On Saturday, Sweden hosted its last semi-final in Örebro. In my opinion, it was the best show of the four. With Måns Zelmerlöw and JTR securing places in the final on the 14th March.
Midnight Boy – Don’t say no – Eliminated (7th Place)
A popular song writer in his own right, Midnight Boy has produced a typical 80’s gay anthem that wouldn’t be out of place in any retro discotheque. His performance is very good only noticed one off note. Unfortunately the Swedish public didn’t agree placing it last.
Caroline Wennergren – Black swan – Eliminated (5th Place)
This is Wennergren’s second attempt in Melodifestivalen she qualified previously to the final and finished 5th overall with “A Different Kind of Love.” I found this song a bit boring actually Wennergren’s raspy voice was the only character I noticed in the performance.
JTR – Building it up – Advances direct to the final
JTR are a Swedish boy band made up of three brothers that actually rose to fame by participating in X Factor Australia. They finished in 7th place but have subsequently released an album that has charted in both Sweden and Australia. I honestly didn’t think much of this song and found it to be the most boring of the evening. The song wasn’t interesting enough and has a fairly weak hook. I believe popularity and good looks possibly haven’t hurt their result. I was shocked that the qualified directly for the final.
Hasse Andersson – Guld och gröna skogar (Gold and green forests) – Advances to the second chance
For 35 years, Hasse Andersson has been performing his Swedish country music achieving chart success mostly in the 80’s. This jolly traditional country number was refreshing and sweet. The dancers and staging just brought together the sense of spring. Andersson’s overall performance was fairly solid for the 67 year old and with a catchy hook I easily hummed along to the melody. It clearly won’t win any awards but still welcome to see and hear some happy, well written music.
Dinah Nah – Make me (La la la) – Advances to the second chance
This is Nah’s first Melodifestivalen entry with the simple but effective staging she has managed a ticket to the second chance. The song isn’t as strong as Midnight Boy’s but it is repetitive and the dance sequences with the earthquake effects works very well. Definitely another club style song, “Make Me (La la la)” lacks that super strong chorus that a club track needs. Still an impressive first outing.
Annika Herlitz – Ett andetag (One breath) – Eliminated (6th Place)
Herlitz is a singer and voiceover actress, most famous for being Elsa in the Swedish version of Disney’s Frozen. She has perform the Swedish version of “Let it Go”, “Slå Dig Fri” for the film and countless times to the Swedish public. With such a powerful song, I was expecting a WOW from Herlitz which she delivered a lovely performance but wasn’t quite the diva power of “Let it Go”. Arguably this was my favourite song of the evening. It built well and had all of the traditional touches of a classic Swedish Schlager hit. I think it was missing that overly dramatic big note that these songs are built on.
Måns Zelmerlöw – Heroes – Advances direct to the final
This is Zelmerlöw’s third entry to Melodifestivalen, finishing 3rd with “Cara Mia” and 4th with “Hope & Glory.” He also co-hosted the contest in 2010 which he gained lots more popularity. This was clearly the favourite to win the semi-final and SVT often put the hot favourite to win the crown in the last place of the 4th semi-final. Being named Sweden’s sexiest man several years in a row probably doesn’t hurt your chances either. Honestly the song is OK, it’s growing on me. The first 30 seconds is dreadful, sounding something like an old fashioned folk singer. What makes this amazing is the staging and special effects of the performance. This could well win but I still think that the Semi orphan might walk away with the victory.
