Lopez Blogs

Divas, foregone conclusions and allegedly the best semi-final line up of the year?

Ummm......not quite. For Melodifestivalen continues to throw up surprises week after week. Despite what seemed like a showstopping performance (if IMHO some disastrous styling), Sarah Dawn Finer didn't make it to Globen. But she will get there of course, only via Andra Chansen.

It was a strange one tonight in Malmo. It kicked off with Petra Mede performing a version of "Lyssna Till Ditt Hjarta". I thought her dress was lovely tonight too.

Song 1: "Love Love Love" - Agnes. I've never really liked her, if only for the reason she deprived my beloved Sebastian in "Idol" - but that turned out to be a good thing of course. Anyway tonight I love-love-loved her gold catsuit and she really put on a good show.

Song 2: "Higher" - Star Pilots. Laugh if you must, but this was my favourite of the night, and was for me the most memorable song of the night but then I've always liked "Waiting For A Star To Fall" lol. :) Anyway the staging and singing was a bit dodgy at times, but you can't keep a good dance-pop song down.

Song 3: "Du är älskad där du går" - Susanne Alfvengren. Another Pling/Bobby/Wikstrom effort in the same vein as Shirley's song from Week 1. A bit dull, and no surprise it came last.

Song 4: "Killing Me Tenderly" - Anna Sahlene and Maria Haukaas Storeng. What have the Swedes got against Anna? This "Goldeneye meets Simply The Best" Bond-inspired duet was OK I thought, but clearly the public thought otherwise...maybe they thought Maria had too much, um, "front" :)

Song 5: "Sweet Kissin' In The Moonlight" - Thorleifs. So you've got new-dansband (Scotts) so how about some old-dansband? Not so much old, more prehistoric schlager which was more 1959 than 2009.

Song 6: "Moving On" - Sarah Dawn Finer. She teamed up with the all-conquering Fredrik Kempe to produce a big showstopping performance complete with wind machine. There is no doubt she is a very good singer with a lovely restrained vocal style. The outfit was so-not-a-good-look though, and was she taking tips from Maria H S on just how much to "reveal"?

Song 7: "Esta Noche" - Next 3. Isn't that reggaeton style so 2007? Or even 2006? This came 6th, but it certainly wasn't better than Anna and Maria's duet.

Song 8: "La Voix" - Malena Ernman. When I heard the sound clip earlier today I just knew this was going all the way to Globen. I liked bits of it and hated other bits of it. Personally I can't really stand this pop-opera mix, and isn't that so 2007?

Top 5: Malena/Star Pilots/Agnes/Sarah/Thorleifs.

Melodifestivalen flashback reached the 1990s - some real stinkers tonight!! Of course they also showed some of the most famous 1990s MF songs and this culminated in tonight's interval act, none other than Darin, singing Jan Johansen's "Se På Mej" from 1995. Excuse me for feeling a little emotional, but I had a little lump in my throat watching this and I thought he was just lovely, although admittedly he struggled towards the end.

Duels: Star Pilots vs Agnes / Sarah Dawn Finer vs Malena Ernman.
Result: Agnes and Malena to Globen, Star Pilots and Sarah to Andra Chansen.

Now there's a shock! I thought SDF had it in the bag but apparently not. She did get the international jury vote tonight.

Yay for Star Pilots though, plagiarism or not, who cares!!

Andra Chansen next week. One duel after another, maximum confusion (and inevitable disappointment) guaranteed.