Melodifestivalen song contest

Now it is over for this year. The so loved and so hated song competition Melodifestivalen. For you who don't know what it is I can tell you shortly...

Almost every country in Europe are sending a song (with a performer) to the big Europeans Song Contest (ESC), which will be in Russia this year. It is common that the countries have their own competition first and the winner is sent to the big ESC final.

Sweden just had their own local final to figure out which song to send to the European final ESC. Actually it is a little more complicated than that because we first had thousands of applications sent in to the organizers and they pick out 32 songs that compete in live television in four semifinals. One every Saturday night. Then the TV viewers can vote for their favorite song (or artist) by calling an expensive pay number and the two song with the highest votes get sent to the Swedish final. The two with second highest votes will be sent to the "second chance" and they can perform again after the semi finals and before the big final. Then the two "best" in the second chance get sent to the final and there are 10 songs in the final. But then we have the "international jury" in the background who picks their favorite and sends it to the final and suddenly we have eleven songs in the final. All this is very complicated... and actually I have simplified the rules a lot in my description... :P

Before the final I listened to all the songs and I was sure which one were going to win. Ok, you can never be sure but I knew which one I believed would have the best chance. My favorite was Måns Zelmerlöw – ”Hope & Glory”.

Girlwing and I watched the final last Saturday. I was hoping for Måns and Girlwing was hoping for H.E.A.T. – ”1000 Miles”. Both Girlwing and I didn't like the desperate song Caroline af Ugglas – ”Snälla, snälla”. The international jury's choice Sofia – ”Alla” was really good but it would feel more right if it was performed by Greece in the EGC. Another song that I liked was Alcazar – ”Stay the Night” and I think it is the largest threat to Måns. Higher in the results I would like to see Emilia – ”You're My World”. B.t.w. You might remember Emilia from her debut song Big Big World.

In the end of the final when all the artist had sang their songs the voting starts. First there are 12 juries giving points. This year it was very strange when the first six juries all had different songs for highest score of 12 points. Usually you can see a pattern of a specific song get several top scores. But not this time and that felt a bit suspicious. Are they trying to make it more exciting and to trigger more people to make phone votes so they can earn more money? I didn't call anyway, but it felt strange.

After all the juries had given their vote the top scoreboard said:

1. Måns Zelmerlöw – ”Hope & Glory” (96 points)
   
2. Sarah Dawn Finer – ”Moving On” (75p)
   
3. Alcazar – ”Stay the Night” (67p)
   
4. H.E.A.T. – ”1000 Miles” (58p)
   
5. Caroline af Ugglas – ”Snälla, snälla” (51p)
   

After this I felt quite good because Måns were so much ahead. But the thing is that now is it up to the TV viewers to keep voting and their votes are exactly as much worth as the professional juries and you never know how the Swedish people will vote. They usually don't vote as I want. They have a strange taste in music. And now it happens...

Sarah get 12 points from the Swedish TV viewers. Måns got a low score of 48. Alcazar get a medium high score of 72. Caroline get the second highest score of 120 points and now all in the top got their points and it looks like Caroline will win with her terrible song. Girlwing and I swear and say that damn if Caroline win.

We got the time to calculate and reflect over the points. Five in the bottom had not got their points yet and three of them could win the whole contest if they get the last highest score of 144 points. We said that let anyone win as long as it is not Caroline. The points went to the 8th place holder of Malena Ernman – ”La Voix”. That was not expected...

This is the final result:

1. Malena Ernman – ”La Voix” (182 points)
2. Caroline af Ugglas – ”Snälla, snälla” (171 points)
3. E.M.D. – ”Baby Goodbye” (145 points)
4. Måns Zelmerlöw – ”Hope & Glory” (144 points)
5. Alcazar – ”Stay the Night” (139 points)
6. Sarah Dawn Finer – ”Moving On” (87 points)
7. H.E.A.T. – ”1000 Miles” (82 points)
8. Agnes – ”Love, Love, Love” (40 points)
9. Emilia – ”You're My World” (28 points)
10. Sofia – ”Alla” (12 points)
11. Molly Sandén – ”Så vill stjärnorna” (2 points)

So Sweden will compete with a opera/pop in the European Song Contest later this spring. It can be great and it can become a fiasco.

What do you think?