Melodifestivalen 2013: The artists, the songs, the composers - Heats 3 & 4

So here we have the last 16 acts of Melodifestivalen 2013!

Semi-final 3, Skellefteå February 16th

1. Eddie Razaz – Alibi (Peter Boström, Thomas G:son)
2. Amanda Fondell- Dumb (Freja Blomberg, Fredrik Samsson)
3. Ravaillacz (Körberg, Rabaeus, Malmberg & Ronander) – En riktig jävla schlager (Kjell Jennstig, Leif Goldkuhl, Henrik Dorsin)
4. State of Drama – Falling (Göran Werner, Sebastian Hallifax, Emil Gullhamn, James Hallifax)
5. Janet Leon - Heartstrings (Fredrik Kempe, Anton Malmberg Hård af Segerstad)
6. Caroline af Ugglas – Hon har inte (Heinz Liljedahl, Caroline af Ugglas)
7. Martin Rolinski - In and out of love (Thomas G:son, Andreas Rickstrand)
8. Elin Petersson – Island (Elin Petersson)

Semi-final 4, Malmö February 23rd

1. Ralf Gyllenhammar – Bed on fire (Ralf Gyllenhammar, David Wilhelmsson)
2. Therese Fredenwall – Breaking the silence (Terese Fredenwall, Simon Petrén)
3. Behrang Miri - Jalla dansa salwa (Behrang Miri, Anderz Wrethov, Firas Razak Tuma, Tacfarinas Yamoun)
4. Lucia Piñera – Must be love (Peter Kvint, Jonas Myrin)
5. Army of Lovers - Rockin’ the ride (Alexander Bard, Henrik Wikström, Per QX, Andreas Öhrn, Jean-Pierre Barda)
6. Ulrik Munther - Tell the world I’m here (Peter Boström, Thomas G:son, Ulrik Munther)
7. Sylvia Vrethammar - Trivialiter (Thomas G:son, Calle Kindbom, Mats Tärnfors)
8. Robin Stjernberg – You (Robin Stjernberg, Linnea Deb, Joy Deb, Joakim Harestad Haukaas)

Ok let's see... From semi 3 I'm looking forward to Amanda Fondell. I like her voice and for some reason I find the title of the song very promising...

Ravaillacz - oh my God! (Interpret this however you want...)

Comeback for Caroline af Ugglas and Martin Rolinski (BWO)... Caroline is crazy (in a good way!). I can't say I'm a fan but I like her as a person and I actually like her previous mello attempts. As for Martin... I don't like him so much although I love "Lay Your Love On Me".

Semi 4. Army of Lovers! Army of Lovers!!! Now that's the biggest surprise! AOL reunited! Well just 3 of them but still! I'll be honest here. I haven't heard many songs by them but I know they were huge back in the '90s! Besides it's Alexander Bard we're talking about! Really really interested in them!

And Ulrik Munther is back. I don't care actually. And I don't like his last year's attempt.

Now who's that Lucia Piñera? Spanish name so let's flag that entry! :P

Overall I'm not pleased by this year's line-up. Of course judging just by the artists since we haven't heard the songs but still...

ESC 2013: Portugal withdraws

At this point this is the worst news of the ESC 2013 I've heard! I don't even care about the organization or the new rules anymore! Portugal withdraws! The country that kicked out of my all time top 10 ESC countries the Netherlands! (Although I should really revise that top 10 sometime) I'm sad. And I really mean it! :( Very sad! And I know that Poland is also out and that there are rumors for Slovakia's withdrawal but I don't really care. Ok I care for Poland but not as much as Portugal!

During the last few weeks Portugal became a real favourite! Very close to Spain and Israel! I can't blame them though. They've been in the contest for 46 years and their best result so far is the 6th place in 1996 which also happens to be my favourite portuguese entry! Add to that the new stupid rules and their problems with economy and you have the reason why they're out!

I've been checking groups on facebook, friends' statuses, euroforums... Every single eurofan is shocked and sad by this decision! No surprise there...

Volta, Portugal! :'( Hope to see you back in 2014!

Melodifestivalen 2013: The artists, the songs, the composers - Heats 1 & 2

Busy day today! I took a quick look at the artists in the morning but I had no time to blog. Ok let's see.

Semi-final 1, Karlskrona February 2nd

1. Cookies N Beans – Burning Flags (Fredrik Kempe)
2. Mary N’diaye – Gosa (Johan Åsgärde, Mattias Frändå, Mary N’diaye)
3. Yohio – Heartbreak Hotel (Johan Fransson, Tobias Lundgren, Tim Larsson, Henrik Göranson, Yohio)
4. Jay-Jay Johanson – Paris (Jay-Jay Johanson)
5. Anna Järvinen – Porslin (Björn Olsson, Martin Elisson)
6. David Lindgren – Skyline (Fernando Fuentes, Henrik Nordenback, Christian Fast)
7. Eric Gadd – Vi kommer aldrig att förlora (Eric Gadd, Thomas Stenström, Jacob Olofsson)
8. Michael Feiner & Caisa – We’re Still Kids (Michael Feiner, Caisa Ahlroth)

 Semi-final 2, Gothenburg February 9th

1. Joacim Cans – Annelie (Joacim Cans)
2. Anton Ewald – Begging (Fredrik Kempe, Anton Malmberg, Hård af Segerstad)
3. Sean Banan – Copacabanana (Sean Banan, Ola Lindholm, Hans Blomberg, Joakim Larsson)
4. Rikard Wolff – En förlorad sommar (Tomas Andersson Wij)
5. Eric Segerstedt and Tone Damli – Hello Goodbye (Robin Fredriksson, Mattias Larsson, Måns Zelmerlöw)
6. Felicia Olsson – Make Me No 1 (Amir Aly, Henrik Wikström, Ingela Pling Forsman, Maria Haukaas Mittet)
7. Pernilla Wahlgren, Hanna Hedlund, Jenny Silver – On Top Of The World (Peter Boström, Thomas G:son)
8. Louise Hoffsten – Only The Dead Fish Follow The Stream (Louise Hoffsten, Sandra Bjurman, Stefan Örn)

There are quite a lot names that I've never heard before. I can't say a lot right now coz I need to listen to the songs first. If we just see the artists, I'm rooting like hell right now for Pernilla, Hanna and Jenny! And judging by the composers (combined with the artists) it's safe to say we're talking about a schlager song! Yay! :D 

I'm also interested in David Lindgren's song since I love "Shout It Out". 

You guys should google Yohio! Personally I don't like him (her?) at all. Well he's an interesting person (I watched an interview) but I don't like his music.

Then we have a comeback for Cookies N Beans. I can't say I'm a big fan of "What If" but sometimes I enjoy it... When I'm in the country mood. It's weird but I see that the Swedes really enjoy country and rockabilly music...

Oh I'm also interested in Erik Segerstedt and Tone Damli's duet! And it's more interesting that the song is written by Måns Zelmerlöw, among others. I've never heard of Tone before but when was the last time we saw, well heard, a duet by two young singers? No, Lotta and Christer aren't young!

Joakim Cans is 2013's Dead by April I guess. xD It's good to have a variety of genres. Even if his style is not my cup of tea.

Finally let me puke coz I saw Sean Banan's name there. Eeew!!


These are my comments for now. The rest of the artists will be revealed next Monday at 10:00 CET. And I have a full schedule that day as well. -.-

ESC 2013 - The Swiss final line-up

Ok the first part is over. We know the 9 finalists of the Swiss NF. Lys Assia is not one of them! :( Damn! I liked the song. It's fun and that "Hello, how is the flow?" is epic! xD Oh well, there's always next year Lys!

I'm gonna make some comments on all songs. You can listen to all of them here.

Anthony Bighead: «Do The Monkey»

Do the monkey? Seriously? This sucks! I can't find anything positive!

Heilsarmee: «You and Me»

Ok I like this! I really like the chorus. It reminds me of something but I can't tell what... hm... 

Jesse Ritch: «Forever & a day»

I like this one too but it's nothing special. A nice song for the radio but not for ESC IMO.

Melissa: «The Point Of No Return»

Ok I think I found my winner. I know I have 5 more songs to listen to but I love this! And I love Melissa! She was my winner in the spanish NF in 2011 with "Eos"! Even though Lucia was in my top 3 in ESC, at first I didn't like her song. Anyway, vamos Melissa!

Carrousel: «J’avais Rendez-vous»

No, no, no! I don't like it and french is a big minus for me! I really dislike french (of course some songs are the exceptions!). Not a single thing I like in this song!

Nicolas Fraissinet: «Lève-toi»

Nothing special here either and totally forgetable. Next!

Nicolas Fraissinet: «Lève-toi»

Hm... ok-ish song. Same comments as "Forever and a day".

Ally: «Catch me»

Boring and quite repetitive. Too much noise in the chorus. I don't like it.

Chiara Dubey: «Bella Sera»

Sleeping pill! I saw the italian title and I was expecting something else but that's über-boring!

So I was right about Melissa! She's totally my winner! It's either her or Heilsarmee!

Time to get back on track!

I stopped using informative posts a long time ago. That's because I don't blog regularly and because there are hundreds of websites out there which are updated several times a day. I'm here to make personal comments on (mostly) ESC and music related topics. And we're almost in the middle of November. Soon the NFs will begin and it's time for me to find my pace again. Probably not everyday blogging but not one post every 2 weeks either!

Now I'm really excited about Melodifestivalen 2013 because on November 19th SVT will reveal the artists! There's a list on several website with some artists names. Not too happy about it so I hope it's not the real one...

About ESC 2013... I just read this... The running order will be decided by the producers and not by draw. I'm not sure whether I like it or not... I'm not a big fan of that idea... But that's done now. We'll see how it will work in May...