Sure Eurovision Has Been Doing That For Years!

I sat down to watch Britains Got Talent on Sunday night as I missed it on Saturday night. So sob stories aside there were some delights, like the fact that David Walliams is now a judge and Simon Cowell is back. (There was also someone from Baywatch there who didn't know the slightest bit about talent but was great to look at.)
But with the show aside every piece of talent that I looked at was straight out of Eurovision. Some with slight changes, let's have a look. (Sorry if you have to watch some of these on Youtube it won't let me embed them.

That's not Tom Dice (it's Sam Kelly instead).
No it is not, but it could be him singing here. Sam Kelly is here singing Make You Feel My Love.

It The (Ballroom) Schalgerboys
Ok, you won't see this at Euroclub (at least based on the things I've heard.) But still, this is all I could think of while I watched this. It may be the gayest thing I've ever seen.

Bradley and Barbara
It may not be Bjorn Ranelid and Sara Li but it's close.

Costume Changes
I am torn between Sean Banan and just a heap of costume changes, both of which we have seen at Eurovision. Dennis Egel is his name anyway. Make of it what you will.

  
Ell and Nikki's rehearsals
Certainly if you listened to the reports from the rehearsals Nikki was holding Eldar back which is kind of what is happening here. Good looking, not quite as good a singer girl, Charlotte is holding back phantom of the Opera (or Mc Donalds) [I can be so cruel] Johnathan. Anyhow this also provided for some really great awkward television when Simon suggested he dump Charlotte.

 

Andra Chansen: Football For Eurofans

Those of you who are not huge fans of Melodifestivalen will be glad to know that in eight days or so this wave of excitement will end. However also, very sadly as Melodifestivalen comes to an end so does the National Final season and with that comes a strange silence over the world of Eurovision fandom.

But enough pessimism on with Andra Chansen. If you have never been through Andra Chansen before Scandipop have an explaination of it here.

The first duel is between Dynasty and Top Cats. Dynasty have a fairly average sounding rock song helped by a lack of rock in Melodifestivalen this year. Top Cats have something that sounds like The Playtones last year but it is not anything monumental. My guess is that Dynasty should win this duel. However rock is often screened out of Andra Chansen.

The second duel is probably the most high profile for Eurovision/Melodifestivalen fans. Timoteij with their rather good song and Andreas Johnsson. Those who remember his MF 2006/2007 entries will see some parallels between Lovelight and those. However I think his song is just a little below those greats. I would love to say that Timoteij will get through but this is just to close to call.

The third duel contains Lotta Engberg and Christer Sjogren up against Thorsten Flinck once again this could go their way. I reckon that Lotta and Christer will do it their chessy but sweet song could appeal to a more wider vote. Nevertheless there is a certain "Caroline Af Ugglas" feel to this song. That has proven in the past as being a vote getter.

Finally duel four will consist of Sean Banan and Youngblood. Here you have a rather poorish song and another rather poorish song. However Youngblood probably will get through from here as there is little to take the young teen girl vote.

I'm not going to go into depth about the second round but it certainly looks like we will have an exciting and heartbreaking contest.

We Get To See Marie Serneholt In Catsuit!!!!

While in theory Melodifestivalen started on Monday, today we actually saw the results of it with SVT publishing one minute clips of each of the songs in the first semi-final. Normally we would wait until after the full songs are published but due to the nature of the contest we cannot and one minute clips give us a lot to work with.

Sean Banan - This has proven to be the most interesting entry so far in Melodifestivalen I find it quite nice to listen to. Of course the chorus being strong with a weak verse is not a good idea for a song that is going first in the competition. However it is a very integing song which I am surprised by. Sean has a good number of fans who will support him through the contest so I think he will surely be in Andra Chansen whether he goes direct to the final will be surprising, as I suspect the song will be quite repetitive in the long version.  I don't like the Blue and Yellow because it just reminds me of Dublin Bus or much else about the way it is staged. Grade: C+

Abalone Dots - A deep moody and raw Swedish ballad, which kinda reminds me of a stripped back Timoteij. I think that it could surprise us and come 5th but there is only a 50% chance of that happening I do accept. The song is one that I find really appealing which would not be what every fan would say.  The staging is done smartly focusing on instrutments and the epicness of it all. Even though I like it I'm not entirely convinced Sweden will go for it. Grade: C

The Moniker - Is spite of being one of the most antipated songs in the National Finals this song from The Moniker is a surprise. While we accept that he is into this style of music we weren't expecting him to put it into Melodifestivalen. The staging is simple and staightforward. However given the ruthless nature of Melodifestivalen it would not surprise me if this failed to qualify. Grade: D+

Afro-Dite - Afro-Dite surprised no one with the song that they choose for MF. It is similar to the disco songs that we heard from them in 2002/3. Their staging will be good on the night and this combined with having two rather balladish songs before it could help it go through to AC or directly to the final. However given that the song does sound like it could have come from 2000's and may be rejected by the Swedes because it sounds to old. Grade: C

Dead By April - Fans have said that this a possible qualifier however I think that the rather fickle nature of the Swedes means that they could reject this. It would actually be ok if there wasn't so much screaming. Grade: G

Marie Serneholt - You can say what you like about about Swing-Pop, this has AC written all over it. Most importantly (for us hetrosexual males anyway) is that according to SVT Marie will be wearing a catsuit. This could add quite a lot to my overall enjoyment of the song. Otherwise I am enjoying the song however the lyrics are a little childish but overall this could be a surprise finalist, considering Marie's popularity and her hosting of MF last year. Gossip: Did anyone notice that you could see right through Marie's blouse today? (I'm starting to sound like a real prevert now aren't I? So I shall shut up while I am ahead.) Grade: B+

Thorsten Flinck - What is a shame is that the song is actually rather nice but Thorsten actually destorys it with his voice. He sounds like the guy down the back of the pub who has had to much to drink. Personally I am not this songs biggest fan and reakon it will be stuck in the semi-final it came from. The staging is nice. Grade: E-

Loreen - When it was announced that Loreen was performing in MF many fans were delighted but not myself. I got what I expected. A rather cold and clinical song that is not overly appealing but Loreen has a rather remarkable voice. That is all. What is wrong? Well she makes no effort to perform the song live and does not make a connection with the target audience. Her hair also does not make the lack of charisma any easier to deal with. This will be great to listen to but won't be very interesting to watch except for the first time when I expect Sweden will love it so much it will go straight through to the Final. Grade: B

Clearly Loreen and Marie are the ones we would like to see go through to the final, with Sean Banan and Abalone Dots go through to the Andra Chansen.