JALLA DANSA SAWA ON REPEAT FOREVER TIL THE END OF TIME

OK, that's not a great line-up. Cookies N Beans + Martin Rolinski or NOTHING. Or I could swap out CNB for Erik/Tone but otherwise... If that Anton Ewald thing gets through, well.. can we not?

 

At this stage I'd love either Heartbreak Hotel or Falling to represent Sweden, and I think they'd make the best possible entries right now. Perhaps In And Out Of Love too.

 

I actually think AC is really strong this year. And I shamefully love Begging. :(

 

But I do agree about Heartbreak Hotel/Falling/In And Out Of Love. They're the only ones I hope win/do well!

I DESPERATELY want FOUR (in order of preference - Jalla Dansa Sawa, Begging, In and Out of Love, You) of these to go DTF. I wouldn't even mind if Eric or Erik/Tone got through and I obviously support Queen Af Ugglas no matter what. Only one meh song WOT HELP

1. Anton Ewald - Begging

2. YOHIO - Heartbreak Hotel

4. Sean Banan - Copacabanana

5. Ulrik Munther - Tell The World I'm Here

8. Ulrik Munther - Tell The World I'm Here

10. Robin Stjernberg - You

11. Robin Stjernberg - You

12. Ralf Gyllenhammar - Bed On Fire

15. Ralf Gyllenhammar - Bed On Fire

17. Louise Hoffsten - Only The Dead Fish Follow The Stream

18. YOHIO - Heartbreak Hotel

19. David Lindgren - Skyline

20. Behrang Miri - Jalla Dansa Sawa

24. Erik Segerstedt & Tone Damli - Hello Goodbye

25. State Of Drama - Falling

26. State Of Drama - Falling

27. Behrang Miri - Jalla Dansa Sawa

28. Anton Ewald - Begging

29. Sean Banan - Copacabanana

30. Louise Hoffsten - Only The Dead Fish Follow The Stream

 

can't be arsed with the rest, but (they never are) if Anton & Robin were the AC qualifiers then that would be great.

Louise will probably be flying the female flag solo come Saturday, Sweden have made it quite clear that they don't want another woman representing them this year! I'm still outraged that Heartstrings went no further!

I don't think it's so much to do with them not wanting women as pretty much all of the female tracks so far totally lacking in any star power. I'd have been voting on repeat for Heartstrings but what was there to make the average Swede do that? The only ones that came close were Dumb (divisive as hell by the looks of it, with more against than for), and maybe Terese (in a hellaciously competitive heat where there was only really one open slot going)

It's still a limp final compared to previous years but a lot of the songs have grown on me! This is my ranking of the current eight finalists:

 

1. Ralf Gyllenhammer - Bed On Fire

2. Louise Hoffsten - Only The Dead Fish Follow The Stream

3. Ulrik Munther - Tell The World I'm Here

4. State Of Drama - Falling

5. David Lindgren - Skyline

6. Ravaillacz - En Riktig Jävla Schlager

7. YOHIO - Heartbreak Hotel

8. Sean Banan - Copacabana

 

The top four are actually great, Skyline and Ravaillacz are good, YOHIO's ok and Sean Banan's song is crap. My overall top ten including AC and DNQ's would be:

 

1. Janet Leon - Heartstrings

2. Anton Ewald - Begging

3. Ralf Gyllenhammer - Bed On Fire

4. Erik Segerstedt & Tone Damli - Hello Goodbye

5. Louise Hoffsten - Only The Dead Fish Follow The Stream

6. Ulrik Munther - Tell The World I'm Here

7. State Of Drama - Falling

8. Eric Gadd - Vi Kommer Aldrig Att Förlora

9. Caroline Af Ugglas - Hon Har Inte

10. Martin Rolinski - In And Out Of Love

 

Heartstrings going straight out is the worst thing about this year, if Begging can go to the final some hope will be restored. Otherwise I guess my top seven includes four finalists so it could be a lot worse.

Here are the combined Kworb popularity numbers for the finalists and Andra Chansen participants:

 

01. 1.3397 | Anton Ewald - Begging

02. 1.1042 | Ulrik Munther - Tell the World I'm Here

03. 1.0599 | Robin Stjernberg - You

04. 0.9998 | YOHIO - Heartbreak Hotel

05. 0.9250 | Sean Banan - Copacabanana

06. 0.8125 | Ralf Gyllenhammar - Bed On Fire

07. 0.6609 | Behrang Miri - Jalla Dansa Sawa

08. 0.5762 | State Of Drama - Falling

09. 0.5222 | Louise Hoffsten - Only the Dead Fish Follow the Stream

10. 0.4615 | David Lindgren - Skyline

11. 0.4375 | Erik Segerstedt & Tone Damli - Hello Goodbye

12. 0.4017 | Martin Rolinski - In And Out of Love

13. 0.3085 | Ravaillacz - En Riktig J***a Schlager

14. 0.1285 | Eric Gadd - Vi Kommer Aldrig Att Förlora

15. 0.1277 | Caroline af Ugglas - Hon Har Inte

16. 0.0860 | Cookies 'n' Beans - Burning Flags

Poor Cookies N Beans, though I guess even making it to AC was more than was expected of/by them.

Odds to win from William Hill (surprised they get that much interest in the UK to even offer odds!)

 

11/10 Yohio

13/8 Ulrik Munther

10/3 Ralf Gyllenhammar

16/1 Sean Banan

16/1 State Of Drama

20/1 David Lindgren

20/1 Louise Hoffsten

33/1 Ravaillacz

40/1 Robin Stjernberg

50/1 Anton Ewald

50/1 Behrang Miri

50/1 Erik Segerstedt & Tone Damli

50/1 Martin Rolinski

66/1 Caroline af Ugglas

80/1 Cookies 'N' Beans

80/1 Eric Gadd

 

Quite long for everybody from Andra Chansen, somebody could cause an upset. Hopefully Anton will qualify and come top five in the final, granted I couldn't imagine him winning and his popularity on iTunes is down to his new tween fanbse. Seeing as it's a three horse race I'll back Ralf and Ulrik as a decent second choice. PLEASE not Yohio! Hopefully the juries kill off this average song (by a great performer granted). Ralf has a huge performance and a far more melodic song. Plus it would be the biggest possible contrast to Euphoria and may actually do surprisingly well at Eurovision! I don't think Heartbreak Hotel would do that much, can't call how Ulrik would do...

Yeah I think Ulrik or (much as I'm not the biggest fan of the song) Ralf would be the best winner, but I can see YOHIO :(

Even though I probably prefer Skyline songwise, I really want Bed On Fire to win right now (as Begging probably won't get through AC) - it's such a spectacle, the performance, the drama of the song.

Go Go Go YOHIO

http://whuati.co.uk/karlstad.jpg

 

http://www.scandipop.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/1200-e1361717378323.jpg

 

And somehow the victory photo managed to get even WORSE than the week before. What an absolute shit shower of an MF season.

 

Nonetheless, let us PLOUGH ON, for we come through what is in many ways the highlight of the Melodifestivalen season - the second chance round, where a bunch of also-rans who weren't quite popular enough to make it straight to the final on their own terms fight it out for the last two places in Friends Arena on March 9th. The last gasp of a career is extinguished in seconds or relighted by chance. It's vicious, it's bloody, and it's entirely essential to the Melodifestivalen viewing experience: just think of Carola losing her crown by having a nation turn against her the second she had to make do with AC in 2008, Caroline af Ugglas making it through against the odds in 2009 to nearly take the whole contest home, and the cruelty of 2011 where countless schlager idols were exterminated by a domestic abuse victim and the living embodiment of diabetes. Newcomers: welcome to andra chansen *.*

 

So, here's how it works. Everyone who finished third and fourth the last four weeks enters this round. Traditionally, all eight competitors would be split into duels, with the winners of those duels facing off against each other in second round duels, and the winners of those duels going into the final. This had the advantage of being incredibly cut-throat and compelling to watch, but also had the disadvantage of being almost irredeemably unfair - after all, the two most popular tracks could end up being drawn against each other in the first round, and notionally the other half of the draw could lead to the fifth most popular track getting a ticket to the final.

 

So, it's all change this year! The first round will go akin to the standard heat - all eight tracks performed in one go. Then there'll be voting, and the bottom four tracks will be knocked out. The top four tracks will be split into duels according to the voting results - 1st place against 4th place, 2nd place against 3rd place. Not as fun to watch, but probably far more fair, and we're bound to get more Sylvia Vrethammar-style reaction shots to the original top four announcement given Cookies N Beans have in all likelihood staked a mortgage on getting to the final somehow. But hey - even if someone loses, there's always next year. Let us not forget that Loreen died at the hands of the since forgotten Sara Varga in the schlagercaust that was andra chansen in Sundsvall 2011, only to get the biggest radio hit of the contest and power to Eurovision victory just over a year later.

 

So, with all that in mind, given we're following in the hideous occasional tradition whereby the andra chansen round is FAR BETTER than the final this year, let's see what no-hopers 2013 has lined up for us.

 

http://www.svt.se/cachable_image/1357919111/svts/article955408.svt/ALTERNATES/medium/puff_robinstjernberg.jpg

Robin Stjernberg - You

Text och Musik: Robin Stjernberg, Linnea Deb, Joy Deb och Joakim Harestad Haukaas

Betfair odds on winning Melodifestivalen (decimal / fractional / projected finish within AC): 44 / 43/1 / =3rd

 

♫ I know that if the sky would fall

I would survive it all

because of YOU-OOOOOOH-OOOH-OOOOOOOOOOOH-OH ♫

 

So, quick roll call. This lezza got in over: the strongest case for a plagiarism lawsuit since Kempe came out of a sex coma and heard Youngblood on the radio; a woman (estimated age 104) croaking her way over an Emma Bunton B-side from 2004 with a vast array of Oscar-winning facial expressions (sadly unveiled too late to be eligible for votes); the hottest mess ever presented to the world outside of the boundaries of Vauxhall (featuring a woman so fabulous she couldn't even be bothered to perform a spoken word section live); and an unknown Lewinsky-alike on a track which cruelly gave the starving schlager gays a key change, albeit one which mindbogglingly went downwards (Linda Bengtzing must have been camera-spinning in her grave). So, probably not too much of a struggle to get in over that stellar line-up of Melodi luminaries. On the other hand, Sweden's answer to Josh Dubovie (with better pitching) DID have to go up against Ulrik Munther coming along with a song basically in the same style, so he did well to get this far without having all of his votes cannibalised. And in many ways, he's already got his vengeance by getting a step further than Amanda Fondell (his erstwhile slayer in the final of Idol 2011) managed to. Will we see Robin again in Stockholm, or is his falsetto bound to be ejected with haste this Saturday?

 

http://www.svt.se/cachable_image/1357917550/svts/article955234.svt/ALTERNATES/medium/puff_ericgadd.jpg

Eric Gadd - Vi kommer aldrig att förlora

Text och musik: Eric Gadd, Thomas Stenström och Jacob Olofsson

Betfair odds on winning Melodifestivalen (decimal / fractional / projected finish within AC): 160 / 159/1 / 7th

 

♫ They say our dreams are too big

and we're aiming too high ♫

 

Poor Eric. Cast your minds back to week one: in many ways caught up in a pretty difficult three-way race, being one of two competitors with an ounce of stage presence after the inevitable qualifier in David Lindgren, the respected pop veteran found himself wound up in andra chansen with the melodic Vi kommer aldrig att förlora, only to immediately lose all momentum and wind up at the foot of most of the odds. With predictions that it's nearly 160 times more likely he won't qualify than will, does Eric stand even the remotest chance of getting through to the top four?

 

http://www.svt.se/cachable_image/1357918633/svts/article955360.svt/ALTERNATES/medium/puff_caroline.jpg

Caroline af Ugglas - Hon har inte

Text och Musik: Heinz Liljedahl och Caroline af Ugglas

Betfair odds on winning Melodifestivalen (decimal / fractional / projected finish within AC): 44 / 43/1 / =3rd

 

♫ So what does she have that I do not have? ♫

 

Stop the presses ladies, it's time for a rare moment. I WAS WRONG. Despite dismissing this hag as washed out and hopeless, this actually turned out to be a work of towering, fragile beauty as much as Snälla, snälla had been. Unfortunately, Sweden has a long memory and knows that the only answer to Caroline is to make this bitch work for her success, so through to andra chansen it was. Caroline is, of course, no stranger to having to sing for food, having written herself into the fairytale books (along with Shirley Clamp, the original andra chansen desperado) by fighting her way to the runner-up slot after a trip through andra chansen in 2009, so don't rule her out. Can Caroline make lightning strike twice?

 

http://www.svt.se/cachable_image/1357919412/svts/article955429.svt/ALTERNATES/medium/puff_behrangmiri.jpg

Behrang Miri - Jalla dansa sawa

Text och Musik: Behrang Miri, Anderz Wrethov, Firas Razak Tuma och Tacfarinas Yamoun

Betfair odds on winning Melodifestivalen (decimal / fractional / projected finish within AC): 130 / 129/1 / 5th

 

♫ It doesn't matter if you're fly, hype or tight

It will flop ♫

 

Having enough plagiarised rewrites to choose between in heat four, it was inevitable one of the more egregious examples would get through, so here we are. Deeply fuckable contender Behrang bambadambadababambadambadababambadambadababambadambadambam'ed his way through to AC with his cheeky Allez Ola Olé-'inspired' piece, but will his stage of deeply attractive dancers (plus Jesy from Little Mix plus ten stone and an afro) make it much further than Karlstad?

 

http://www.svt.se/cachable_image/1357916704/svts/article955156.svt/ALTERNATES/medium/puff_erikochtone.jpg

Erik Segerstedt och Tone Damli Aaberge - Hello Goodbye

Text och Musik: Robin Fredriksson, Mattias Larsson och Måns Zelmerlöw

Betfair odds on winning Melodifestivalen (decimal / fractional / projected finish within AC): 140 / 139/1 / 6th

 

♫ Let's not make things complicated

We're better off separated ♫

 

Heat two broke my heart in ways which will not be fully comprehended for many years to come, but the utterly horrifying failure of THE WIVES (R.I.P.) was matched in pain by this package here in three ways. Firstly, against my expectations Hello Goodbye turned out to be far more of a heartcruncher than I'd ever anticipated - being a subtle, mature track about a one-night stand that could never work long-term, totally at odds with the twee countrified midtempo it was wrapped in. Secondly, the chemistry between Erik and Tone onstage was totally endearing and sold the song like nobodies business (although possibly a little too well, given this was supposed to just be a terrific one-off boinking that had no prospect of going any further) - and oh my, the ad libs! For about half a minute I was looning over this bitch so hard you'd have thought Silas had been airlifted to North Essex for the evening. Then finally, having convinced myself that regardless of the in-the-balance fate of THE WIVES (NEVER FORGOTTEN) Tone och Erik would make it through somehow, they were consigned to andra chansen.

 

Well FUCK THAT. I'm prepared to smash plates if this doesn't get to the final - for ONE as we're missing vagina from there, and also because this is possibly my favourite track in the contest left in contention. But enough of my subjectivity. Can this overcome really quite dreadful odds to pick up the MoR vote and make it through to the final somehow, or will Danny be forevermore the only relevant one from E.M.D. and Tone forced to return to Norway in shame?

 

http://www.svt.se/cachable_image/1357916191/svts/article955103.svt/ALTERNATES/medium/puff_antonewald.jpg

Anton Ewald - Begging

Text och Musik: Fredrik Kempe och Anton Malmberg Hård af Segerstad

Betfair odds on winning Melodifestivalen (decimal / fractional / projected finish within AC): 27 / 26/1 / 1st

 

♫ I'm running out of time

I see you're leaving ♫

 

With the most uncompromising set of blowjob lips and non-existent vox since two fifths of Youngblood (oh KEMPE), it came as little shock that Anton swished his way into andra chansen with ease, but the real test of whether he'll become a Kempe twink for the ages is now. As it stands, Begging's number one on the (admittedly irrelevant) Swedish iTunes chart, and he's probably my early pick for victory in MF 2014 if his fanbase is anything to go by. But lest we forget, the road of predicting andra chansen qualifiers by iTunes positions is one littered with the bodies of many (including, thankfully, Sean Banan last year). He's probably sweeping into the top four with ease, but will Anton's Calvin Harris-esque boypop be acceptable enough to the masses to make it through a duel, or is Anton doomed to become a footnote as forgotten as Forsberg and Mitsogiannis?

 

http://www.svt.se/cachable_image/1357917267/svts/article955209.svt/ALTERNATES/medium/puff_cookiesnbeans.jpg

Text och musik: Fredrik Kempe

Betfair odds on winning Melodifestivalen (decimal / fractional / projected finish within AC): 210 / 209/1 / 8th

 

♫ You were the one that I could turn to

But when I did you turned to someone new ♫

 

These three minxes came back from their 2009 failure and went to heat one armed with a 90s video effects set and a country drama ballad of pain, revenge, and masculine chins. And it WORKED. Sort of. To all intents and purposes having announced themselves to the world as fourth in the heat with a bullet by mere virtue of not being one of the big three, the odds say it all at this point - for these ladies, andra chansen was the realistic aim, and they've gotten what they can out of the experience. Beyond a moderately successful radio hit and a semi-hit album, can the STILL hideously named Cookies N Beans squeeze another drop out of this year's Melodifestivalen and come top four?

 

http://www.svt.se/cachable_image/1357918517/svts/article955355.svt/ALTERNATES/medium/puff_martin.jpg

Martin Rolinski - In and Out of Love

Text och Musik: Thomas G:son, Andreas Rickstrand och Martin Rolinski

Betfair odds on winning Melodifestivalen (decimal / fractional / projected finish within AC): 32 / 31/1 / 2nd

 

♫ I need to know, are you gonna set us free? ♫

 

With the only straight-up pop song that could legitimately claim to have stood alongside the greats of Melodiyears past, Martin exceeded expectations and left Alexander Bard weeping into his Ronald McDonald beard by strutting into andra chansen with ease (although doubtless the writers of 80s classic

will be paying CLOSE ATTENTION to the result in Karlstad to see if this goes much further). Having been here before with BWO in 2009 and falling out with the endlessly overhyped career-ender You're Not Alone against general life icons Lili och Susie, Martin knows more than anyone that a continued pop career for him in all likelihood depends on him getting through to the final. Can he deliver an answer back from Melodifestivalen past, defy the voting trends of 2013 and get through to the final with a straightforward Scandipop song without bells and whistles?

 

-x-

 

So, with that, you have three tasks - say which two you WANT to qualify, predict the order of the top eight, and say which two you think WILL qualify. Let's see if we can make it through ONE week this year without a dose of heartbreak.

Edited February 24, 201312 yr by Kanduälska

WANT: Erik/Tone, Martin or Caroline (if forced, Martin)

 

PREDIX:

 

01 Anton Ewald

02 Caroline af Ugglas

03 Erik/Tone

04 Robin Stjernberg

05 Behrang Miri

06 Martin Rolinski

07 Eric Gadd

08 Cookies N Beans

 

Anton beats Robin, Caroline beats Erik/Tone

At least Ulrik and Ralf brought good songs along for the ride! Rather them than last week's victors!

 

As an aside, I've been having an Army Of Lovers reminisce evening and can't fathom WHY the Swedish public would ignore them :( La Camilla = amazing, Bard = amazing, Jean-Pierre = amazing, Rockin' The Ride = amazing, performance = amazing. What happened?

I think the fact the majority of it was shamelessly mimed MIGHT have contributed!

I'm still in shock that the Swedish public sent Tone to A/C instead of DTG.

 

 

Hello Goodbye had better make the bloody final, it's completely brilliant! (And not just her bits either, Erik and her sound fantastic together)

That's an awful picture of Tone, she looks facially like Whitney from Eastenders! Nice write-up though as ever Tirren, here are my thoughts:

 

WANT: Anton, Erik & Tone

 

PREDICT:

 

01 Anton Ewald

02 Robin Stjernberg

03 Erik/Tone

04 Caroline af Ugglas

05 Martin Rolinski

06 Behrang Miri

07 Eric Gadd

08 Cookies N Beans

 

Anton beats Caroline (I can't see lightning striking twice sadly), Robin edges out Erik/Tone. I actually like, and have charted all 8 of these songs, so at least we'll have two more decent finalists. But my least favourites of the lot are probably Cookies N Beans and Robin. Not that I'd be distraught at seeing either in the final, but I'll be annoyed if Begging doesn't make it through.

I do think Hello Goodbye has a VERY VERY good chance of making it through, it seems like the kind of thing that could easily build much more momentum by going through AC than had it gone DTG in the first place. I would be very pleased if it made it through too and if it does I think it could stand a decent shot of winning overall (as do a few songs here, if they make it).

 

I would like to see Anton and Martin or Erik/Tone through though I LOVE Cookies too they obviously have less hope of making it than Griff does of going an hour without being a monumental twat.