Thursday, February 23, 2012

The Melody Festival, part 3, The results

What a surprise! I could never have guess how much I would care about the third elimination round. I had very low expectations going in to the third week, but this turned out to be the most upsetting elimination round this far. Let me start at the beginning.

Youngblood: Boy-band... I guess they were... Honestly, I'm having some difficulties judging their looks, they just look very young to me. They certainly sounded young. It was also obvious that they lacked experience and everything looked amateurish. If it wasn't for the costly stage show, it could have been something out of a high-school talent show. They should thank their lucky star that an big chunk of the voters are adolescent girls. I'm expecting a lot of shrieking at the Second Chance.

Maria Benhajji: I almost wanted to hit the mute button on my remote. Maria Benhajji's singing was awful. I'm sure she has a beautiful voice and that she has a solid singing technique, but when you can hear her nerves in every single note, it doesn't matter. She has had a great career as a backup singer, and maybe she should continue down that path. She was this elimination round's loser.

Mattias Andreasson: I had neither high expectations, nor low expectation. I had absolutely no expectations on Mattias. When I found out he had written the song himself, I could feel myself cringe. However, he was the night's biggest surprise, well, at least in a positive sense. The Swedish R&B song he performed was actually really good. Maybe the song was more suitable for radio and maybe that's why he only ended up in 5th place. I would have loved to see him in the finale, but the Swedish people and I don't always agree, which would be evident several times this week.

Love Generation: There is not much to say. The three ladies looked good. That's about it. In all honesty, I don't remember the song. I made up my mind what I heard enough within the first minute and by the second minute I was planning out what to cook for lunch, contemplating how I really needed to vacuum my floors and trying to figure out how many calories were in my popcorn. The Swedish public were not impressed either. They gave Love Generation a 6th place.

Carolina Wallin Peréz: According to me, this was the best song of the night. Unfortunately, this might also have been the most misunderstood song of the night. I liked it because it was interesting and something new. It had a contemporary sound and her voice was delicate yet powerful. I would obviously have wanted to see her in the finale, but again, the Swedish public couldn't disagree with me more (or could they?) and only gave her a 7th place.

Andreas Johnsson: Here is a man who knows how to deliver. He delivered exactly what was expected of him. A professional performance, a solid voice and a good enough song. Yet still something was missing. I think it lacked passion, or relevance, or both. But I will not be too hard on him. The Swedish public and I agreed, he was good enough to pass the first round and get a Second Chance.

Molly Sandén: I felt very apprehensive towards Molly Sandén going into this weeks elimination round. I was expecting big blond hair and a big bright (and fake) smile. I was pleasantly surprised to see that she colored her hair brown. Unfortunately she still suffered from fake facial expressions, which was disturbing. But as long as I didn't look at her, the song was actually pretty great and she sure can sing. I would have been happier to give her a Second Chance, but I expected her to grab a ticket to the finale, which she did.

Björn Ranelid feat. Sara Li: I don't know where to begin. I expected to have some issues with this song, but it was far worse then I could have ever imaged. I dare to say it's one of the worst songs I've ever heard. It was a cheesy Euro-techno beat in the background while a orange-tanned elderly author jabbered on (yes, he jabbered, not sang) about how love is the greatest miracle of life. AWFUL! But more chocking than anything is that it got enough votes to qualify to the finale. WHAT?!? I don't care what people say, there is no way anybody consider this good music. Some might have voted on this song because they like Björn Ranelid as an author, but I'm pretty sure he won a ticket to the finale because the song was so bad it made people vote sarcastically. It's horrifying that I will have to endure this song again in a few weeks.

This week was a mess! The two songs I wanted to give a Second Chance, did in fact, get another chance. However, my two favorites were nowhere to be found. Why Björn Ranelid was successful is beyond me. Now I only have one more week of potential favorites to go. I will keep an open mind, but I have a sneaking feeling that we have already seen the best.

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