ESC 2013 - Rehearsals Day 8

Day 8... It doesn't sound right. It's more like a Day 10 but on Monday and yesterday we had only dress rehearsals, the jury rehearsal and of course the semi. So I can't count them... Whatever. It doesn't really matter!

DAY 8

Spain - ESDM - "Contigo Hasta El Final" (2nd rehearsal) 
Raquel changed the dress and she's also barefoot. She walks down the catwalk near the end of the song, they play with those "flying lanterns" and then she goes back to finish the song. I like the song but the whole performance (along with the song) doesn't stand out. It's a bottom 5. Unfortunately.

France - Amandine Bourgeois - "L'Enfer Et Moi" (2nd rehearsal) 
I like the outfit but that's it. Ok and the music of the song. But the performance? No. Not at all! Amandine is overacting! I really don't like it!

Germany - Cascada - "Glorious" (2nd rehearsal)
What the hell are they doing?????? Where is the second half of the first verse????? Are you kidding me? You cut the best part of the song just to keep the instrumental part after the first chorus and istead of -AT LEAST- taking advantage of it, Natalie just stands there and claps her hands? PLEASE! For 2,5 minutes Natalie just stands there and they're only using the stairs for the "we are glo-glo-glo-glo-glo-glo" part! Wow right? Yeah I know it's the same as the NF performance but this is bad! Really bad! And with the first half draw, it's the right side of the scoreboard for Germany! :(

Sweden - Robin Stjernberg - "You" (2nd rehearsal)
That outfit... So bad... But I like the performance. They've done some changes but I think it looks really nice. Love the fireworks! Wish he could change that outfit though...

United Kingdom - Bonnie Tyler - "Believe In Me" (2nd rehearsal)
Amazing Bonnie Tyler! Love that performance. Not a big fan of the song coz it's not my cup of tea but I really like what I see! And I totally love the outfit! Hope it goes well for the UK.

Italy - Marco Mengoni - "L'Essenziale" (2nd rehearsal)
That's not his stage outfit right? He looks like he's dressed to go for a walk. The performance is too static. And he's also using the catwalk in the end. I would like to see him sitting at the piano. I think it'd have been much better...

ESC 2013 - Rehearsals Day 7

DAY 7

Spain - ESDM - "Contigo Hasta El Final" (1st rehearsal) 
Yellow dress... I'm sure after the results they'll put the blame on the dress. Last year Pastora said her outfit wouldn't be black or yellow. I don't know why she didn't wear a black one but the yellow is considered bad lack for the Spiniards. Don't remember the actual story behind this though. ESDM's performance looks similar to the NF one. Raquel is another artist who uses the catwalk. Really like the song but it's a bottom 5 for my Spain...

France - Amandine Bourgeois - "L'Enfer Et Moi" (1st rehearsal) 
Don't like it. At all. And I seriously don't like that she acts like lunatic when she sings... What was that in the soundcheck? :S

Germany - Cascada - "Glorious" (1st rehearsal)
Natalie!! So crazy! Love her! I'm so glad about the outfit she's wearing! That was my biggest concern! The performance is the same as the NF one but she's also using the catwalk and that's where she ends it. I need to hear the backing vocals though... I'm worried about them.

Sweden - Robin Stjernberg - "You" (1st rehearsal)
I must've been the only one who loved his mello outfit. Now everyone says that this outfit is worse. It is but you guys went crazy about him changing it. Sorry Robin but it's really bad. The performance has some minor changes. We already knew that. I really want to see the entire rehearsal though.

United Kingdom - Bonnie Tyler - "Believe In Me" (1st rehearsal)
Another use of the catwalk but this time it's one step forward. It lifts Bonnie in the last seconds of the song. I couldn't clearly hear her vocals though... Some musicians on stage so I guess it's an ordinary performance...

Italy - Marco Mengoni - "L'Essenziale" (1st rehearsal)
Much hotter with the beard. But that's not the point. :P Looks like he's just standing there. I wonder if there's anything else during his performance... Not a fan of the song though...

ESC 2013 - Reviewing the countries beginning with "S"

San Marino sends Valentina Monetta with the song "Crisalide" written by Ralph Siegel and Mauro Balestri.
Once again, Valentina. Once again, Ralph Siegel. But this time with a great song! Such a huge change! I bet most of the viewers won't be able to tell that Valentina is the same artist as last year! Big chance that San Marino makes it to the final this time!
San Marino competes in the 2nd semi-final with running order #2.

7pts from me and good luck to San Marino!

Serbia sends Moje 3 with the song "Ljubav Je Svuda" written by  Saša Milošević Mare and Marina Tucaković.

Love it! :D They really need to work on a new choreo (I think they do). I don't really like the way it ends. It's too abrupt. Ah, tiny detail! They're so in the final!!!

Serbia competes in the 1st semi-final with running order #16.

10pts from me and good luck to Serbia!

Slovenia sends Hannah with the song "Straight Into Love" written by  Hannah Mancini, Gregor Zemljic, Erik Margan, Matija Rodic and Marko Primuzak.

When I listened to the song for the first time I wanted the first 15 seconds out! Now I don't mind them. So we had the first version then we got the final one and originally I liked the final more. But now I changed my mind. I prefer the first version! There are some new lyrics added in the final version but I miss some parts of the original. But ok, I love it no matter what! That's my sLOVEnia!

Slovenia competes in the 1st semi-final with running order #3.

10pts from me and good luck to Slovenia!

Spain sends El Sueño de Morfeo with the song "Contigo Hasta El Final" written by  Raquel del Rosario, David Feito and Juan Suárez.

One thing was for sure this year. No matter what Spain sent, it would never top last year's entry. Unless it was Pastora with a better song (kinda difficult to do this though). I said from the beginning that I wasn't a fan of ESDM. I also said that despite this they might make it to my top 10. They did. For a while at least coz Finland kicked them out. Now I want to put this back to my top 10 but there's no place... And yes, I like the song but I predict a bottom 5 placing. It just screams last place... :/

Spain competes in the final. Running order TBA.

8pts from me and good luck to Spain!

Sweden sends Robin Stjernberg with the song "You" written by Robin Stjernberg, Joy Deb, Linnea Deb and Joakim Harestad Haukaas.

I think this is the grower of the year for me. It started by being really annoying, not so annoying, bearable, ok, great! It turned out to be the best choice for Sweden! A great entry for the hosts. Decent and really nice! A top 10 isn't impossible.

Sweden competes in the final. Running order TBA.

10pts from me and good luck to Sweden!

Switzerland sends Takasa with the song "You And Me" written by Georg Schlunegger, Roman Camenzind and Fred Herrmann.

Another one that I really really like!! Especially the chorus! That "aaaaah aaah ah"! I really hope they make it to the final! They deserved it last year and they stayed out. I don't want the history to be repeated!

Switzerland competes in the 2nd semi-final with running order #16.

10pts from me and good luck to Switzerland!

Melodifestivalen 2013 - Robin Stjernberg won!

So yeah, I was supposed to blog last night but I was too tired. So many things I had to fix before I can start blogging. Photos, videos… And I know you're waiting for the phrase. Here it is: I don't know where to start! Nah, not really.

When I heard the songs of the 4th semi and especially after the end of the 4th semi I started regretting buying a ticket to the final. I still believe it was the worst Melodifestivalen we ever had. Even though I'm only familiar with the years after 2000. But if I had the chance to give the ticket back and take my money I wouldn't do it. The feeling of being inside the arena worth every single crown I paid. It's an amazing experience!

On my way to the arena

First of all I need to say that I feel really lucky that I got to be in two finals that were held in Globen! And to be honest I missed Globen… I love Globen. I can't really say why. I just love it! Everything about it. Especially the name (no I NEVER call it Ericsson Globe Arena!). Friends Arena is cool alright. It's huge. And I mean HUGE. They didn't use the entire arena. It would be impossible to see the stage had they used all the space. I don't know but I think Melodifestivalen's final belongs to Globen. But I don't think we're going back there. Like, ever.

Inside the arena

In position!

Dååå kör viiiiii! I liked the opening act! Previous hosts of the ESC and Petra Mede! Pretty good! 

Ulrik Munther - I liked him. I mean I had seen him in Malmö's first general rehearsal so it wasn't the first time I heard his song in an arena.

David Lindgren - Yeah, the hype stopped already from the second semi. And then comes Christer Björkman and gives spot number 2 to David! This is the cursed one! No wonder why David was last in the televoting! I was really surprised! I didn't expect him high in the final but definitely not last in the televoting! He was really good though...

State of Drama - I was expecting them to finish last. Not because they have a bad song but because they're so forgettable. It's something we've heard many times before. Yeah we've heard David's song before. But I mean all the other artists had something! Some of them returned to mello and others had that something. I was close about their final place. 9th.

Anton Ewald - I hate his pants! I really do! There, I had to say this! The song grew on me a lot so I really enjoyed it. The cheerings for Anton inside the arena were hysterical...

And somewhere at this point my parents called me! I mean SERIOUSLY?? They're doing it on purpose! They called me 10 minutes before the DMGP's final and 15 minutes before the 4th semi in Malmö asking me to video-call them in Skype! And yesterday they called me while I was IN the arena! SERIOUSLY?? Respect to the eurofan please!

 

Getting ready for Louise

Louise Hoffsten - The only woman in this mello final! All I'm gonna say here is that her song is definitely one of my favourite in this Melodifestivalen! I would be totally fine if she was the winner! It was pretty great when she was on stage.

Ralf Gyllenhammar - Many people in the ESC forums wanted him as the winner. Me? I don't know. His song is not my cup of tea but I didn't mind listening to it in the arena...

Ravaillacz - They got what they deserved. Although, not really. They shouldn't have even been in the final! The song is horrible. And I'll say it again, it's far from "en riktig jävla schlager"! Light-years away!

Sean Banan - I still dislike him. I still find him disgusting. There was no way he'd win. But yeah. Inside the arena everything is enjoyable! And so was his show. Song's melody isn't original. It's catchy and sticks in your head but it's not something we haven't heard before. People say it's "Dragostea Din Tei". I say "Can-Can".

Robin Stjernberg - Thank you Sweden! When I first heard the song, I said that his voice annoys me. It was ok in Malmö's rehearsal. Even better in andra chansen and now it's totally fine! It doesn't annoy me at all! The same happened with Salem al Fakir in 2010! The song? I liked it from the beginning (now I totally love it!) and in this final, it was the best choice for me! I'm so glad that Sweden sends a decent entry! He just needs to work on his vocals! It's a difficult song and he needs to be perfect! Especially for the juries!

It took me a while to realise that those two sitting in front of me were YOHIO's fans...

YOHIO - I'm so glad he didn't win! Well technically he did win. He won the televoting. But just for that night, thank God we had the juries! I don't like his song. And I don't like him. Not because he's different. I don't like his "attitude". He is so full of himself because he's the only one in Sweden doing something like this. Oh and I totally hated the way he ended his song! My ears! 

Lynda Woodruff! That accent! That voice! I LOVE Sarah Dawn Finer!! "The home of the eurOWvision song contest 2013!" Hahahahahaha 

Then came Loreen! That version of "Euphoria" was amazing! And it was so Loreen! I got serious goosebumps when she got on stage! It brought back the 2012 memories in Globen!                 

One question. Why did Gina present the ukrainian votes again? Hm... 

CAROLA

CAROLA

Yup. Carola! Carola Häggkvist! You can say whatever you want about her as a person. I will even agree about all the stuff you're gonna say when it comes to her relationship with God and religion. I believe in God (most of the times. I won't discuss that topic though) but she should keep all this to herself. She's a public figure but that doesn't mean she has to "promote" God like this coz honestly, most of the times she comes across as crazy. BUT, Carola the artist... That Carola, I love! And I loved her performance even though her vocals weren't perfect. I liked the remix of "Främling" but I was expecting to hear the original version. No matter what, I got to see Carola in such a big arena! And this moment was magical! We "rehearsed" this part a few minutes before the live began and even without Carola it felt amazing. Imagine singing along with her! 

Photo: Olle Kirchmeier SVT

Yes. Results! It's old news that Robin won but the (tele)voting was a nail-biting moment! Especially when it was between Anton, Robin and YOHIO. That's when I was scared that YOHIO was going to win! Robin got the 75 points, he had a total of 166 and I immediately started making calculations in my head trying to figure out if YOHIO's points are enough to top Robin's. What calculations? At that point we didn't know how many points YOHIO was supposed to get. I didn't have the time to count the points that were already given in order to find out how many had left to be given from the 473. But as soon as Gina said it's 103 points (plus the 30 he had from the jury voting) I jumped off my chair (again!)! Robin won! My favourite won! Second year in a row! And then it hit me. Robin is the first Melodifestivalen winner that made it to the final via andra chansen! 

 

Reprise of "You" and the cameras went off. But it's not over for me. Yet. I stayed in the arena. I always do that until the security personnel ask us to leave. I went to the catwalk. Just to see it. And in a few seconds I saw Loreen passing by right in front of me! I stopped her to ask for a photo. She didn't say no. Damn she is so thankful! I don't even know how many times she said "thank you", "take care" and stuff like that. Of course by that point there were many people around her. Especially kids. Loreen was with one of her people. She told him to let her know when she had to leave (she would give an interview with Robin for SVT's "Eftersnack") because she wanted to stay there and take photos with the kids! 

 

Haters, hate her as much as you want. You won't change the fact that she's an amazing person!

Then I saw Edward af Sillén. The man behind the scripts of Melodifestivalen and most likely, Eurovision 2013! Then the security "kicked us out". lol 

You know, when they announced that the final would be held in Friends Arena I was like "oh no! where are they gonna have the efterfest?". It wasn't difficult to find the entrance. Right next to the door that I entered the building earlier. But seriously Mr Weather. All week the temperature was above zero but no! On Saturday it had to be -8! -.- I froze to death (once again!) But I saw a lot of artists. Got a photo with Camilla Henemark (La Camilla of Army of Lovers), the father of schlager Thomas G:son, Nanne (and one of her friends who didn't step aside LOL) and Alcazar's Tess! Tess told me that Andreas wasn't coming. I knew that. He was in Gävle (gotta love instagram! xD). But neither was Lina. :( 

Many other artists walked by but I didn't really care. Under other circumstances (temperature!) I would have asked for a photo but I was freezing. I was waiting for Carola. Nope, I didn't see her. 2 and a half years in Sweden and I still haven't met her! -.- :P I couldn't wait any longer. I couldn't feel anything. So I left. A few hundred meters from the arena I ran into 3 of the Timoteij girls. Or they ran into me. Actually one of them almost ran over me! And she did it in a way "hey! look who you're crossing paths with! I'm a Timoteij girl". Yeah yeah I know who you are (I actaully saw who she was just because she almost blocked my way) but I-am-freezing-and-I-wanna-go-home. 

Oh! I almost forgot. Ok I didn't, I just wanted to tell you about this in the end. Lena Philipsson's fans are probably gonna hate me but I don't care. It's their idol's fault. I met Lena in 2011. Right after the mello final in Globen. And I was pretty shocked to see her right in front of me coz she kinda was "the wrong time in the wrong place". I asked her to take a photo. She said yes but she was like "oh come on hurry up! I don't have all day! get over with it!". Really grumpy. Last night I saw her again and asked for a photo. She had the exact same attitude! She just looked at me without saying anything. She turned around to "look for her friend", she told her something and then she just left! Like I never talked to her! She totally snubbed me! And then they call Carola a diva. Yeah I didn't meet her, but when and if I ever meet her I'd be the first to admit that she is one. That is, if she actually acts like a diva. But for now, congratulations Lena Ph for making it to the top of the Divas list! I will keep listening to her mello songs (and not only) but as a person she gets a big X! And I'm not saying all this just to badmouth her or because I didn't take a photo with her. As I said, I already have a photo with her. I just ignore people I don't like. Besides, if I didn't like her, I wouldn't even ask for a photo. 

So, Melodifestivalen 2013 is officially over! 

The leftovers...

        

 See you next year and good luck to Robin!

PS1 I keep writing "yesterday" but it's actually 3:30am, on March 11th... Oh well. xD

PS2 No mello next Saturday and the only thing I'm glad for is that we won't get to see Danny looking at the script instead of the camera all night long.

Melodifestivalen 2013 - Fourth semi - Results

Photo: Lindwall Sven

Fourth semi is over and honestly I couldn't care less about the results right now. ALCAZAR! Just wow!

Ok so Ulrik Munther with "Tell The World I'm Here" and Ralf Gyllenhammar with "Bed On Fire" made it to the final. Ehm. Ok.

To andra chansen: Behrang Miri with "Jalla Dansa Sawa" and Robin Stjernberg with "You".
Damn I wanted Behrang to the final!

5. "Breaking The Silence" – Terese Fredenwall
6. "Rockin' The Ride" – Army of Lovers
7. "Trivialitet" – Sylvia Vrethammar
8. "Must Be Love" – Lucia Piñera

So Army of Lovers didn't make it. Not even to the ac! But really couldn't they sing live? I mean camera caught La Camilla lip synching! Lame! And damn I was so close about Sylvia! Not last. Second-to-last! At least the cleaning crew won't have so much work to do in her dressing room. xD

So yeah, highlights of the 4th semi: Petra Mede, Sarah Dawn Finer and Alcazar. Anything BUT the competing songs!

And once again all the good songs are in andra chansen! 

EDIT: So after hearing all 32 songs I have to say one thing. Why couldn't Lisa Miskovsky enter this year with "Why Start A Fire"? It would have been the perfect entry for the hosts! :(  

Melodifestivalen 2013 - 1st general rehearsal of the 4th semi (plus some extra details about my day in Malmö)

Back from Malmö! What a day! And night! I left Linköping at 10:18 (yeah I'm becoming a Swede lol) and arrived in Malmö at 13:35. Again, the only reason I went there is Alcazar! I knew in which hotel they were staying (long story but honestly if you follow them on instagram it's not difficult to find out ;)) so I went there to meet them. I will leave out lots of details on the how-I-knew-about-their-schedule. Anyway, they weren't there. I left and went to Malmö Arena hoping to run into them. I was out in the cold for about two hours. Almost froze to death (yeah not the first time I'm doing this). During these two hours I saw Danny and Gina (didn't care to talk to them or take a photo), Jean-Pierre of Army of Lovers (nope, no photo with him either. too "frozen" and too depressed to the idea that I might not meet my Alcazar) and La Camilla of AoL! Now, I'm not 100% sure it was her... She was wearing snglasses (it was cloudy!) so it has to be her right?

And the time went by... I decided to go inside the mall which was right across the street. Just for 5 minutes. To get my body temperature back to normal. Needless to say that I was terrified that Alcazar might show up while I was inside. Well I knew the girls would stay in the arena all day but who could guarantee that they actually stay in? Andreas was tricky. I was told he was in the arena but he wasn't. I went outside again and within the next 2-3 minutes a bus stopped and Andreas got off! It took me a while to recognize him and I literally stopped him on his way in! We talked for a few seconds and he went inside. Last thing he told me: "Don't freeze to death!" I was thinking "aaaww how sweet" but I said "I will!" (like "I will because of you (Alcazar)! Coz I want to see you! So I will freeze to death if I have to!") Anyway, let's go to the part you're probably reading the post for.

General rehearsal

After meeting Andreas I went back to the mall so I wouldn't freeze to death. The arena doors were still closed. But eventually they opened the doors, I went inside and I got my seat (a good one I might add) and the show began.

Opening act! A great one! They make it look like we're about to watch Eurovision's final! The music, the old ESC logo, the commentators! Danny and Gina acting like Ell and Leyla. I laughed a lot with that and you'll see why... ;) And then comes Petra! Petra Mede! She scolds them for making fun of it and doing her job! She takes over and presents Melodifestivalen in french! Respect! Her french (even though I dislike the language) is really really good! Totally the best choice to host the ESC (Sarah Dawn Finer would be great for me as well but I don't know if she speaks french). Sarah had her own part in the semi... ;)

Then we go to the first contestants. Army of Lovers! I don't know what to say about their song. It's weird with a "wtf is this?" feeling but catchy at the same time! I liked what I saw but it could have been better. It's AoL after all!

Lucia Piñera is next. Yeah the song is too Adele but I like it! Nothing special on stage. Unlike AoL.

Robin Stjernberg gets on stage and I have to say that the song is good but his voice still annoys me... Smoke and dancers on stage.

Then comes Sylvia Verthammar with the ultimate snoozefest! And probably the most boring staging of this year's mello! In the mello magazine there's a question asked to her: "What will you do if you finish last?". She replies: "I will go to my dressing room and break everything!". I say: The cleaning crew will have a lot of work to do in Sylvia's dressing room. ;)

And here comes Ralf Gyllenhammar. Remember when I told you I got scared for a sec? I was prepeared yesterday. Can't say the same about the rest of the audience though. There's a lot of fire on stage. I was sitting quite far (as you can see) and I felt the heat! I wonder what those people in the first row felt!

Behrang Miri. All I'm gonna say here is: SEND HIM TO THE FINAL!! Love the song! So happy and uplifting! Amazing!

Terese Fredenwall tries to pull a Lisa Miskovsky but it doesn't work for me. Sorry.

And finally we have Ulrik Munther. He grew up in one year! At least that's how he seemed to me. And I liked what I saw.

Then it's (fake) voting time. The weekly video they do (which I didn't pay any attention to) and the (fake) results. Army of Lovers are 6th, Behrang 7th and Ulrik 8th! xD

And here comes the highlight of the evening! The reason I came to Malmö! Alcazar's comeback! New fluo outfits, new choreos and a new member. Danny. Well they start without him with "Stay The Night" then "Alcastar" and Danny joins them in "Not A Sinner Nor A Saint". I was really negative about Danny joining them but I have to say it was good! What I'm really happy about is that I got to see them performing "Stay The Night" in a big arena. A la Melodifestivalen! Simply amazing!!

I actually left the rehearsal right after Alcazar performed. Andreas told me earlier that they would leave right away so I left too. I went back to their hotel waiting for them. While I was waiting (outside again! brr) a woman passed me by. It was dark, she was wearing a hood... I thought it was Lina. She looked at me but she didn't react so I thought it wasn't her. I found Andreas and Tess later at a hotel a few steps away from the one they were staying. (it's a hotel chain. in both hotels are staying the artists and crew of mello). They were outside ready to go so yeah. I finally met them! They told me Lina had gone back to the hotel coz her baby was with her in Malmö. So I'm pretty sure it was Lina who passed right in front of me earlier...

Anyway I got my photo with Andreas, Tess and a "new" member who I asked to pose as "Lina". Sarah Dawn Finer! I got to meet Sarah too! :D Oh, I talked with Andreas (obviously) and he asked me if I liked the show. Apart from the "YES!!!" I told him that they need to come back!

- In mello?
- No. Generally! Alcazar needs to come back!
- Mmm we will see how it turns out... (And he had a look)
- Should I take that as a hint?
- Mmm I don't know (that look again)... we'll see... (getting serious) You never know.

Oh my God! Please please let that be a comeback! Pleeeeease!

And to end the post, let me tell you that I missed (more like I let it leave) the last train back to Linköping! Thank God I found a Burger King that is open until 6am on Fridays and Saturdays! Otherwise I'd be screwed. Big time! There's no way I'd stay out for 6-7 hours in that cold! I'd had to find a hotel and pay A LOT. I couldn't afford spending more money. I really couldn't! Well I "blame" Alcazar for that. But I couldn't leave without seeing them! Even though I didn't see Lina... :/ Call me crazy for doing that. Call me an idiot or whatever you want. I might be at some level. But I love them.