I haven’t had time to watch the whole show cos I’m away in Ireland, but my friend just put My System on for me because he knew I’d be obsessed and well…

I AM *.*

What a banger! I knew she’d come with something undeniable. D-d-dynamite ❤️

‘my system’ is everythinggg

Oh I LIVEEEEE for My System!!!

Felicia is up to #1 on Spotify Sweden today.

In at #1 with 360k (Brandsta City Slackers at #2 with 236k) and Black Widow, Sugar High and Hard - all of FELICIA’s previous releases - all re-entering or entering the top 200 for the first time. For comparisons sake, A*Teens were #1 last week with 162k so Felicia has topped that by over double.

Feels like a massive massive moment, I'm afraid I'll be waaaaay too invested in Eurovision again if this makes it but it HAS TO.

I came straight home my trip away and watched the whole show and My System was SO far leagues ahead of everyone else, it almost seemed unfair.

But then, she did the reprise without the staging, and there was a moment when she joined all of the dancers and they were jumping about screaming with joy and then she just suddenly LOCKED IN and strutted forward and I screamed. Song of the year so far, with or without Eurovision.

Certainly feels like hers to lose. That is KAJ style public appeal.

It’s a great song and the staging is so good.

Just now, gooddelta said:

Certainly feels like hers to lose. That is KAJ style public appeal.

It’s a great song and the staging is so good.

Yeah, to also compare it to KAJ, they hit 388k on the Monday after their semi final last year, so only 28k less than them. More than anyone received after their heat in 2024 etc.

Obviously it's NOT a done deal yet - there's plenty of hyped acts still to come and we don't know how great their songs are. And in the Melfest set up where the final televote points are decided by age groups, I'm not sure how she'll perform with the older age groups against your Sanna's and Smash Into Pieces etc. Or a jury. But it's certainly a very promising start and I hope the fact it's got 4 weeks now to build hype will only work in her favour, in a kind of Ace Wilder underdog type way.

I'm also so grateful that A*Teens were placed in the first heat so they could get that amazing comeback story of a No.1 single before the bigger hitters came through. In previous years where all the finalists went on streaming at the same time that never would have happened either so the timing all fell into place for them. As always I'm in awe of how big a deal it is in Sweden - 10 of the current Spotify top 12. But this is shaping up to be a strong year already - I can tell already that Iconic and My System will be among my top songs of this year (loving the Klara song too) and we still have three semis to come with some great names and a lot of promise.

I think Melodifestivalen this year more than ever is a bit of solace for me in this chaotic and sad year for Eurovision as a whole and I will be sad when it's over as it continues to bring such joy and so much great pop. I haven't even started to listen to the entries confirmed for Eurovision so far, and unlike other years I'm not going to be devastated if my favourite songs don't make it out of their national finals (at least they can avoid the sh*tshow that is bound to be).

I think AleXa could be competition for Felicia and potentially split votes. However, Felicia has the reputation, name recognition and story in Sweden after the robbery of 2024. I’ve seen people argue it’s the song and being famous didn’t matter for Måns vs KAJ but they had the whole of Swedish-speaking Finland allegedly using VPN… I wonder if she can rally any k-pop fans. It’ll be interesting anyway.

Edited February 10Feb 10 by Pineapple_

Heat 3 is definitely the weakest so far, I'm not particularly loving any of the songs yet. Medina, Saga and Patrick Jean are all decent though, Saga probably my favourite of the heat as it's more of the same from Medina (but not as good as Que Sera for me). Eva is decent pop, I found Emilia a bit dull and Korslagda is my least favourite of the year so far, awful.

Agree that it was the weakest heat thus far. I love Saga's track, it's not that different to Hate You So Much but that's no bad thing for me, she sells it really well. Medina's song is fun as you'd expect and a totally expected heat winner, can't complain. Eva surprised me, a lovely track and really pleased it squeezed an AC slot!

Patrik's song was good but was missing something, I'm not sure it translated quite so well live. Emilia was inoffensive, didn't excite me at all. Truly thankful I never have to hear that Korslagda thing again, that vocal was terrible.

I think heat 1 is still the weakest for me so far, the three songs that didn't progress aren't anything that I feel the need to go back and listen to again, then you had Greczula and Jacqline which for me, whilst both decent enough, both suffer from not being as good as their debut entries. A*Teens were by far and away the best.

Heat 2, "My System" is obviously brilliant and what I think I'm going to be rooting for to win the contest (though I've recently had a horrible thought that we might get a 2014 situation, where Felicia ends up as the Ace Wilder of this year), and I'm happy to go back to both "Oxygen" and "Glitter" (which is such a step up on Arwin's entry from last year, very annoyed it couldn't get an AC spot). Brandsta City Slackers deliver a fun performance, but I don't think I'll be seeking out the studio version often.

As for the latest heat, I think Korslagda were the worst so far, but I liked everything else. I've had "Selfish" on repeat, so glad that got to AC despite zero budget being put into the staging, would love if it somehow got through to the final. Medina's song is my least favourite from them so far, but still a bop. Out of the repeat entrants, Saga feels the most consistent so far in that it's hard to pick a preference out of her entries. Patrik Jean was much better than his 2021 entry and it was just funny to watch the early reviewers compare it to "The Code" and "Wasted Love", then it got released and those of us with better judgement realised it was more....."Dizzy"

"My System" is the ultimate BOP at the moment - hope it will make it all the way to Vienna.

I completely forgot to listen to the songs yesterday.

Cimberly's song is good, it sounds like the song I expected Jacqline to return with this year, although it's still weaker than Effortless either way. Not very keen on Timo Räisänen's song.

Loving Meira Omar's song! Hush Hush ended up being a massive earworm last year although I never absolutely loved it, this one reminds me of 00s Eurovision in a good way.

Felix Manu's song is very pleasant, not very competitive sounding but nice radio pop. Erika Jonsson's is strong country, it's catchy and has a real feel of Dolly Parton to it. She's a good performer.

Smash Into Pieces is fine in their usual Linkin Park album track kind of fashion. Clearly it will win this heat but they're not really my cup of tea and I don't think it's a winner overall.

Smash Into Pieces won the heat and Cimberly got the second spot - nice result for her, it's a good pop song in the Jacqline / early Agnes mould.

A little bit surprised that Meira Omar will have to try and get to the final through the second chance again, not sure what kind of chance she stands there.

Meira has brought it again and I think she delivered potentially the best overall performance so far this year. The choreo, staging, everything! The song itself is amazing too, gutted she didn't go direkt but I'm hoping one of the AC slots is sewn up for her.

Cimberly catching on so much was a pleasant surprise but it's a strong song! Totally agree with the Jacqline comparison, I think I might actually like it a bit more than Woman (but Effortless still clears of course).

I really didn't like Smash Into Pieces but then they never do it for me anyway, I just can't get past the vocals and how strained/forced they sound

Felix's song was sweet, Timo's was decent but would've been sold more to me with a stronger vocal, and Erika's track was perfectly serviceable but we've heard better country tracks in Melfest.

18 hours ago, gooddelta said:

Smash Into Pieces won the heat and Cimberly got the second spot - nice result for her, it's a good pop song in the Jacqline / early Agnes mould.

A little bit surprised that Meira Omar will have to try and get to the final through the second chance again, not sure what kind of chance she stands there.

I’m not sure how they calculate it but someone who knows Mello said Meira will qualify since there’s only 1 heat left.

Edited February 22Feb 22 by Pineapple_

Just listened to My System and omfg that goes off!!!

If they send her, they are winning again <3

Also can't help but sing the pre-chorus in 'Cause everytime we touch, I get this feeling'

Thoughts on the fifth and final heat:

AleXa - Tongue Tied

Quite intrigued to see what the Swedish audience think of this, it's K-Pop written by a team of Swedes, so a curious one. And whereas Golden actually sounded like a Melodifestivalen song, this wasn't the song I expected here, with the chopped vocals and techno element. I like it but don't love on first couple of listens.

JULIETT - Långt från alla andra

This is really good! Stands no chance in this heat, but reminds me of a summery 1980s pop song, lovely melody, hopefully a streaming hit at least.

Bladë - Who You Are

The artist once known as ISA, this feels like BJSC pop a bit, crossed with Loreen. Probably a bit more of a grower than a shower, so not sure how that bodes for tomorrow. Good track though indeed.

Lilla Al-Fadji - Delulu

Catchy but probably in the bottom three of the year for me, I just don't get the 'comedian' Swedish songs like this, the accent they are always sung in, and the same Sean Banan meets Medina chorus they always seem to have.

Vilhelm Buchaus - Hearts Don't Lie

Hold Me Closer 2.0, this is one to watch imo. The Swedes love an anthemic authentic troubador kind of song and from what I remember last year he had great staging, so that will have potential too. This is the only song in the heat I'd feel is any kind of competition for Felicia (who appears to be walking it currently based on what AleXa and Sanna have turned up with). Lovely track indeed, I've already played it three times.

Sanna Nielsen - Waste Your Love

Sounds like Clean Bandit produces a modern schlager song, in 2017 this would have swept the competition away. In 2026, I'm dubious of that, but I'd like to see Sanna qualify as of course I'm really enjoying this one, it feels quite nostalgic. But it's not a winner and I couldn't imagine Sweden sending it to Eurovision.

================

Predictions

1st to 3rd (could be in any order - I wouldn't rule out a shock win for Vilhelm and if that happens then AleXa is unlikely to beat Sanna in age group voting, if AleXa wins the heat – which feels unlikely based on the song – then I see Sanna winning age group voting and Vilhelm coming third, if Sanna wins then Vilhelm will win age groups over AleXa but either way you'd think the third placed song is strong enough to go to the final through the backdoor over Robin Bengtsson's crap)

4th - Lilla Al-Fadji (it's presumably not winning, so will get caught in the age group voting and probably impress the kids and any older voters that find it funny, could creep higher I guess)

5th - Bladë (great track but in this semi I think it will get lost in the low votes across all categories, there is other female pop for people to prioritise)

6th - JULIETT (which it does not deserve, lovely song)

And then Meira Omar and whichever song is third tomorrow go to the final from the second chance presumably?

Edited February 27Feb 27 by gooddelta

I think people are wildly overhyping Alexa, the song is decent but I don’t see an average Swede going for it. It’s very K-pop by numbers and I just don’t think that’s enough, although it’s not a competitive heat so I guess she could still win the night.

I didn’t realise Isa was back!!