Lock you in my heart

Five minutes! The stream for Melodifestivalen is on this site.

Edit 1 (post-the top five): WHAT?!?! I'm in shock...

Edit 2: Alcazar to Globen! Yes yes yes! Oh, thank you thank you thank you.

Edit 3: I'm redecorating my room to look like this...



...and that doesn't even begin to get across what it actually looked like. TWENTY DISCO BALLS.

Edit 4: I have to run, but I'll be back with thoughts of more than one sentence in length.

Edit 5: what did we do when this group wasn't around? I really don't know.



(These videos are getting pulled quickly, so it might not be there by the time you read this. There is a volume jump about a minute into the performance.)

I cheered for them when they won their duel against Scotts to make it to the final. They deserve, with this song and this performance, to be there and I hope this helps that long-awaited new album of theirs sell. Can you believe I've never posted an Alcazar track here before? It's not for lack of loving them and I've posted just about every sort of related track you can think of, as well as loads of news.

Well, that won't be changing tonight; much as it's going to kill me, we'll have to wait for this new single of theirs now that they're still in the conversation. I can, though, offer up a song for a short time that, although not as good as "Stay The Night," was another of my favorites from the night.



I thought catchy pop-rock song "Tick Tock" (which is so much better than I was anticipating based on earlier descriptions) had a really solid--no, great performance to go with it. In the typical fashion of the first week of Melodfestival semifinals, though, the Swedes eliminated most of my favorite tracks. That a song like this one and as well performed as this one can get eliminated in its semifinal in Sweden speaks to just how high the quality of choice is there (or that the Swedes and I have pretty different taste in Melodifestivalen, one or the other).

The other song I was really praying would survive the night was Marie Serneholt's "Disconnect Me."



Up until the moment when the international jury announced their choice--Caroline af Ugglas--I was hoping against hope that Marie would survive in the contest. For someone we were all so uncertain about in the singing live department, I thought Marie was great (and though it doesn't bear at all on how good the track is, I love how genuinely happy she seemed to be to be competing in the contest, as revealed in all the run-up to it). I'm further convinced of deserving her pop princess title. I do understand all the criticisms and concerns people were expressing and, when I've got a bit more time, I'll try to get across why, if I was choosing results, I would have put your through to the final (part of it is, admittedly, probably some sort of emotional attachment)--because I would have, along with Alcazar.

I do have more to say on the other entries (I'll mention them tomorrow), but for lack of time, I'll end for now with a random question: did anyone else find it kind of...surreal to hear obviously recorded backing vocals (for example, done by the artist him/herself)? Maybe they've used those in earlier years and I never noticed. It's not a complaint, mind (I actually like it at points)--it's just different (in a Melodifestival context).

All of these songs will be on the album for Melodifestivalen 2009, out March 8, which can be preordered here (physical).