Emilia Sjöholm has covered one of the new comeback ABBA songs of 2021, Don’t Shut Me Down. She does a really great job as it is difficult to cover ABBA songs, and she gives this a lot of credit.
Continue reading Emilia Sjöholm and her cover of ‘Don’t Shut Me Down’ by ABBA
Dotter recently released her new single called Jealous. It is a melodic and upbeat song with a happy atmosphere.
Theoz has covered Hooked On A Feeling for his new release. It is a cover of the Blue Swede (a group that featured Bjorn Skifs who represented Sweden twice at the Eurovision song contest) number one in the USA and also a hit by the composer, B J Thomas, who died a month or so ago.
Continue reading Theoz is ‘Hooked On A Feeling’ with his new song
A new release from Sweden brings us ATTLERUD feat. JEPPE with the catchy new song NU /NOW.
Check it out below.
The Swedish selection for Eurovision 2017 in Kyiv takes place tonight.
The show will be held at the Friends Arena in Stockholm and will be hosted by Hasse Andersson, David Lindgren and Clara Henry.
After 4 semi finals and a second chance round, the 28 acts have been narrowed to 12 and they will fight it out to represent Sweden in May.
The Swedish Eurovision entry will be determined via 50/50 public televoting-international jury deliberation.
It is difficult for ESCCovers to single out who we will promote but finally we decided on FO&O with “Gotta thing about you” as one of the composers Robert “Mutt” Lange is from South Africa and ESC Covers is a South African based website.
Here is a photo of the artists forming part of the 12 entries in the Swedish 2017 selection.
Hope for a great show
FO&O is one of the acts in tonight’s third semi final in the Swedish selection for the 2017 Eurovision song contest in Kyiv.
FO&O is short for Felix, Oscar & Omar, the three members of the group. The group was known as The Fooo Conspiracy until recently, but changed their name to a shorter form after former member Oscar “Olly” Molander left the band. Now there is one less O since this O went to look for greener pastures as someone put it.
The group is debuting at Melodifestivalen 2017 with a song called “Gotta Thing About You”. Robert John “Mutt” Lange (originally from South Africa) and Tony Nilsson have written the song. Mutt has written and produced songs for superstars such as Maroon 5, Lady Gaga and Backstreet Boys as well as for this ex wife Shania Twain and Bryan Adams. Tony Nilsson has had over ten songs at Melodifestivalen over the past years, so he seems to be a veteran.
Well we made it to the final at last. Here we are at Friends Arena in Stockholm to decide which of these 12 acts will represent Sweden in the 61st year of the Eurovision Song Contest which will also be hosted here in Stockholm but in the cozier Globen Arena. Tonight 28,000 people will attend Sweden’s most watched event, Melodifestivalen.
There is lots of speculation around who will win tonight but I still think it is anyone’s game. The bookies favourite originally was Molly Sandén but after the fourth semi-final all of the attention shifted to Frans and has remained there. The rankings amongst the pack below him has drastically changed almost daily. So it is anyone’s guess who will actually win. So here is my prediction for this evening’s result.
This year has been very difficult to predict as there are so many songs that could ultimately win. So what do you think?
Welcome to the penultimate show of the Swedish selection, Andra Chansen (Second Chance). This week we visit the Halmstad Arena in Halmstad to decide which four songs will join the eight direct qualifiers for the final on the 12 March. Gina Dirawi will be joined by Peter Jöback and Ola Salo this week for hosting duties. As the Second Chance is all about duels the opening theme is Bond styled including a performance of Skyfall of the hosts.
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Duel 1 – Panetoz “Håll Om Mig hart” (Hold Me Tight) Versus Molly Pettersson Hammar “Hunger” – Predict “Hunger”
The urban dance group versus the larger than life diva. The upbeat dance number is growing on me and full use of the stage and audience area is impressive but I don’t think they will be no match for the overly dramatic ballad and pyrotechnics of Hunger. With Molly’s snub last year and the showy performance this year, Molly should progress easily to the final.
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Duel 2 – Albin & Mattias “Rik” (Rich) Versus Boris René “Put Your Love on Me” – Predict “Put Your Love on Me”
This combo puts the seasoned performing brother against the footballer. I’m still surprised that Rik made it this far. The song lacks the singability factor whereas Boris’ song is instantly catchy. The only issue with both of these acts is that their vocal performances have been patchy. The happy bright performance of Boris does give him the advantage.
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Duel 3 – ISA “I Will Wait” Versus SaRaha “Kizunguzungu” (Dizziness) – Predict “I Will Wait”
Will the pocket sized pop princess beat the feel good Swahili number? This battle is the most difficult to predict as both songs are good enough to be in the final. ISA’s song is great but is it too big for her? Will the Swedish public vote for a song in Swahili? I think ISA’s popularity will win out over the fun dance number.
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Duel 4 – Dolly Style “Rollercoaster” Versus Samir & Viktor “Bada Nakna” (Bathe Naked) – Predict “Bada Nakna”
The Barbies against the Kens. I love the energy and performance of Dolly Style and the song is pure fun. Samir & Viktor’s performance is really focused on the water features and the shirtless finish but their song is still fun. I think Samir & Viktor’s popularity will win out over Dolly Style’s unfortunately.
Welcome to the last week of semi finals before visiting next week’s Andra Chansen (Second Chance). This week we visit the Gavlerinken in Gävle to decide which two songs will qualify for the final on the 12 March and which two songs will go to the Andra Chansen on the 5 March. Gina Dirawi will be joined by Sarah Dawn Finer this week for hosting duties.
The fourth semi-final is packed full of returning participants but there are a few debut artists as well which make cause some upsets tonight.
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1 Eclipse “Runaways” – Predict Andra Chansen
This hard rock group has been going since 1999 and have released 6 albums so far. Their lead singer, Erik Mårtensson, has written their debut Melodifestivalen entry “Runaways.” The song is a typical rock number by very much a catchy one that you could sing along to after one listen. I think it is good enough tocarry on in the competition as their performance is solid but is it really Eurovision?
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2 Dolly Style “Rollercoaster” – Predict Andra Chansen
Who could forget “Hello Hi”, Dolly Style’s debut last year which just missed out on a place in the final. With only one of the three original members, Dolly Style is back this year with “Rollercoaster.” The is song is everything that Bubblegum Pop should be, instantly catchy, sickeningly sweet and repetitive but I feel the song and performance is missing something. Although with their popularity they should easily progress to Andra Chansen again this year.
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3 Martin Stenmarck “Du Tar Mig Tillbaks” (You Take Me Back) – Predict 7th Place
Former Melodifestivalen winner, Stenmarck is back for his third attempt with a Swedish language ballad. The only issue here the song feels dated and feels like an old Irish entry that has been translated. Compare that with a lacklustre performance and you go home unfortunately. This is Stenmarck’s weakest entry to date and will be very surprised if places higher than last.
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4 Linda Bengtzing “Killer Girl” – Predict 6th Place
I’m not sure if the semi final is about weak entries for returning artist or what but here we are again with Linda Bengtzing, sixth time entrant with possibly her weakest entry to date as well. “Killer Girl” has the potential to have been a Schlager classic but it just feels a bit recycled with an attempt to update the Schlager sound. I think she will struggle to qualify even with her fan base.
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5 Frans “If I Were Sorry” – Predict Finalist
Known for his football anthems, Frans has had little experience in the mainstream arena. His debut Melodifestivalen entry, “If I Were Sorry” has a real message behind the song and Frans delivers it with passion. One of the surprise favourites tonight due to his near spotless rehearsal could very well qualify for the final amongst so many big names. Although not my favourite style of music, I must give him credit as he has a song that could very well change his career.
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6 Panetoz “Håll Om Mig Hårt” (Hold Me Tight) – Predict 5th Place
Panetoz are back after a year break with their new entry “Håll Om Mig Hårt” which is stylistically like their music and first entry “Efter Solsken”, which finished in 9th place, but it doesn’t really bring anything new to the table. Their boy band African style dance fusion has done well in Sweden and even gave them a number one but they haven’t since matched that success. Tonight I feel that they won’t be making any further accomplishments to their career.
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7 Molly Sandén “Youniverse” – Predict Finalist
So onto the favourite, not only of the semi final but of the whole contest. Molly Sandén has participated twice before and has gone direct to the final both times. Why should the former Miss Eric Saade, now Miss Danny Saucedo, not qualify tonight as well. The song leaked due to a site giving a presale clip of the single but SVT allowed all the songs to be available for 24 hours to make it fair. Her rehearsal has been criticised but it was always going to be as she is the one everyone is watching. The song was co-written by her and Saucedo and I think the performance is good enough to get her direct to the final without worry.
What do you think?
