ButterTart's 100 Greatest Melodifestivalen Songs - 2002 to 2024

nobody:
Sanna Nielsen: *BELL CHIMING WITH FORCE OF LORRY HITTING SMALL CHILD*
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10. Roger Pontare – Silverland (2006)



AC – 4th place​


“Roger Pontare - eeeeeww in total, but its mystic.”
Orthodontics7, 11/03/2006

I’ve no idea what happened in Mad Rog’s youth to make him the man he is now, but thank God for whatever it was (unless he was diddled, but even then…).

Even for someone whose career has been a succession of home runs, ‘Silverland’ is still Roger's crowning achievement. I can’t tell you how much I LOVE every second of this song, but I’m going to try anyway.

‘Silverland’ is a pompous, ostentatious pop rock anthem which takes more than a few cues from Queen. It’s a driving, loud, rabble-rousing smasher which sounds like it should soundtrack the trailer for a historical epic. Of note here are the progressive key changes with each chorus; ‘Silverland’ goes BIG, but that’s to be expected of Mad Rog – he’s never knowingly been understated. The build throughout 'Silverland' is phenomenal, with Rog expertly wringing drama from each moment. This is a song I can listen to again and again without ever getting bored – it’s just all so EXCITING. Everything from 2:15 in the above video is just peak Melodifestivalen.

Rog delivers on stage as only he can, too. It’s worth mentioning that he has a genuinely exceptional voice, able to kick the living shite out of a big note effortlessly. Here, he takes to the stage dressed as Ric Flair flanked by dancers wafting around and by turns being a bit spooky and waving banners. Rog has the rare ability to make every performance feel like a moment; he’s generally immobile on stage but still brings a commanding presence which elevates whatever he’s singing. When I was putting this ranking together, ‘Silverland’ was one of the easiest picks for the top ten – I’ve loved it from the moment I first heard it and even now I actively look forward to listening to it.

Mad Rog went to prison for two months in 2023 on charges of being too awesome. And also several counts of drink-driving. Now he’s out, I hope he’s strongly encouraged to make his glorious return to Melodifestivalen as a form of community service. On behalf of Moopy, I would like to say he’d be more than welcome, and we hope he brings LOTS of guitars.

You know what we are? We're fucking Rog Destroyers.
 
Roger making Andra Chansen out of that ultra-competitive heat in 2006 was already a success.
 
YES - was having a Roger renaissance yesterday morning.

You must listen to this - the key change :disco:
 
ButterTart said:
11. Sanna Nielsen – I’m in Love



Finalist – 4th place​



“What the hell was that hair”
@Suomi, 12/02/2011

Christ, our Sanna is tall, isn’t she? Like, A Place in the Sun presenter tall. Why would she choose to pair her excessive length with such a brutal hairstyle? It makes her look like Belsen’s most aggressively lesbian aufseherin.

Beyond that minor quibble, ‘I’m in Love’ is actually flawless; easily and objectively one of the absolute best songs ever to appear at Melodifestivalen. It’s confident, assured, powerful schlager delivered by a woman fully aware of her own star quality.

‘I’m in Love’ immediately curries favour with me by treating verses as the irrelevance they are; we’re at the first line of the chorus in well under 30 seconds which is ruthless efficiency I fully endorse. And Jesus, WHAT a chorus it is – soaring and uplifting from the get-go with the titular hook designed to be a proper punch-the-air moment. It’s massive, shameless and instant – it’s a classic from the moment you hear it. Of course, it’s towards the end where the song really kicks into overdrive and leaves a trail of pulverised prostates in its wake. Leading into it with that simple piano accompaniment makes the ensuing EXPLOSION of schlager sound fucking HUGE – ‘Hero’ huge. The final choruses are the sound of triumph; what the rapture would sound like if God discovered poppers shortly before it started. ‘I’m in Love’ is Melodifestivalen being done expertly by a singer who totally gets her target audience.

Sanna looks incredibly pleased with herself during the performance, and why wouldn’t she? This was 2011 and she was up there with a song that had already booked its ticket to the final in the first thirty seconds. When she steps out of that head massager and struts her colossal frame down to the front of the stage, it feels like a proper moment (Enhanced by the crowd audibly going NUTS for her). The surprise choreo and jubilant big notes cap off an almighty showing from our Sanna – this is a statement performance and everything about it just feels big and important.

Obviously, Sanna went on to undo the sad of her multiple near-misses by winning the whole thing three years later, but I don’t think that song is worthy of being her enduring legacy at Melodifestivalen. That honour should go to ‘I’m in Love’, which is a perfect snapshot of everything the contest should be about. This was so nearly in my top ten, but 11th is still a Hell of a showing for Sanna and, I think, sufficient tribute to the iconic status of this song.
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Never rated this, it's probably her worst entry in my book? It's just a bit too twee and happy, where is the DRAMA.
 
The staging was completely inappropriate and confusing for a song about Argentina.
 
9. Mendez feat. Alvaro Estrella - Vamos Amigos (2020)

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Finalist – 11th place​

“According to the handkerchief code, Alvaro Estrella is a fist fuckee.”
@Penelope, 08/02/2020

GET UP! VAMOS AMIGOS!

Lol, imagine posting your top ten favourite Melodifestivalen songs on Mopsy and the first two you reveal are by men. Proper mad, me.

I’ve talked at length throughout this rate about the impact being in Sweden and watching live has had on certain songs. For this reason – among others – ‘Vamos Amigos’ was an easy choice for the top ten; it’s the sentimental favourite to end all sentimental favourites.

I watched Mendez and his bedroom-snubbing pal qualify from AC while I was in a bar in Manchester. I saw them perform live at the final – I actually stood up and danced alongside the Dad of a Swedish family next to me (‘Vamos Amigos’ did stunning numbers among middle-aged white men). Within a couple of weeks of that, we were in lockdown. This song represents that final flush of fun before enjoying yourself became a luxury reserved for Tories and Rita Ora.

It helps, of course, that ‘Vamos Amigos’ is an absolute JOY, and the lads look like they’re soaking up every second of it in each performance. It’s an uptempo, Spainsploitation pop number which boast an endorphin rush of a chorus – part of the reason this is so special to me is that it’s so happy and hopeful. I CANED this during those first few weeks of lockdown because listening to it was like mainlining much-needed positivity. Both in the studio and live version, the final chorus is an unbeatable pleasure. I can imagine this got Sweden through many a dark day during early lockdown, when they were restricted to no more than 300 people in any one location and could only go out if it was an emergency or if they felt like it.

The performance is honestly everything and more. With the stage decked out like an adventure playground, the slightly-more-than-six troupe create a sort of West Side Story aesthetic (someone in the thread at the time said In the Heights, but I don’t know what that is). Mendez and Alvaro actually do a convincing job of pretending they knew each other before recording this song, lending to the upbeat aura of the whole thing. Of particular note is the choreography, which finds room for an incredibly amount of shimmying, alongside Alvaro’s spin (at 1:50 in the video above), which looks slick as fuck and remains one of my favourite little details of any Melodifestivalen performance I’ve seen. Also, Alvaro’s actual wife is one of the dancers – apparently, he’s had her in every room of their house except one.

You may be thinking ‘Vamos Amigos’ is a little lightweight to merit a spot in my top ten and had the circumstances of that period in time been different, you may have been right. Regardless, this is a song that feels special to me whenever I hear it – it’s something that means a lot for what it symbolises and the unique feeling I get from it. That it’s an absolute banger is basically just the icing on the cake.
 
8. Anna Sahlene & Maria Haukaas Storeng - Killing Me Tenderly (2009)



Heat 4 – 7th place :evil:​


“If you took Maria's breasts and put them on top of Anna's legs you'd have quite a bombshell”
aaarrgh, 28/02/2009

Cloak and dagger man, you’re JUST like a TOXIC DRUG to me :disco:

Okay, hopefully this one’s a bit of a surprise to everyone as I don’t think I’ve ever publicly enthused about it on here before, but ‘Killing Me Tenderly’ has been a grade-A favourite of mine for YEARS. This beautiful tribute to Gypsy Rose Blanchard has everything I could possibly ask for in a mid-tempo – huge vocals, a thunderous chorus, nonsensical lyrics and fulsome bobs.

‘Killing Me Tenderly’ was something of a coup for Melodifestivalen (no, I’m not fucking exaggerating). Sahlene was a bronze medallist at Eurovision in 2002 (for Estonia…), while the endearingly jowly Maria was only a few months removed from representing Norway in 2008. 7th place in its heat probably wasn’t in the tarot when this supergroup was formed. I can only assume Sahlene is a public hate figure in Sweden for her treachery in 2002. As for Maria… well, she’s get her knockers :basil:

At the time, this was compared to Duffy which is just spiteful. It’s a bombastic duet with a chorus that could level a township, delivered enthusiastically by two very assured, brilliantly unsubtle singers. It’s not the sort of song I’d normally go for but there’s just something about it which clicked with me from the second I heard it. It’s a song which deserves to be listened to and sung LOUD. Don’t tell me you don’t feel the urge to shout along with the ‘BABY! BABY!’ bit in the chorus. As with so many of my favourites, it’s the build that gets me here – from the middle-8 onwards, this is utterly sensational. The ‘damn you I want you…’ line is such a perfectly overwrought lead-in to the final chorus, where the girls hit duelling big notes and kick ‘Killing Me Tenderly’ into the stratosphere.

On stage, the girls batter the living shit out of this – the choreography could be accused of being somewhat simplistic (basically just occasionally making shapes with their arms), but the split camera, the silhouetted dancers and their dedication to looking sultry and mesmering at all times gives the whole performance the feel of the gay James Bond film that never was; even the title fits on that front :disco: The vocals are excellent and they hit the final chorus exactly the way I want them to. Maria somehow keeps her sinful blimps safely tucked away, although I’ve studied the video carefully dozens of times to ensure there are no accidental nip slips. There are kiddies watching, you know.

‘Killing Me Tenderly’ isn’t the sort of song you’d usually expect to turn up in a ButterTart best-of list, which speaks for how much of a brute this is. Favourites come and go, but this has endured; it will always occupy a space in my Mello hall of fame. Sweden may not have recognised its majesty, but I do. Really, isn’t that the most important thing?
 
Sahlene has said since that it would have worked much better if just one of them had sung it, as it doesn’t quite make sense a duet
 
Suomi said:
Sahlene has said since that it would have worked much better if just one of them had sung it, as it doesn’t quite make sense a duet
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I think i liked it a lot at the time and they both sing it really well but I think there is something in this. They are a little mismatched and seem to be kind of singing to each other for a bit then not.

Of the two of them Sahlene probably would have vamped it up a little more solo.
 
The problem with Sahlene and Melfest is that she’s a lot more impactful live than on tv - “Runaway” worked so well because she basically threw herself into the live audience and heralded an early “you WILL vote for this” performance, a notion later perfected by Eric Saade - Popular
 
What a pleasant surprise! I heard rumours that Killing Me Tenderly won the preselection jury vote that year. It’s such a good song but there were so many robbed entries around that time. Anna Sahlene is such an underrated singer, and I love Maria too. That keychange fucking DESTROYS me every time! :disco:
 
Killing Me Tenderly is a funny one. It's a good song, and they're both fantastic individual performers, but something about it just doesn't pop. Mystery of chemistry I guess.

They definitely give off this sort of vibe:
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=7. Charlotte Perrelli – Hero (2008)

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WINNER!​

“if that goes through over Linda I will be MIFFED”
@Ill Advised, 01/03/2008

Heroes may live on their own, but Keri Hilson dies AT HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOME

Confession time: I originally placed ‘Hero’ a bit lower in this ranking but I had to have a word with myself; I think over-familiarity had caused me to overlook what a jaw-dropping pop song this is.

And it IS jaw-dropping, almost as jaw-dropping as the fact this needed a jury save to get it to the Eurovision final because the public are ungrateful shithouses. Why is it that whenever Sweden sends a forehead on legs, Europe spitefully tries to deny them a place in the final?

Our Lady of the Immobile Face was in the form of her life with ‘Hero’, delivering an instant classic, all-time fan favourite which still occupies the upper portions of everyone’s ‘all-time greatest’ lists. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who’s said ‘that Charlotte one was a bit shit, wasn’t it?’. It’s universally beloved, and correctly so. It’s thunderous, life-affirming schlager pop from a true master of the art. From the moment that iconic intro hits, it’s a masterclass in reducing unwary homosexuals to quivering puddles of jelly. That chorus is one for the ages – massive, insanely quotable and just precision pop engineering. Of course, this features an immortal final chorus; everything from ‘heroes may live on their own’ onwards is basically perfect, complete with a savage key change, a ton of ad-libs and an explosive finish which makes you feel like you’ve just been on a JOURNEY.

The performance is similarly iconic. The black and white opening was a bold choice, considering the #stillyoung Charlotte was born decades after the introduction of colour television. She works the stage like a pro; she has an indefinable quality which makes her feel like a big deal whenever she’s on stage; she just looks like she belongs up there. The bit where she and her dancers glare down the camera as they deliver the key change is the stuff of LEGEND; that dance move where they point in three different directions is somewhere just above the moon landings on the list of the most important televised events of all time.

I don’t really need to bang on about this because you all already know ‘Hero’ is world-endingly brilliant. Brexit happened because the UK didn’t like the way Europe treated this poor woman and, though we live in poverty and nothing works properly, we can nourish ourselves on our feeling of moral superiority. Viva La Perrelli.
 
7. Love Generation - Dance Alone (2011)



AC – Lost to Sara fucking Varga​


“Amateurish rubbish. Not a single one of them comes close to Ruth Jacott in terms of star quality. Shame on you Sweden. Shame on you Red One. SHAME SHAME SHAME SHAME SHAME.”
@Madíson, 02/03/2011

You’re a fool if you think that my Smeg’s on the blink – thank you, Suze from Gimme Gimme Gimme for forever ruining the way I sing that line.

‘Dance Alone’ is the reason poor Linda wakes up each morning to ‘I KILL YOU BENGTZING BITCH’ scrawled in Christer’s shit on the wall of her bedsit. Love Generation were the anointed ones, the intended winners who would lead Sweden back to the left-hand side of the Eurovision scoreboard. Instead, Linda went through and Love Generation were dispatched by the awful Sara Varga in the Godless bloodbath of Andra Chansen 2011.

In all honesty, it’s a TRAVESTY that this didn’t get to the final; it’s a genuinely phenomenal song, monumental in scale. ‘Dance Alone’ is lavish, aggressive, thumping dance pop. It shifts into fifth gear early and doesn’t let up for a second. RedOne was drafted in for this and he’s created a wall of pure noise which is the very codifier of the term ‘banger’. Listen to that chorus :disco: it’s fucking UNDENIABLE. I don’t think it’s possible to hear this and not want to dance (either alone or accompanied; I’m a big believer that dancing is for people who don’t have the imagination to appreciate the joy of sitting down, and even I find myself bopping to this whenever I hear it. There’s a tone of defiance to the lyrics which pairs well with the driving, incessant beat; this is a confrontational song that commands attention which rings true to the ‘I don’t need no man’ message of the song.

This is probably my most watched Melodifestivalen performance EVER. It’s MESMERING, a true exemplar of mounting desperation; every moment is choreographed to within an inch of it’s life and the girls do EVERYTHING in their power to sell the shit out of it. Watch Cornelia in each performance – the poor girl looks apt to dislocate a hip the way she’s chucking herself about :disco:
There are so many details here it’s impossible to catalogue them all so I’ll just mention a few key favourites:

  • The ‘I’m a little teapot’ moment during ‘tear up these eyes’.
  • The first chorus STRUT
  • The power shimmy during ‘I can do it’
  • The bit where they wipe their thighs during ‘so I’ll…’
  • The crouchy-standy middle-8 dance
  • The head bobble during ‘keep the music…’
It’s honestly such a fantastic performance that I was expecting everyone to hate it when I was reading back through the 2011 threads. I was delighted to discover that my finger, for once, was broadly on the pulse.

Love Generation came back the following year with the instantly forgettable ‘Just a Little Bit’, and Cornelia obviously went on to Sing Alone in 2022 and snaffle the crown. No word on what the insanely fit red haired one is doing now but I’m sure she’ll be having the time of her life. Songs don’t get much more immediate than ‘Dance Alone’ – it entrenched itself in my brain the first time I head it and it’s stayed there ever since. It’s a classic, an absolute banger and a deserving recipient of a place in my top ten. DJ, turn it up loud.
 
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This is probably going to sound like sacrilege, particularly coming from me, but having re-watched the 2008 Semi Final recently, poor old grayscale Charl’s accidental 12th place totally tracks. A running order with Euroband in 1st, Charlotte in 2nd and Ani Loral 4th would never be allowed to happen today, and with good reason!
 
VoR said:
This is probably going to sound like sacrilege, particularly coming from me, but having re-watched the 2008 Semi Final recently, poor old grayscale Charl’s accidental 12th place totally tracks. A running order with Euroband in 1st, Charlotte in 2nd and Ani Loral 4th would never be allowed to happen today, and with good reason!
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I always feel like the audience was generally very po-faced in 2008. I just assumed Hero was a touch too rich for Europe's blood that year.
 
I mean even I can’t rationalise her getting fewer points than ALL NIGHT LONG and PISS WILL COME, but a better running order would have done her the world of good.
 
ButterTart said:
=7. Charlotte Perrelli – Hero (2008)



WINNER!​


“if that goes through over Linda I will be MIFFED”
@Ill Advised, 01/03/2008

Heroes may live on their own, but Keri Hilson dies AT HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOME

Confession time: I originally placed ‘Hero’ a bit lower in this ranking but I had to have a word with myself; I think over-familiarity had caused me to overlook what a jaw-dropping pop song this is.

And it IS jaw-dropping, almost as jaw-dropping as the fact this needed a jury save to get it to the Eurovision final because the public are ungrateful shithouses. Why is it that whenever Sweden sends a forehead on legs, Europe spitefully tries to deny them a place in the final?

Our Lady of the Immobile Face was in the form of her life with ‘Hero’, delivering an instant classic, all-time fan favourite which still occupies the upper portions of everyone’s ‘all-time greatest’ lists. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who’s said ‘that Charlotte one was a bit shit, wasn’t it?’. It’s universally beloved, and correctly so. It’s thunderous, life-affirming schlager pop from a true master of the art. From the moment that iconic intro hits, it’s a masterclass in reducing unwary homosexuals to quivering puddles of jelly. That chorus is one for the ages – massive, insanely quotable and just precision pop engineering. Of course, this features an immortal final chorus; everything from ‘heroes may live on their own’ onwards is basically perfect, complete with a savage key change, a ton of ad-libs and an explosive finish which makes you feel like you’ve just been on a JOURNEY.

The performance is similarly iconic. The black and white opening was a bold choice, considering the #stillyoung Charlotte was born decades after the introduction of colour television. She works the stage like a pro; she has an indefinable quality which makes her feel like a big deal whenever she’s on stage; she just looks like she belongs up there. The bit where she and her dancers glare down the camera as they deliver the key change is the stuff of LEGEND; that dance move where they point in three different directions is somewhere just above the moon landings on the list of the most important televised events of all time.

I don’t really need to bang on about this because you all already know ‘Hero’ is world-endingly brilliant. Brexit happened because the UK didn’t like the way Europe treated this poor woman and, though we live in poverty and nothing works properly, we can nourish ourselves on our feeling of moral superiority. Viva La Perrelli.
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The main thing missing in this review is there is ZERO mention of the actual greatest moment. When that ROTTEN GREY CLAW reaches out for that DISCO MICROPHONE :disco:

The hours me and my gays spent trying to stop it right on that moment and howling every time we did…
 
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The studio version of Dance Alone is probably in my top ten MF songs of all time too, but the performance was lacklustre at best. Whatever Christer wanted, that performance alone (pun intended) was enough to make you instantly realise they weren’t going to a) do anything spectacular at Eurovision or b) win MF in the first place.
 
6. Jenny Silver - Something in Your Eyes (2011)



AC – Lost to Love Generation​


“Her trotty dance moves were a bit odd and I'm not sure she exactly radiates star quality”
@FetchFugly, 05/02/2011

Like Kylie Minogue and the Bee Gees before her, Jenny Silver was nothing more than a jobbing session singer until Steps covered one of her songs and propelled her to overnight global superstardom.

They honestly couldn’t have picked a more perfect song to add to their repertoire, either; ‘Something in Your Eyes’ is a bona fide MASTERPIECE of pop. If I hear the word ‘schlager’ this is what comes to mind (and fuck off, I know it’s not really schlager); it’s just so exquisitely ridiculous while at the same time being a legitimate, full-bodied BANGER.

From the intro alone, you just KNOW you’re going to enjoy ‘Something in Your Eyes’ – it’s so brazen and basic but it’s so correct; like wearing joggers on a night out. Jenny sacrifices whatever artistic credibility she may once have had to slap the very tits off us all with THAT chorus. How the Hell is it possible for something to be this catchy? It’s the sort of melody that hooks onto your brain from the moment you hear it, and only through lobotomy or death will it release its tendrils. Even before the Steps version I’d say this has to be one of the most recognisable, memorable and instant songs in the history of Melodifestivalen. The ABBA influences aren’t exactly subtle but they’re incredibly effective; if you could distil all of Sweden into one song you know it would sound like this and be about the joy of politely waving balloons.

I wouldn’t call our Jen a natural performer but her clunky grasp of choreography works in her favour. There’s something endearing about the monocle gesture, and she manages to pull off that shuffle that makes her look like she’s pretending to go downstairs without it coming off goofy. She leans into the sublimely ridiculous nature of it all and actually looks like she’s having fun. Did a song like this really need anything more than Lucy Punch cosplaying Jess Glynne while wibbling around a glow in the dark mic stand?

‘Something in Your Eyes’ is a STOMPER (Quite literally, the way Jenny navigates the stage), a true classic which earned that title the moment it was performed. It was very clearly destined for my top ten before I even started ranking everything; my love for this song challenges my already slender grasp on heterosexuality and I don’t fucking care. It’s a prime slice of proper Melodifestivalen magic.

Of course, this being 2011 it was consigned to the banger graveyard of Andra Chansen, which buried more legendary songs than you’d find in most finals. I can’t be too sad that Jenny lost out to Love Generation, but I can be cunting apoplectic that the victory of Sara twatting Varga meant her sacrifice was entirely in vain. Still, thirteen years later and ‘Spring för livet’ has yet to be graced with the vocals of Lisa Scott-Lee, so we all know who the moral victor of that hideous night actually was.
 
Dance Alone is beyond life, what a song. I’ve come around to the performance and I see what they were going for, but it is slightly flat. I’m just not sure that song is made to be performed live and have quite the same impact as the record.

SIYE is fabulous in both forms, nothing really more to say.
 
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