So, this Melodifestivalen lark that we’ve gabbing on about for the last few months is finally HERE! It all kicks off this weekend. And so every week for the next six, we’ll be devoting a fair bit of coverage to it. As we’re going to be attending each of the four heats plus the final, we hope to give you as much of an insider’s view as possible. We’ll also be attending the dress rehearsals of each show too. Multiple times!
We’ve decided to at least try to implement some sort of a structure to all of this coverage. Otherwise, it runs the risk of looking like a huge mess that’s complicated to follow. So here’s what we think we’re gonna be doing for the next few weeks (we take this very seriously you know!)…….
• At the beginning of each week we’ll present the songs and artists which will be competing in that weekend’s show
• On the Friday we’ll write our report from the rehearsals
• And then on either one or two days after each show, we’ll write our review of that show
And of course we’ll be continuing with our Melodifestivalen interviews with some of the artists, and the fabulous Le Kid and Linda Sonnvik will continue to submit their blogs about what’s going on with them in the run up to, and during the contest. Oh yeah, and SVT will be uploading 1 minute clips of the rehearsals every Thursday night, so we’ll probably link to those too.
For everything else (the smaller trivialities, gossip from the after parties, news we hear directly from the artists, and all other bits and pieces in between) we’ll confine to our twitter profile. If you’ve got twitter and aren’t following us yet, then you should be! And if you haven’t got twitter but would like to be kept up-to-date with what’s going on with Melodifestivalen, then you should just sign up. Not just to follow what we say, but lots of the artists, other music and news websites, and the official SVT Melodifestivalen twitter accounts that are on there too. It’s a veritable riot, honestly!
Right then, on with the show.
IT ALL KICKS OFF THIS WEEKEND!!!
And here are the eight songs competing in Heat 1, this Saturday February 5th, in Luleå. A public televote will decide two to progress to the grand final, another two to get a place in the second chance round a week before the final, and the remaining four will be eliminated from the competition.
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Dilba – ‘Try Again’ (Niklas Pettersson and Linda Sonnvik)
Former soul Princess reinvents herself as club Queen. So far in her career she’s won everything from Grammy awards to poker tournaments to a hell of a lot of respect. So how will she fare in this latest challenge she’s set herself?
Swingfly – ‘Me And My Drum’ (Teron Beal, Patrik Magnusson, Johan Ramström and Swingfly)
Previously, he’s built up a reputation as a big force in both the urban and dance music scenes in Sweden. We imagine he’ll be bringing something different to the contest, and probably a few new viewers as well.
Jenny Silver – ‘Something In Your Eyes’ (Erik Bernholm, Thomas G:son and Henrik Sethsson)
By all accounts, her weird and (to some people) wonderful appearance at last year’s contest has been wiped from memory, and she’s come back as an Abba-disco schlager girl. Music to our ears – quite literally, we hope!
Jonas Matsson – ‘On My Own’ (Sari Autio Olsson and Peter Autio)
Coming into the contest after his success at the web-joker competition, his song has the head start of already having a fanbase. But let’s see how it copes when it’s put in amongst the big ones!
Le Kid – ‘Oh My God!’ (Märta Grauers, Anton Malmborg Hård af Segerstad and Felix Persson)
One of the best new acts to come out of Sweden in a very long time. Let’s hope that Sweden recognizes this as much as the international blogosphere quite clearly has.
Rasmus Viberg – ‘Social Butterfly’ (Amir Aly and Henrik Wikström)
Henrik Wikström composed. So we’re pretty much almost sold on it already! Although we don’t know anything about this gent, so we’re keeping an open mind.
Pernilla Andersson – ‘Desperados’ (Pernilla Andersson)
Quite famous, quite respected, and quite likely to succeed, we reckon.
Danny – ‘In The Club’ (Fredrik Boström, Peter Boström and Danny Saucedo)
Who doesn’t love Danny?! His fanbase is surely big enough to make him a surefire qualifier. And with that songwriting team behing him, we doubt it’ll be undeserved in any way.
