is Lotta På Liseberg with (like it's always actually) heavily schlageristic staff including Sanna Nielsen with her brand new single "Can't Stop Love Tonight" (really wise summer choise in our opinion!), acoustic version of "I'm In Love" and Peter Lundblad's classic "Ta mig till havet", Orup with medley of his old hits ("Stockholm", "Regn Hos Mig", "Då står pojkarna på rad") and the newest single "Huddinge" performed with Le Kid (!!!), Swedish singer Loa Falkman and Eurovision-2009 winner Alexander Rybak who recently released Swedish traditional album and hasn't missed the moment to present new stuff. Check whole show here.

Sanna Nielsen - I'm in love
Sanna Nielsen - Cant stop love tonight
Sanna Nielsen - Ta Mig Till Havet
Orup - Medley
Orup - Huddinge
Loa Falkman - Till havs
Loa Falkman - Dans på Sunnanö
Alexander Rybak och Mats Paulsson - Barfotasång
Alexander Rybak och Mats Paulsson - Resan till dig
Alexander Rybak och Mats Paulsson - Visa vid vindens ängar

27.06 - Christer Sjögren, Thomas Di Leva, Ola, Jörgen Mörnbäck.
04.07 - Marlena Ernman, The Poodles, Swingfly feat Pauline.
11.07 - Jessica Andersson, Charlotte Perrelli, Linda Pritchard, Alcazar.
18.07 - Jenny Silver, Jack Vreeswijk, Ann-Louise Hansson, Josefin Glennmark, Brolle.
25.07 - Lill Lindfors, Ulrik Munther, Martin Rolinski.
01.08 - Danny, Arja Saijonmaa, A friend in London, Paradise Oskar, Stella Mwangi.
08.08 - Eric Saade, Tomas Ledin, Thomas Pettersson, September.

Not that we're keen on TV-shows for children but sometimes when our beloved schlager-stars appear in Gabba Gabba's humorous videos it changes everything!
When else can you see Shirley's Angels singing odes to hygiene products or Sanna Nielsen making music out of food. Swedish kids should be definitely greatful for their schlager-childhood and we keep enjoying new Gabba Gabba episodes.

One of the most respectable Melodifestivalen DJs SoundFactory delivers mix-treatment for the latest Sanna Nielsen's hit "I'm In Love".
Previously SoundFactory has already made mixes for Sanna's "Empty Room" and "Vågar Du, Vågar Jag" and now when Sanna's back SoundFactory equips her with fresh bunch of mixes that you can listen here.
Comparing to other previous SoundFactory mixes this one gets more electronic but still pretty recognizable for him with all the right accents and schlager-culmination on the place that is a good thing as his works have become some sort of Christmas schlager-tree - they just had to appear for one or two melosingles otherwise this MF season won't be complete.

Sanna Nielsen who's arranged grand comeback with new melofinalist single "I'm In Love", same-titled album and tour this (which starts right now) year is ready for a new reboot of her career and though we haven't reviewed her album yet (we will, we will!!!) we can enjoy her multiple performances on TV with new stuff, Sanna is one of the most professional and charismatic Swedish live artists so you're gonna like it all, no, you're gonna be IN LOVE with it, won't you?

Both biggest bookmakers and polls favorites Sanna Nielsen and Brolle have proved expectations and have taken victories moving to final of Melodifestivalen-2011 with the only difference - Sanna has become winner though Brolle was considered as bigger favorite.
Our thoughts? Not managing to like Brolle's song we're happy it's Sanna who have done it - she did everything right, performing it aseptically clean with confidence of artist who was on Melodifestivalen 5 times before. Unfortunately song (though it's good) sounds like younger sister of "Hero" (stopping Sanna from going to Eurovision 3 years ago) - fresh, more modern but not as massive so we don't see it as serious contender for a victory but still Sanna deserved victory in semifinal.
Really breathtaking thing for us was Loreen's performance, what a voice! We've drown in this voice and stopped to breathe for whole three minutes, incredible artist and we hope Loreen has a chance to qualify to final from AC. The Moniker has delievered bright-coloured show but the song still wasn't our cup of tea. Big losses for us were Christian Walz with amazing ballad "Like Suicide" that will make this meloseason for us (among few others) and Anniela's "Elektrisk" - great pop-song that can be on top of iTunes chart already tomorrow. Babsan gets our kudos for interesting show and Elisabeth Andreassen - for very high-professional vocals.
Another highlight of the show for us was Marie Serneholt performing "Babie Girl", what a great self-irony! We definitely respect it.

Some covers are too stunning to leave them without mention in separate post!
Sanna Nielsen opens season of MF-covers revealing cover of her own "I'm In Love" single that she will perform in 2nd semifinal in Gothenburg on February 12th. And it's just brilliant with Sanna looking very Scarlett Johansson!
This year Sanna will celebrate 15 years of her music career with new album planned to be released on March 2nd. Very smart strategy to bring loads of schlager-hits to melofans already 2 weeks before MF-final. Here's the latest Sanna's single "Part Of Me" that we're also in love with.

Have I promised not to finish with Christmas updates?
Sanna Nielsen, Shirley Clamp and Sonja Aldén were one of artists in special demand this Christmas. Their album "Vår Jul" has reached #6 of Swedish album chart and it's still at #12 after 2 month of sales. Not #1 like year before with their "Our Christmas" but still good sign for Sanna and Shirley as public faves pretending to get folk's love through their votes during Melodifestivalen. I guess I shouldn't describe again how enjoyable this trio singing Christmas songs, they really are, watch below. But I'd like to give you a tip about another new band Gentlemen appearing this year and performing at Christmas Bingolotto as well.
Gentlemen is a band consisting of three respectable artists in respectable age who have left their marks in Swedish music in the past but have left their bigger achievements for the later.
Fredrik Willstrand participated in Melodifestivalen-1986 and released 3 albums in 80ies. Micke Grahn was involved in leading Fame Factory, played in many huge musicals like "ABBA the True Story", "Sol vid och vatten", "Fame" and since 80ies worked with many popular Swedish artists. Stefan Nykvist also played in many big musicals like "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Sol, Vind och Vatten", worked with some world artists like Liza Minnelli and loads of Swedish ones (Sarah Dawn Finer, Jill Johnson, Patrik Isaksson, Sanna Nielsen, Eric Gadd). You could see Stefan as backing singer at Melodifestivalen and in live band of popular Rix FM festival. Being on one of those concerts I can say that I was really impressed how Stefan warmed up public singing some world hits with tonnes of energy and charm of Cheshire cat.
Year before Gentlemen have released album "Awaken Me" - very Josh Groban mostly musical-ballad adult album that you're gonna like if you listen to Josh, Canadian tenors and by the way producer of "Awaken Me" worked as well with Garou so you can get whole picture and watch their performance of "Silent Night" right below.

Christmas weekend continues with some Swedish stars live performances dedicated to celebration.
Today I'd like to share with you live set from holy schlager-trio Sanna Nielsen, Shirley Clamp and Sonja Alden who participated in SVT's Luciamorgon with Darin (I showed you his "O Holy Night" before). Girls performed together classic Lucia song "Så mörk är natten" a cappella and acoustic version of Christmas song "Tänd ett ljus" written by Niklas Strömstedt and Lasse Lindbom in 1987 and becoming later Swedish Christmas claassic hit covered by many different pop-artists. Sonja also performed "Pie Jesu" solo souding very spiritual and strong with choir and acoustic sound of Kungsholm's church. By the way as you probably already know Sonja is pregnant with her first baby from her boyfriend Jörgen Karlsson and wait for baby in May, here you can watch her pic with already belly getting round. Tomorrow SVT will show Christmas music show with Sonja's participance in 18.10 of local time.