SWEDEN

The final of the Melodifestivalen was held at the Globe Theatre in Stockholm. The share of the voting was 50% international jury and 50% televoting. The favourite with both jury and televote and therefore winning the ticket to Düsseldorf is Eric Saade singing “Popular”

The song is a dance number with lots of repetition. The beginning of the song has a slight military feel with the drumming and whistling parts. This is also emphasised with the dancers’ choreography at the start. The dance routine also centres on some glass panels which the dancers dance behind. These panels are them over to make a cube around him which then explode and shatter the glass so he can escape again. This is a very clever gimmick although I am not sure how pleased the ESC producers will be to have to clear this up in under a minute!

Eric is wearing black underneath a red leather jacket and white trainers. The whole performance as you can probably expect is quite visually outstanding. Eric’s voice is OK and seems to keep the song going with all the distractions around him. The song though is very disappointing. I keep on thinking it is going to turn into “Gasoline” by Dieter Bohlen, or any other Modern Talking song. The chorus is so cheesy and repetitive that although it is the type of song you pick up very easily, it is also the type of song you will hate that you are singing along to.

Although the song is memorable but I don’t think it is they type of song people wil vote for.
Another semi-final fail for Sweden, I think. I also think that the Melodifestivalen needs a revamp and a rethink. The song quality was not up to scratch this year and this has to be rectified.

SINGER – Eric Saade
SONG – Popular
MUSIC – Fredrik Kempe
WORDS – Fredrik Kempe