The search for the next Swedish Eurovision participant reached the city of Gävle tonight. This was the fourth heat and here we could hear the last 8 of 28 songs. As the show reached to an end Molly Sandén and Frans emerged victorious and went straight to the final in Globen on 12 March while Dolly Style and Panetoz still can reach the final through next Saturday’s second chance heat.
The fourth out of five heats that leads up to the final was held tonight in Gavlerinken Arena in the city of Gävle. Two songs goes straight to the final while the third and fourth placed songs are getting a place in the fifth heat.
– Ace Wilder and Robin Bengtsson qualified from the first heat in Gothenburg – read more in this article.
– David Lindgren and Wiktoria qualified from the second heat in Malmö – read more in this article.
– Oscar Zia and Lisa Ajax qualified from the third heat in Norrköping – read more in this article.
The songs
1. Eclipse – Runaways (Text & Music: Erik Mårtensson)
The hard rock band Eclipse’s four members are all dressed in black jackets and t-shirts. There are siren lights place on different loactions on the stage and pyrotechniques are used to create flames during the number. This is melodic hard rock and there is not much new compared to other hard rock songs through the years in Melodifestivalen. However these type of songs have done fairly well in Melodifestivalen through the years always reaching the second cance and sometimes making it directly to the final. Can Eclipse hold on to that record?
2. Dolly Style – Rollercoaster (Text & Music: Thomas G:son, Peter Boström, Alexandra Salomonsson)
The girl group Dolly Style returns to Melodfestivalen after last year’s fairly successfull attempt where they reached the second chance heat with the song Hello Hi. Two of the three members of the band have been replaced since last year. The girls, each with a different color in the hair, hair bows and dressed in tops with unicorns and skirts, start on a “cloud podium” and when they step down on the stage they are doing a energetic performance with lots of dancing across the stage together with three female dancers one a smoke filled stage. The song is a perhaps more Cosmo4’s What’s your name from Melodifestivalen 2007 rather than last years Hello Hi. The question is if they are going to attract the same amount of young voters as last year.
3. Martin Stenmark – Du tar mig tillbaks (Text & Music: David Stenmarck)
The swedish representative at Eurovisioin 2005, Martin Stenmarck, is making his third apperance in Melodifestivalen. Apart from winning with LasVegas in 2005 he also took part in 2014 and reached the second chance heat with the song När änglarna går hem. The song title this year, Du tar mig tillbaks, translates to You Take Me Back. The song is about memories from the past and is meant to be a tribute to the 60’s music style. Actually the first seconds of the chorus really reminds a lot of the chorus from Procul Harum’s old hit A Whiter Shade of Pale. Martin is dressed in a suit and a polo neck sweater. Returning artists have in the last years found themself struggling to survive the first televoting round. But Martin is a pro on the stage – can he he win the hearts of the swedish peoples?
4. Linda Bengtzing – Killer Girl (Text & Music: Mathias Kallenberger, Andréas Berlin, Linda Bengtzing, Dag Öhrlund)
Speaking of 2005 – here comes Linda Beingtzting who made her debut in Melodifestivalen 2005 with Alla flickor and now does her sixth apperance in the competition. She starts the song on a podium that looks like a staircase. The very short haired Linda is wearing a long slits dress. There are six dancers, wearing tail coats, with her on the stage. Despite the english title the song is sung entirely in Swedish. The text is seducive and the song itself sounds like a mix of Linda’s first three first entries and definitely falls into the uptempo “schlager” category. There is a big questionmark if these kind of songs still can achive top positions in Melodifestivalen or if they are just thrown in to please the swedish audience where some seem to expect these kind of songs every year. Linda made it to the final on her first four apperances. Can she relive her glory days or is it another quick exit for the Swedish schlager?
5. Frans – If I Were Sorry (Text & Music: Oscar Fogelström, Michael Saxell, Fredrik Andersson, Frans Jeppsson Wall)
17-year old Frans, who is most known to Swedes for a tribute song about the soccer player Zlatan Ibrahimvoic 10 years ago, is making his debut in Melodifestivalen with a modern pop song with beats that brings the thoughts to Robin Schulz. The stage is in total darknes and behind Frans is a lightwall which dispalys different words and images in golden font. There is little doubt that Frans is becoming the girls favourite and judging the audience reaction he seem to have won them over. Did he also win the viewers votes?
6. Panteoz – Håll om mig hårt (Text & Music: Jimmy Jansson, Karl-Ola Kjellholm, Jakke Erixson, Pa Modou Badjie, Njol Badjie, Nebeyu Baheru)
Panetoz enters Melodifestivalen for the second time. The first was in 2015 where they ended 9th in the final with the song Efter solsken. The song tonight Håll om mig hårt (Hold me tight) has, just like their song from last year, a high tempo with a hooky chorus and the five guys, dressed in beige suits, moving around on the stage with a lot of energy and radiating happiness which seems to get the crowd going. The start of the song has a really cool effect with two of the guys looking to be beamed from above onto the stage (this is a pre-recorded effect). Will Panetoz make it to the final again this year?
7. Molly Sandén – Youniverse (Text & Music: Molly Sandén, Danny Saucedo, John Alexis)
Molly Sandén wrote the song together with her boyfriend Danny Saucedo who also participated in Melodifestivalen and was second both in 2011 and 2012. The song is a modern popsong that has a build-up and a chorus that reminds of Loreens ESC-winner Euphoria and also to some extent also reminds of Ellen Benediktsons Insomnia from last years competition. There is also a long “youuuuuuu” that brings thoughts to Robin Stjernbergs winner in 2013. Molly starts the song sitting on the stage with her four female dancers. They soon gets up and the stage floor is covered with smoke. Towards the end big pieces of cloth can be seen moving in the wind in the background, making them look like white flames in the stage light. Molly is an excellent singer and starting from the last position in the last heat has often meant winning the whole compeition.
The show
After a quick recap of the third semifinal the show opens with the host Gina Dirawi and co-host Sarah Dawn Finer singing Guy Sebastians Tonight Again with but for most part of the song with new lyrics (Du och jag tillsammans) which is about Gina & Sarah leading the show once again (they were being hosts as well in 2012).
Between song 5 and 6 there is a pre-recorded video with the famous swedish actor Lena Endre reading the lyrics from Linda Bengtzing’s previous entry from Melodifestivalen 2006 Jag ljuger så bra. The lyrics are read in a serious way which gives a rather high entertainment value for a swedish viewer.
After the seven performances there is a pre recorded video with the actor Helena Bergström (host of Melodifestivalen 2012) where she again plays the role of two different tv viewers in their homes debating about their relation to Melodifestivalen.
After the first round of voting there is another video lesson in comedian Jonas Gardells “Schlager school”.
We are then back on the stage with a choir singing the Swedish national anthem with Sarah stepping in singing part of a folk song in hebrew and Gina singing another song in arabic. Jon-Henrik Fjällgren (second in Melodifestivalen 2015) comes onto stage to yoik in sami while Sarah, Gina and the choir singing the Swedish national anthem together, a nice gesture to show that Melodifestivalen is for everyone living in Sweden.
The result
Five songs went through from the first round of voting:
Song 1: Runaways by Eclipse
Song 2: Rollercaoster by Dolly Style
Song 5: If I Were Sorry by Frans
Song 6: Håll om mig hårt by Panetoz
Song 7: Youniverse by Molly Sandén
After the second round of voting ended the first finalist to be announced was Molly Sandén. The second finalist was Frans. Dolly Style and Panetoz were 3rd and 4th and goes to Andra chansen (the second chance heat)
The rest of the results:
5. Runaways by Eclipse
6. Du tar mig tillbaka by Martin Stenmarck
7. Killer Girl by Linda Bengtzing
(Note: who came 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th is not revealed until after the final in March).
The second chance duels on the 5 March where the winner takes a place in the final will be:
Panetoz – Molly Pettersson Hammar
Albin & Mattias – Boris René
Isa – Saraha
Dolly Style – Samir & Viktor
Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest
With six Eurovision victories, Sweden is catching up on Ireland who is front with seven wins. Sweden joined the contest in 1958, didn’t participate in 1964 and 1976, and as such have 55 appearances on their Eurovision card. Since the introduction of semi-finals in 2004, Sweden failed to qualify only once which was Anna Bergendahl’s This Is My Life, which finished just outside the 10 qualifiers in 2010.
Sweden’s first victory came in 1974 where ABBA’s Waterloo took Europe, and later the rest of the world, by storm. After that another 10 year passed before three brothers in golden shoes captivated in particular the hearts of teenage girls when Herreys won with the catchy song Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley. In 1991 fan favourite Carola won with the Swedish languaged Fångad Av En Stormvind, and in 1999 the Eurovision trophy once again headed to Sweden when Charlotte Nilsson (Now Perrelli) secured it with Take Me To Your Heaven. In 2012 it was then Loreen’s smash hit Euphoriawhich most of Europe listened to – and voted for, and finally, just three years later Måns Zelmerlöw and his songHeroes brought the contest back to Sweden.
Below you can watch a video with Swedish highlights from the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 – 2015. The video include clips from more than just their actual Eurovision performance, and as such, most likely something you haven’t seen before. Enjoy, while we wait for next week’s second heat of Melodifestivalen 2016. This time, hopefully, with seven participants.
