We now know the result of the four semi finals, and boy was I wrong in my predictions. I made the huge mistake of thinking that the viewer’s would vote exactly like they did last year. Then they voted all the big stars through to the final. But this year something has happened. The big question is what?!
Before the season started and before I’d even heard the songs I tried to predict which songs would make it through to the the grand final in the Globe Arena. I did a poor job and only got four out of eight songs right. I thought that the following artists would be in the final:
Sibel
Pernilla Wahlgren
Peter Jöback
Alcazar
Jessica Andersson
Andreas Johnson
Darin
Ola
In reality, the artists ready for final is:
Ola
Salem al Fakir
Andreas Johnson
Erik Saade
Timoteij
Darin
Anna Bergendahl
Peter Jöback
This means that I was able to predict one song from each semi final. I’m thinking that it’s great that people doesn’t only vote for the big famous artists. At the same time I’m a little worried about what will happen to the competition if our famous artists don’t want to participate in the competition anymore due to that they don’t qualify to the final. I’m concerned that if the famous artists leave the competition then the composers will too. We already have huge problems in Sweden as a lot of composers choose to send their songs to other countries when their songs are refused here. Linda Bengtzing’s and Velvet’s song Victorious is a good example of a song that was not selected by the jury that choose the songs. Chanée & N’evergreen, the danish winners is another great example.
But the fact that it’s impossible to predict who is safe and who is not is kind of the best part of Melodifestivalen. We need to remind ourselves that Melodifestivalen is an entertainment show and it wouldn’t be much fun if we always could predict the result. For me every Saturday is a thrill, and as a fan of Melodifestivalen I think that it’s really important that the best songs are through to Globen. But at the same time I know that the voters are capricious and that it’s likely that many viewers out there have a taste totally opposite of mine.
This year, it seems like the jury picking out the songs has not had as many good songs to choose from as previous years. This year it’s also more debutants then ever participating which might confuse the viewers. Or is it that simple that the Swedes are tired of all the famous artists that are participating every other year? Whatever the reason is, I hope that Melodifestivalen will continue to be the biggest and best entertainment show in Sweden. Because I need my Saturday thrills!
