The Swedish Final (Melodifestivalen) was held on March 13th at Annexet in Stockholm, hosted by Christer Björkman, Måns Zelmerlöw & Shima Niavarani. Before the final there were 5 semi-finals to get the long list of 28 down to a final of 12. The winner was chosen by a combination of 8 international juries (50%) & a public vote (50%) where the public vote came from age-related phone app uses and televoters. consisted of a mobile phone app where users were split into one of 7 age groupings (7/8) & televoting (1/8). The winning act was Tusse with the song "Voices".
The stage has a dark feeling and some of the backdrop and floor resembles rain, waterfalls and puddles. You can see as Tusse walks along the catwalk that the water is moving as if he was actually wading through it which is a clever touch. Tusse is joined on stage by 4 dancers dressed in various black outfits. Tusse is wearing a red suit accessorised with some statement rings and an amazing jewelled necklace.
The song starts off rather mellow with an atmospheric intro. This continues under the first verse and ore-chorus although there is also a very minimalistic beat which gathers pace as the chorus comes. Here the beat is more pronounced and not just on the beat. This works well with the rather monotone delivery and longer held notes of the chorus. This then contrasts brilliantly with the chanting of the post chorus which is a really good earworm. This pattern repeats again which gets us to 2.15, here there is a short bridge at the song shrinks back down to a more ethereal sound made more unusual by Tusse using his lower register. This is contrasted even more by the chorus coming in with a key change finishing with the post chorus on the live ' a million voices'
Tousin Michael Chiza, a.k.a Tusse, was born in Democratic Republic of Congo. Due to war in his homeland his family fled the settling in a Ugandan camp but Tusse was eventually brought to Sweden, alone, at just 8 years old. In 2018 he participated in a Swedish talent show called "Talang" making it the semi finals. The next year he entered Swedish Idol 2019 this time becoming the overall winner. After this he released a number of songs sung in English and Swedish.
This song has a great anthemic quality and it's clever use of rhyme and rhythm means it stays in your brain for the longest time. This song really reminds me of "Only Teardrops" in its make up and tone. For me, the parts that shine are when Tusse is doing the chanting or where he has that little jump in his voice which makes the song sound so unique. Part of me just wishes they had pushed the song a little further toward being a bit more African sounding. I fear that the clinical clean production of the song and its predictable nature puts me off. As much as this is a good steady dependable Eurovision song, there is nothing about it that I particularly want to vote for. As we have seen of late, the jury vote has been much more pro-Sweden than the televote but the song is less 'pop-polished' than some of their previous efforts and the wholesome message may also curry come favour in the current climate.
ARTIST - Tusse
SONG - Voices
WRITING CREDITS - Joy Deb, Linnea Deb, Jimmy "Joker" Thörnfeldt, Anderz Wrethov
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