Sources: QX (1, 2), Gylleneskor, SVT, HD, SR, Schlagerprofilerna (1, 2), Velvet's official site,
1.) Velvet, "The Queen" (Tony Nilsson/Henrik Janson)Backing singer turned artist in her own right Jenny Petterson, a.k.a. Velvet, has built herself quite a fanbase among fans of Swedish dance-pop. She makes her third appearance in Melodifestivalen this year, following 2006's Latin-flavored "Mi Amore" (which made it to the second chance round but no further, though it did prompt a revamp of the rules so that artists in the second chance round got to perform their songs again) and 2008's disco "Déjà Vu" (which didn't make it out of its semifinal). Outside of the contest, she's released a good number of great dance-pop songs; her 2006 album may have been Finally, but that title, accurate for its time, would be even more appropriate for her upcoming album The Queen: we've been waiting for it since she released the amazing swooshy dance-pop song "Fix Me" in early 2007. In the intervening time, she's released four additional singles, meaning that by the time the song "The Queen" comes out, she'll have released six singles from her new album before it's even come out.
If September is the queen of classy Swedish dance-pop, Velvet tends to make more hands-in-the-air sort of stuff, big fun dance your worries away tracks which sparkle with a touch of '80's. "The Queen" may be a bit of a change for her, though; Velvet has said it's not like her other tracks. Since she explained that by saying that it's dancier and poppier, though, I'm not worried (as well as confused--how a song could possibly be both poppier and dancier than what she's previously released, I have no idea). Velvet has also said the song is a cool electro dance song and will have a Madonna-inspired performance. The song is co-written by Tony Nilsson (of Ola's best songs, Elin Lanto's "Discotheque," Johan Krafman's music, very underrated work for himself, and, in addition to other songs, my probably undying musical love) and is described by its writers as an attitude-filled retro hit which you either love or hate. Schlagerprofilerna said a little while ago that, out of the girl pop group of Marie Serneholt, Agnes, Amy Diamond, and Agnes, Velvet had the most buzz.
Supposedly The Queen, Velvet's new album, comes out March 18. By that point, we'll have heard at least seven tracks on it--the singles plus "Sound Of Music"--and maybe eight, if "My Rhythm" is on it. She's also just about to release "Chemistry" in the UK, complete with, as Chart Rigger pointed out, a Pete Hammond remix.
To watch: other people have other favorites, but I still love "Fix Me" too much to not post it
2.) Rigo & the Topaz Sound feat. Red Fox, "I Got U" (Rodrigo Pencheff/Tobias Karlsson)I tend to associate Rigo, a member of Infinite Mass and a solo artist, with kind of Latin-influenced urban pop (or hip-hop), sometimes reggaeton-influenced. I'm not hugely familiar with his work, though. Topaz Sound is the band backing him up here, I think, and Red Fox is a reggae singer. The songwriters describe "I Got U" as a happy '50s-'60s inspired song with a Caribbean touch, not a hip hop song but not schlager either.
To watch: the music video for "Vamos a bailar"
3.) Molly Sandén, "Så vill stjärnorna" (Ingela "Pling" Forsman/Bobby Ljunggren/Marcos Ubeda)Bert Karlsson, a record company svengali who always tries to get artists in Melodifestivalen, has been trying to get Molly in the contest since the 2008 edition. Now she's actually old enough to enter and, unsurprisingly, here she is. Even without Bert, though, I would've expected and hoped to see her in the contest after her breakthrough in 2006, when she won Sweden's national final for Junior Eurovision and took Sweden to what was by far its best place, third. The song that did it for her, her self-written schlager ballad "Det finaste någon kan få," is nothing short of fantastic (as well as my go-to proof for the fact that yes, I can love schlager ballads).
As a commenter mentioned recently, Molly may be younger than Amy Diamond, but she has a much older-sounding voice; if it's Amy's voice that you find the main stumbling block with liking her, you may have a much better chance of liking Molly. Hopefully her song, described by its songwriters as a beautiful ballad about when destiny finally happens and by Molly as atmospheric, beautiful and with a Nordic touch, is worthy of her; along with Sarah Dawn Finer, Molly is one of my two big ballad hopes for this year. The songwriters are Melodifestival stalwarts, which means they've penned both songs I love and songs I feel no attachment to--hopefully this is one of their better efforts, but it could go either way. Christer Björkman says the song is a classic Swedish ballad, but I'm not necessarily going to take his word for it. Schlagerprofilerna did say that they'd heard "Så vill stjärnorna" is a strong ballad that those who've heard it expect to end up in Globen.
To watch: Molly singing "Det finaste någon kan fa," of course (here at the Swedish final for Junior Eurovision). Keep in mind this was back in 2006 when she was fourteen; she's only had time to grow up and get better since then.
4.) E.M.D., "Baby Goodbye" (Erik Segerstedt/Mattias Andréasson/Danny Saucedo/Oscar Görres)Made up of three former Idol contestants, boy band E.M.D. has yet to really impress me. Given that Sweden is the source of most of the boy band classics, a Swedish boy band really should be releasing fantastic songs, not uninspiring covers of "All For Love" and generally decent but unmemorable material. Given that Danny, since before joining the group, has been the singer of fantastic dance-pop songs, the fact that the group has a serious lack of great up-tempo songs has been disappointing for me. That hasn't stopped them from doing very well in Sweden, though, building up a large number of fans and (somewhat crazily) taking home the title of year's best track with "Jennie Let Me Love You" at Sweden's 2008 Grammis.
Their description of their self-written entry, "Baby Goodbye" (chosen at the last minute instead of the Jörgen Elofsson-penned "Saturday Night," currently released as a single by group member Erik) is exactly the thing they needed to say to get me interested in it despite my reservations: a self-confident up-tempo song that isn't a typical E.M.D. song. and the sort of thing that would do well in Europe. It's true that co-writer Oscar Görres did one of the better tracks on the group's debut album, the melodic piano-and-strings "Run To You," but my real hope is that he and Danny have indulged their electronic and dance sides that so far they've shown everywhere else besides the E.M.D. project. "Hey (I've Been Feeling Kind Of Lonely)," "Blue," "Running Away," and "Turn Of The Sound" from Danny's solo albums were all co-written by Danny and Oscar. Oscar is also the co-writer of The Provider's electronic pop song "Wanna Feel Real," Monrose's "Hit 'n Go," and Donal Skehan's "Double Cross My Heart," which is a pretty poppy catalogue. I'm hoping that the group will have decided they'd rather be Danny-as-a-group or "Bye Bye Bye"-era 'N Sync and, at least for "Baby Goodbye," have gone in that direction. That's probably hoping for too much, especially since their interviews have made it sound like it was mainly Erik who wrote it, but there's a chance the group could exceed the low quality expectations I think people have for them.
To watch: E.M.D. performing (via playback) "Jennie Let Me Love You," their second single and first original single
5.) Mikael Rickfors, "Du vinner över mig" (Thomas G:son)Mikael Rickfors is, from what I understand, one of those artists who's been around for a long time in Sweden and has worked as both part of a group and solo. He's not an artist who's work I'm not familiar with, despite the large number of albums he's released. Thomas G:son is a name I'm familiar with, given the generally schlager-inclined writer's large output over the years--sometimes throwaway (Anna Book's "Samba Sambero") and sometimes great. Mikael is generally more of a rock artist, though, not your typical Melodifetival act, and he says "Du vinner över mig" is a rock song which only has just a little schlager in it.
"Du vinner över mig" is described by G:son as "'80s style in a leather suit," whatever that means.
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6.) Maja Gullstrand, "Här för mig själv" (Thomas G:son/Marcos Ubeda)Maja, like many a past Melodifestival contestant, appeared on reality singing show Fame Factory. For all that, though, she doesn't make music in a "typical Melodifestival style" at all--it's quirky light jazzy bossa nova style stuff. From the description of the songwriters, it sounds like that's what we should expect here, too; they say "Här för mig själv" is groovy trendy neo-retro bossa nova clad in flowery yellow velour pajamas (yes, that's really the description). Maja has released two albums in Sweden, but it's still unlikely she's got the fanbase to push her onto the next round. Still, strange things can happen in Melodifestivalen.
To watch: Maja singing maybe her biggest hit, "Alla dessa ord," live
7.) Sofia, "Alla" (Dimitri Stassos/Henrik Wikström/Irini Michas/Nina Karolidou)Sofia has competed in Melodifestivalen once before, failing to make it out of her semifinal with "Hypnotized" in 2007 (despite me thinking the Greek-flavored up-tempo pop song--kind of in the style Helena Paparizou used to do--was the second best track in its heat). She's done a little in other countries since then but not anything in Sweden. Now blonde, she returns to the contest with a rock-inspired ethno-pop song--tough pop-rock with a cool riff according to the writers--all in Greek and in a Eurovision pop style. It's co-written by one of the writers of "Hypnotized" and the man who was, at some point in the past two years, working on an album with her, Dimitri Stassos. Henrik Wikström has contributed to too many Melodifestival tracks to name while the other two songwriters are making their first appearance in the contest (though I've written positively about Irini Michas's Greek-flavored dance-rock-pop song "Play" before).
To watch: Sofia performing "Hypnotized" at Melodifestivalen 2007
8.) BWO, "You're Not Alone" (Fredrik Kempe/Alexander Bard/Anders Hansson)On paper, this should be an easy contender for the title of best song in Melodifestivalen. Three-time entrant electronic pop group BWO's past two entries into the contest, "Temple Of Love" and "Lay Your Love On Me," have both been quality tracks loved by the fans (and they took second and third respectively at Melodifestivalen) and the group has made many a fantastic pop track since their 2005 debut album, Prototype. Composed of singer Martin Rolinski (a former reality TV singing contestant), Alexander Bard (a pop maestro behind songs by Army of Lovers and Alcazar among many others), and Martina Schiptjenko (who does the group's frequent fabulously spoken middle eights), BWO have an admirable commitment to making modern (or maybe more aptly futuristic) pop music--a commitment which they take seriously--and never fail to be impeccably styled. In my opinion, though, the group was a little off their game with their third album, a fact I was made less worried about when they debuted the "Hung Up"-like "Lay Your Love On Me" in last year's Melodifestival. Unfortunately, he two new tracks on their greatest hits besides that song weren't exciting for me, but they're a group I'm always going to want to like.
With songwriters like those of "You're Not Alone," though, one has to hope for the best even more so than you would just because BWO is involved. Bard, as mentioned, has put his name to many a great pop track. Fredrik Kempe's star has risen rapidly in Melodifestivalen since 2007's "Cara Mia," with him winning with Charlotte Perrelli's "Hero" last year and scoring a number of entries this year. Anders Hansson, like Bard, is a writer and producer with pop roots running back a long time, at least to the '80's, and also like Bard worked with the Alcazar of the past, though unlike Bard he's also working with the group in its current incarnation. In addition to co-writing Alcazar's "Stay The Night" from this year, he's also the man behind Agnes's latest album, which includes the top-notch disco-pop track "Release Me." He's a man whose work I'm always going to be interested in, even if every track isn't a 10 out of 10 for me.
Add up three exciting pop songwriters like that and a group as interesting and capable of pop brilliance as BWO and you should get something fans are dying to hear--and they are. Will it be worth the wait? I'm far more nervous than I want to be. "You're Not Alone" exists in two versions, one ballad and one disco, and it's the ballad version--described as a modern dramatic electro gospel ballad--the group has chosen to enter into the contest, though the song didn't start its life as a ballad and it's said they've left open the option of entering the disco version in Eurovision should they win and many other countries choose to send ballads. Part of me is extremely skeptical of acts who I prefer doing up-tempo work who've entered great songs in Melodifestivalen in the past "going ballad" in search of a win. Anyway, BWO says the song starts small and then becomes really big before ending small again and that it will remind people of Dima Bilan's "Believe," while Schlagerprofilerna referred to it as "Timbaland meets Army of Lovers." BWO also say it shows off Martin's voice. The group says they've changed their image, too: they're going more sci-fi and more futuristic.
A new album, Big Science, will be coming out April 1 and boasts producers including the aforementioned Bard and Hansson as well as another frequent Melodifestival songwriter, Henrik Wikström, and Johan Fjellström, the man behind West End Girls and Star Pilots as well as Verona's 2007 entry "Ti Sento." The group has at various times said that its new sound will be "inspired by such varied sources as Duran Duran, The Killers, contemporary electronic pop, classic soul and R&B" and that it is a little like the Killers and has some traces of Kraftwerk, but with BWO production still.
To watch: BWO performing "Temple Of Love" at Melodifestivalen 2006. If they mean it when they say this new song is more gospel, though, maybe "Chariots Of Fire" would be a better indication of what to expect, even if that is up-tempo.
What I expect my favorites to be: this is kind of hard--there are some people I'm hoping to like but that, moreso than in the past weeks, I could just as easily be left unmoved by. I want to love Velvet's song and I do like most of her work and Tony Nilsson's work so it looks promising, but "Deja Vu" isn't a song I return to at all at this point. As I said above, I have real concerns about BWO, concerns I'm hoping are misplaced. There's still a good chance their song will be one of my favorites of the week, though. Molly is right up there too for me, though once again, I don't feel safe about the song yet. That's even more true for E.M.D.; there's a good chance I'll rank their song in my top four, but will they really turn things around and be as fantastic as a Swedish boy band should be? I liked Sofia's last entry, but the rock part of the description does make me a bit nervous considering that the "heavier" songs I've heard from her and from those writers are more often misses than hits for me. Those first four--Velvet, BWO, Molly Sandén, and E.M.D.--are the four I'm guessing will be my favorites, though, and there's a decent chance I'll like Sofia's song, too. There's some great potential here, but equally potential to be let down.
