SWEDEN

The Swedish Final washeld at the Friends Arena in Solna on March 8th, hosted by Nour El-Refai & Anders Jansson. Before the final there were 4 rounds of heats and a second chance round. Voting in the final was conducted with votes from various international juries and televote combined to get a winner. The winning song was "Undo" sung by Sanna Nielsen.

As ever, Melodifestivalen was a great big production on the many stages the hearts went to throughout Sweden. The final show was very slick and the two presenters, although seemingly opposites, worked really well and had a good charm with the audience in the area and those at home. The show could have dragged on and on but the songs were rattled though quite quickly and the jury/televotes was eked out just long enough to gain enough tension. However when it came to quality of songs, it was disappointing.

Sanna's performance was very unlike the majority of entries in the final as it consisted of just her on stage. No backing singers no dancers. She was dressed quite conservatively in a black top and trousers which contrasted with the her short blond hair. The stage is all back too, with only the use of light beams an a nice crystal curtain effect around her. There is very little action in the song and it very static.

The song is a emotive power ballad in the schlager vein of song writing but is very slow. It feels very laboured and ultimately goes nowhere. The tune of the chorus in particular is so fragmented and odd that it's hard to remember or sing along with. It almost feels like she's gone out of tune  The lyrics of the song are in badly written English and don't make sense... especially with the use of the phrase 'undo my bad'.

There are no issues at all with her. Sanna is a very experienced performer, having been in Melodifestvalen 7 times and she knows how to work a crowd and work the camera angles.  She has the voice and the personality to do well in Eurovision - just not with this song. The staging needs a lot of thought as does her styling. Her outfit makes me think mid 40s - not 29 . However the lack of bodies on stage leaves some leeway in term of additional people on stage but it may well be that this solitary type of performance may well be a selling point.

I feel like Sweden's hands were tied - whatever song they would have sent would have felt like a disappointment. I sit here typing and wondering who will vote for this. I'm not sure juries will find it aurally pleasing and I don't think those in Eastern Europe will understanding and it certainly doesn't feel like a song you could hear on any European radio station. Their only saviour might be that they have Denmark and Iceland voting in their semi-final This was a bad, bad choice Sweden. I predict a DNQ.

Artist - Sanna Nielsen

Song - Undo

Music - Fredrik Kempe, David Kreuger, Hamed "K-One" Pirouzpanah

Lyrics - Fredrik Kempe, David Kreuger, Hamed "K-One" Pirouzpanah