Sources: NT, SVT, The Local, Schlagerprofilerna (1, 2), Gylleneskor, QX (1, 2, 3); picture credit to The Local and QX
1.) Agnes, "Love Love Love" (Anders Hansson)With Agnes reinvented as a properly brilliant popstar (though she's had her moments of brilliance in the past), there's a lot of interest from Melodifestival fans in "Love Love Love," which Agnes says was the first song she and Anders Hansson did together when they started working on what would become Dance Love Pop, her third album. The Idol winner is this week making her first appearance in Melodifestivalen, though a song she co-wrote (but never intended to sing in the contest herself) was originally chosen for an earlier edition of the contest before being disqualified.
Her entry this year, described by Anders as a positive disco-pop song and by Agnes as an up-tempo song which is in the same style as Dance Love Pop and with a cool glamorous feel (with an appropriately glittery and glamorous performance, she says), is supposed to be great, though not quite as great as some of the others in this semifinal.
To watch: the music video for her most recent single, "Release Me." I've said it before, but I'll say it again: if there's one Swedish pop song from 2008 that I beg you to listen to, it's this classy breezy modern disco song.
2.) Star Pilots, "Higher" (Johan Fjellström/Joakim Udd/Johan Becker)Star Pilots are a dance-pop project from Empire Studios. The voice on both their singles so far is Johan Becker, but originally the group was represented at performances and in photos by three other men. Those men have been swapped out for another group, though, one that this time includes Johan Becker.
Both the group's earlier singles have been '80's-inspired but modern dance-pop that sounds like a combination of Sunblock and Uniting Nations. One of those singles was a cover of Chesney Hawkes's "The One And Only"--a great cover--while the other, "In The Heat Of The Night," was completely original and absolutely fantastic; it's even getting a UK release. From the description of "Higher" by the songwriters (who are also behind songs like Verona's "Ti Sento," Alcazar's upcoming single "Burning," and production on the West End Girls' songs, among others), the group's entry in Melodifestivalen should be in the same vein as their earlier work. They say "Higher" is an uplifting kick of energy with one foot in the '80s and the other in the here and now, a radio hit with a club feeling and an international sound.
Dance music has a tendency to underperform in Melodifestivalen, but hopefully the group can deliver a great song.
To watch: the Top Gun-featuring music video for "In The Heat Of The Night"
3.) Susanne Alfvengren, "Du är älskad där du går" (Ingela "Pling" Forsman/Bobby Ljunggren/Henrik Wikström)Filling in the weekly "singer big in decades past attempts a comeback or seeks more attention via Melodifestivalen" slot, Susanne will be singing a ballad co-written by Bobby Ljunggren. Bobby's written a number of Melodifestival songs in the past and even this year, but apparently the one to compare "Du är älskad där du går" to is Suzzie Tapper's "Visst finns mirakel" from last year. The co-writers say "Du är älskad där du går" is a calm, well-arranged, melodic ballad which grows and has hopeful lyrics. I've heard nothing to make me expect this to be anything other than your typical Bobby Ljunggren Lionheart ballad like the others we've recently heard. Susanne does think it's like her past work, though.
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4.) Anna Sahlene & Maria Haukaas Storeng, "Killing Me Tenderly" (Amir Aly/Henrik Wikström/Tobbe Petterssen)I love Anna Sahlene. Love her. Her second album may not have lived up to her consistently enjoyable first, but she's someone who I've been hoping to hear more music from for a while (giving us one of three million versions of "Brief & Beautiful" last year barely counts). I liked Maria Haukaas Storeng's debut album, too; it was a pleasant though not really exciting Idol contestant album. I never really fell in love with '60s-flavored "Hold On Be Strong," her top five-placed entry for Norway and a fan favorite in last year's Eurovision, though.
Still, I'm going to hold out some hope that a combination of Anna, a Swedish singer who took Estonia to third place in Eurovision 2002 but has failed to make it out of the semifinals in both her subsequent tries at Melodifestivalen (one with the fantastic "We're Unbreakable"), and Maria, a Norwegian singer who like Anna has a good voice and has been involved with songs I liked in the past (though I'd easily choose Anna's back catalogue over Maria's), yields something great. Even if the duet aspect feels kind of gimmicky to me, they're two singles I have a great amount of good will towards.
The songwriter include half of the team that so successfully jumped on the modern '70s-inspired falsetto pop bandwagon with Rongedal's "Just A Minute" last year. In a probably unsurprising turn of events, this year, they're jumping on the Amy Winehouse-induced '60s pop bandwagon with "Killing Me Tenderly," a song they describe as a cross-fertilization of Tina Turner and ABBA with today's sound and inspiration from Duffy, with a thought towards James Bond. Anna has added that it's a mid-tempo song kind of similar to "Hold On Be Strong." She says it has a groove to it which has a big, melodic chorus and verses that are a little funkier. Pauline was the song's demo singer and, given her recent singles' sound, we can probably glean from that information an idea of what the song sounds like, even if Pauline didn't want to sing it at Melodifestivalen. People who have heard the song generally reference Duffy, a fact which doesn't thrill me--I'm generally left cold by the songs in that style--but there is significant positive buzz surrounding "Killing Me Tenderly."
To watch: for Anna, I should probably post her great performance of "Runaway" from Eurovision, but I've always preferred "We're Unbreakable" (though "Runaway" is great, too), so here's her performing that at Melodifestival 2003
For Maria, here's "Hold On Be Strong" from the final of Eurovision 2008.
5.) Thorleifs, "Sweet Kissin' In The Moonlight" (Lina Eriksson/Mårten Eriksson)Dansband Thorleifs have been around for a long time and have a large following among fans of the genre, enough to make their albums big sellers in Sweden. This is their first appearance in Melodifestivalen. They will be singing a song written by people who have done songs like Nordman's "I lågornas sken" from last year, Jessica Andersson's "Kom," Magnus Bäcklund's "The Name Of Love," and Marie Picasso's Idol winner's single "This Moment." "Sweet Kissin' In The Moonlight" is described by its writers as a Swedish shuffle with a spoonful of schlager and ABBA seasoning served up in a dance version.
To watch: I've got to be honest and say that I know pretty much nothing of the group's work, so if anyone wants to offer up a suggestion of something better to embed, please let me know. For now, though, here's an ad for their latest album that plays clips of some songs on it.
6.) Sarah Dawn Finer, "Moving On" (Sarah Dawn Finer/Fredrik Kempe)Big-voiced Sarah Dawn Finer may have done work before 2007, but her big breakout occurred that year when she sung the MOR but great ballad "I Remember Love" to fourth place at the Melodifestival final.
She returns to the contest this year with a very different song, one co-written by Fredrik Kempe, and an incredible amount of buzz around her. Many people are saying "Moving On" is of winning class, but to write that is to understate all the positive things being said about it. Suffice to say that Sarah, who can almost surely be counted on to deliver vocally, seems to have come up with something incredibly special song-wise, too. It's described by its writers as a big, dynamic, dramatic, epic song which is hopeful but has a tiny bit of sadness in it. Sarah describes the song as a rollercoaster that takes one further in life after a setback and dares one to believe in oneself and pick oneself up when one falls. She adds that the performance will (if plans haven't changed since her interview with QX) be inspired by part of her name (presumably "dawn"), with the look and movements being inspired by an Asian film. Schlagerprofilerna's sources suggest that it's the sort of song that would be sung at the end of the first act of a musical.
If everything people are saying can be counted on as true, Sarah is not just the one to beat this week--she may very well be the one to take home the whole contest.
Sarah has a new album coming out after Melodifestivalen. She's already released one single from it, "Does She Know You." She's worked with Dilba, Magnus Tingsek, Fredrik Kempe, and writers from her last album.
To watch: Sarah performing "I Remember Love" in her semifinal in Melodifestival 2007
7.) Next 3, "Esta noche" (Michael Xavier Barraza/Jimmy Almgren/Adam Soliman)Next 3 seems to be not just new to Melodifestivalen but new, period. The three person boy band will be singing a song which its writers (the primary one being Michael Xavier Barraza, with some of the group helping with lyrics) describe as a fusion of R&B, hip-hop, and Caribbean rhythms and a mix of rap, reggaeton, and pop in Swedish and Spanish (with a few English words). They say you could dance to it if you wanted to. Michael has also said that "Esta noche" is a rap/hip-hop song with a schlager-seasoned chorus, modern and with a Latin flavor and not influenced by ABBA.
To watch: a low quality video of the group performing a song of theirs called "Baby (Give Me A Try)." If the quality of this video leaves you still clueless as to what they sound like, YouTube also turns up what the poster claims is a studio recording of theirs called "Get Crazy" and "Baby (Give Me A Try)" is playing on their MySpace.
8.) Malena Ernman, "La Voix" (Fredrik Kempe/Malena Ernman)The final spot of the fourth semifinal has since 2006 been taken by acts who at worst finished second in the final (Andreas Johnson) or, twice, acts who won the whole thing (Carola and Charlotte Perrelli). This year it goes to opera singer Malena Ernman. Malena, who frequently does comedic performances, might not incite excitement among many of you, but the name Fredrik Kempe, the writer of Måns Zelmerlöw's "Cara Mia" and Charlotte Perrelli's "Hero" (among other songs), might get your ears to perk up. Then again, others of you might be feeling that Kempe is wearing out his formula.
If you fall into that last camp but still count yourself as a lover of Sweden's up-tempo disco-pop and schlager, prepare to be apologizing to Fredrik for every having doubted him. Sarah Dawn Finer's entry might have the biggest buzz of all going into this week, but the reviews of "La Voix" have gone beyond tantalizing (with even Sarah calling it cool and tough to beat): the song, described by its writers as a furious grandiose declaration of love set to the combination of pop and opera (and danceable), is, according to those who've heard it, going to send schlager fans into absolute meltdown...and maybe with the fact that Malena is (or at least was) planning a performance with what she describes as "good-looking broad-shouldered men" they'll have reason to be excited about more than just the song.
The pop and opera combination is a return to roots for Fredrik Kempe, whose debut single was the fantastic "Vincero," a techno-pop-meets-opera tour-de-force. If you've missed that Fredrik, have been left feeling like this year's contest has been a bit low on true stunners, or just live for Sweden's stormers, "La Voix" is apparently a song to wait for with baited breath.
To watch: Malena performing "Rosina's Cavatina." You'll see a lot of that humor and mugging I was talking about.
What I expect to love: this is one of those heats where I can see myself enjoying almost every song and finding multiple classics. I'm almost preemptively freaking out over Malena's song; I'm expecting it to be a revelation on "Alla Flickor" levels, only with a solid vocal performance. I'm anticipating Sarah Dawn Finer's song almost as much. Agnes and Star Pilots' songs are both ones I'm hoping and expecting to love (with me having slightly bigger hopes for Agnes). Despite all the positive things being said about it, I do have reservations about Anna Sahlene and Maria Haukaas Storeng's song, as I mentioned above, mainly for style reasons, but I'm cautiously hoping to enjoy the song. Next 3 are basically there as cannon fodder and I wasn't going to expect them to be anything else, but when researching this post, I listened to "Baby (Give Me A Try)" and actually liked it, finding it more interesting than I expected. The whole Caribbean rhythm thing makes me think "Esta noche" might have significantly less edge to it than that song and I still think they'll stand no chance against this line-up, but there's now actually at least a chance I might like their song. Maybe Thorleifs will have something decent--nice--but I'll be surprised if I love it and am already gearing myself up for being upset at them for taking a place from a song I think is much more deserving.
