VoR
Take it or leave it
Last weekend brought us technical fuck-ups, surprise flops, considerably less surprising flops and an early frontrunner in the form of Cornelia Jacobs, Will Semi Two prove to be as eventful? The answer is usually no, but let's take a look anyway...
1. Liamoo - Bluffin'
(Jimmy "Joker" Thörnfeldt, Sami Rekik, Dino Medanhodzic, Ali Jammali)
Last seen attempting to emote into the bellowing maw of the faintly terrifying Hanna Ferm, Melfest's current elder statesman of 'music the kids might be into' is back for his third shot at the big time.
As a general rule, the third entry from a repeat finalist is usually either the winner, or the moment they slip down into the B-tier and resign themselves to spending the rest of their career fruitlessly chasing former glories. Look on the increasingly haunted visage of Andreas Johnson and tremble, young Melfest stars!
This entry was co-written by popular rap duo Medina, but then they're also competing themselves this year, so you have to wonder whether they'd really give away the better song to a rival? He does have a new record deal and an album coming out though, so expect some money to have gone into this.
2. Niello & Lisa Ajax - Tror du att jag bryr mig?
(Yvonne Dahlbom, Niklas Grahn Linroth, Jesper Welander)
For a cautionary tale about the perils of staying too long at the fair, Liamoo could also look down the setlist at the sad fate of poor Lisa Ajax. Once a priority booking for Melfest, the law of diminishing returns now sees her reduced to hook singer to a minor league dudebro and thrown out in second place - and goodness, doesn't she look just thrilled about it! That said, they have released a preview single and it isn't actually half bad, so who knows?
3. Samira Manners - I Want To Be Loved
(Samira Manners, Fredrik Andersson)
Having just checked out an earlier release from this slouchy newcomer, I suspect the music of Kate Nash may have played a formative role in her musical origin story. She's a relative unknown on the scene, so she'll clearly hoping for a Clara Klingenström trajectory. If this doesn't work out, there's a better than average chance that a warbly John Lewis ad will feature in her future.
4. Alvaro Estrella - Suave
(Linnea Deb, Jimmy "Joker" Thörnfeldt, Joy Deb, Alvaro Estrella)
Bless this queen. Against all expectations, last year he managed to bury the ghost of that time he quite literally shit the bed(room), and scored one of the biggest hits of all the class of 2021. Given the songwriters and title, this is likely to be very much more of the same, but who could possibly begrudge him? Harmless Enrique Iglesias pop by a well preserved 40-something is a microgenre I can 100% vibe with.
5. Browsing Collection - Face In The Crowd
(Carolina Karlsson, Mimi Brander, Moa Lenngren, Nora Lenngren, Sandra Bjurman, Jimmy Wahlsteen)
Instantly joining the likes of Crucified Barbara and the iconic COOKIES 'N' BEANZ in the annals of shit band names of our time, this lot are bringing strong lesbian energy and allegedly the most punk-rock entry ever to be seen on the Melfest stage! Heaven preserve us! One suspects this all might be bit much for Björn and Birgitta from Borås, but it keeps these lairy lasses off the streets and ticks another diversity box for the production crew so no harm, no foul!
6. John Lundvik - Änglavakt
(Anderz Wrethov, Elin Wrethov, Benjamin Rosenbohm, Fredrik Sonefors, John Lundvik)
Like Jake Gyllenhaal's Jack Twist to Heath Ledger's musky cowboy cock, John Lundvik just doesn't know how to quit the abusive lover that is Melfest. This is his third participation in five years, which isn't *that* uncommon, but also he won the whole thing in 2019! Like, give them a chance to miss you Lundy! The fact that he's participating in Swedish this time is a bit of an eyebrow-raiser, but he's never not going to be in it to win it, so I'd expect this to be competitive at least for this round. John helpfully describes the song as being "about relationships".
7. Tone Sekelius - My Way
(Anderz Wrethov, Tone Sekelius)
Now here's one that could be interesting. Tone Seklius is a popular YouTuber and the first trans artist to enter Melfest in the show's 60 year history. She's not known as a performer yet though, and this is her debut single. She's also admitted that the song has actually been rejected a few times in the past, but there's clearly enough faith in it now for it to be given a pimp slot. Tone describes it as 'powerful and upbeat' with socially conscious lyrics. Those crazy leftie Swedes do love a narrative, so if this is one of the better songs/performances this year there's a good chance they could get behind it and take it all the way. Nobody tell J.K. Rowling.
Schedule
Wednesday: Press reviews
Thursday: SNIPPETS
Friday: Rehearsal clips
Saturday: LIVE SHOW (7pm UK time)
1. Liamoo - Bluffin'
(Jimmy "Joker" Thörnfeldt, Sami Rekik, Dino Medanhodzic, Ali Jammali)
Last seen attempting to emote into the bellowing maw of the faintly terrifying Hanna Ferm, Melfest's current elder statesman of 'music the kids might be into' is back for his third shot at the big time.
As a general rule, the third entry from a repeat finalist is usually either the winner, or the moment they slip down into the B-tier and resign themselves to spending the rest of their career fruitlessly chasing former glories. Look on the increasingly haunted visage of Andreas Johnson and tremble, young Melfest stars!
This entry was co-written by popular rap duo Medina, but then they're also competing themselves this year, so you have to wonder whether they'd really give away the better song to a rival? He does have a new record deal and an album coming out though, so expect some money to have gone into this.
2. Niello & Lisa Ajax - Tror du att jag bryr mig?
(Yvonne Dahlbom, Niklas Grahn Linroth, Jesper Welander)
For a cautionary tale about the perils of staying too long at the fair, Liamoo could also look down the setlist at the sad fate of poor Lisa Ajax. Once a priority booking for Melfest, the law of diminishing returns now sees her reduced to hook singer to a minor league dudebro and thrown out in second place - and goodness, doesn't she look just thrilled about it! That said, they have released a preview single and it isn't actually half bad, so who knows?
3. Samira Manners - I Want To Be Loved
(Samira Manners, Fredrik Andersson)
Having just checked out an earlier release from this slouchy newcomer, I suspect the music of Kate Nash may have played a formative role in her musical origin story. She's a relative unknown on the scene, so she'll clearly hoping for a Clara Klingenström trajectory. If this doesn't work out, there's a better than average chance that a warbly John Lewis ad will feature in her future.
4. Alvaro Estrella - Suave
(Linnea Deb, Jimmy "Joker" Thörnfeldt, Joy Deb, Alvaro Estrella)
Bless this queen. Against all expectations, last year he managed to bury the ghost of that time he quite literally shit the bed(room), and scored one of the biggest hits of all the class of 2021. Given the songwriters and title, this is likely to be very much more of the same, but who could possibly begrudge him? Harmless Enrique Iglesias pop by a well preserved 40-something is a microgenre I can 100% vibe with.
5. Browsing Collection - Face In The Crowd
(Carolina Karlsson, Mimi Brander, Moa Lenngren, Nora Lenngren, Sandra Bjurman, Jimmy Wahlsteen)
Instantly joining the likes of Crucified Barbara and the iconic COOKIES 'N' BEANZ in the annals of shit band names of our time, this lot are bringing strong lesbian energy and allegedly the most punk-rock entry ever to be seen on the Melfest stage! Heaven preserve us! One suspects this all might be bit much for Björn and Birgitta from Borås, but it keeps these lairy lasses off the streets and ticks another diversity box for the production crew so no harm, no foul!
6. John Lundvik - Änglavakt
(Anderz Wrethov, Elin Wrethov, Benjamin Rosenbohm, Fredrik Sonefors, John Lundvik)
Like Jake Gyllenhaal's Jack Twist to Heath Ledger's musky cowboy cock, John Lundvik just doesn't know how to quit the abusive lover that is Melfest. This is his third participation in five years, which isn't *that* uncommon, but also he won the whole thing in 2019! Like, give them a chance to miss you Lundy! The fact that he's participating in Swedish this time is a bit of an eyebrow-raiser, but he's never not going to be in it to win it, so I'd expect this to be competitive at least for this round. John helpfully describes the song as being "about relationships".
7. Tone Sekelius - My Way
(Anderz Wrethov, Tone Sekelius)
Now here's one that could be interesting. Tone Seklius is a popular YouTuber and the first trans artist to enter Melfest in the show's 60 year history. She's not known as a performer yet though, and this is her debut single. She's also admitted that the song has actually been rejected a few times in the past, but there's clearly enough faith in it now for it to be given a pimp slot. Tone describes it as 'powerful and upbeat' with socially conscious lyrics. Those crazy leftie Swedes do love a narrative, so if this is one of the better songs/performances this year there's a good chance they could get behind it and take it all the way. Nobody tell J.K. Rowling.
Schedule
Wednesday: Press reviews
Thursday: SNIPPETS
Friday: Rehearsal clips
Saturday: LIVE SHOW (7pm UK time)
Last edited:
at about 8:30 on Saturday night.
(and apparently Tone's is absolutely gasping for one!)
