Stockholm 2016

Predictions for Melodifestivalen’s Second Semifinal.

The bestest guide you’ll ever find on Melodifestivalen is baaaack. Matteo will take you through the next 7 songs in Melodifestivalen 2016.
David Lindgren
1. David Lindgren – We Are Your Tomorrow – Anderz Wrethov, Sharon Vaughn, Gustav Efraimsson
The artist: Johan David Stellan Lindgren is a 33 year old singer from up north. He has that face of a nice guy that makes it impossible to hate him. He became quite famous in Sweden doing musicals before appearing on TV shows and ending up in Melodifestivalen 2012 with Danny Saucedo’s rejected song.
Which was quite good luck as he came 4th with 88 points (with Ulrik Munther coming 3rd with 88 points. But Ulrik had 3 points more from televoting, so…).
He got back on the Melodifestivalen stage in 2013 with “Skyline” – but he came 8th. And now he is back back back to Melodifestivalen!
The composers: We have already talked about Anderz Wrethov. He’s the one behind Samir&Viktor and whatever that was. Sharon Vaughn is an american songwriter that composed “Release me” by Agnes (that went international a few years ago) and used to write a lot of songs with Anders Hansson, the hitmaker. Efraimsson has worked with (as Wikipedia says – let’s throw names out there ) Snoop Dogg, September, Marta Sánchez, Jennifer Rush, Sweetbox, Audio Playground, Edurne, Eric Saade.
The song: It sounds a more schlagery version of his previous two songs. As my friend Erika says, once is good, twice is nice, three times is a goodbye. But he’s usually a good performer, so this will play in his favour.
Chances of qualifying: Maybe Andra Chansen?
Victor och natten
2. Victor och Natten – 100% – Dag Lundberg, Melker, Jesper Lundh
The artist: It is rather difficult to find details about Victor. This is his biggest breakthrough. He had a few singles out since 2014 and this is the highest moment of his career so far.
“Victor och Natten” means “Victor and the night” and, from Melodifestivalen’s website, it’s there to represent Victor’s father who passed away when he was young.
The composers: Debutants. Which if you ask me is a good thing. Otherwise we would end up having always the same names and by 2020 we will be in need to shut down the contest.
The song: It’s a “Swedish pop that mixes rap”. It’s an uptempo uplifting piece that sounds fresh.
Chances of qualifying: As much as I’d like to see this going anywhere, it will end up either 6th or 7th.
Molly Pettersson Hammar
3. Molly Pettersson Hammar – Hunger – Joy Deb, Linnea Deb, Lisa Desmond, Anton Hård af Segerstad, Molly Pettersson Hammar
The artist: To put you up to speed, Molly is only 20 years old and she was probably supposed to be the one to go to the final between the people from her semi last year, but she got screwed by the new Melodifestivalen App. It was the first semifinal, it was the first performance ever to be voted via the app and people didn’t understand how it worked – and she came 6th.
So now she is back and she craves revenge.
The composers: Molly and Lisa have worked together even last year on her song “I’ll be fine”. The Debs and Hård af Segerstadt are quite known because – as you might remember from last week – the first two composed “Heroes” and the third is their usual companion. He was a member of the band “Le kid” before deciding to make more money and go solo composer.
The song: We are not getting that far from last year’s “I’ll be fine”. It seems a bit less energetic and aggressive, but still a good piece.
Chances of qualifying: Definitely to the final – not surprised if she wins the semi.
Isa Tengblad
4. Isa – I Will Wait – Anton Hård af Segerstad, Joy Deb, Linnea Deb, Nikki Flores
The artist: Isa Tengblad is 17.
Already this should just make you stop reading and think “what am I doing with my life?”.
Anyway. She is 17 and she has done already two talent shows: Småstjärnorna and Talang. Talang is the Swedish version of the “Got talent” franchise.
After that, she had a few smaller experiences before landing at Melodifestivalen 2015 with a Taylor Swift “Shake it off” sort of song. She went to the final because of her fresh style – and because it wasn’t a very strong semifinal – and now she is back.
The composers: Just read above for the first three of them. Nikki Flores is a Mexican-American singer/composer that is unknown to the Melodifestivalen audience, but she had a sort of breakthrough in Sweden, producing – with the other three here listed – two songs from Måns’s last album.
The song: It’s a… sensual power ballad. She is very energetic at singing it, but I’d wait for the whole performance to judge.
Chances of qualifying: To the final possibly. Also because the staging looks stunning.
krista siegfrids
5. Krista Siegfrids – Faller – Krista Siegfrids, Gabriel Alares, Magnus Wallin, Gustaf Svenungsson
The artist: Krista Siegfrids is Finnish. But Swedish speaker. So here is the explanation to all the newcomers that can’t understand why she will be on stage.
The singer is very well renowned between the Eurofans because she annoyed to death everyone shouting DING DONG in the Malmö press centre.
Apart from that, she represented Finland in the Eurovision 2013 and she was the singer at a gay wedding at the Euroclub of Eurovision 2014. And then an Italian “webstar” covered her song “Amen”. He then said that it was written only for him – but that’s another story.
What else do you want to add? She had a lesbian kiss on air after her Eurovision performance – and she went to the Final, so everyone saw that. Good job Krista.
The composers: Krista själv, Gabriel Alares (from Russia 2015 and Russia some other year) and the two composers from Isa’s song from last year. How cool is that?
The song: It’s an uptempo “Shake it off” kind of song. Surprised? Not really, seen the team behind it.
Chances of qualifying: Let’s say 5th place?
Patrik Isaaksson Tommy Nilsson Uno Svenningsson
6. Patrik Isaksson, Tommy Nilsson & Uno Svenningsson – Håll mitt hjärta hårt – Patrik Isaksson, Tommy Nilsson, Uno Svenningsson
The artists: Patrik Isaksson is a handsome 43 year old singer from Stockholm. He had a breakthrough in 1999 with “Du får mig göra som du vill” and if I were you I’d listen to a few of his songs from that time because they are quite good. He has participated in Melodifestivalen already in 2006 and 2008 and in the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix in 2012 (with a song half in Danish half in Swedish called “Venter”, sang with Crhistian Brøns – third place).
Tommy Nilsson has a few big hits – but most importantly he represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1989 coming 4th with the song “En dag” – which is now a karaoke classic.
Uno Svenningsson has partecipated in Melodifestivalen 2007. He already had 13 years of successes before that and one song in particular – Under ytan – became popular again as Loreen covered it a few months ago.
The composers: Themselves.
The song: a softrock ballad in the style of Patrik Isaaksson. I might love it, but people might not appreciate it completely.
Chances of qualifying: Unfortunately, another contender for the 6th or 7th place.
Wiktoria
7. Wiktoria – Save Me – Jens Siverstedt, Jonas Wallin, Lauren Dyson
The artist: Wiktoria Vendela Johansson is a 19 year old singer from Brämhult, in the commune of Borås. She partecipated in the kids version of Melodifestivalen in 2011 and in 2013 she sang the theme song for Telia’s coverage of the Eurovision Song Contest 2013.
Telia gave us the opportunity to meet Martin Rolinski in person, so it’s a good thing.
The composers: Rather unfortunately, we only know that Jens Siverstedt is from the hip hop group Morfeta & Jerre. But if my search is correct, two of them worked with Avicii and Lauren Dyson has composed a lot of stuff for different artists.
The song: Sounds like a nice radio friendly song, probably it will clash a bit with Pettersson Hammar.
Chances of qualifying: I’d say Andra Chansen for now…

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