VoR
Take it or leave it
Well, last weekend was a certainly a collection of songs that were performed on a stage in front of a televised audience who voted for their favourites. Let's say no more about it and move on...
1. Andreas Lundstedt - Vicious
Laurell Barker, LIAMOO, Andreas Lundstedt, Dino Medanhodzic
Few people have punched in more hours on the Melfest clock than this fabulous old queen. Obviously he's a five-timer as Tess Merkel's loyal hag bangle in Alcazar, but he's also done a further four rounds to date as a solo artisté, albiet to generally less memorable results. His best solo turn actually predates Alcazar, he was second to Nanne & co in 1996 with the quite lovely Driver Dag, Faller Regn. Subsequent efforts didn't make much impact, although I do think 2012's Aldrig Aldrig deserved more than it got from the Swedish publik. It's hard to imagine him getting his proper solo breakthrough at 52, but this has a strong songwriting pedigree. So much so that I suspect the source material was almost certainly workshopped for a bigger artist (possibly co-writer LIAMOO) but the title suggests Andreas might have put a unique, striking, queer spin on it.
2. Ella Tiritiello - Bara du är där
David Björk, Adam "Rymdpojken" Englund, Loreen Talhaoui
From varnished veteran Andreas we move on to one of the youngest competitors this year, 18 year-old newcomer Ella Tiritiello. She's best known for portraying a young Marie Fredriksson in a recent Swedish movie about the early years of Roxette. Song-wise, the big draw here is notorious workhorse Loreen on songwriting credits, alongside popular Swedish singer-songwriter Rymdpojken, who I think is making his Melfest debut here too. With all those influences in the mix, I'd expect this to be a touch more lyrical and indie-leaning than your standard DEBS/Jimmy Joker etc. fare, despite the fact that Ella herself looks like Malou Prytz on a witness protection. But we'll see.
3. Tennessee Tears - Yours
Tilda Feuk, Jonas Hermansson, Gavin Jones, Pär Westerlund
It's apparently now obligatory for each Melfest heat to include a ropey Swedish approximation of country music, so here we greet the return of Tennesee Tears, who you might vaguely remember from their very boring 2023 entry Now I Know which scrapped into Andra Chansen. That song had Melfest super-producer Anderz Wrethov on songwriting duties. This one is self-penned with Gavin Jones, whose only previous Melfest credit is I'll Be Fine by Molly Pettersson Hammar. All signs point to filler.
4. KAJ - Bara bada bastu
Kevin Holmström, Jakob Norrgård, Robert Skowronski, Kristofer Strandberg, Anderz Wrethov, Axel Åhman
The first full-on comedy performance in this year's contest, KAJ are a 'humorgrupp' from the Swedish speaking west coast of Finland. The title translates as 'Just Take a Sauna', so they're really going all in on the Finnish cultural stereotypes. Expect this to lean heavily on the uniquely quirky Finnosvensk dialect, probably to the delight of Swedish audiences and bafflement of international viewers.
5. AmenA - Do Good Be Better
AmenA, Sandra Bjurman, Stefan Örn
Another debutant, 23 year-old Amena Alsameai otherwise known as AmenA started her music career after arriving in Sweden as a refugee from the war in Yemen. She released her debut album in 2024 in collaboration with songwriting duo Sandra Bjurman & Stefan Örn, who were responsible for pretty much every Azeri Eurovision entry from 2010 to 2018. She's one of the lower profile contestants this year, but a quick sample of her material to date suggests this will probably be an emotional one.
6. Mãns Zelmerlöw - Revolution
Sebastian Atas, David Lindgren Zacharias, Ola Svensson, Måns Zelmerlöw
Ever since this year's lineup was announced, there's been much online grousing that the whole Swedish selection this year is going to be such a predictable cakewalk for Måns Zelmerlöw that they might as well have just done an internal selection. That might be somewhat hyperbolic, but it's safe to say that the 2015 winner is coming back with an extremely high bar to clear, not least in the wake of Loreen's recent second victory and his own very public admission that he's in it to win Eurovision again. Songwriting-wise, he hasn't gone for the most obvious names. David Zacharias and Sebastian Atas have been a bit hit or miss, but former finalist Ola Svensson has made some interesting stuff both under his own name and his occasional Brother Leo alter-ego.
Either way, expect a giant hook and the most well-funded stage show of the year by some distance. Sorry Klara.
1. Andreas Lundstedt - Vicious
Laurell Barker, LIAMOO, Andreas Lundstedt, Dino Medanhodzic
Few people have punched in more hours on the Melfest clock than this fabulous old queen. Obviously he's a five-timer as Tess Merkel's loyal hag bangle in Alcazar, but he's also done a further four rounds to date as a solo artisté, albiet to generally less memorable results. His best solo turn actually predates Alcazar, he was second to Nanne & co in 1996 with the quite lovely Driver Dag, Faller Regn. Subsequent efforts didn't make much impact, although I do think 2012's Aldrig Aldrig deserved more than it got from the Swedish publik. It's hard to imagine him getting his proper solo breakthrough at 52, but this has a strong songwriting pedigree. So much so that I suspect the source material was almost certainly workshopped for a bigger artist (possibly co-writer LIAMOO) but the title suggests Andreas might have put a unique, striking, queer spin on it.
2. Ella Tiritiello - Bara du är där
David Björk, Adam "Rymdpojken" Englund, Loreen Talhaoui
From varnished veteran Andreas we move on to one of the youngest competitors this year, 18 year-old newcomer Ella Tiritiello. She's best known for portraying a young Marie Fredriksson in a recent Swedish movie about the early years of Roxette. Song-wise, the big draw here is notorious workhorse Loreen on songwriting credits, alongside popular Swedish singer-songwriter Rymdpojken, who I think is making his Melfest debut here too. With all those influences in the mix, I'd expect this to be a touch more lyrical and indie-leaning than your standard DEBS/Jimmy Joker etc. fare, despite the fact that Ella herself looks like Malou Prytz on a witness protection. But we'll see.
3. Tennessee Tears - Yours
Tilda Feuk, Jonas Hermansson, Gavin Jones, Pär Westerlund
It's apparently now obligatory for each Melfest heat to include a ropey Swedish approximation of country music, so here we greet the return of Tennesee Tears, who you might vaguely remember from their very boring 2023 entry Now I Know which scrapped into Andra Chansen. That song had Melfest super-producer Anderz Wrethov on songwriting duties. This one is self-penned with Gavin Jones, whose only previous Melfest credit is I'll Be Fine by Molly Pettersson Hammar. All signs point to filler.
4. KAJ - Bara bada bastu
Kevin Holmström, Jakob Norrgård, Robert Skowronski, Kristofer Strandberg, Anderz Wrethov, Axel Åhman
The first full-on comedy performance in this year's contest, KAJ are a 'humorgrupp' from the Swedish speaking west coast of Finland. The title translates as 'Just Take a Sauna', so they're really going all in on the Finnish cultural stereotypes. Expect this to lean heavily on the uniquely quirky Finnosvensk dialect, probably to the delight of Swedish audiences and bafflement of international viewers.
5. AmenA - Do Good Be Better
AmenA, Sandra Bjurman, Stefan Örn
Another debutant, 23 year-old Amena Alsameai otherwise known as AmenA started her music career after arriving in Sweden as a refugee from the war in Yemen. She released her debut album in 2024 in collaboration with songwriting duo Sandra Bjurman & Stefan Örn, who were responsible for pretty much every Azeri Eurovision entry from 2010 to 2018. She's one of the lower profile contestants this year, but a quick sample of her material to date suggests this will probably be an emotional one.
6. Mãns Zelmerlöw - Revolution
Sebastian Atas, David Lindgren Zacharias, Ola Svensson, Måns Zelmerlöw
Ever since this year's lineup was announced, there's been much online grousing that the whole Swedish selection this year is going to be such a predictable cakewalk for Måns Zelmerlöw that they might as well have just done an internal selection. That might be somewhat hyperbolic, but it's safe to say that the 2015 winner is coming back with an extremely high bar to clear, not least in the wake of Loreen's recent second victory and his own very public admission that he's in it to win Eurovision again. Songwriting-wise, he hasn't gone for the most obvious names. David Zacharias and Sebastian Atas have been a bit hit or miss, but former finalist Ola Svensson has made some interesting stuff both under his own name and his occasional Brother Leo alter-ego.
Either way, expect a giant hook and the most well-funded stage show of the year by some distance. Sorry Klara.
(derogatory)
