Finally

Twitter, the place I would usually go to with my quick, fairly uninformed opinions, seems to be down. I need somewhere to vent my first, unconsidered thoughts about the full versions of the fourth Melodifestival semifinal tracks, though, so here we go.

I'm hugely pleased with Melody Club's song; they may have just swept straight into my personal first place of this final (with--shhh--a chance at ending up my favorite song of Melodifestivalen 2011). That surprises me a little--I haven't truly loved their recent singles, so I expected a "like but not adore" case with "The Hunter"--but I'm thrilled about that surprise. Finally, we've got a pop-rock entry that really delivers.

I'm still a little concerned that Linda Bengtzing's "E det fel på mig" isn't quite up to her usual (incredibly high) standards, but I'm hoping in proper quality it will shine more. It's still energetic schlager which I know I'll enjoy, though. I'll definitely get swept up in the moment.

Love Generation's "Dance Alone" is a nice modern pop entry. I like it and will probably play it a lot over the course of the year, but it's difficult for me to say more because I keep getting drawn back to "The Hunter" every time I think I should listen to "Dance Alone" again.

Anders Fernette's "Run" is basically what I hoped it would be: pleasant pop-rock, light on the rock, with a nice melody to it (better than his past couple of singles, too). It still has no chance here, but hey, at least we're finally getting that album.

Linda Pritchard's "Alive" is the sort of ballad which probably, well, comes alive in its live performance. I do love the dramatic middle eight. "Something came alive" isn't my favorite key line for a song, though.

Nicke Borg's voice is unfortunately not my favorite kind of rock voice; in the hands of a performer with a less raspy, nasal voice, I could see myself enjoying "Leaving Home."

Julia Alvgard's "Better Or Worse" is better than its likely result in the contest will indicate. It's pleasant mid-tempo R&B-pop which I'm not enthusiastic about but which is fine.

Lasse Stefanz...well, it makes me feel like someone horribly uneducated making grand pronouncements about things they really know nothing about to say it, but I'd enjoy this song more with another singer. I know, I know, Lasse Stefanz are a much-loved dansband so there's clearly appeal in Olle's voice to many people who know much more about this style of music than I do, but I wish someone else was singing it. Not some glam female diva--just a different dansband.

Performances taken out of the equation, my personal preferences would probably be Melody Club and Linda Bengtzing direct to Globen and Love Generation and Anders Fernette to the second chance round (with Love Generation to the second half of the bracket and making it to the final while Anders goes into the top half, with Loreen making it to the final). Clearly that's not going to happen, but I'll be hoping for Melody Club, Love Generation, and Linda to advance (and whichever one of them failed to make it directly to the final going in the bottom half of the second chance bracket). I'm very nervous, though...