Molly Sandén and Björn Ranelid feat. Sara Li was voted through to the final by the televoters tonight as the third heat of the swedish national selection Melodifestivalen took place in the town of Leksand in central Sweden. Youngblood and Andreas Johnson gets a new chance to qualify to the final in the second chance heat.

The opening act

Just like in the opening of the previous heat we get the highlights from the last heat that was held in Göteborg. We are then presented with the hosts Sarah Dawn Finer and Gina Dirawi who makes fun about how difficult it seems to be to pronounce their names. There is also a bit of mocking of the author Jan Guillou who has made a patronising remark about Björn Ranelids apperance in Melodifestivalen.

The songs

Song number 1:  Youngblood – Youngblood (Fredrik Kempe and David Kreuger)

First out are the new boyband and beforehand favourites Youngblood who enters a smoke filled stage. The boys are doing a energetic number with a pretty impressive dancing. By the end of the song each member is holding and waving a burning torch in the air accompanied by a cascade of pyrotechnics.

Song number 2:  Maria BenHajji – I mina drömmar (Nanna Sveinsdóttir and Thomas Cars)

The break between song 1 and 2 is a bit longer than the usual breaks due to the amount of candles that are being set up on stage for Maria BenHajjis number – more than 200 candles! Maria starts the performance sitting by a concert piano, she then walks through the candles on stage. In the backround there is a four people strong choir. This is a typical ballad that you feel you have heard before in Melodifestvialen some 20 years ago and it seems like we will still have to wait for a webbjoker that actually makes it through the first stage of the voting.

Song number 3:  Mattias Andréasson – Förlåt mig (Mattias Andréasson)

Mattias, who is one third of the group E.M.D, sings a R’n’B song with swedish lyrics. There is a cage of glowing bars on stage which Mattias enters later in the song. Some bars are then removed and used by the dancers in the dancing routine behind Mattias.

Song number 4:  Love Generation – Just A Little Bit (Mattias Andréasson)

The girls from Love Generation starts the song sitting on a podium on the stage. They move down to the stage walking down the stairs to continue their performance that involves a nice dance routine. There are moving walls with spotlights being used on stage and the whole number is quite a feast for the eye but the song isn’t really as instant as I dance alone from last year.

Song number 5: Carolina Wallin Pérez – Sanningen (Michael Clauss, Martin Bjelke, Carolina Wallin Pérez, F Dread)

Carolina sings a song that has a melancholic sound. There is very little going on on stage during the performance. In the background there are four people each behind a big drum who they beat. In the end of the song there is a rain of confetti that looks like white and black butterflies.

Song number 6: Andreas Johnson – Lovelight (Andreas Johnson and Peter Kvint)

Andreas has a band on stage and is doing a britpop number that in one part sounds rather similar to Suedes Beautiful ones. With all his experience he has he delivers a profesional looking performance.

Song number 7: Molly Sandén – Why Am I Crying (Molly Sandén, Aleena Gibson and Windy Wagner)

In this powerful ballad Molly sings about a breakup that will probably touch many peoples hearts, especially with having in mind that Molly and last years winner Eric Saades recently split up. Molly starts the song sitting on a stool, she walks up after the first refrain. By the end of the song she throws away the microhpone stand to the side.

Song number 8: Björn Ranelid feat. Sara Li – Mirakel (Fredrik Andersson and Björn Ranelid )

Björn walks around the stage and recites a message about the miracle of love accompanied with a dance beat in the background. Sara Li comes in to sing the refrain. It becomes a strange combination that stands out from the rest of the songs and maybe it will reach a kind of cult status similar to "Symfonin" and "I love Europe". 

The interval act

Just like in the first two heats Helena Bergström is back in a prerecorded video where she plays four different characters who talks about Melodifestivalen. It’s all really well done and seem to have gone down well with the viewers (unlike the more criticized interval act featuring Peter Stormare and his remake of different artists last year).

After the first round of voting where five acts qualified to the second round it was time for entertainment in form of the group Sirqus Alfon who performed their own version of Roger Pontares song from Melodifestivalen 2006, Silverland.  Håkan Lidbo feat Jessica Folcker and Branded performing a mash up of Anniela’s song Elektrisk from last year and Leila K’s Electric.

The result

Five songs went through from the first round of voting:

Song 1. Youngblood by Youngblood
Song 3: Förlåt mig by Mattias Andréasson
Song 6: Lovelight by Andreas Johnson
Song 7: Why Am I Crying by Molly Sandén
Song 8: Mirakel by Björn Ranelid feat. Molly Sandén

After the second round of voting ended the first finalist to be announced was Molly Sandén.
The second finalist was Björn Ranelid feat. Molly Sandén.

Young blood & Andreas Johnson goes to the second chance heat.

The rest of the results:
5. Mattias Andréasson
6. Love Generation
7. Carolina Wallin Pérez
8. Maria BenHajji

(Note: who came 1st and 2nd and who was 3rd and 4th is not revealed)