Melodifestivalen Semi Final 1 Preview
Melfest is back with a, well, whimper. I have to be honest, this is the type of semi that makes me question whether this deserves a spot on the site rather than a thread on twitter. Let's just get on with it…
Malou Prytz- ‘Bananas’
We knew what we were getting here and it's a serviceable opener but it's such a cliche in the teen girl pop genre that there is a limited demographic that this will attract. When your garden chair prop is the biggest talking point you have a problem.
Theoz- ‘Som Du Vill’
Boy pop by numbers. We've already heard better versions of this song in Norwegian and Spanish and now we get Theoz's take. Not a Swedish speaker, but it's not particularly melodic here. Will do well in the younger votes of course, but probably from the older demographic too- he seems more ‘cute and innocent’ than Omar, Mallou and Bengtsson.
Shirley Clamp- ‘Let There Be Angels’
Shirley belts this out very well but this is really dated. Hard to see this picking up much from the younger demographics whilst Melodifestivalen isn't the kindest place to these ballads. I'd expect much of the audience to switch away from the melfest app to check their social media whilst this is on, without voting for it. A real lul and toilet break in the running order.
Omr Rudberg- ‘Moving Like That’
I'm not convinced with this and Omar has the issue of being perhaps third in line for the guy pop points- where's the selling point above Theoz and Bengtsson? He is at least sandwiched between the two no-hopers in the odds so that could work to his advantage. A semi final 5 spot seems most likely.
Danne Strahed- ‘Hullabaloo’
Not a good entry, nor is it interesting, funny or performed well. Might do adequate on the older demographics but I might not be giving them enough credit. Even that scenario plays against it with the new adjusted voting system. Main hope may be as an anti vote against the generic pop in the semi.
Cornelia Jakobs- ‘Hold Me Closer’
Best song perhaps but I'm not sold on the performance. Middle of the road is fair but a steady distribution of points coupled with big scores from the older will help and in a semi where 4/7 are typical pop that is enough. Move in the win market seems bizarre- we know the winner of the semi immediately so this is a high risk approach at best with Bengtsson here and is assuming the standard actually gets worse.
Robin Bengtson- ‘Innocent Love’
Robin is the biggest name in the semi, has the most previous success and is in the pimp slot but this is yet another cookie cutter up tempo, 80s inspired piece of pop. He wasn't expected to reinvent the wheel here but come on man, at least his previous efforts have had something to differentiate them and the staging is very casual for MF. Will probably win the semi but make no mistake that says more about the field and his name than his song- pushing his luck.
Unless something pops up of note my interest in this semi is very limited, there’s not really any standout value and I have more invested in MGP semi 4 so will be following that more closely followed by San Remo of course (final preview coming later).
I've taken some Cornelia to q and Shirley last place (that more as a prop bet) but nothing that will make or break the bank. I’d also like to see how this new voting system pans out in practice. For what it’s worth, here’s my prediction:
Robin Bengtsson
Cornelia Jakobs
Theoz
Omar Rudberg
Malou Prytz
Dane Strahed
Shirley Clamp
Let me know if I've been too harsh on the standard and best of luck if you are invested more heavily!