A Happy New Year Everyone! - What lies waiting down the line, at the end of 2020!

Youngblood- is Fredrik Kempe's New Pop creation- with a new Single out Now

The News of a new Swedish boyband was made public with the roll-out of what to expect for Melodifestivalen 2012.

The band is called Youngblood- and are the creation of Sir Fredrik Kempe himself (see him in the video). In 2010 Fredrik brought Eric Saade singing 'Man boy'

so who knows what is ahead for these new popsters- Certainly over in the UK we have seen a small flood of new boyband sucess with One Direction, JLS & The Wanted (one of our faves)

Before the boys debut at Melodifestivalen they have a great first single called 'Blame it on you' -check out the Video-

Youngblood are Simon, Markus, Henric, Oscar & Chris - this new single is available on i-tunes NOW

even in Australia-

So treat yourself to some Melodi-pop ahead of Le Melodifestivalen-fun.

A New Playlist -The Best Tunes-December 2011

1- Eaten Alive - Clubmix - Man Meadow

2- C'est Bleu- Scooter & Vicky Leandros -NEW

3- Bearforce 1 Disco Medley- Bearforce One

4- C'etait Ma Vie - Lys Assia -NEW

5- Bailamor (English Vers) - Lili & Susie
6- Under Sjernerne Pa Himlen- Rasmus Seebach

7- I don't wanna put in- Stephane & 3G
8- Glad you came (Alex Gaudino Mix) - The Wanted

9- Blame it on you- Youngblood -NEW

10- Sunday Morning - Sebastian Karlsson -NEW

11- Speak to me (Bassflow Remake) -Roxette

12- Tu te reconnaitras (Encore une fois)- Anne Marie David

13- Til Tomorrow- Alexander Panayotov
14- You Came to Me Classic NRG Mix- Anne Marie David

15- Guess who rules the world -Roger Cicero

16- En dag i sander - Benny Anderssons Orkestra -NEW
17 -Wake up -DiscoBrothers & Weather Girls (DR-2002)

18- Madness of Love (Gilles Peterson Remix)- Raphael Gualazzi

19- Goodbye - Zelijko Joksimovic -RE ENTRY

20- Sober - Loreen -NEW

Switzerland have choosen for Eurovision 2012- Sinplus

The winners of the National Final in Switzerland is Sinplus- two swiss-Italian brothers. Their band has been around for a couple of years and spent alot of time in LA California

with a song that is not unlike something the Killers would release as a single-this can be a good

thing- to put the Swiss back in the Final contest in Baku. Lyn Assia did not make the top 3 - while another Italian singer

Chiara Dubey was one of the runners up.

Certainly Switzerland with this rock-pop act will be looking for the kind of impact we saw from

'A Friend In London' from Denmark in 2011.

Best of luck to the guys in Baku- and we have now the first entry for Eurovision Song Contest 2012.

see a Live clip here of Sinplus and

the song 'Unbreakable'

Switzerland are about to get the Eurovision 2012 Party started- with a National Final

Not so many years ago- Switzerland had been known for making an internal selection for Eurovision with such

top artists like DJ Bobo, Paolo Meneguzzi & Vanilla Ninja Now Switzerland have begun a new tradition of having a National Final selection in early December- so being often the first country to make known their entry for Eurovision -5 months in advance. This certainly

has had the desired affect of creating lots of international interest in this first choice, even more so in 2011.

As the grand-mother of Eurovision Lys Assia is back

with a bold attempt to return after over 50 years away from the Eurovision stage. With a song written by non-other than Mr Grand-Prix Ralph Siegel himself.

This has created huge interest in the Tv Show due to take on 10th December 2011 at Bodensee Arena.

Lys Assia is remembered as the very first winner of Eurovision in 1956- with 'Refrain' but that's not all she came back 2 years running after her win- always to represent her homeland Switzerland. Lys came close to a 2nd win in Eurovision 1958 when Lys sang 'Giorgio'

was a runner up- This song for me was better than 'Refrain' as it had the fun popular Euro-charm that was to become the norm in later years at the Eurovision Song contest- but back in Eurovision 1958 Lys Assia was a trend setter on the European TV stage. (check this tune out above) Today Lys will be alot more traditional with this new entry and hope to create perhapes the kind of impact we saw from Patricia Kaas's entry of 2009- that gave France 8th place in the Final.

For 2012 Lys is up against 14 songs in the Swiss National Final yet Lyn is by far the favourite to win a place in Baku 2012. The song 'C'etait ma vie' will be sung as song 13 on the night- we certainly give Lys our full swiss 12 points

and hope this comeback dream becomes a reality.

See a SF Tv preview of the show 'here'

Whatever happens in the Swiss National Final it is the first song-step on the Road to Baku...

Eric Saade at last we have a fab Vid for 'Hotter than Fire'

Eric Saade - the one man

who cetainly made the best of his 3rd placing at Eurovision Song Contest- alot more than even the winners Ell & Nicki - who have still not managed to put together an album as a follow up on winning entry 'Running Scared' And since then Nikki has released her own single recently- will this mean the duo will be a one-off tune?

Eric Saade- has come a long way since his man-boy days of Melodifestivalen 2010. His second digital album called 'Eric Saade Vol 2'

saw a release last month- the new albums from Eric has experienced its fair share of criticism back home in Sweden strangely. The most recent 'Vol 2' offering for me seems to put those critics at bay- for sure Eric has his own style of very pure Electro-Pop- but why knock something that is proven to be popular.

If you need further proof check out the long awaited great new Video for the single

'Hotter than Fire'

Charlotte Perrelli the Girl is Back- & the Artists for Melodifestivalen 2012 Semi 3 & 4

It is certainly all schlager-smiles -as here we have now complete list of the Artists- just realeased a couple of days ago at the press conference over at Svt-

As expected and now it's confirmed -Charlotte's Perrelli will return to Melodifestivalen for the third time with

another Fredrik Kempe tune called 'The Girl' meanwhile Fredrik has a brand new act for Melodifestivalen 2012

called Youngblood- with a tune of the same name. In this batch there is alot more newbies- artist who maybe known in sweden yet never been before in Melodifestivalen. One name we were hoping for -was certainly Magnus Carlsson- however that rumour turned out to be untrue- ahhhh! there is always next year...

Danny from E M D makes it 2-years running in Melo- 2012- he will follow-up 'In the Club' with 'Amazing' - that's one way to describe Melodifestivalen 2012- let's see the list-

Semi Final 3- Leksand 18th Feb 2012

Mattias Andréasson (from EMD) – Förlåt mig
(Mattias Andréasson)
Maria BenHajji – I mina drömmar
(Nanna Svensdóttir, Thomas Cars)
Love Generation – Just a little bit
(RedOne, John Mamann, Jean-Claude Sindres, Teddy Sky, Yohanne Simon, Bilal “The Chef” Hajji)
Andreas Johnson – Lovelight
(Andreas Johnson, Peter Kvint)
Björn Ranelid feat. Sara Li – Mirakel
(Fredrik Andersson, Björn Ranelid)
Carolina Wallin Pérez – Sanningen
(Michael Clauss, Martin Bjelke, Carolina Wallin Pérez, F Dread)
Molly Sandén – Why am I crying
(Molly Sandén, Aleena Gibson, Windy Wagner)
Youngblood – Youngblood
(Fredrik Kempe, David Krüger)

Semi Final 4- Malmo 25th Feb 2012

OPA – Allting blir bra igen
Michael Sideridis)
Danny Saucedo – Amazing
(Danny Saucedo, Peter Boström, Figge Boström)
Lotta Engberg & Christer Sjögren – Don’t let me down
(Lasse Holm, Lars ‘Dille’ Diedricson)
Hanna Lindblad – Goosebumps
(Hanna Lindblad, Linda Sundblad, Tony Nilsson)
Axel Algmark – Kyss mig
(Axel Algmark, Mattias Frändå, Jonathan Magnussen)
Dynazty – Land of broken dreams
(Thomas G:son, Thomas ‘Plec’ Johansson)
Charlotte Perrelli – The girl
(Fredrik Kempe, Alexander Jonsson)
Lisa Miskovsky – Why start a fire
(Lisa Miskovsky, Aleksander With, Bernt Rune Stray, Berent Philip Moe)

Andreas Lundstedt is back- with a bittersweet Tune called 'Never, Never' ( in swedish)

With the release of the stars of who will be in Melodifestivalen 2012 -we had a few surpises but not too many well- kept secrets as alot of the artists had been revealed from recent swedish press stories. Let's have a look at a few of the names- One firstly we all know so well is Andreas Lundstedt-

he is internationally known as the core member of Alcazar who broke-through with their massive hit 'Crying in the discoteque' a track that in 2001 was more successful in Australia, UK & Europe than at home in sweden where it only made 29 in the Swedish singles chart- however it did kick-start a career clocking up more than 12 million record sales by the end of 2005- alone.

Then alcazar reformed as a 3-some again in 2007- til 2011 when they took the 2nd break of the band's career- during this time they gave us one of their best albums with 'Disco Defenders' at the time of Melodifestivalen 2009 when 'Stay the Night' finished in 5th.

Andreas began his career in the big apple NYC he lived there from 1992-1995 making a name for himself in choreography -even training stars like Julia Roberts in dance. Then Andreas returned to Stockholm and began a Pop & stage career from back in 1996 when Andreas first debuted in Melodifestivalen -2 years running -as a solo artist- then a third time in 2007-

"Driver Dagg Faller Regn" (wrote by Alexander Bart Ola Hakansson & Tim Norell)

Finished in 2nd place to winner One More Time-

"Jag Saknar Dig Jag Sakner Dig" (wrote by Alexander Bart Ola Hakansson & Tim Norell)

Finished only in 5th place - when Blond won with 'Bara hon alskar mig'

-- At this time Andreas Lundstedt released a self-titled solo album with some great songs all in english- remember during the 90s Melodifestivalen/Eurovision rules meant entries had to be song in the native language. That was different for Andreas at Melodifestivalen 2007- with:

"Move" (wrote by Andreas Lundstedt-Joan Rohr)

Finished 6th in Semi-final 1 in Jonkoping-

So now for 2012 Andreas will sing again in swedish the tune 'Aldrig Aldrig'- in a recent short interview he revealed this new song as a bitter-sweet break-up

tune perfect for him to sing- and wrote with Andreas in mind- He was not sure if he should have a go at Melodifestivalen again solo-

however the song changed his mind- it will be a tough year in Melodifestivalen to enter again- up against some of Sweden's biggest names.

Andreas may even be up against his one-time fellow band-mate ( in Alcazar ) &

also former BF- if Magus Carlsson also makes a comeback for 2012.

This would be pure joy to see both schlager boys at Globen in 2012!

The Artists for Melidifestivalen are out -for the Semi Final 1 & 2

Revealed today from the Svt press conference the first part of the Artists list- showing just who will sing the song-titles and song-writers revealed

a couple of weeks ago- It's interesting to see not too many of the Swedish Media rumours are wrong! One schlager-return that is off the cards- is for Lili & Susie

as the song 'Baby Doll' (wrote by Susie) is to be sung by dansband Top Cats- who have never been in Melodifestivalen before-

There was a bit of a question-mark also over Loreen - as she was one of the highlights of Melodifestivalen 2011 'My heart is refusing Me'

a tune that went on to become one of the summer's best Hits. So this time Loreen with a Thomas G:Son tune is set for maxinum impact, we felt Loreen has a certain Eurovision wow-factor that could do well.Equal joy to find no Alcazar but Andreas will be solo- and singing a swedish tune- this is something he has not done in Melodifestivalen since way back in 1997 certainly going back to his roots!

Here is the list- in no-particular order (not the running order)

Semi Final 1- Vaxjo 4th Feb 2012

• Euphoria Loreen
• (Thomas G:Son & Peter Boström)
• I Want To Be Chris Isaak (This Is Just The Beginning)- The Moniker
• (The Moniker)
• Jag Reser Mig Igen- Thorsten Flinck & Revolutionsorkestern
• (Thomas G:Son & Ted Ström)
• Mistery- Dead By April
• (Pontus Hjelm)
• På Väg- Abalone Dots
• (Abalone Dots & Viktor Källgren)
• Salt & Pepper- Marie Serneholt
• (Lina Eriksson, Mårten Eriksson & Figge Boström)
• Sean Den Förste Banan- Sean Banan
• (Sean Banan, Joakim Larsson, Hans Blomberg & Mårten Andersson)
• The Boy Can Dance - Afro-dite
• (Figge Boström, Catrine Loqvist & Johan Lindman)

Semi Final 2- Gothenburg 11th Feb 2012

• Aldrig, Aldrig- Andreas Lundstedt
• (Niclas Lundin, Maria Marcus, Randy Goodrum)
• Baby Doll- Top Cats
• (Mårten Eriksson, Lina Eriksson, Susie Päivärinta)
• Det Går för Långsamt - Mimi Oh
• (Anton Malmberg Hård af Sederstad & Niclas Lundin)
• Ge Aldrig Upp- Thomas Di Leva
• (Thomas Di Leva)
• I Din Himmel - Sonja Aldén
• (Sonja Aldén, Bobby Ljunggren & Peter Boström)
• Shout It Out- David Lindgren
• (Tony Nilsson & Fernando Fuentes Vargas)
• Soldiers- Ulrik Munther
• (Ulrik Munther, Johan Åberg, Linnea Deb, Joy Deb, David Jackson)
• Stormande Hav - Timoteij
• (Kristian Lagerström, Johan Fjellström, Stina Engelbrecht & Jens Engelbrecht)

Zeljko Joksimovic-Serbia's own Mr Eurovision will return in Baku 2012-

-it's Belgrade- calling already!

Many will remember Zeljko from Serbia- as just about a perfect host on stage at Eurovision Song Contest 2008-

Yet Zeljko's entry in Istanbul in 2004 was equally his best achivement as he sung and wrote the 2nd placed

tune "Lane Moje" (see video-clip)

This track has become a firm all-time favourite song from the contest- at the time he managed to take on competion of Lena Philipsson & Greece's Sakis Rouvas to put Serbia & Montenegro one step away from Eurovision glory. So it's not

too surprising Serbia have picked Zeljko to sing for Serbia in Baku 2012 next year for a 2nd time as an artist.

However Zeljko has returned before in Eurovision 2006 as a songwriter of Hari Mata Hari's "Lejla" this gave Bosina & Herzegovina a third place at Eurovision

in Athens. He also wrote another success for Serbia at ESC 2008 the song 'Oro' was an amazing hit sung by Jelena Tomsasevic on her home-soil in Belgrade- Jelena finished 6th that year.

Early next year RTS Serbia Tv will present a new Eurovision entry also to be penned by Zeljko Joksimovic as well.

I am certain this may well be an early favourite to win Eurovision next year-

it's so good to have some Eurovis' Royalty returning in Baku-

Red One's Love Generation is lookin to go all the way to Baku on the Melo- Bus 2012

Melodifestivalen 2012 is turning out to be a good year for Big Stars following Eurovision Song Contest 2011- that gave Sweden a 3rd placing with Eric Saade -a new confidence seems to have returned to Melodifestivalen. One such internationaly famous star is- producer/song writer RedOne who has made his name from writing alot of Lady Gaga hits-

'Bad Romance' 'Poker Face' & her debut 'Lets Dance'

Last year he brought to the Melodifestivalen stage a new girl band- Love Generation. And according to the Swedish press Love Generation will sing a new Red One song for Melo 2012 called 'Just a little bit' . Le Love Gen Girls could find more than one girl bands to chalenge them -with the return of Afro Dite (song 'The Boy can Dance'). The three piece pop dance group who won Melodifestivalen back in 2003 already with 'Never Let it Go' are rumoured to be with us in Melo 2012.

Marie Serneholt has also worked with RedOne before when he produced A-Teens album 'Teen Spirit' before his Gaga

glory days. Marie who was our wonderful host in Melo 2011 is set to make a return for a 2nd try for Melodifestivalen success- and we hope this time Marie will make it to Globen- with some 'Salt and Pepper' for her tune!

This News - has come via the Swedish press- who speculate each year who will be in Melodifestivalen the following spring. The press are normally not far off the truth- however- the offical list of artists- is due out at the end of November 2012...

Timoteij- which translated into Australian means The TimTams !!

Also another schager-tastic return for the folk girls Timoteij - there gave us one of the best Melodifestivalen entries of recent times with 2010's 'Kom' since then they have had great success in scandinavia & overseas & dueted with Alexander Rybak- his folk tune blended perfectly with Timoteij. Their song for Melo 2012 is one of many swedish tunes 'Stormande hav' I just cannot wait to hear this track- as 'Kom' has always been one of our favourites- even in it's english version as 'Run' (check it out)

What's in a Song! title-Melodifestivalen Songs for 2012-are announced

Molly- Eric Saade's girlfriend is she set to follow in his footsteps?

Normally around this time of year we get from the Melodifestivalen camp- a few teasers as to who will sing which tune in the heats

starting in Feburary 2012. However it is a songwriters competition so firstly we get a list of the song titles- With those song writer credits

here is the full list announced already- as always these give some big glues as to who will sing as well.

It looks like Sonja Alden is likely to sing her penned tune 'I din Himmel' and the return of Molly Sanden as well as Andreas Johnson is likely.

Then The Moniker is back the second year running with a tune called 'I want to be Chris Issac'

-O M G what is he thinking?

Ohhh but wait (sigh) I can see now -three schlager anthems from Thomas G:Son- that's Fantastic.

I spy a schlager veteran in Lasse Holm who gave us the classics before like 'Dag efter dag' 'Framling' & 'Bra Vibrationer' to name a few- this brings to mind one other name- Kikki (-we wish? it is likey to be a return of 'Lotta- Engberg instead! )

Then only two tunes from Fredrik Kempe next year !

but double kempe magic is better than only one- we are hoping

one of the songs are made for Magnus Carlsson- finger-crossed- toes crossed- whever else.

The tune- Sanningen' is rumoured to be a comeback for Magnus! - as he has worked with Michael Clauss before.

check out the list- here for yourself-

Aldrig Aldrig (Niclas Lundin, Maria Marcus, Randy Goodrum)

Allting blir bra igen (Michael Sideridis)

Baby Doll (Mårten Eriksson, Lina Eriksson, Susie Päivärinta)

Det går för långsamt (Anton Malmberg Hård af Segerstad, Niclas Lundin)

Don't Let Me Down (Lasse Holm, Lars Dille Diedricson)

Euphoria (Thomas G:son, Peter Boström)

Förlåt mig (Mattias Andréasson)

Ge aldrig upp (Thomas Di Leva)

Goosebumps (Hanna Lindblad, Linda Sundblad, Tony Nilsson)

I din himmel (Sonja Aldén, Bobby Ljunggren, Peter Boström)

I mina drömmar (Nanna Svensdóttir, Thomas Cars)

I Want To Be Chris Isaak (The Moniker)

Jag reser mig igen (Thomas G:son, Ted Ström)

Just A Little Bit (RedOne)

Land Of Broken Dreams (Thomas G:son, Thomas Plec Johansson)

Lovelight (Andreas Johnson, Peter Kvint)

Mirakel (Fredrik Andersson, Björn Ranelid)

Mystery (Pontus Hjelm)

Porslin (Björn Olsson, Martin Elisson)

På väg (Abalone Dots Rebecka Hjukström, Sophia Hogman, Louise Holmer, Viktor Källgren)

Salt & Pepper (Lina Eriksson, Mårten Eriksson, Figge Boström)

Sanningen (Michael Clauss, Martin Bjelke)

Sean Den Förste Banan (Sean Banan, Joakim Larsson, Hans Blomberg, Mårten Andersson)

Soldiers (Ulrik Munther, Johan Åberg, Linnea Deb, Joy Deb, David Jackson)

Stormande hav (Kristian Lagerström, Johan Fjellström, Stina Engelbrecht, Jens Engelbrecht)

The Boy Can Dance (Figge Boström, Catrine Loqvist, Johan Lindman)

The Girl (Fredrik Kempe, Alexander Johnsson)

To the Sky (Fernando Fuentes, Tony Nilsson, Danny Saucedo, Peter Boström, Figge Boström)

Kyss mig (Axel Algmark, Mattias Frändå, Jonathan Magnussen)

Why Am I Crying (Molly Sandén, Aleena Gibson, Windy Wagner)

Why Start A Fire (Lisa Miskovsky, Aleksander With, Bernt Rune Stray, Berent Philip Moe)

Youngblood (Fredrik Kempe, David Krüger)