Last week’s third Mello heat brought quite a shock, when our (and the bookies’) early favorite Dotter had to leave the competition. The direct qualifiers were the oh-so-mediocre Martin Almgren and the first female artist to reach the final (about time!), Jessica Anderson.
But let’s turn to the fourth and final heat and see if there is anybody there to save Sweden’s chances at Eurovision…
The contest will kick off with Emmi Christensson, a musical artist who has been in big productions like Mamma Mia, The Sound of Music or Les Mis. Her song is a rather pompous mid-tempo deal that isn’t really giving us any feels. It feels dated, or rather something a former Eastern Block country could send to Eurovision. Can’t see this one advancing anywhere.
Second up is the 16-year-old Elias Abbas, who has already had quite a hit with his Min Queen. He competes with a song that is in the vein of Panetoz entries from earlier years, i.e. a dance party tune with the oy-oy-oys in all the right places. This will make you smile and move your feet.
Then we have Felicia Olsson, who made her Melodifestivalen debut in 2013, but from whom we have hardly heard anything after that. She brings a nice enough song, but the number does not add anything to it, which brings down the impression as a whole. Wish they had put in a little more effort to the show.
This heat’s novelty act is The Rolandz, a dansband parody act led by the popular comedian Robert Gustafsson. The handiwork behind the song is of course professional level á la Fredrik Kempe and they bring the proper level of glitter, but this is still not my idea of a good time. Sorry, not sorry…
Fifth out is Olivia Eliasson, backed by the same people who brought us Wiktoria and Anton Ewald. She brings a pop tune that sounds up-to-date but is maybe not special enough to make a mark. The staging is quite advanced in the style of music award galas, with neon-colored dancers hurling around her.
Next up we have Felix Sandman, who is known from the boyband FO&O, who did really well in last year’s Melodifestivalen and made it to the final. He brings a stripped-down and fragile ballad, which right away brings comparisons to Frans in its simplicity. This should pretty well get him into the final.
The honor of ending the whole competition goes to one of the big names that has been on top of the winner speculations since the artists were revealed, Mariette. If it’s true that the third time is the charm, this should be her year. She has a very strong name behind her song, Jörgen Elofsson, who has written for many a huge star and most recently done plenty of amazing work behind Rhys.
Mariette feels this could be a winner song, otherwise she would not have returned as soon after last year’s success. The song is powerful and has a Eurovision friendly message, but the number may still lack something of a wow effect. Mariette herself has such star quality and is so stable as a performer, this will be the one I’ll pin my hopes on now that Dotter is out of the game.
