Tonight we saw the 4th heat of this year’s Melodifestivalen from Örnsköldsvik. Just like in the previous editions eight acts competed for two spots in the final and two places in the second chance round Andra Chansen. At the end Alcazar and Anton Ewald were voted to the final.
The final of Melodifestivalen is slowly coming nearer. Tonight the 4th heat took place in the North-Swedish town Örnsköldsvik. Eight acts competed for two spots in the final. The artists coming 3rd and 4th would get another chance in Andra Chansen next weekend. These acts have already qualified in previous heats for the final which will take place in Stockholm on March 8th:
Yohio & Ellen Benediktson (1st heat from Malmö)
Sanna Nielsen & Panetoz (2nd heat from Linköping)
Ace Wilder & Oscar Zia (3rd heat from Göteborg)
The songs: (You can read more about the participants in our Get to know-article)
1. Alcazar – Blame it on the disco (T & M: Fredrik Kempe, David Kreuger, Hamid "K-One" Pirouzpanah)
Alcazar have the honour to open tonight’s show. They start out spectacular stepping off a huge disco ball and deliver a very energetic and confident performance. The song is an uptempo disco song in typical Alcazar style. The chorus reminds a bit of Stay the night, their 2009 MF entry. Alcazar wear very glittery costumes. Andreas is dressed in shiny black pants with a black jacket, the girls in gold and silver shiny jumpsuits. Their choreography is accompanied by pyrotechnics and a pink/blue backdrop.
2. I.D.A. – Fight me if you dare (T & M: Albin Nicklasson, Nicklas Laine, Louise Frick Sveen)
Song number 2 is another energetic performance, this time delivered by the band I.D.A.. The songs is a midtempo rock song. The female lead singer is dressed in black hotpants, a camouflage shirt covered with a white net shirt and camouflage leggings. She is accompanied by her three male bandmates on the guitar and the drums. The backdrop is dark and the lead singer’s voice a bit screamy, but after all it is a solid performance.
3. Janet Leon – Hollow (T & M: Karl-Ola Kjellholm, Jimmy Jansson, Louise Winter)
Hollow starts out very quietly, but turns into a midtempo RnBB ballad with a nice violin arrangement as soon as the first chorus starts. On stage Janet is accompanied by a dance couple. She is completely dressed in white with tight pants, a shirt and a white long coat. The backdrop is red/black. Janet’s voice sounds a bit shaky in some parts. Will this be enough for a place among the first four?
4. Ammotrack – Raise your hands (T & M: Jari Kujansuu, Thomas Johansson, Calle Kindbom, Mikael de Bruin)
Ammotrack’s entry is loud metal rock. According to this all five members are dressed in black (two of them wear denim vests) with a backdrop in black and blue with red Ammotrack logos. The bridge of the song is a longer guitar solo followed by a key change. The lead singer’s voice fits well to this kind of song. A very energetic performance.
5. Josef Johansson – Hela natten (T & M: Peter Boström, Thomas G:son, Josef Johansson, Peo Thyrén)
Hela natten is the first of tonight’s three entries sung in Swedish. The song starts quietly and slowly with piano accompaniment. Towards the first chorus a beat starts and the song builds up to a midtempo ballad. It appears that Josef is alone on stage, but towards the end of the song we see six background singers who stand on a seperate stage in the audience. Josef’s vocal performance is flawless. He wears dark brown pants and a patterned white/black jacket, a very extraordinary outfit.
6. Linda Bengtzing – Ta mig (T & M: Nicke Borg, Jojo Borg Larsson)
Linda has participated in Melodifestivalen several times before with typical Schlager songs. This time she tries it with a rocking uptempo song which differs from the songs she had performed before. At first she only has two drummers on stage, but later on she is accompanied by four backing singers. Linda wears shiny golden pants and a very sexy black and white shirt with a big neckline. A very energetic and vocally strong performance.
7. Ellinor Holmer – En himmels sång (T & M: Ellinore Holmer, Vanna Rosenberg, Åsa Schmalenbach, Josefina Sanner, Henrik Wikström, Amir Aly)
En himmels sång is a very sweet and smooth ballad performed by young Ellinor. Ellinor is all alone on stage dressed in a blue dress with black tights. The stage is coloured mainly in blue and black. Vocally Ellinor appears stronger than in the rehearsals, but still not completely flawless.
8. Anton Ewald – Natural (T & M: John Lundvik)
Tonight’s last entry comes from Anton Ewald who already participated in last year’s MF and finished 4th with Begging. Natural is quite similar to last year’s entry. Two male dancers join Anton on stage as soon as the first chorus starts. All three are dressed in black and do a dance choreography that fits well to the song. As soon as the bridge starts two more dancers appear on stage. The backdrop is again black and blue which seem to be tonight’s most popular colours.
The show:
The show started with a short review of last week’s edition. Afterwards the hosts Nour El Refai and Anders Jansson, both dressed in black, welcomed the audience. On stage they are joined by a bunch of rhythmic gymnasts, cheerleaders and several more people. Right after the last entry we got to see a reprise of all eight songs. The interval act was parody song performed by tonight’s hosts called Om dom hade ringt that was announced as Melody Nr. 9, but of course it was out of competition.
The second interval act was Tomas Ledin who represented Sweden at the 1980 Eurovision Song Contest with Just nu coming 10th. Tomas performed a medley of several popular songs finishing with his 1980 entry in a special folk version.
The results:
Five songs went through from the first round of voting:
Alcazar – Blame it on the disco
Ammotrack – Raise your hands
Linda Bengtzing – Ta mig
Ellinor Holmer – En himmels sång
Anton Ewald – Natural
After the second voting round was finished Anton Ewald was the first one that was announced as a finalist. Ammotrack and Ellinor Holmer were named as the ones who qualified for Andra Chansen. At the end Alcazar was named to be the second finalist.
The remaining results are:
5. Linda Bengtzing – Ta mig
6.
I.D.A. – Fight me if you dare
7.
Josef Johansson – Hela natten
8.
Janet Leon – Hollow
(Note: who came 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th is not revealed until after the final in March.)
You might also like to read:
Eesti Laul 2014 line up now complete
All Norwegian entries now online
Selectia Nationala 2014: Twelve finalists revealed in Romania
