If you do not usually tune in to Melodifestivalen, Sweden's contest to select an entry for cross-Europe song contest Eurovision, today is not the day to start watching.
Usually, Melodifestivalen--literally, the Melody Festival--is a reliable source for well-written songs, most often of the pop type. Tonight's semifinal, the third of four that introduce new songs before a second chance round and a final, is a disappointing step back in song quality compared to both this year's previous two semifinals and the contest's previous editions.
That's not to say you won't be in for a good time if you tune in to the web stream that will be available at 2 PM EST. At this point, Melodifestivalen is a slick entertainment production. Sure, the artist introduction packages have sometimes been running a bit long this year, but tonight's semifinal will feature what reports say is the best intermission act yet: Lena Philipsson, 2004's winner, performing an English hard rock version of her classic '80s Melodifestival track "Dansa i neon."
You'll also see one of the top contenders for this year's top placing. Young Eric Saade, the breakout star of last year's Melodifestival, will be performing "Popular," an uptempo pop song that is practically unnecessary in terms of him making it to the finals--Eric advancing is the closest you'll get to a sure thing in Melodifestivalen this year. Whether you fall for "Popular"'s pulsing hard beat or not, the best thing about Eric has always been his eagerness and dedication to putting on a show. Eric's strong dancing skills and a glass-shattering stage gimmick promise a strong overall performance package.
The problem viewers will run into this week, though, is that the songs are generally enjoyable but not exceptional; there isn't anything to stir up the fiery, passionate devotion that promises heartbreak when one's favorites don't advance. Most of the players--including Linda Sundblad, Sebastian, Shirley Clamp of Shirley's Angels, and Sara Lumholdt of A*Teens--have been involved in better songs in the past, even if their offerings this week are not bad per se. It's instead a matter of songs that, one suspects, will in the long term reveal themselves to be three star affairs instead of the four and five star songs one hopes for in a contest of such prominence.
Still, even in an off week, Melodifestivalen will be must-watch viewing for me. A good performance can make you temporarily overlook a song's shortcomings. Most of all, though, even when the songs fade down the stretch, the contagious enthusiasm surrounding the online conversation about them rarely does.
...as the title above says: the music video for the new Lena Philipsson and Orup single, albeit in very low quality (filmed on a cell phone, apparently). I'll update this when we get a better quality embeddable version, but for now, if you want to listen/watch in good quality, head over to Aftonbladet. Ginza has the album cover and tracklist:
1.) Hals över huvud 2.) Nu när du gått 3.)Fotbollsstjärna 4.) Jag hatar att vakna utan dig 5.) 1 skäl 6.) Fem minuter i himmelen 7.) Bara en polis 8.) Jag måste skynda mig på 9.) Så mycket bättre än dom andra 10.) Blott en skugga
In other news, this is the cover to Agnes's album:
Diva extraordinaire (in the best possible way) Lena Philipsson releases her duet with Orup, "Nu när du gått," digitally September 22. Oswalds Popcorn has the review (lukewarm at best) and the single cover. Sigh. Why can't you just give us another amazing solo album, Lena? The album of duets, called Dubbel, comes out November 12.
Speaking of songs released digitally on September 22, Sebastian (Karlsson) releases his new single, "My Getaway," then, with an album, The Most Beautiful Lie, following on November 5; he says it's "more personal" than his previous albums. "Words & Violence," the lead single for his last album, remains an amazing track, so I'm really hoping he'll give us something that good again.
Agnes's new album, Dance Love Pop, comes out October 29. They played about half of another song from it on the radio a few weeks back; I've forgotten most everything about it by now (it was something about love or kissing or something, I think), but it sounded OK--it'd make sense on the same album as the electro-disco-pop "On And On."
Sonja Aldén has a new single called "Du får inte" out. I don't own it (yet), but should you want to buy it, you can do so here, as well as preview the whole track piece-by-piece.
I'm not sure if this is worth mentioning, but since we've got so many other Idol graduates in this post...Daniel Lindström's got a new single called "Saturday Night" out--listen to the semi-disco sounds of it here, if you're interested. Possibly of more interest is that one-half of the Attic, Michael Feiner, has remixed the track--listen to the remix at the same place. Now that's something I may end up buying... Speaking of the Attic, are we ever getting a real version of "Flash In The Night," one that's not a six minute long remix?
Rachel of Work Your Magic might be interested to know (if she doesn't already) that Brandur released another single, "Lifelong Lovesong."
Sophia Somajo released her debut album, The Laptop Diaries. From the preview clips, I don't really think it's going to be the sort of album for me--most of it might be too "out there"--but "Warm Blooded Murder" (embedded below) remains great (time's actually been much more friendly to it than I would have expected) and it sounds like there might be some real keepers amongst the left-field electronically created pop there too. Then again, it's a nineteen track album (if bought via iTunes), so that's a lot of songs to sort through--both an opportunity for lots of filler and more chances to get it right. Would it interest people more if I mentioned there's a track featuring Juvelen?
As Europe Crazy reported, Lena Philipsson is set to release a new album...of duets with Orup. I'd rather have a brand new brilliant disco-pop solo album from Lena, but I guess I'll take what I can get.
Linda Sundblad, currently working as a radio presenter, is working on new material, with a new single due out this January. She's once again working with Max Martin and Alexander Kronlund, but the new sound is said to be rockier than before. Maybe no surprise considering her background with Lambretta, but I'm a bit worried about the change. Can she give us something as fantastic as "Lose You" again? I'm still happy we've got news about new material from her, though; I've been waiting.
Back with more intelligent commentary and other Eurovision-related news (which I know I've been bad at reporting recently) in a bit, when I've stopped freaking out (with excitement).
(I'll just edit my thoughts and stuff into this post.)
Updated:
All right, so the idea of Paolo--my favorite Italian singer (well, technically Swiss, but his career is based in Italy) and an artist I've adored since PinkieDust first wrote about him over on You Call That Life--in Eurovision has me incredibly excited. He's entered some great songs in Sanremo over the years, and I would think if there's anything we can look at to get a good idea of the sort of song he's likely to sing for Eurovision, it would be the songs he's sung in Italy's national song contest than inspired Eurovision (though Italy has pulled out of Eurovision, Sanremo continues).
(Usually, since I tend to prefer studio versions over live versions, I'd post the music videos for these songs, but instead, to give an idea of what he's like live, for his Sanremo songs, I'm actually posting him performing them for Sanremo.)
In 2004, Paolo sang "Guardami negli occhi (Prego)" in San Remo. It's one of my favorite songs of his. If there's any artist who can make me pay attention even when he's not singing something danceable, it's Paolo; the mid-tempo and ballad songs he does are completely lush and gorgeous. "Guardami negli occhi (prego)" is catchy as well, though.
2005 brought the equally lovely though slightly sadder-sounding and slightly less energetic "Non capiva che l'amavo." It's another of my favorites of his. His songs tend to have this gorgeous (but also often strong and dramatic) orchestral backing, and this is no exception--love the strings.
In 2006, he sang probably the most "typical ballad" of these three songs, "Musica." Though I prefer recent single "Ti amo ti odio" (I'm still upset about its actual music video, so I'm just linking to the audio instead), it's good as well.
He can do danceable songs too, though! "Vero falso," from his album Lei è (which I strongly recommend getting in its 2004 reedition if you like any of the songs I've posted; it's one of the best albums I own), is dance-influenced, catchy, and fantastic.
I mean, a genuinely great professional singer who's also a great pop artist--could this get any better? Well, I guess the answer is that depends on the song, but I'm hopeful.
In other Eurovision news, Iceland, which has a pretty good recent history quality-wise if not ranking-wise in the contest, is in the middle of its national selection process. To be honest, I've not been paying the closest of attention to it, but from what I have watched, there are only three songs worth paying any sort of attention to so far, either because they're good or interesting or divisive in some way.
Mercedes Club's "Ho, Ho, Ho, We Say Hey, Hey, Hey" is a '90's-sounding techno-influenced upbeat song (with chants and drums) sung mainly by a female singer. It's notable both for the fact that its probably-not-sung-live-so-far nature (Iceland isn't requiring singers to perform live) makes what it will actually sound like at Eurovision (if it makes it) questionable and for the abundance of greased-up shirtless men in the performance (which is not as exciting as it sounds). It's through to the final.
Eurobandið, made up of Regína Ósk and Friðrik Ómar, two popular contestants from 2006 and 2007's national finals, sung the dance-influenced upbeat "Fullkomið lif" to the finals last night. They made a point of singing live. It's kind of schlager-y, if not quite (more in a "if you like Melodifestivalen's schlager, you might like this" sort of way).
The two-woman duo Hara's "I Wanna Manicure" disappointed me after having been intrigued by them earlier as a result of their song choices on X Factor and then intrigued again by the media buildup to their performance--the chorus isn't as catchy as I would've liked (the music's beeps are catchy, but the vocal melody in the chorus didn't feel catchy enough for me). I could change my mind when I hear the studio version, though. Still, their slightly punky pop song was backed up by enough staging and fireworks that I imagine people will remember at least the performance. "I Wanna Manicure" will probably make it to the second chance round (edit: but there's no guarantee--"Fullkomið lif" made it to the finals--and we'll find out if "I Wanna Manicure" makes it to the second chance round next week).
Speculation continues about Sweden's singers, though I think--if I'm remembering correctly--we're supposed to find out the official list this Tuesday. Expressen ran an article about the performers, though. We'll have to wait even longer to find out the wildcards--the annual rumor about Ace of Base has cropped up again (EDIT: and, unsurprisingly, we've just found out that they're not doing it) and Lena Philipsson has been said to be entering as a duo with her writer and touring partner Orup. I'm not so sure that I want Lena in Melodifestivalen again--she was great, but I'm just not that sure about entering again in 2008 when she won so recently (in 2004), just because it seems like you might want a little more time to bask in the glory of winning, but I would LOVE new music from her.
Apologies in advance to anyone who regularly follows Swedish music, as you'll probably already have this song, but really, given my love of Swedish pop, how could I not mention Lena Philipsson?
I am far from being the Lena scholar that many pop fans are, but she's amazing--the definition of a star. If you watch Eurovision, you'll have seen her and her famous microphone stand dance take the song "It Hurts" (the English version of "Det gör ont") to sixth place in 2004, but she's been releasing music since the 1980's, racking up two 2nd places and one 5th in that decade's Melodifestivalens and being a general "teen idol" (even if technically in her early 20's). She continued to have success through the early and mid-90's. Still, her entrance in the 2004 Melodifestivalen truly marked a comeback, and it was a deservedly huge one; the great followup album Det gör ont en stund på natten men inget på dan went double platinum in Sweden.
Though it's not the song I'm posting today, I really have to include her first performance of "Det gör ont"...it speaks for itself.
Lena Anthem--also from Det gör ont en stund på natten men inget på dan, this song is all sorts of brilliant. From that revving beat to the musical reference to previous single "Dansa i neon" to the brushing off of past rivals (including Regina Lund, who competed in this year's Melodifestivalen), it's--well, fabulous. Incredibly catchy (the phrase "ridiculously catchy" was practically invented for "Lena Anthem"), this is the sort of song you don't have to speak Swedish to appreciate, though understanding the lyrics would make it all the better, given how clever I think they are--it really is an anthem to herself.
To buy Lena Philipsson's album Det gör ont en stund på natten men inget på dan, go here (physical) or here (digital).
Your problems don't exist when music feels like this.
Songs are posted only for promotional purposes (I love them and want others to know about them, too)--if you like them, please "go out and buy the record"! If you are an artist, represent one, or are a songwriter/producer and would like your songs removed, I'll gladly do so (just let me know).
If you do not usually tune in to Melodifestivalen, Sweden's contest to select an entry for cross-Europe song contest Eurovision, today is not the day to start watching.
