Friday, February 20, 2009

People, take a bow, show me that you love me

Listen to one minute of each of this week's Melodifestival songs here.

I'm left feeling a little underwhelmed by most of the songs I was hoping to love and slightly positively surprised by a few I had lower hopes for--but not enough to change my feeling that the third semifinal, which has in past years given us some true classics and great fun pop songs, isn't that strong this year.

Hopefully, though, hearing the songs in full will increase my appreciation of them.

If not, apparently we're going to be spoiled for fantastic songs next week.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Underwhelming" is certainly the word to describe this semi. I'm not sure that my earlier prediction is so sure anymore - BWO's song is certainly a let down and would sound awfully bare in Moscow live with only 6 people on stage.

The last 4 lines - completely agree with them :)

And you certainly quoted the best lines from this week's songs - I am the Queen!!! Velvet to the final!

Myfizzypop said...

oh no. this is not good news. I am now having to wait til i get home from work to listen. Poor BWO - perhaps a whole track will be better. I am now blue :( (not the pop group obviously)

Damian said...

BWO has the weakest single in their discography, Army Of Lovers goes Timbaland sounds very-very boring and not qualitative.
Molly makes song sounds better with her strong voice but song itself is totally boring and typical.
Velvet has the best song and this string "People, take a bow, show me that you love me am I am the queen" sticks to you with the first listening.
Sofia has a lot of expression, emotions, soul in her song, EMD's song is nice but not close to any track of Danny's albums.
Well, regarding to others disappointment again. I'm waiting for the winner of MF in 4th semi. I hope it will be Sarah (it's rumored that everyone who heard her song says it's fantastic) because performances of Alcazar and Mons will be killed in Moscow like it was with Charlotte and Emilia and H.E.A.T. have to big risk to stay in semi of Eurovision.

Bas said...

The samples of this heat really sound dissapointing :( The BWO song isn't that great and I'm wondering when will Marina stop talking lines in their songs?
EMD never really did it for, except for maybe Jennie Let Me Love You, probably because it sounds like a Danny solotrack - though I hate songs with names in the title. Baby Goodbye doesnt sound appealing.
Sofia's song sounds quite OK I suppose, but I doubt she can perform it live well enough to convince everyone. And maybe Greek & Rock is a bit too much for a Swedish entry?
The Queen I expected a little more. I find the words I am I am I am The Queen quite annoying to be honest.
But as with previews; its really hard to judge. I guess even songs that arent that good can qualify easily when the performance and singing is good.
I mean the Alcazar track isn't really all that special, but the performance made the difference.

Anonymous said...

I agree on whats been said. its quite dissapointing but like Bas said the performance can make the difference. I thought the alcazar snippet was okay but on that night they blew me away! They would be a fab choice btw xD

Anonymous said...

I completely agree with everything thats been said.
VERY dissapointing this year with dreadfully forgetable average songs.
Velvet has dissapointed me which is a shame as the Pete Hammond Remix of Chemistry is one of the best songs of 2009 so far.
Mans Zelmerlow, Amy Diamond, EMD, BWO etc all rubbish which is a shame as i usually have loved their songs.
I havent read all the upcoming songs over the semi-finals in coming weeks but am hoping Darin & Agnes are participating.
Still love both their latest albums, blasting 'Release Me' & 'Breathing Your Love' is just part of a daily routine now.
Im still yet to hear a song to make me go wow this year, though the new Pet Shop Boys & BoA song came close.

Conor
x

Aaron said...

Hmmm...I'm kinda underwhelmed by The Queen, it just seems a bit too stripped back for me - if you know what I mean.

It's not quite the luscious, synthy track I was hoping for - But the song is still Good...Nothing more...

I can't really see it doing well at Eurovision if it gets that far!

Robpop said...

The Queen is sluggish but not terrible.

BwO....gosh, thats tragic.

Mikeel has stolen that rift from elsewhere...but its pretty strong.

E.M.D has a very strong song...but again not strong enough for eurovision.




Rigo...are weirdly good. Eurovision is about songs like this. Exactly like this.

Poster Girl said...

That line for the win, Eurosheep! I'll be cheering Velvet all the way. I had that same thought about the inability of BWO to fully recreate a gospel choir sound on stage.

Paul, if you were Blue, you would have made some pretty great songs (amidst some less great ones)!

Molly's song really isn't worthy of her, but she'll knock it out of the park on stage, I'm sure. I was pleasantly surprised by Sofia's song, too.

Bas, I hope they light up once performed, too, to at least make for a good spectacle. I love the Alcazar track even without the performance, though, and I actually like the sound of Marina's talky part--it's maybe the best part of the clip for me.

MelodifestivalFans, I'm hoping for life from the performances, too.

Conor, I definitely wouldn't go as far as you! Even if all we had was Alcazar's song this year, I'd have something to absolutely adore. Agnes is participating next week, but no Darin. I keep meaning to check out the new BoA song.

Aaron, I do know exactly what you mean--it's more minimal dance than some of her swooshy synth-filled past tracks. I think that's partly what sunk Marie, too (same songwriter), but thinking about it in a different perspective--i.e., if this was just coming from a pop act, what would I think--helps a bit. Expectations in terms of style can be a tricky thing to get around.

Yeah, Mikael is so "My Sharona" meets synth-featuring '80's pop-rock...and I like it more than I thought I would. I wish someone else was performing it, though.