http://i.imgur.com/43ome27.jpg

 

And here we are, four heats down, 28 (or 27 if we're talking on a competitive level, poor brave Anna Book who has since been seen in Aftonbladet crying about 3 more times about a nasty carpenter or something - GIVE THE GIRL A BREAK) and we find ourselves in Andra Chansen, following Heat 4 which saw a continuation of support for the young folk, whilst the old birds waved goodbye, quite possibly to Melodifestivalen forever. R.I.P schlager? We also quite possibly unearthed a winner that emerged from nowhere, but the less said about that arrogant sod, the better quite frankly.

 

SIDE NOTE: Do excuse me, because I can't do this commentary thing as well as Tirren but HEY, I tried.

 

But it's onto Andra Chansen and the second year of the brutal head-to-head duels which are set to break less hearts than they used to, as FOUR songs will qualify, one from each duel. But that's probably won't be any consolation to poor Isa and her skin tight jeans tonight when she's knocked off her perch by some subpar Stella Mwangi knock off. Less of the idle chatter though, and let's look at the duels themselves:

 

DUEL ONE | PANETOZ - Hall om mig hart VS MOLLY PETTERSSON HAMMAR - Hunger

 

 

It's two returnees against one another in Duel One, one of which went straight to the final last time they were here and one of them gave us another absolute FACE OF A GENERATION when she failed to even make it into the top 5 of Heat One last year, falling at the hands of the new app disaster. Neither of them have been here before and you would hedge your bets to say it's Panetoz who will make it to the final again, this time with a male who has trained himself to look slightly less like a sore thumb, merely by just dancing at the same time as the rest of his bandmates. The track is undeniably catchy, just like their previous Efter solksen... dare I say, MORE catchy. As for Molly, she still has a completely loathable face and an incredibly shaky vocal, but the song does feel like a step up from I'll Be Fine and would be another modern addition to the final. Will she be kissing her bicep with joy at the end of tonight or kissing goodbye to the competition with another iconic face of hate (we can only wish)?

 

ODDS • PANETOZ: 2/9 vs MOLLY: 3/1

iTUNES • PANETOZ: #10 vs MOLLY: #90

SPOTIFY • PANETOZ: #8 vs MOLLY: #61

 

DUEL TWO | BORIS RENE - Put Your Love On Me VS Albin & Mattias - Rik

 

 

Now it's time for two competitors who certainly weren't blessed with the gift of a PERFORMANCE BUDGET but managed to scrape themselves through to the second chance on the power of their presence and the song itself. Albin comes fresh from a summer 2014 hit with Din Soldat, hoping that he could create another with one third of E.M.D - it didn't particularly set the world (or the heart) on fire, and was an obvious 4th place but it's done better than Boris on iTunes and Spotify so perhaps it's not a foregone conclusion. Boris, a former footballer, seemed to throw everything at his stage presence matched with a song that has hooks for days. It's realistically the semi final that Buzzjack aren't going to give a shit about and for that reason, I'll move on and let you speculate over something more... female.

 

ODDS • BORIS: 1/1 vs ALBIN/MATTIAS: 8/11

iTUNES • BORIS: #38 vs ALBIN/MATTIAS: NOT TOP 100

SPOTIFY • BORIS: #30 vs ALBIN/MATTIAS: #29

 

DUEL THREE | ISA - I Will Wait VS SaRaha - Kizunguzungu

 

 

AH, females. Song wise, this is definitely the least evenly matched semi final as a big power ballad from young starlet Isa faces off against one of the more novelty and carefree songs of this years competition, from SaRaha with a title of Kizunguzungu, it's everything you'd think would be a write off but it certainly seems to have captured the attention and hearts of the public. Based on iTunes and Spotify, you'd think SaRaha had this sewn up, her Waka Waka/Haba Haba-lite fun little ditty sitting pretty at #2 on the former, only behind runaway #1 Frans. Meanwhile, Isa is nowhere to be seen - though you'd imagine she is the dueller who finished 3rd in her heat. You could definitely argue your case for both of these and it'll be quite closely fought one would have thought, but who will snatch it? [iNSERT COMMENT ABOUT SAHARA BEING SOMETHING LIKE A POST WITNESS PROTECTION ANNA BERGENDAHL, BECAUSE TIRREN WOULD AS HE HAS MENTIONED IT ABOUT 15 TIMES ACROSS ALL MEDIA]

 

ODDS • ISA: 5/4 vs SARAHA: 4/7

iTUNES • ISA: #32 vs SARAHA: #4

SPOTIFY • ISA: #41 vs SARAHA: #14

 

DUEL FOUR | Dolly Style - Rollercoaster VS Samir & Viktor - Bada Nakna

 

 

And lastly, probably the most obvious duel of the lot as we two fun-filled pop songs that don't take themselves seriously going head to head with one another. On the one hand, you have a song about 'going high, going low' and being on a rollercoaster x10, on the other hand you have a song about bathing naked in Sergels Torg. Truly deep stuff. Bada Nakna has already hit #1 in Sweden, something which their previous mammoth qualifier, Groupie, didn't quite manage so you'd assume this song was even more popular and Rollercoaster feels even less threatening than Hello Hi as fun as it is, so as much as I'd love to write this up like some big tense qualifier, you can't help but sense this will be a walkover. I have no doubt which side most of your on, but I'm pretty sure I'll be the lone ranger cheering when my favourite song of the year so far goes on to the final, GET IT BOYS!

 

ODDS • DOLLY: 4/1 VS SAMIR & VIKTOR: 1/7

iTUNES • DOLLY: #23 VS SAMIR & VIKTOR: #6

SPOTIFY • DOLLY: #33 VS SAMIR & VIKTOR: #5

 

________

 

PREDICT AWAY. Begins at 7:00GMT.

I will not be watching this as of course Eesti Laul is more important, but it's probably a good job as my four favourites in each duel - Molly, Boris, Isa and Dolly Style - are all going to lose! I am a big fan of SaRaha though so at least there will be one good qualifier.

I still personally think Boris will beat Albin/Mattias despite the odds and other things pointing elsewhere. It's the tightest one though, I'd say!

Well Boris is my least favourite of my 4 favourites so I wouldn't be too bothered which way that one goes!

 

I think the most exciting thing about this show will be the running order announcement, I hope the pictures from the rehearsal running order I saw earlier aren't going to be the ones used tonight as that had poor Robin at #3!

Thank you Rob! Don't do yourself down either - I love it *.*

I'm sad because Rollercoaster is somehow becoming even more 'joy personified' than Hello Hi and it's over already for them. Clinging onto a vague hope that anti-voting will actually have an effect for once. At least this Samir & Victor song is much more worthy of being in the final than Groupie.

 

Much more interested in SaRaHa's duel though, I've become absolutely obsessed with her and her catchy song. And even if it doesn't work out for her somehow, I Will Wait is still a great song.

 

For the others, Panetoz needs to win out over Molly and Albin/Mattias ideally should win out over Boris but they're much less essential for not involving any of my top 5.

 

I have a feeling I'll get two out of my four preferences. SaRaHa and Panetoz, that is.

 

(oh and yes Rob, you've done a fantastic job with this commentary)

Duel ett: Hope Molly, predict Panetoz

Duel två: Hope Albin & Mattias, predict Boris Rene

Duel tre: Hope ISA, predict SaRaha

Duel fyra: Hope Samir & Victor, predict Samir och Victor

 

Will be happy with the result as long ISA goes DTF

Edited March 5, 20169 yr by Jerick

Gonna predict: Panetoz, Boris, SaRaha and Samir & Viktor

 

And make a completely off prediction of the running order, if the results go that way, to be:

 

1. Ace Wilder - Don't Worry

2. David Lindgren - We Are Your Tomorrow

3. SaRaha - Kizunguzungu

4. Oscar Zia - Human

5. Boris Rene - Put Your Love On Me

6. Wiktoria - Save Me

7. Robin Bengtsson - Constellation Prize

8. Lisa Ajax - My Heart Wants Me Dead

9. Frans - If I Were Sorry

10. Panetoz - Håll om mig hårt

11. Molly Sanden - Youniverse

12. Samir & Viktor - Bada Nakna

 

At least I feel like that would flow well, maybe my closer is slightly wishful thinking but a party opener and closer always seems like a good idea and I think they might follow last years idea of not putting any of the big contenders last.

I'm gonna guess the same qualifiers that Rob went for :D. If those are the four then if I was Christer I'd do it something like this

 

01 SaRaha - Kizunguzungu

02 David Lindgren - We Are Your Tomorrow

03 Molly Sanden - Youniverse

04 Boris Rene - Put Your Love On Me

05 Lisa Ajax - My Heart Wants Me Dead

06 Frans - If I Were Sorry

07 Samir & Viktor - Bada Nakna

08 Robin Bengtsson - Constellation Prize

09 Wiktoria - Save Me

10 Panetoz - Hall om mig hart

11 Oscar Zia - Human

12 Ace Wilder - Don't Worry

None of these are going to go the way I want :lol: Although I do want both I Will Wait and Kizunguzungu in the final, obviously can't but will be happy with either of them, however I Will Wait is in my top 3 of the year </3

I'd predict the running order but after the JOY OF HASSE last year I've realised it's a mug's game

 

However if they whack on Kizunguzungu last I'm predicting that as this year's SHOCK AC final success

I've read that Isa has got rid of the shadow hand-hold (aka the best bit of the perf) so if it's true, quite frankly YOU GIVE ME KIZUNGUZUNGU!!

 

I'm not overly excited about tonight's show, because it's so obvious which 4 songs are going through (Panetoz, Boris, SaRaha, S&V) although I am looking forward to the live reveal of the running order!

 

And brill write-up Rob!

No contest. Panetoz is far more fun (starting to admit to the consensus that it is better than Efter Solsken), a far better song and Molly's vocals are sounding strained to all hell right now.

Molly's vocals were MUCH better than the first time round, I wouldn't mind her going through but it seems to be Panetoz's wrapped up and I'd say I just prefer their song too.

Pfft as if this male Din Soldat stands any chance of losing out to that Boris thing :( I'd forgotten just quite how much of a tune it was.

Boris's song is a little TOO in your face, I'm quite even on these, but I think I'd MARGINALLY prefer Rik.

I am liking Rik so much more this time around. And Boris' song has grown on me so much. Boris plz tho

THE MANS FACE

I'm so sorry ISA, this is amazing. And the third best song in AC. This out with Albin/Boris in, does not feel right.

That felt weaker than the first time somehow, she got rid of some of the more interesting elements. The hand hold, the henna kinda tattoos, the movements were less manic. It just didn't feel so fun. HOWEVER, the song is still superb and LEAGUES ahead of this Kizunguzungu SHITE.