Sweden's Top 10 Melodifestivalen Fan Favourites Ever !!

- Sanna is still Tops with the swed-fans

Well the swedes have some rather strange choice in favourites- when it comes to music- If we need evidence of this just look at some historical choices for Eurovision Song Contest! Strange but true. Recently STV asked 400 die-hard Melodifestivalen fans to choose

their All-time favourite Melodifestivalen tune- No: 1turned out to be Empty Room by Sanne Nielsen the tune that finished runner-up to Charlotte Perrelli's 'Hero in 2008-' that made 3rd place- This is the full Top 10 featuring Charlotte twice- and lena Phillipsson twice,

but one placing for Carola.

1. Empty Room- Sanna Nielsen

2. Waterloo- ABBA

3. Hero- Charlotte Perrelli

4. Kärleken är evig- Lena Philipsson

5. Evighet- Carola

6. Moving On- Sarah Dawn Finer

7. Not a Sinner Nor a Saint- Alcazar

8. Tusen och en natt /Take Me to Your Heaven-Charlotte Nilsson

9. Det gör ont- Lena Philipsson

10. Nattens drottning- Haakon Pedersen & Elisabeth Berg (5th place 1989)

Alot of Melodifestivalen classics are missing like 'Cara Mia' 'Ska VI Plocka Körsbär I Min Trädgård?' 'Se Mig' & 'Dag efter Dag' or 'Bang En Boomerang' all would have been better than the 10th song by Haakon Pedersen & Elisabeth Berg we think!

Oh well looking at this Top 10 perhapes the International juries for Globen Melodifestivalen Final are for the best!

A New Playlist -The Best Tunes-January 2012

1- C'est Blue- Scooter /Vicky Leandros

2- Bailamor (English Vers)- LilIi & Susie

3- Eaten Alive- Man Meadow

4- Bearforce 1 Disco Medley- Bearforce One

5- Blame it on you - Youngblood
6- You and I - Minnie- Oh- NEW

7- Overflow- Ditte Marie -NEW

8- Under Stjernerne Pa Himlen- Rasmus Seebach

9- Tu te Reconnaitras-Remix 2011- Anne Marie David

10- When will I see you again (Precious Pop Mix)- Thomas Anders Ft Three Degrees -NEW

11- Songs that Live Forever- Thomas Anders

12- Sunday Morning - Sebastian Karlsson

13- Make it Better - Tommy Fredvang -NEW
14- C'etait Ma Vie -Lys Assia

15- En dag i sander -Benny Anderssons Orkestra

16- With Love- Lisa Stokke -NEW
17 -Til Tomorrow -Alexander Panayotov

18- Take our hearts- Jesper Nohrstedt -NEW

19- Goodbye - Zelijko Joksimovic

20- Stay- Tooji -NEW

This month's PlayLists has some early favourites from Norsk Melodi Grand Prix- tunes

Along with the two best from this weekend's Dansk MGP namely Jesper Nohrstedt

& the eletro Disc tune from Le Freak's Ditte Marie. Another favourite is Soluna' Should've known better'

yet this song did not make our top 20 This month.

Expect some Melodifestivalen tunes

coming up next month!

Over in Norway they seem to have come up with their very own Norska Eric Saade

called Tooji- almost a Saade twin and rather excellent Eurovis track called 'Stay'

Yes - Jedward will be back in 2012- & have a tune to bring more irish Eurovision glory

Work-In-Progress - as Jedward try-out a song for Baku

Although Ireland have the record for an amazing 7 Eurovision winners, mainly due to the whole contest during the ninties becoming a annual Irish

Euro Song Contest (as they won 4 times ) however in recent years they have not been so strong. In fact previous to last year we have to go back to 2006 & Brian Kennedy's 'Every Song Is A Cry For Love' ( that finished in 10th place)

In Dusseldorf Le Jedward twins changed all this and brought Ireland a 8th placing during a maze of hyper crazy publicity. Jedward during Eurovision Song Contest 2011 saw Ireland get 3 times 12 points in the voting- the same amount as Azerbaijan's Ell & Nicki winner 'Running Scared' a worthy

comeback to the big league for Ireland.

So once again Jedward will submit a Eurovision song for Ireland in 2012- and this year for Ireland's own National Final selection they will have a Music industry mentor system to find an artist & song. This system has been subject of much criticism back in ireland- where even Johnny Logan has said it seems to stray away from the fact that it is and should be more about the song than the artist selection.

Linda Martin as a mentor (see above) has choosen Jedward to be her artist for the 2nd year running- and along with UK X-Factor judge Louis Walsh. He is Jedward's manager- They have had just 100's of songs sent in to them to be a possible Irish National Final entry, the one song has now been choosen by Louis.

In the latest statement from Linda Martin- they are actively searching for strong Male backing singers for the Jedward performance. As apparently they are in short supply in Ireland and hard to come by! (Hey, why not try Stockholm- they have heaps- and it worked for Azerbaijan in 2011!!!)

So it looks highly likey we could have a return of the twin Jedwards! We just hope for 2012 they try and do something a little different

this time and perhapes even a new hair style? dare I say it-

but can IRE afford that amount of hairspray in 2012.

We look forward to the new Jedward tune on The Late Late Show Eurosong 2012 on February 24th.

mimi oh or mimmie oh - Ohhh no -a clash of the mimi's in 2012!

With a new season of National finals & Melodi Grand Prix- we very often have a clash of song titles!

for example last year Melodifestivalen had two tunes called 'Oh My God' and while popsters Le Kid looked set to be

a sweet euro-tune for the final. However The Monkier took the glory in 2011- Now we just noticed we have two different artists in Norway & Sweden competing for a place in Baku! Can we imagine the confusion if Sweden sends

Mimi Oh- and Norway Mimmie Oh- and Oh -both girls have a simular look as well- and are not the same artist.

Thankfully Norway's Monica Johansen (Mimmie Oh) has a whole troup of electronic dancing boys + on vocals joined by Marthe Valle according to Norsk's Per Sudnes MGP host this new act will show us simply the best vocal performance for MGP.

Meanwhile one of our personal faves is over in Sweden's Melodifestivalen with singer Mimi Oh- (above)

she had a big summer debut EP in sweden called '1986' last year- this EP title also sums up her electro 80's/90's sound. Check out Mimi Oh's

'Kom Hit Och Dansk' & electro-tasic tune 'Du Och Jag'

To hear just what sweden can offer us in Melo 2012 - we think Mimi Oh could be just the ticket for Sweden

at Baku. Meanwhile Mimmie Oh are know as more alternative sound from Oslo-

If you are ohhh so confused- don't worry!

we will have a full spot-the-difference post later on before the final's

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix promises to be Une Internationaire affair for 2012

It was announced this past week how DR in Denmark will present the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2012 to be held in Aalborg

on 21st January 2012. Last years Grand Prix show actually won awards in Denmark for being the best TV event of last year.

We certainly agree DMGP 11 was a spectacular show-and we will be tuned in the next 3 weeks.

The recent Eurovision Final track record has found Denmark to be the most successful Scandinavian country for having Top 5 placings,

in fact Denmark have qualified now 4 years in a row (Iceland equal this feat) so it will be all eyes on Denmark will they score

in the Top 5 this year or hit the jackpot to be winners in 2012.

They will be changing the rules for voting to bring in International Jury members from Norway Germany Russia & Azerbaijan.

Following in Sweden's lead of Melodifestivalen 2011.

In 2012 the danes who do not mess around with Semi Final warm-ups, will go straight to a final of 10 songs. They even have a specially

designed new stage for this event to find the song to fly the Danish flag at Baku 2012. See an impression of the new stage see above- (could there be a hint of Sydney Opera House there for the stage?- that was also designed by a dane)

Enought - let's see the 8 successful song submissions with 3 DR invited wildcards- for

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2012-

1. Jesper Norshtedt - Take out hearts (wildcard)
2. Valen:Tine - Nowhere
3. Aya - Best thing I got - From the songwriters John Gordon/Julie Frost of 'Satelite'
4. Kenneth Potempa - Reach the sky
5. Ditte Marie - Overflow - The lead singer from Le Freak '25 Hours a day' (2011)
6. Phillip Hallou & Emilia - Baby love me
7. Suriya - Forever I be young (wildcard)
8. Karen Viuff - Universe
9. Soluna Samaay - Should have known better - one songwriter of the 2011 winner 'New Tomorrow'
10. Chris Brons and Patrick Isaksson - Venter (wildcard)

Exciting Schlager-times in this song line-up is the return of Fan favourites of MGP last year

'Le Freak' retro-disco band-

Well almost with the lead singer Ditte Marie going solo with song 5 - 'Overflow'

another one to watch is Song 3 -as the very same song writing dou who gave us 'Satelite' for Germany's Lena

are back for another go with 'The Best thing I got'

We cannot wait to see what Denmark has got for us...

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'