Selection Season Day 4: Finland and Norway choose, Melfest continues
Hello again, and välkommen to another overview of some of the action taking place this weekend. After a week of random revelations, it’s nice to focus on some ESC-related things that were actually scheduled. By tomorrow, we’ll have two more entries for Malmö and two more finalists from Melodifestivalen. All four of them can be found somewhere down there…but not necessarily in my predictions. Please read on without taking them too seriously!
UMK, or TFOFNF – the final of Finland’s national final
Finland, I am not amused. Or enthused. Yes, I may have drawn that conclusion from a dodgy online recap of your final crammed with fifteen-second snippets of the offerings for 2013, but I know personally if I’m going to be excited by something, it will happen within fifteen seconds.
That’s not to say – and I’m talking to you guys again, not Finland – that UMK has nothing good up for grabs this year. And at least you have a chance of finding the good stuff in a field of only eight songs. Take note, Malta!
Here are the eight:
- Lost by Arion
- He’s Not My Man by Elina Orkoneva
- Dancing All Around The Universe by Lucy Was Driving
- Marry Me by Krista Siegfrids
- Saturday Night Forever by Last Panda
- We Should Be Through by Mikael Saari
- Flags by Great Wide North
- Colliding Into You by Diandra
I’m getting decent vibes from Arion, Elina and Diandra in terms of song quality, but in the absence of full-length song knowledge, I’m going to predict a winner based completely rationally on song title. I’m sure this isn’t the first time someone’s done it.
So, who looks promising? By my standards, Dancing All Around The Universe gets a tick. So do Mikael and Diandra, whose names are probably more interesting than their song titles, but who still count.
Can you give me a more informed take on who should/will win UMK? If you’re reading this after it’s happened, then obviously you can.
Norsk MGP: three down, one to go
Nine qualifiers and one lucky (lips) wildcard later, and NMGP is about to crown a hopefully more successful successor to Tooji. This is a much stronger ultimate line-up than Finland’s despite the hideousness voted through from the first semi, and I have some firm favourites. But looking back on the last few years of the Norwegian selection, there seems to be no way of accurately guessing the outcome – sometimes, the acts that won their semis don’t even get a look in to the super final, and as I mentioned in an earlier post, Tooji came 2nd in his heat. When you think about it, the winner could be any one of these:
- Paid My Way by Vidar Busk
- Ulvetuva by Fjellfolk
- Bombo by Adelén
- Alone by Gromth feat. Emil Solli-Tangen
- Awake by Gaute Ormåsen
- Sweet and Heavy by Lucky Lips
- The Underground by Datarock
- I’m With You by Annsofi
- I Feed You My Love by Margaret Berger
- I Love You Te Quiero by Sirkus Eliassen
That abovementioned super final will feature the four top-ranking songs from an initial round of voting, and the winner will be whichever of those scores the highest from a combined jury and public vote. At risk of going with some too-predictable options (I like to live dangerously and be on the safe side at the same time) I’m earmarking Gromth, Datarock, Annsofi and Margaret for the super final.
Datarock are in there purely for the sake of randomness. I don’t like their song that much, and I don’t think they really deserve to get so far, but I’m always confused by the stuff that gets through in NMGP.
Gromth & Emil are my hands-down LEAST favourite, so for the unsuspecting eardrums of Europe, don’t let them win, Norway!
Annsofi is a force to be reckoned with thanks to her association with Alexander Rybak. Her vocals weren’t exactly perfect, and the song sounds like one that could get boring very quickly, but I wouldn’t mind if she won.
Finally, Margaret is amazing in every way, and I don’t get all the criticism about her dress. I would LOVE her to win. Norway would have a very edgy, unique entry if she did, and you know what? I think she will.
Will M. Berg be looking this happy after tonight’s final?
That’s right; I’m predicting girl power to prevail this evening. What say you?
Melodifestivalen marches on
Melfest? More like mehfest! I never thought I’d say something like that about my beloved Swedish final, but let’s face it: last week’s semi was a bit crap. Still, there is a chance the hosts will redeem themselves tonight with a semi that includes:
- the poor man’s Eric Saade/Danny Saucedo
- a triple whammy of schlager divas
- a duet between the ‘E’ of EMD and a Norwegian pop princess
- the return of a banana-loving, fake chest-hair-wearing comedian
It can’t go wrong…right?
- Begging by Anton Ewald
- Make Me No. 1 by Felicia Olsson
- Annelie by Joacim Cans
- On Top of the World by Swedish House Wives
- Hello Goodbye by Erik Segerstedt & Tone Damli
- Only The Dead Fish Follow The Stream by Louise Hoffsten
- En Förlorad Sommar by Rikard Wolff
- Copacabanana by Sean Banan
Well, I think it’s safe to say that Sweden do NOT want to win Eurovision again so soon. If not, then I have to question the musical taste of the people who narrowed down all the entries submitted for MF to just 32. Feel free to question my musical taste as I narrow the above eight down to a top four:
Begging – This is oh-so-predictable dance pop with a dubstep break a la everything. But that’s enough to make it one of my favourites in yet another average semi. With such a high production level in studio, Anton could totally destroy it live, but even so he’s got a good chance of going straight to Globen.
On Top of the World – Here are those schlager divas with a clubtastic song penned by the Euphoria team of Boström and G:son. It’s one of the best things going, if not the most original.
The SHW star power is blinding. MY EYES!!!
Hello Goodbye – I am so grateful for Erik and Tone for not doing dance. This is my favourite of the semi by far. It’s a nice little slice of guitar pop which actually makes breaking up with someone sound appealing.
Copacabanana – Yes, I know that this is a carbon copy of Sean’s entry of 2012…but I loved that, and in such a poor field I can easily love this too. It’s fun, it’s catchy, and it probably has offensive lyrics, but I don’t understand enough Swedish to know for sure.
Now to try and make up for my dreadful MF predicting last weekend!
I’m gazing into my dust-covered crystal ball, and it’s telling me…Swedish House Wives and Erik & Tone to the final, with Anton and Joacim heading off to Andra Chansen. There. Now I can blame the crystal ball for everything, unless it was right in which case all the credit will be attributed to ‘Jaz, with absolutely no help whatsoever from any kind of prophetic device’.
Your turn – who’s got the right stuff to get to the final, and who deserves a second chance?
That’s it from me for this Super-ish Saturday. Enjoy whichever final you’re tuning into, and enjoy whatever else you’re doing if you can’t be bothered. Bring on the results!
eurovisionbyjaz.com 
8 Responses to “Selection Season Day 4: Finland and Norway choose, Melfest continues”
I’m so tired of thinking about school, I thought I’d comment here. 😉
Anyway, everyone knows about Norway, Finland, and the rest. Personally, I’m torn on Krista’s song. On the one hand, it’s camp enjoyment, but then again, Eurovision is becoming much more mainstream and mature, and I have no idea how camp things like this will fit in. On that note, Norway will have no problem fitting in. Margaret is an excellent performer but the song, in my opinion, needs some polishing. I’d say tone down the synths in the verses so that her voice is clearer and so that the chorus stands out. On my opinion of the song, I’m torn again. Part of me wants to appreciate the sophistication and elegance (there’s “Angel” in Greece for that) but at the same time, I miss the other songs in MGP that I loved: Namely, Martin Blomvik (absolute fave), Julie Bergan (robbed), and Adelén (gasp!), whose song I’ve listened to her song at least 30 times is the past two days (I swear, I’m not even joking).
About MF, the only performance I’ve been able to see is crazy Sean’s! Just copy and paste what I said about Krista here, but add in “insane,” “ridiculous,” and “glittery” in there somewhere. The standout moments of that performance are his dig at poor Danny (who will have revenge!), the use of “lagom”/drag queen sequence, and, in what I hope will be a staple of the 2013 season, the image of Sean in a diaper hoisted above the Göteborg stage with angel wings. At first, this was my reaction.
Then, I loved it. And enough about that.
According to my calendar, we’re coming up on the first “biggest” weekend of the season, seeing that this time next week, we’ll have (at least) six more songs! Wish I wasn’t so busy. 😦
Anyway, this comment is WAY too long (psh, what’s new?), so I’ll just stop here. Bye!
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There’s a real contrast between Krista and Margaret, that’s for sure. I feel like Krista is very much a ghost of Eurovision Past (even though I do like the song in a guilty kind of way) whilst Margaret is very current and edgy (as in, non-fans would be shocked to discover she’s going to Eurovision). Between the two, I’m Team Norway.
Is ‘Bombo’ not the best thing ever?? As Taylor Swift would say, like, ever?? Summer hit of the highest order, with or without that strange noise.
I can’t believe Sean Banan went straight to the final. How often does someone only get to AC and no further, then come back and probably win their semi with a similar but slightly less good version of their failed song?? Having said that, woohoo! I do love the guy. But if he wins over Ulrik Munther, I will not be amused.
Sorry about your busy-ness. I have a little bit of that too. Why can’t there be a job where you have to watch all the NFs you can manage and just think about Eurovision 24/7?? Someone invent one, stat!
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It’s so diva-tastic in Scandinavia right now…. Loving it.
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As the Spice Girls would have said circa 1998, ‘GIRL POWER!!’
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Hi Jaz!
I watched UMK yesterday and actually enjoyed the show. I hadn’t heard the songs before so I had no expectations and that’s probably why I did.
So as you know by now, Krista won. I don’t like her song that much, it’s kind of annoying, but I’m probably one of the few people who didn’t like Mikael’s song..I’m glad he didn’t win, but most people are just like “nooooo why Finland you eveil country you, you should have sent Mikael and blah blah blah”. My favorites were Great Wide North. Diandra was good, but her song was too radioish I find.
My favorite in Norway was Gaute. I knew he was not going to win, but I still had fun cheering for him. And i don’t like Margaret’s song at akll, and the fact that it’s getting so much love it’s starting to get on my nerves. Just like Euphoria last year -_-
I just hope it doesn’t win in Malmö….
I watched bits of Melodifestivalen, but didn’t like any of the songs.I still haven’t heard a single song I like in mf this year, but I’m looking forward to next week’s heat because I have high hopes in Martin Rolinski.
PS: I missed your post on Iceland, but I need to say that Euroband are the “bestest” ever!
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Just wanted to say, totally agree with you about Great Wide North and Euroband. That’s all. 🙂
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I didn’t like Mikael’s song either! It was about as boring as what we now know Cyprus are sending.
I don’t know about Norway winning the whole thing…I would prefer that to Denmark (don’t hate me) but I don’t think we’ve heard the winner yet. But that means nothing because as you know I suck at predicting.
The next two Melfest semis have GOT to be better than the first two. Eddie, Amanda and Martin all in the next one…it can’t be too mediocre. I hope the averageness is just down to the ‘not wanting to win again’ thing.
If only they could bring back Euroband to replace this year’s dude (whose name I can never remember/can’t be bothered to type).
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I agree on your predictions
Margaret for norway
Diandra for finland
Shw for final with sean
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