Lopez Blogs

Charlotte Perrelli and her bling-bling microphone (!) kicked off tonight's proceedings. I thought she was a bit nervous in places but she recovered very quickly to deliver a winning performance of "Hero".

Nerves also might have got to Sibel, whose "That Is Where I'll Go" managed to hit highs and lows in its three minutes. OK though, I suppose, but in the draw-from-hell spot, Sibel was up against it tonight.

Rongedal on the other hand managed to deliver a very professional rendition of the very catchy "Just A Minute" which has been one of my favourites of this national finals season. I thought after tonight, this could possibly provide a shock result.

Prior to this year's MF season, the appeal of Linda Bengtzing had escaped me - but no more. Who could not love her performance of "Hur Svårt Kan Det Va", an anthemic showstopper? Whilst I understood why Charlotte's win was inevitable, I still feel that she has a 'coldness' about her, which could not be said about Linda whose performance yelled warmth, humanity and fun.

All I would say about Christer Sjögren and "I Love Europe" was that it gave me the opportunity to go off and open a bottle of red wine, and the bit I did have the misfortune to see was just scary, scary, scary.

Little Amy Diamond gave it her all on "Thank You" and being in a charitable mood tonight I'd say that it was ok to begin with, but it all ended up a bit "naaaaahhh" and I can understand why the viewers/voters would lose interest as it outstayed its welcome.

So to Sanna Nielsen, the first of the serious challengers to Charlotte, thanks to the staging of "Empty Room" which had the audience waving little lights in the air Olsen Brothers-style and it was very well received, however I questioned just how sincere her 'emotional' reaction was.

Then it was time for Nordman who weren't as good as last week - voice was a bit croaky I thought - but the witch-burning and the stage act remained one of the more powerful images of this year's MF. I still rather like "I Lågornas Sken" though.

Frida Muranius featuring Headline probably realised they were among tonight's also rans but they gave an energetic, refreshing and fun performance of "Upp O Hoppa" although the end result was still a bit of a fashion disaster. There's something appealingly ordinary about Frida though.

And now to BWO with "Lay Your Love On Me" which as you probably know was my favourite this year, and just like Sebastian Karlsson in 2007, my rational judgement went out the window the minute that Martin Rolinski walked onstage. Plagiarism allegations (Lili & Sussie/Madonna) have hung over this song, but it is such a great pop song which they did very well again tonight and they should be proud of their performance, although this will probably be their last effort at MF.

"There's a new Sheriffovic in town!" declared Kristian Luuk as he headed for Belgrade in a funny interval-segment.

Bjorn Gustafsson meanwhile hit us with some beatboxing, although I didn't think this was one of his best weeks but he has been the real star of MF this year, bring him back SVT!

Just when you thought there would be no more surprises, along came Maia Hirasawa with her own individual take on last year's winner, "The Worrying Kind" by The Ark!

Talking of whom, there was an appearance by a disturbingly facial-haired Ola Salo (OK I know he's doing Jesus Christ Superstar but please shave soon, Ola darling !) anyway then it was time for the jury vote, one after the other giving Charlotte 12 points, although three cheers to Norrkoping for giving BWO their 12 points :)

Result after jury vote:

1. Charlotte
2. Rongedal
3. Sanna
4. BWO
5. Linda
6. Sibel
7. Amy
8. Frida & Headline
9. Nordman
10. Christer

Then came the viewers' votes, translated into points and added to the jury votes. Not even Sanna winning the viewers' vote was enough to shift Charlotte from the top.

Final result:

1. Charlotte
2. Sanna
3. BWO
4. Rongedal
5. Linda
6. Nordman
7. Sibel
8. Amy
9. Christer
10. Frida & Headline

Charlotte wins, no surprise, well done, now go and win it for Sweden in Belgrade!

Oh, and Poster Girl - have you recovered yet??????