SWEDEN

The Swedish Final was held on March 7th at the Friends Arena in Solna, hosted by Lina Hedlund, Linnea Henriksson & David Sundin. Before the final there were 4 semi-finals and a second chance round. The winner was chosen by 8 international juries (50%) & a public vote (50%). The public vote consisted of a mobile phone app where users were split into age groupings and phone voting. The winning act was The Mamas with "Move"

The three members are dressed in black - but their outfits are very different in style although they all have a black mesh cape or fringing that ties the outfits together. For the first half of the song they are stood behind microphone stands then during the second half they move around a bit more including singing with their back towards the audience. The background is dark and sparse with flashing strips and lights but gets brighter and more lit up as the song progresses. The audience also has their part to play with their phone lights swaying in the air too.

Although the song seems rather simplistic and formulaic "Move" is actually made up of lots of rather smaller cogs which fit rather well together. We starts with verse one and this flows nicely into the pre-chorus. This then moves swiftly into the more wordy and melodic chorus, although the name of the song is a little hidden inside. There is then a post-chorus although this is more oh-oh-ohing by the backing singers and a chance for the girls do do some low key bopping. We then start again with another verse but this one is much shorter, followed by the pre-chorus, chorus and post-chorus. Here there is then a stompy clap-along, sing-a-long bridge which actually gets the song name across better to the audience. We go back to the chorus one last time before another short reprise of the bridge.

First of all, it's nice to see John Lundvik's backing singers get to shine by themselves, although some might feel that last year's song and this year's entry aren't exactly miles apart. Personally I found this years Melodifestivalen totally insufferable and there were so many songs in the final that were just 'Sweden by numbers'. At least this song has three amazing singers and their performance did not seem over-choreographed something which can annoy me terribly. The song has a nice soulful vibe although I kind of wish the last chorus had something a bit different such as a key change or something to really show off their vocal prowess.
Looking at this song's situation in the first half of semi 1 this is one of the better songs and acts and stands out as such, but when it comes to the second half there is so much going on part of me wonders if this song is going to be forgotten about. I especially worry about how this might fair when it comes to the televote - Sweden seems to be rather more favoured by the jury than the people at home (maybe we're all fed up of the Swedes being Swedes..?) I think there are 5 songs in semi one which probably won't qualify and this one could be right one the edge. This being a DNQ would be a real shame but might also fire up Sweden to widen its horizons in Melodifestvalen and do something that is *really* different.... JHF pleeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaassssssssseeeeeee.


Artist - The Mamas
Song - Move
Composers - Herman Gardarfve, Patrik Jean, Melanie Wehbe
Lyricists - Herman Gardarfve, Patrik Jean, Melanie Wehbe