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

SWEDEN

The Swedish Final was held on March 9th at the Friends Arena in Solna, hosted by Marika Carlsson, Sarah Dawn Finer, Eric Saade & Kodjo Akolor. Before the final there were 4 heats 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 votes (7/8) & televoting (1/8). The winning singer was John Lundvik with the song “Too late for love”

John is alone on stage with a rectangular array of light above his head. This moves around and shines and pulsates in different ways whilst he is singing on his own, otherwise there are yellow and blue lights strobing on the background and from above. He is dressed in black, as are his backing singers who come on later, and there are very few distractions on stage. It is almost like the lack of staging puts the emphasis on the song! There is some choreography, of sorts, during the verses but is more free form in the chorus.

The song is an mid-tempo pop song with a very defined beat and a gospel feel. The start is very low key and has just a piano backing. During the bridge, which cleverly repeats the name of the song before it gets to the chorus proper, the piano starts to create the beginnings of a beat and the crowd starts to join in. For the first part of the chorus the beat drops out again but comes back in for the second part. This beat then threads through the second verse and pre-chorus and during the chorus the backing singers appear (although they have been very audible up to now) and makes for a very different kind of culmination to the song. Their interaction with each other and John looks totally genuine. There is then one final chorus but this time John starts off singing it in a falsetto then returns to his normal range, then the backing singers take control of the rest of the song whilst John does some vocal gymnastics and ends with a final ‘is it’ which feels a bit of an odd ending but does make you want to say the rest of the line, which just happens to be the title of the song.

This is very much a feel good song and the ensemble setting of the song really makes it feel like a happy and uniting 3 minutes. It is a very welcome departure from the gimmicky and over choreographed numbers Sweden has sent for the last few years – and one could even add Heroes and Euphoria to that list too. The entire thing is quite wholesome in many ways and although the lyrics of the song are somewhat ambiguous as to how the question is actually answered the song’s personality is joyful.

The song's unique SP should be easily enough to get it into the final and not only will this appeal to juries, but is one of the few songs this year I can actively see people picking up the telephone for. Sweden is the songwriting and song production capital of Europe, if not the world, and this really shows it. Can they win again? Yes.

ARTIST –  John Lundvik

SONG –  Too late for love

MUSIC -  John Lundvik, Anderz Wrethov, Andreas “Stone” Johansson

LYRICS - John Lundvik, Anderz Wrethov, Andreas “Stone” Johansson