Friday, February 16, 2007

All the stars in heaven will shine for me

Ohhhh, yes. It is on. At this rate, this semifinal is going to be better than the actual final. The songs...they're amazing. I'll update in just a couple of minutes.

I am incredibly impressed. All predictions were that this was going to be the best semifinal round, and so far it easily is, but I had no idea it was going to be this good. Wow. In no particular order, the best:

Magnus (opening with Bosson-esque "ohh"'s, this song is so good. It's fast, it's poppy, it's got everything you could possibly want in a song. My favorite of the round, I think, though there's so much quality here that title could end up shifting around a lot, but this was the song I found myself wanting to listen to while I was sitting around waiting for my computer to do some stuff, so it wins out for now. It's one of the favorites to make the final, and it better! To quote someone else, though--I can't remember who, or I'd cite it--it might be very Melodifestivalen but maybe not very Eurovision. I don't care, though--it's sensational. Really. I can't even begin to get across how good it is--just listen to it already!)

Nanne (I was a little worried at first because it's acoustic-sounding, but she is going to perform the heck out of this, I'm sure, which will really elevate the song. Catchy vocal part, catchy guitar, and some lovely orchestral-ish punctuation of the song...I just sort of wish it wasn't so acoustic. As I said, though, I'm sure my opinion of it will climb immensely when I see it performed--she's such a powerful performer and really makes you see how brilliant her songs are.)

Måns (I'm hoping Mans does really well with this song and then decides that he wants to continue with this musical direction, as opposed to the "singer-songwriter" direction he's threatening. Nanne's a singer-songwriter, too, but I suspect he means something less fun, and this song is AMAZING. He's probably singing "When someone loves like I do, dreams can true," but to me it sounds like "When someone looks like I do, dreams can come true," and that's what I'm going to imagine he's saying instead. I'm not sure how well he'll perform it, but on quality of the song, I'd love this to at least make it to the second chance and the final from there. Please, Måns, release a full album of music like this! He seems a little emotionless at points, but oh gosh...I love this song. It starts out dark and slower, with Mans's voice muffled, but it breaks out into fantastic dance-pop. As if that wasn't great enough, out of nowhere, we get handclaps. Handclaps! Oh my gosh, is it good. It may, ignoring the performances, steal the title of my favorite from Magnus.)

Sebastian (ahh, this is great as well, up there with some of the best of his work. Don't let my lack of words here fool you--I love it as well.)

The Attic feat. Therese (it can't be a coincidence that this song opens up with a reference to "human rights" when the theme song for Melodifestivalen last year, also made by the Attic, was called "Human Rights," can it? Very clubby, very good. Even it fails to make the final--and I wonder if it being so clubby might hurt it--I don't know how it couldn't be a club hit...I love it a lot.)

MissMatch (these girls will probably be overlooked, cursed with being in the toughest semifinal and not being famous ahead of time, and I have a feeling a lot of Melodifestivalen fans might not like it, but I like it--I hope we hear more from them. It's a little rocky without being what I would necessarily call pop-rock. Plus, it's got panting.)

Sonja also has a beautiful ballad that is growing on me, but with this much amazing up-tempo stuff, there are so many other songs I'd rather see make it through. The Shieda song is nice enough, but can't compete when up against songs like these. You can listen to all the songs here.

Please, please, please let the stream work tomorrow! My hopes for the final and second chance--well, it's tough. I'm narrowly going to go Magnus and Nanne based on the reports that Nanne's performance easily tops everyone else's (otherwise--and I can't believe I'm saying this--it'd be questionable for me as to whether she should even make the second chance. Oh, saying that feels awful!), but Måns is close, and I definitely want him at least in the second chance and making it to the final out of there (or maybe in the final instead of Nanne...I love his song so much!). The second second chance spot--between Sebastian and the Attic feat. Therese, for me. There are five absolutely top-quality songs in this round, though, and it's such a shame more can't make it to the final. In fact, given the new structure of the second chance round, there's no way more than three songs from this semifinal will end up being in the final, which is ridiculous.

I'm in music paradise! I can't believe how great this round is. It really is going to be better than the final, I think.

7 comments:

Troy said...

It's like we're TWINS!

Go check out my blog I think we said the exact same thing about every single song!

I LOVE Mans! MY GOD! This is my fave song so far! Do you know much about Fredrik Kempe? His songs are VERY similar! Ill have to do a Fredrik post for ya!

Sebastian is good! The Attic - very clubby. I dont think they'll make it.

Nanne - slightly dissapointing... I know she'll make it but If it came down to Nanne vs Mans... i'd vote mans.

Finally... thank you Magnus! LOL

Unknown said...

After reading your reviews of the songs I am really looking forward to the semi-final tomorrow. The last two semi-finals havent been that great compared to earlier years, but hope it gets better this time. Am living in Norway but am glad I'm able to see swedish television through cable TV here. Melodifestivalen is much better then the Norwegian version.
Anyway here's a little more info. Therese is probably most famous for being in dance band Drömhus. Check out their megahit "Stjärna På Himlen".
Also check out this years danish eurovision semi-finalists. I was very positivly surprised by them. Lots of great pop songs. Favourites are
James Sampson - Say you love me
Annette Heick - Copenhagen airport
Me and my - Two are stronger than one
James Sampson - Say you love me

Jamie said...

Oh Nanne, you've let me down! She'll still go to the final though and I still love her.

Of all the songs I adore Magnus, Måns & The Attic featuring Therese.

That Sonja's been knocking about with Ms Clamp too much and has gone all serious on us though.

Troy said...

Hey PG - I have a pressie for you on my blog! Go take a look :)

Anonymous said...

Wow this is going to be a tough round. From listening to the songs I would say that my favorite's are Magnus, Måns, and Nanne there a few others that I like but feel they will not make it and these have the best chance of making it to the final. The one that must make it to the final is Magnus!!!!!

Paul said...

i'm not as knowledgeable as everyone else but Magnus and Mans' songs are utterly amazing and got me all tingly inside :)

Poster Girl said...

Weird! Not only did we pretty much say the same things about each of the songs, I think we commented on each other's blogs at about the same time! ;) Given a night to think about it, in Nanne vs. Mans, I have to go with Mans, no contest, based on the songs. "Cara Mia" is AMAZING! I'll go look at your blog right after this :)

Atle, at the very least, Mans and Magnus won't disappoint, and hopefully you'll enjoy the rest, too. I envy you being able to watch Melodifestivalen on TV--I'm going to have to pray the stream doesn't break down again. I really wish I wasn't so Melodifestivalen focused--I'm sure I'm missing out by not following other countries--so thanks for the recommendations!

Jamie, someone needs to bring Sonya and Shirley back to their senses! I think you're right about Nanne to the final, and I don't doubt that if she releases an album after this it'll be great...but the song isn't quite what I was hoping for.

Magnus has to make it to the final! He has to! For me, his and Mans's songs are the two I'm most desperate to see do well...ESC Today has them both only making it to the second chance round, though, which is better than nothing, but that would mean only one of them could make it to the final, which would be a shame.

They really are, Paul! I'm in love with those songs.