This week sees the third heat of Melodifestivalen take place, all the way down in beautiful Malmö. You can read all about last week’s shenanigans in Gothenburg right here.
In the artist line-up this week, we have an Idol winner, a Melodifestivalen winner, a blast from the past who’s been dug up to meet trend quotas, a hip-hop artist, a total newcomer, a P3 radio pop darling, and a couple of old dudes loved by the nation.
And here’s what each of them have got to say about their songs;
HEAT 3: Malmö (Feb 17th)
Martin Almgren – A Bitter Lullaby
(Josefin Glenmark, Märta Grauers)
The winner of 2015 Swedish Idol, Martin has gone down the country music route with his career post-contest. Things started off quite well and we featured the first few of his releases. But his next few lost the pop somewhat, and we’ve not been bothering with him. If he’s set for Melodifestivalen though, we reckon he’s pulled his socks up again. Particularly with those writers on board. Josefin has been behind the hits of Peg Parnevik, and Märta has contributed hits to Alcazar, Agnes, and Le Kid. Martin himself promises us a very strong melody.
Barbi Escobar – Stark
(Barbi Escobar, Costa Leon, Andreas ”Stone” Johansson)
An R&B and soul artist who moved to Sweden from Chile. She’s got huge experience as a backing singer, so we’re looking forward to the vox on this one. She describes her track as an up-tempo pop song with urban influences and a melancholic tone.
Moncho – Cuba Libre
(Jimmy Jansson, David Strääf, Markus Videsäter, Axel Schylström, Moncho)
The brother of one of Sweden’s biggest hip hop stars today, Dani M. And he’s a hip hop artist in his own right, is Moncho. Both as a solo act and as part of the group Löst Folk. We’d be surprised to hear him veer away from that sound, though with a title like ‘Cuba Libre’, we’re hoping for a spicy production with flare. In his description of the song, he’s defying anyone to stand still while it’s one – it’s an energetic dance track with flavours of soca, reggaeton, and hip hop.
Jessica Andersson – Party Voice
(Fredrik Kempe, David Kreuger, Niklas Carson Mattsson, Jessica Andersson)
Y’all know Yessica by now. But in recent years you’ve known her as a balladeer. And a successful one at that, with two Melodifestivalen finalists and a phenomenal Svensktoppen run with said ballads. However, all credit to her, she’s returning to up-tempo schlager pop!!! In the words of Dr Alban on the Melodifestivalen 2014 stage; “YES JESSICA”!
Kalle Moraeus & Orsa Spelmän – Min Dröm
(Thomas G:son, Alexzandra Wickman)
These two old-timers and Benny Andersson Band collaborators last graced the Melodifestivalen stage in 2010, with the underbart ‘Underbart‘. A vaguely comical but mostly rather enjoyable slice of old-man-schlager. We’d be lying if we said we wanted anything different from them this time around. And they’ve pretty much confirmed that we’ll be getting another dance-able folk track. Bliss!
Dotter – Cry
(Linnea Deb, Peter Boström, Thomas G:son, Johanna ”Dotter” Jansson)
We’re big fans of Dotter here on Scandipop, having covered all of her releases. And while it’s her first time at Melodifestivalen as an artist, she did make an appearance at last year’s contest as one of the songwriters for Mariette’s ‘A Million Years‘. As for the writing behind this tune, Dotter has hooked up with what’s probably the most successful trio of names on the whole list of 28 entries this year. We’re expecting big things. She describes it as a modern pop ballad with plenty of quirk to it.
Mendez – Everyday
(Leopoldo Mendez, Jimmy Jansson, Palle Hammarlund)
At the start of the century this chap was churning out the summer-time hits, even extending his novelty charms to two Melodifestivalens, in 2002 and 03. And now that arguably the biggest summer hit the world has ever seen has just happened – in ‘Despacito’ – his talents have been called upon once more. Apparently he’s been told not to shy away from creating an exact replica too – we LOVE the bare faced cheek of SVT sometimes. He’s teamed up with Dolly Style’s usual writers too, just in case you wanted this entry to be any more ridiculous.
