Uncomfortable - I literally couldn't feel any more sorry for Anna! :snif: Must be a bit of a burden causing Sweden to miss the final for the first time :drama: Aftonbladet should be on the case with the conspiracy theories, will check their website now :heehee:

 

The big Swedish former #1 single and big Dutch former #1 single crashed out in the semis, I hope the same thing doesn't happen to the big German former #1 in the final :drama:

Reading through some of the Expressen and Aftonbladet articles, it's like missing the ESC final is a matter of life and death for them. Christer has been painted as the villain, despite not being on the jury that selects the songs, and clearly ignoring the fact that Anna won the televoting in both the semis and the final, not to mention the fact that the song was a big #1 hit in Sweden. The general consensus seems to be that Anna was too young and nervous to cope with such an occasion and the place should have been given to the more established performer with the better song, Salem Al Fakir.

 

Maybe next year, just for once, the best song won't finish 2nd in Melodifestivalen...:rolleyes:

This is what I hate about things like this. Everyone supports her until she falls. It's extremely unfair to say that she was too young when they were the ones who voted for her in the first place. :lol: The best thing is is that Anna is still young, so she can still come back again if she wants to. And maybe missing the final is exactly what Sweden need. They haven't been performing the best lately, therefore this could be an eye-opener for them.

 

I'm not sure how Europe would've taken to Salem. I think the juries would have loved him, but I'm not so sure about the public...

Edited May 28, 201015 yr by Cal

This is what I hate about things like this. Everyone supports her until she falls. It's extremely unfair to say that she was too young when they were the ones who voted for her in the first place. :lol: The best thing is is that Anna is still young, so she can still come back again if she wants to. And maybe missing the final is exactly what Sweden need. They haven't been performing the best lately, therefore this could be an eye-opener for them.

 

I'm not sure how Europe would've taken to Salem. I think the juries would have loved him, but I'm not so sure about the public...

 

Agreed, what's with the backlash?

 

Yes I preferred Salem, Keep On Walking's one of my top 3 songs of the year, whilst This Is Your Life wouldn't rank in my top 20 - but the point of the matter is, Sweden voted for Anna, she won the public vote and topped the charts. I sometimes wonder if they remember that the song that wins MF goes on to represent them at ESC, because they never seem to vote in the way that suggests that they're looking for a decent and worthy ESC entry, they just vote for the biggest chart hit at the time. I'm not saying that this is wrong but there are songs in MF that would just never work at Eurovision (Getty or whatever his name was for example and Py Backman), so I really question why on earth these acts are even getting the chance to pass to the semis with this in mind? Would Py have really come anywhere but last in the semi had she somehow made ESC?

 

I do hope this is an eye opener for them, but I don't know what to suggest short of changing the format. MF is used as a promotional tool in Sweden for established artists making comebacks and big name new acts making their debuts, but I wonder if the fact that they are supposed to be ultimately using it to pick an ESC entry takes a bit of a backseat in their minds...

I think that they just need to readjust the voting system a little. They gave far too little weight to the international juries this year, for one...

I think that they just need to readjust the voting system a little. They gave far too little weight to the international juries this year, for one...

 

But they weren't really international juries were they. They were a couple of members formerly of a country now residing in Sweden, sitting backstage somewhere in Globen and pretending to be calling from Ireland or wherever. I'm glad they didn't have more weighting to be honest, I don't think other countries should be encouraged to help pick entries, it came across as a bit desperate to please. I actually think the voting system is about right, the winner of the televote does generally win, as seen last year when Malena had come 8th with the juries but still managed to win based on the televote. However, what needs to change is the way they approach finding an ESC entry. If they want to keep MF as a separate promotional tool/competition/TV event then fine, but maybe select the ESC entries differently, or at least don't make any of the songs available for release on single/to radio until after the contest so they can't get overplayed and overhyped.

 

The Swedish public are clearly unable to figure out the difference anymore between what makes a good Swedish radio hit, and what would appeal to Europe as a whole in 2010 (not uptempo dance pop or clones of last year's runner up). I'm a little shocked to say the least at Anna's DNQ, but they certainly had better options in their final, and as one of the last countries to select, they had the advantage of already knowing that the contest was going to be ballad heavy, yet the MF juries voted in their droves for all of the ballads anyway and the Swedish press and radio hyped up Anna something chronic before the final, to the extent that it was always going to be a one horse race :lol:

Decent article on Scandipop, which I largely agree with;

 

So, last night’s result at Eurovision Semi Final 2 was very pleasing in some ways (Denmark, Ireland, Azerbaijan, and Israel progressing to the final), but it was utterly disappointing in one major way - the failure of Sweden to qualify to the final.

 

Long time fans of both Eurovision and Melodifestivalen, will say that the song ‘This Is My Life’ should never have won Melodifestivalen, and thus gone to Eurovision to represent Sweden. It’s not the schlager music that Sweden is known for in these competitions. It’s not the uptempo, bpm heavy song performed with an eye catching routine, in a fabulously glamorous fashion. But at the end of the day, nobody can deny the fact that Anna Bergendahl’s ‘This Is My Life’ is good song. And in the context of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, it’s actually an amazing song!

 

Last night’s performance of it was beautiful. Perfectly staged, flawlessly delivered, and the inclusion of the red glow sticks transferred amazingly on screen. It was a great moment on tv. It was also one of the few times in recent history that the Swedish entry actually looked better at Eurovision than it did when it was performed at Melodifestivalen. Think of Malena Ernman’s ‘La Voix’, Carola’s ‘Invincible’, and especially Charlotte Perrelli’s ‘Hero’. All amazing performances when they won Melodifestivalen, but all that lost a little something when they were transferred onto the Eurovision stage. ‘This Is My Life’ looked even better on stage in Oslo last night than it did in Stockholm in March.

 

Basically, we just wanted to say that Sweden really deserved to be in tomorrow’s Eurovision Song Contest final. Especially over six of the songs that actually did qualify from last night’s semi final. The song, the performance, the singer, didn’t deserve to be sent home from the competition. But then, that’s always the way with Eurovision of course. And so trying hard to blame a certain factor, is usually mostly pointless.

 

Because of this, we don’t agree with some sectors of the Swedish press today dropping the axe on Christer Bjorkman, calling for him to be sacked as head of the Swedish delegation. And we don’t think too fondly of the reports blaming Anna and her performance. But most surprisingly of all possibly, is that we disagree with the online blogs that are taking great delight in berating Sweden for temporarily turning their back on schlager music and championing a song that they think is unforgivably boring in comparison. No other country sticks to a certain type of song at Eurovision every year, so why should Sweden? This year’s Melodifestivalen ended up doing what it does every year - choosing a great song as it’s winner. And as always, we got a dozen or so other great songs to cherish too!

 

Next year’s Melodifestivalen was rumoured to be Christer Bjorkman’s last anyway. And those in the know have been predicting that it’s going to be a spectacular contest, as he’ll want to go out with a bang. So it’s fair to say that all types of Melodifestivalen fan will be catered to, and it’ll continue to be the amazing show that it always is - with the actual prize of going to Eurovision, really just being an add-on to it, as opposed to the ‘be all and end all’ of it. It stopped being that earlier in the last decade!

 

Oooh, we do love a good ol’ rant don’t you?!

 

And here’s that performance again in case you missed it.

 

One thing I didn't agree with was its transfer from MF to Eurovision presentation being better. Because of the way everyone in Globen had lights, including those in stalls, it seemed more effective to me than just those standing at the bottom having them in the Telenor Arena last night. It was nice seeing them all over the round arena in Sweden, made it look a lot more three dimensional on screen.

Are the bloggers really all saying they should've sent Pernilla though? :lol: Salem hardly strikes me as your standard schlager. Timoteij and Eric, maybe...

Are the bloggers really all saying they should've sent Pernilla though? :lol: Salem hardly strikes me as your standard schlager. Timoteij and Eric, maybe...

 

Eric would have worked I think - not schlager, but decent dance/pop. It certainly would have stood out in that semi anyway, what with the drenching :kink: Manboy's been the biggest post-contest hit in Sweden by far and he's a huge star now, in fact it's rebounded from 25-1 for no apparent reason this week :lol:

I think Salem & Timoteij would have made it through, not sure on any of the other finalists. But I thought Anna would make it through :drama: Shoulda been obvious to me that she wouldn't do that well - the fact that she didn't do that well with the international juries in MF.

 

But hopefully this means the Swedish send the best song next year, not the 5th best but still top 2 in my rankings overall :heehee:

The guy who does Melodi Grand Prix made an interesting point. He said the problem lies with the jury who pick the songs in Melodifestivalen. He said that there are too many mediocre songs and too many songs that appeal to the same audience. He stated that although Melodi Grand Prix may not be that democratic when choosing the songs for the contest, it's better that way as each song appeals to a certain group rather than a load of songs appealing to the same group. Quite an interesting observation, I thought.

 

http://esctoday.com/news/read/15874

Edited May 29, 201015 yr by Cal

The guy who does Melodi Grand Prix made an interesting point. He said the problem lies with the jury who pick the songs in Melodifestivalen. He said that there are too many mediocre songs and too many songs that appeal to the same audience. He stated that although Melodi Grand Prix may not be that democratic when choosing the songs for the contest, it's better that way as each song appeals to a certain group rather than a load of songs appealing to the same group. Quite an interesting observation, I thought.

 

http://esctoday.com/news/read/15874

 

True, it was basically split three ways this year in the MF final - ballads, uptempo pop, and Keep On Walking :lol:

 

The 2009 final had a lot more variety - opera, dance pop, schlager, soul pop, rock, ballads (but not many), boyband, Caroline Af Ugglas' genre...loads to choose from!

I think Alcazar were the true winners of this year's MF, with "The Saturdays" naming their next album after the 2010 Alcazar MF entry, "Headlines" :P

Sluts. :angry:

Alcazar or the Sats? Tbh both are applicable (though the former are :wub:)

LOL of course Alcazar

 

 

 

:kink:

Anna's new video for BJSC27 entry and new single The Army;

 

 

'Tonight Matthew, I'm going to be...Diana Vickers!'

i really like elin lanto and alcazar