VoR
Take it or leave it
Last week, Måns Zelmerlöw had his Carola moment, some incongruously dapper Sverigefinnar waxed lyrical about the non-sexual joys of the sauna, and poor Andreas Lundstedt was viciously cast out in fourth. It kind of feels like everything's already leading to a fairly obvious conclusion, but there is still one more heat to get through. Here are your final batch of runners and riders.
1. Arvingarna - Ring Baby Ring
(Stefan Brunzell, Thomas G:son)
Looking like the first four profiles you scroll past after opening Growlr in the middle of downtown Stockholm, the good ole' boys of Arvingarna have enjoyed quite the comeback over the past decade, with two popular finalists in 2019 and 2021. They've basically cornered the market in likable dansband dad-pop to which everyone can merrily wave a balloon, without worrying about the remotest threat that they might actually go to Eurovision. With G:Son and former Friends frontman Stefan Brunzell on writing duties, expect much the same again from Ring Baby Ring. It'd be quite the shock to see them missing the top 3 this weekend.
2. Arwin - This Dream of Mine
(Anderz Wrethov, Arwin Ismail, Jimmy "Joker" Thörnfeldt, Julie "Kill J" Aagaard, Peter Boström)
Quite a crack team of songwriters behind this one, considering he appears to be a fairly random 17 year old kid with no national profile to speak of.The look and the emetic song title are worryingly giving Bishara 2.0, but a quick Spotify sample was, while ultimately nondescript, a lot more likable than I expected. He does describe his preferred genre of music as 'cinematic synth pop' so perhaps this won't be a total write off.
3. Saga Ludvigsson - Hate You So Much
(Lisa Desmond, Herman Gardarfve, Saga Ludvigsson)
Somebody on the Melfest selection committee this year really is determined to make country music 'happen', because here's another bloody one. She had a run on Swedish Idol in 2023, in which her most notable moment was a decent cover of Dolly Parton's Jolene. Her solo material since then has leaned into that country-pop vibe. The song title sounds fun, but other than that the tea leaves are reading MOR for this one.
4. Victoria Silvstedt - Love It!
(Thomas G:son, Jimmy Jansson)
Now we're talking
Arguably the most 'real world' famous contestant to land on the Melfest stage in a while, Victoria Silvsedt was a successful model in the 1990s, with a brief sojourn into releasing one of the greatest pop albums of all time in 1999. Since then she's mostly been living it up in Monaco and doing various faded celebrity reality TV things, so this is a pretty big gig for her and also a great bit of tabloid fodder for Melfest. It remains to be seen whether she can channel the ineffable star quality of last year's big reality TV booking, La Gunilla, but it's bound to be something to see either way.
Also, given the writing of this year's show has gone big on nostalgia, I also wouldn't be surprised if Christine Meltzer showed up a some point in the show to reprise her old parody of la Silvstedt's allegedly highly affected dumb blonde routine. MMM BABY!
5. Vilhen Buchaus - I'm Yours
(Vilhelm Buchaus, Elias Edman, Jonatan Lahti, Simon Alexander Ward)
Nothing much is known about this cheerful looking gentleman. He's 23, he competed on Lila Melfest (JESC but just for Swedes) in 2013, and none of his songwriters even have Wikipedia profiles on the Swedish version. I'd like to say this is leading to INTRIGUE and MYSTERY, but he has a few songs on Spotify and they're all terribly earnest guitar pop beige, so he's probably just filler to hit whatever quota they've set themselves that can't have one of G:Son, Jimmy Jansson or the DEBS on the credits. Oh well!
6. SCARLET - Sweet 'N' Psycho
Dino Medanhodzic, Scarlet Hunts, Thirsty, Jimmy "Joker" Thörnfeldt, Anderz Wrethov
Reader, I must confess an unpopular opinion that I found this duo's entry last year to be absolute pissdribble, but it was evidently popular with others, and objectively robbed of a position in Andra Chansen, so I can't begrudge them getting an apologetic pimp slot this year in recompense. Probably the last chance for something to emerge that might give Måns a run for his money, but I'm not really seeing a world where that happens. Other than that, I can't really think of much to say about it - I just think they're rubbish! Sorry, I probably should have just rented out the space for this write-up to @ButterTart.
1. Arvingarna - Ring Baby Ring
(Stefan Brunzell, Thomas G:son)
Looking like the first four profiles you scroll past after opening Growlr in the middle of downtown Stockholm, the good ole' boys of Arvingarna have enjoyed quite the comeback over the past decade, with two popular finalists in 2019 and 2021. They've basically cornered the market in likable dansband dad-pop to which everyone can merrily wave a balloon, without worrying about the remotest threat that they might actually go to Eurovision. With G:Son and former Friends frontman Stefan Brunzell on writing duties, expect much the same again from Ring Baby Ring. It'd be quite the shock to see them missing the top 3 this weekend.
2. Arwin - This Dream of Mine
(Anderz Wrethov, Arwin Ismail, Jimmy "Joker" Thörnfeldt, Julie "Kill J" Aagaard, Peter Boström)
Quite a crack team of songwriters behind this one, considering he appears to be a fairly random 17 year old kid with no national profile to speak of.The look and the emetic song title are worryingly giving Bishara 2.0, but a quick Spotify sample was, while ultimately nondescript, a lot more likable than I expected. He does describe his preferred genre of music as 'cinematic synth pop' so perhaps this won't be a total write off.
3. Saga Ludvigsson - Hate You So Much
(Lisa Desmond, Herman Gardarfve, Saga Ludvigsson)
Somebody on the Melfest selection committee this year really is determined to make country music 'happen', because here's another bloody one. She had a run on Swedish Idol in 2023, in which her most notable moment was a decent cover of Dolly Parton's Jolene. Her solo material since then has leaned into that country-pop vibe. The song title sounds fun, but other than that the tea leaves are reading MOR for this one.
4. Victoria Silvstedt - Love It!
(Thomas G:son, Jimmy Jansson)
Now we're talking
Arguably the most 'real world' famous contestant to land on the Melfest stage in a while, Victoria Silvsedt was a successful model in the 1990s, with a brief sojourn into releasing one of the greatest pop albums of all time in 1999. Since then she's mostly been living it up in Monaco and doing various faded celebrity reality TV things, so this is a pretty big gig for her and also a great bit of tabloid fodder for Melfest. It remains to be seen whether she can channel the ineffable star quality of last year's big reality TV booking, La Gunilla, but it's bound to be something to see either way.
Also, given the writing of this year's show has gone big on nostalgia, I also wouldn't be surprised if Christine Meltzer showed up a some point in the show to reprise her old parody of la Silvstedt's allegedly highly affected dumb blonde routine. MMM BABY!
5. Vilhen Buchaus - I'm Yours
(Vilhelm Buchaus, Elias Edman, Jonatan Lahti, Simon Alexander Ward)
Nothing much is known about this cheerful looking gentleman. He's 23, he competed on Lila Melfest (JESC but just for Swedes) in 2013, and none of his songwriters even have Wikipedia profiles on the Swedish version. I'd like to say this is leading to INTRIGUE and MYSTERY, but he has a few songs on Spotify and they're all terribly earnest guitar pop beige, so he's probably just filler to hit whatever quota they've set themselves that can't have one of G:Son, Jimmy Jansson or the DEBS on the credits. Oh well!
6. SCARLET - Sweet 'N' Psycho
Dino Medanhodzic, Scarlet Hunts, Thirsty, Jimmy "Joker" Thörnfeldt, Anderz Wrethov
Reader, I must confess an unpopular opinion that I found this duo's entry last year to be absolute pissdribble, but it was evidently popular with others, and objectively robbed of a position in Andra Chansen, so I can't begrudge them getting an apologetic pimp slot this year in recompense. Probably the last chance for something to emerge that might give Måns a run for his money, but I'm not really seeing a world where that happens. Other than that, I can't really think of much to say about it - I just think they're rubbish! Sorry, I probably should have just rented out the space for this write-up to @ButterTart.
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