Alcazar going up, up, up, and back to their Disco roots for Mf 2014

 Well , It was abit of a nail biting Semi- Final 4 result last night.

With Anton Ewald being the first act to go direct to the Melo Finale, his performance was as amazing as expected, yet I felt it was lacking the fantastic routine he had for 'Begging' in 2013.

Linda Bengtzing was another hot number Ta Mig' I liked this song a lot and she had the Gold hot pants as well. Only a schlager diva could look like that.
So imagine the suspense when the second song going direct-to-final result came down to Alcazar Vs Linda Bengtzing.
It was a hard choice, but Alcazar rode their Disco ball all the way to the final. (hurrah)

Meanwhile the hard rock tune, and a tune I'd rate as one of the worst melo songs of 2014- 'En himmelsk sang' went to second chance round.

'Blame it on the Disco' seems to be almost date back to those boogie tracks from the 'Casino' debut album back in 2000. Alcazar have done a full circle and finally look in 2014 like they could have the goods to win Melodifestivalen 2014.
if those International juries are supportive.

Is Ewald the Natural-choice at Melodifestivalen 2014- Semi final 4

Anton Ewald- with his brand of soul/pop 'Begging' from last year's Melodifestivalen 2014.
He went on to built a whole career as one of the top pop artists today. So lets not under estimate the power of  Ewald in semi final 4.
The song seems to continue the same groove and performance of last years entry for Melo 2013. I believe that last year Sweden could have in ESC 2013 been up there with Denmark on the final scoreboard if they had chosen 'Begging' so lets hope the new song is as good or better.
With great pride I can say Alcazar are another favourite of semi final 4 as well as taking pole Song 1 position in the songs running order should see them do well with a giant Disco ball to boot off with!
Yet it's never that simple in Melodifestivalen is it?

As although I adore Alcazar I think they need to have a song to equal 'Stay The Night' from 2009
 To go over to Copenhagen in 2014. As I write now only heard the song snippet I am not convinced they have that yet!

So what else do we have in the last semi final? Linda Bengtzing I like her new style and track 'Ta mig' and I feel sure she will go to second chance round with this one. The other two to watch I think is Josef Johansson and IDA although the IDA track I am not keen on myself. So once again anything can happen ... Let the fun begin.

What Happened- Our Schlager Shirl' is knocked out in Semi Final 3- Goteburg!

  The third Melodifestivalen semi-final, was we felt the weekest link of the Melo season.

The only good thing was we had one more wonderful piece of Kempe magic in the shape of the Saade clone Oscar Zia with 'Yes we can' the performance seemed to borrow a few on stage-tricks from Blue's 'I can'
performance at Eurovision Song Contest 2011.
Yet certainly the performance and tune of the night was rather superb. So Oscar took the teen 2014 girlie vote all the way to the final. If Ewald & Oscar make the final they could both split the teen voters and cause a few broken hearts.

Outrigger certainly had something different to offer as well, and I rather liked 'Echo' and the trash metal song in the cages. I was expecting them to go directly to the final. I prefered this to the State of (yawn) Drama's song 'All we are'

Then came Shirley Clamp, who gave one sizzling performance of one of the best songs for 2014 -with 'Burning Alive' Why this tune did not at least make the Second Chance- we will never know. Poor Shirl' I hope she will comeback again. Meanwhile we have the prospect of a Shirl'Less Melo Final.
Ohh and some chick called Ace Wilder qualified for the final with a song called....errr. 'Busy Doin Nothing' the song certainly was busy doin nothing for me.

Well Roll on, semi- final 4, with a list of stars like Alcazar, (hurrah) Linda Benggt zing, Anton Ewald begging for me success (+ Janet Leon)

                             
"I can,          be Lee from Blue when I grow up"

The Return of Martin Sternmarck...in Linköping!

I am thinking this weekend could be one of the most exciting Semi-Final's for 2014. It certainly has two of the biggest stars in the swedish music scene, with the return of Sanna Neilsen, and then the mighty Martin Sternmarck. Last time we saw Martin with 'Las Vegas' at Melodifestivalen 2005, and although his entry did not do all that well in Kiev, it did launch his massive career in homeland Sweden.

Having these two stars, should mean an easy qualifing Mf final placing for both. Sanna is the favourite to win Melodifestivalen 2014 together with a Fredrik Kempe magical tune called 'Undo'

The winning songwriter's who brought us 'Euphoria' Peter Bostrom & Thomas G'Son. Have a new hit called 'Love Trigger' by JEM. Its a very 90's flashback dance tune, which may well be popular in Linköping but as a Eurovision Song Contest entry for Sweden, I think it could be a big mistake.

For the Second Chance' round I am going to tip JEM with Little Great Things' and/or 'The Refreshments' Their tune 'Hallelujah' is very caughty, I think having the Sanna/Sternmarck factor to compete may lose The Refreshment the mature audience tele-vote. It's always differcult to perdict what will turn out to be great songs from the SVT 1-minute previews available. I am expecting alot more from Sanna Neilsen in her full length version of her song. Martin Sternmarck sounds like his massive No:1 hits  "7milakliv" & "100 ar fran nu (blundar)" that can only we a good thing with the swedish voters.

Yet we all know how crazzy the votes can get in the semi-final rounds.

'Never made it to the Bedroom..' Or even Melodifestivalen Final- We Luv'd Alvaro.

Well the race is on...as Melodifestivalen kicked off in Malmo yesterday. As always there was some shocka televotes going on, and that superpower of Yohio. He managed to take Song 1- directly to the final with 'In the End' not an easy task, as David Lindgren (2013) & Ola back in 2010 proved.
Yet no other song or artist has taken song 1 directly into a grand final placing since the semi-finals began.

Comparing 'In the End' Vs 'Heartbreak Hotel' from last year, the new tune is slightly less annoying for me. Yet 'In the End' as a Eurovision entry for Sweden, I feel it may well bomb. Which brings us to poor Alvaro Estrella, now he did'nt bomb- he actually came 6th, and did a killer performance. I liked this George Michael-esque tune alot. I was just hoping swedes would be kind with the tele-votes.
However a very hard one to sing 'Live' so maybe it is best for our ole 'Melo playlists'. It will be intresting to see how this goes in the single charts as well- as with 'Casanova' but I think 'Bedroom' will make an impact over Elisa's schlager romp on the charts. So the future looks bright for AE.

So the rest was as expected Helena Paparizou's 'Survior'  did not quiet make the grade, however Andra Chance round may well be kind to Helena. If she can qualify I predict the international juries would just adore her song and performance, certainly Greece would give 12 points.

Then Ellen Benediktson is a real fantastic singer, so why has she got a less than average ballad to sing? ('Songbird')  I hope in another time, and place/or Melo contest, Ellen will do rather well. I think we have yet to see a real Melo winner.

There is still so much schlagertastic stuff to hear from the likes Sanna, Alcazar, Janet Leon and Linda Bengtzing plus newbies J.E.M + two Saade clones Oscar Zia & Anton Ewald.

Ohhh and the one, I am so looking forward to is the return of the amazing Princess of Schlager.

Miss. Shirley Clamp.  ( having Shirl' in Melo is almost like a Schlager Royal visit)

                             
-OMG has overnight Yohio turned into 'One Direction' ?