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Who needs guitars anyway?


Best Bits
Sunday, March 08, 2009

WE HAVE MOVED!

Please click here to go to This Must Be... POP!

It is exactly the same blog, just a different name and a different colour.

See you there!

It's a small world after all

Remember the band Tough Love I was recommending about a week ago? Well, it turns out that they're not entirely new to the music business. One of them is Toby Slater, lead singer of 90s indie boyband Catch! He was also one of the stars of the much-mocked (but actually quite ace) Romo movement. Hopefully Tough Love will do better than his fellow Catch member Wayne Murray's utterly brilliant, yet barely remembered, band The Honeymoon.

When the world leaves you feeling blue...

We've had T.I. sampling O-Zone, Akon covering The Underdog Project, and everyone borrowing Darin and K-otic's songwriters (Red One and Toby Gad). If a year ago someone had told me this was going to happen, I would have joked, "oh yeah, and maybe Flo Rida will do a version of Blue by Eiffel 65!" Well... he actually has! The song is called Sugar and you can listen to it here. It even features Wynter Gordon, who released the brilliant Surveillance last year. Right Round is set to be no.1 in the UK this week, and Blue (Da Ba Dee) was no.1 back in 1999, so I think we can safely predict that Sugar will be a huge hit this summer. The Europop sound is perfect for summer, after all.

If there is anything I will remember 2009 for, it will be that it was very strange. You just don't know what will happen next! So far, as well as the above, we've had acts (like Erik Hassle and Adiam Dymott) coming from nowhere with the best new music I've heard in years, and even the 99% terrible UK rap/r&b scene has produced some brilliant songs. I really can't wait to see what happens next. Pop music has become exciting again, and I'm incredibly pleased!
Saturday, March 07, 2009

Important Dirrrty Pop News

When I chose the name of this blog, I didn't think much about it. I was always starting new online projects at that time in my life, and didn't expect to still be writing this blog 6 years later. Writing Dirrrty Pop has never stopped being enjoyable for me. If it ever does, then I'll give up, but unless I change considerably as a person, I can't see that happening. Therefore, I think it is important for the blog to have a name which I am proud of, and that I feel represents its content. There's nothing dirrrty about me or this blog - I love Same Difference, after all, and hate the Pussycat Dolls.

I thought for a long time about what to rename my blog. I consulted some friends and regular readers, and in the end decided the best name would be another one taken from the fantastic song, Pop by *N Sync, which inspired the title Dirrrty Pop. See it like S Club 7 renaming themselves S Club when the 7 in their name became inappropriate, but in this case, nothing is going to change except for the name. And that new name is going to be...

This Must Be... POP!

and the new blog address is going to be http://tmbpop.blogspot.com

I will make the move in a few days, when this message should have got to most of my readers, and I hope to be able to keep this blog address as well, so I can leave a note on it to redirect people. But just in case, if you have friends who you know read this blog, please let them know about the change of name and address. Also, please change any links you might have to this blog on your own website. I really appreciate everybody who visits the site, and who links to me. It's great to be part of the pop blogging community, and I definitely want that to continue.

If I had another chance tonight

Tonight is the night when those who didn't quite make it through to the final of Melodifestivalen get another chance to do so. I can't remember anyone ever winning after having been on Andra Chansen (which literally means 'the second chance'), but of course it is important that the places go to deserving people i.e. BWO and Amy. Unfortunately I'm not too confident for BWO, but I think Amy has a good chance. She's also one of 4 acts who didn't go straight to Globen (where the final's held) but have been shortlisted by an international jury, and 1 of them will get a place in the final.

As seems to be the pattern with Melodifestivalen, the winners of Andra Chansen are picked in a pointlessly complex way, but I suppose it does add to the drama a bit. Basically, the 8 acts who are competing are separated into pairs, and the winner of each pair will then go on to compete with the winner of another pair, and the winners of that will go to Globen. I will make a prediction of what will happen, but it's quite difficult to get it right with so many choices to make:

Scotts vs. Sarah Dawn Finer -> Sarah
Lili & Susie vs. BWO -> Lili & Susie
Amy Diamond vs. Star Pilots -> Amy
Rigo vs. Caroline -> Neither, they're both rubbish (but probably Caroline)

Sarah vs. Lili & Susie -> Sarah
Amy vs. Caroline -> Amy (I really hope!)

Then there will be the International Jury, but they have made such random choices, I couldn't say who they'd go for. However, if Amy and Sarah do go through, that will only leave Caroline and Sofia to choose from, so I think it is probably quite inevitable that we will see Caroline in the final, unfortunately. Of course, it could easily go very differently, and it will be fun to see how well I have predicted, as I have in all the past rounds got it almost but not quite exactly right.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Who, me? Yeah, you! Couldn't be! Then who?

I was so pleased to see Popjustice mentioning the super-ace Yeah Yous today, and even happier to see that they've finally got more than one song on their MySpace. I posted If I Could a while ago on Into The Groove when I first heard it and found it stuck in my head for the next week. They're extremely radio-friendly, basically doing what The Feeling set out to do, before they forgot and went boring. They're also a bit like Take That on their Mark Owen singles. There's not one thing original about The Yeah Yous, but they have a great, jolly vibe and I can't see why local radio, Radio 2, and maybe even Radio 1, wouldn't put the new single 15 Minutes on their A-list. All my friends who know nothing about music will love them, and hopefully they'll forget all about Scouting For Girls in the process. Hooray!
Monday, March 02, 2009

David Archuleta was gay and British in the 90s

He also hasn't aged a bit. Well, according to this ace film anyway:



You can watch all 110 minutes of extreme AWWW-ness on YouTube.
Sunday, March 01, 2009

Top of the Poptastic!

The best singles of February. A rather long list = a rather good month!

1. Taylor Swift - Love Story (Digital Dog Radio Edit)
2. Erik Hassle - Hurtful
3. Pet Shop Boys - Love Etc.
4. Will Young – Let It Go
5. September – Can’t Get Over (UK release)
6. Tinchy Stryder ft. N-Dubz - Number One
7. Annie Lennox – Shining Light
8. Noisettes - Don't Upset The Rhythm
9. Velvet - Chemistry (UK release)
10. Swingfly - Singing That Melody (UK release)
11. The Saturdays - Just Can't Get Enough
12. Lady GaGa - Eh Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)
13. Swingfly - Touch and Go
14. Velvet Inc. - Tricky
15. Bat For Lashes - Daniel
16. Miss Li - I Heard of a Girl
17. Enrique Iglesias ft. Ciara - Taking Back My Love
18. Basic Element - Touch You Right Now
19. Melody Club - Girls Don't Always Wanna Have Fun
20. VV Brown - Leave!
21. Velvet - The Queen
22. Defend Moscow - Manifesto
23. Liam and Me - Say It Out Loud
24. Lasse Lindh & Bandet - Jag Ska Slåss I Dina Kvarter!
25. West End Girls - Little Black Dress
26. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Zero
27. Marina & the Diamonds - Obsession
28. Lisa Lavie - Angel
29. Darin - See U At The Club
30. Marie Serneholt - Disconnect Me
31. Jonathan Fagerlund - Welcome To My Life
32. Nick Lachey - Patience
33. Nina Söderquist - Tick Tock
34. Cocknbullkid – I’m Not Sorry
35. Markoolio - Kärlekssång från mig
36. Jenny Wilson - The Wooden Chair
37. Platnum - Trippin'
38. Empire of the Sun - We are the People
39. Al, Marc & Sandy - Mike
40. Sweet Rush - Hot Sauce

The Return of Extreme Kevin Borg Appreciation Mania

In case you're new to this blog, I will inform you: Kevin Borg won Idol 2008 in Sweden, and he is utterly adorable (like a Maltese David Archuleta) and highly poptastic. He's got a new single out, Street Lights, and the album, The Beginning, is out on Wednesday! Street Lights isn't very original, but he does a good job with it, and hopefully the album will be of at least this standard throughout. I am a little worried that it has been rushed out without a thought for staying true to Kevin's extreme poptasticness, but he can always make a better 2nd album (like Ola), and we have Alice's album to wait for as well, which is sure to be brilliant. You can listen to Street Lights here, and pre-order your copy of The Beginning here.
Friday, February 27, 2009

Melodi Club

So, it's that time again... and the last one this year! There will of course be Andra Chansen next week and the final the week after, but this is the last Friday where we get 8 brand new Swedish pop songs. We'd better make the most of it!

Star Pilots - Higher
Although they make dance-pop, I find Star Pilots very boring and unoriginal. Their songs are very samey and could have been made anywhere in Europe - there's nothing special about them, unlike poptastic dance acts September, E-Type etc.. If Velvet can't succeed in Melodifestivalen, Star Pilots certainly won't either.

Sarah Dawn Finer - Moving On
She's a big name among MF fans after making her name with the very successful (and not bad for its type) I Remember Love, so she has a good chance of getting through. My mum loved I Remember Love and I think she'd like this too. However, it's much less memorable, so it'll depend on how good the full track is, and the competition.

Malena Ernman - La Voix
This is an odd one - an opera-disco-mum who's apparently an international superstar! I love the verses (similar to Bulletproof Heart from MF '04) but the operatic chorus ruins it for me. It's a shame, because a song that was like the verses the whole way through would have been one of my favourites of this year.

Thorleifs - Sweet Kissin' In The Moonlight
Another dansband, and just like Scotts they're singing a super-jolly Swedish-language song. They're an almost impressively ugly bunch, but they're good fun and sure to have lots of dedicated lady fans in the audience. I don't know how popular they are but they come from the golden age of dansbands, according to Wikipedia.

Agnes - Love Love Love
My most anticipated song this week, and I'm satisfied. After loving her last 2 singles, it doesn't sound as new and different (they were quite a change in style for Agnes), but still it's my favourite song of this week so far by a clear mile. I'm very confident that with her popularity she will sail through to Globen.

Susanne Alfvengren - Du är älskad där du går
I was dreading this one because she looks like a secondary school teacher or someone's nice but boring aunt, and I was correct to do so cos it's terribly boring. The MF site tells me it's a grower, but I'm not convinced. Apparently she is known for her shrill, annoying voice. Wow, really can't wait for her performance now...

Next 3 - Esta Noche
I didn't believe any of tonight's acts could be uglier than Thorleifs, but Next 3 really have outdone them. Their band name is rubbish too. It's a rap song with a Spanish vibe, despite being in Swedish, and an early Enrique-style chorus. It reminds me a bit of Obsession by Aventura mixed with Daddy Yankee i.e. very 2005.

Anna Sahlene & Maria Haukaas Storeng - Killing Me Tenderly
Maria did pretty well for Norway last year, although I didn't care for the song myself, and Anna did a fab entry for Estonia a few years ago, so this will be a strong bet for success. They've mixed the sound of Duffy with ABBA and I must say it works. A definite qualifier and stands a good chance of winning, I think!

So, my favourites are by far Agnes and Anna & Maria, and I think it's likely that both of those will go further, but there'll be a tough fight for the Globen places with Thorleifs, Sarah, and possibly Malena. I'm quite confident that those 5 will be the top 4, but so far every week I've only been almost right, so don't put any bets on until we know who's going to be the Owly/Rigo/H.E.A.T of this week.
Thursday, February 26, 2009

The Next Big Thing?

Erik Hassle
With Erik Hassle, it was love at first listen. OK, I only discovered him a few minutes ago, but I'm already obsessed. Some pop acts are just special and within seconds of the stunningly beautiful Hurtful I was certain that Erik belonged to that category. His other fantastic songs proved me correct. He's like an indie-chav Darin, singing soulful electro-pop with real feeling. He's also a massive slut if his rather rude new video's anything to go by - I couldn't keep count of all the different girls! He may or may not become a worldwide superstar, but Erik is undoubtedly set for huge hits in ever-sensible Sweden, and I'll be leading his fanclub as soon as I move back there in August. I think I'm in love!
Hit potential: 84% Poptasticness: 100%

Tough Love
If you like Patrick Wolf, listen up: Here's a whole band of Patricks, but poppier! There aren't many more appealing descriptions than that, surely. With 5 male members and one girl (although not the singer this time), comparisons have already been made to the Scissor Sisters, but really what they have in common with SS and Patrick is that they're something totally new and different, which makes them fascinating and exciting. Pop experiments can often end in disaster, but Tough Love have remembered that they are making pop music, and the end result is certainly poptastic. I love every one of the songs on their website, and it's hard to pick favourites, but I will recommend Bastard and Is That All There Is as great starting points. Today has been an utterly brilliant day for pop discoveries!
Hit potential: 75% Poptasticness: 94%
Wednesday, February 25, 2009

New Svenskpop on the Block

West End Girls - Little Black Dress (Watch)
Tribute bands like A*Teens and West End Girls always have the problem of what to do once they've covered all the best/their favourite songs by the artist they are a tribute to. Luckily for the West End Girls, they had impressed the Pet Shop Boys so much that they suggested the girls cover a song they'd written for the short-lived PSBs musical, Closer to Heaven. It's cooler, more serious electro compared to their versions of the PSB hits, but it works well for them and results in a really unique sound. I don't know when their new album, supposedly titled Shoplifters, will be released, but the fact this one now has a video suggests the wait can't be too long.
85% Poptastic!

Miss Li - I Heard of a Girl (Listen)
I only got into Miss Li last year, but ever since I first heard one of her songs (it was Oh Boy, in fact), I absolutely loved her. Now she's about to release a new album, Dancing the Whole Way Home (out 1st April), and has posted the first single from it on her MySpace. It's a little less frenetic than much of her past work, but still bears Miss Li's unique style, and is a very lovely pop song. I'm definitely going to get her new album, and I really hope I will get to see her live at some point because I think she'd be utterly incredible.
94% Poptastic!

Swingfly - Touch and Go (Watch)
He's soon to release his brilliant Singing That Melody in the UK, but in Sweden Swingfly is already onto his next single, and rather brilliantly the lyrics continue the same story. There's a terrible twist - you know that number the girl he fancied sang to him approximately 100 times? It was wrong!!! Thank goodness for MySpace and Facebook, which reconnect them! Now no-one can say they aren't useful. I've listened to this so many times today it feels like I've known it for months, rather than hours. I suppose it helps that it's similar to his (and Teddybears') past work, but it's one of the catchiest choruses I've heard in ages. Great work, Mr Fly!
97% Poptastic!

Jenny Wilson - The Wooden Chair (Watch)
Also back with the first single from her new album is quirky singer song-writer Jenny Wilson. When this song came on my mp3 player today I thought it was Kelis at first, which is quite a strange comparison if you know who Jenny is, but the similarity was uncanny. It's a really interesting, atmospheric song, and the video's a perfect match for it. It never fails to amaze me what a wide variety of top quality pop music Sweden can produce. This is so different to September and Darin, but still ace in its own way. I think it will be very well-received by those who liked her last album, despite the different style.
77% Poptastic!

What's Up ft. Vendela Palmgren - Här är jag (Watch)
If this song sounds a bit familiar, it's because you're a secret fan of Camp Rock! Don't worry, I also quite liked it when I eventually caved in to watch it. Still hate the Jo Bros, though. For the rest of you, this is a Swedish cover of one of the Camp Rock songs. I recognised Vendela from her unreleased cover of Holiday by Venke Knutson, and her participation in Lilla MF, but What's Up were new to me. After years of having no boybands at all, Sweden now has 2, although I'm not confident What's Up will ever be as popular as EMD. Then again, EMD only have 2 good songs and 1 cute member, so they're in with a chance of catching up in terms of quality, if not in the popularity stakes.
45% Poptastic!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Pipettes Update

First there was Rose, Becki and Julia. Then Julia decided she didn't want to be a popstar, and in came poptastic Gwenno to replace her. The band became a success, but after only one album, Becki and Rose also decided to leave the band. By this time, they had even outdone the Sugababes, with no original members remaining. Gwenno recruited 2 new members, her sister Annie and a girl called Anna... who left after a few months to be a songwriter. Now they have yet another new member, a fellow Welsh girl called Beth, and you can see the new line-up in all their acetastic jolliness in the new video-blog on their website, http://www.thepipettes.co.uk/ Let's hope this line-up will last long enough to release the brilliant new songs I heard at their gig last summer.

No words in the vernacular can describe this great event

If you liked High School Musical, The American Mall, or even Camp Rock, you have to see the latest addition to the teenpop musical genre: Spectacular! It was shown on Nickelodeon USA last week and I presume it will be quite a while til we Brits get a chance to see it (especially for those without Sky, it will probably be never), but you need wait no longer - the whole thing is on YouTube! Here's part one:



If you enjoy it, click here for the rest of the film.

Cuckoo!!

Marina & the Diamonds performed live on Dermot O'Leary's radio show last weekend, and did a brilliant cover of What You Waiting For by Gwen Stefani, as well as her own song Obsessions. Click here and skip to 16:30 to hear it. She's also set up a Twitter account - click here to follow her.
Monday, February 23, 2009

Beyoncé's replaced Kelly and Michelle...

with Vanessa and Amanda:



A great move, I think you'll all agree!
Sunday, February 22, 2009

New Pop on the Block

Kelly Clarkson - I Do Not Hook Up (Listen)
If you thought that My Life Would Suck was just a retread of Kelly's past work, you'll certainly think the same of her next single, and this one doesn't even have any Swedish people involved in it! Even worse, guess who was involved? Only the one rock-pop singer I dislike more than Kelly... Katy Perry! Actually no, Pink is also more annoying than Kelly. The oh-ohs in the chorus are really catchy and I like the relentless speed of the song. I love songs that just don't stop for 3 and a half minutes. There's nothing wrong with it, and the chorus has good energy, but at the same time I don't feel at all compelled to listen to it again. We've heard this all before, haven't we?
77% Poptastic!

Velvet - Chemistry (Watch)
Thanks to September's success last year with Cry For You, Sweden's most similar act, Velvet, has been given the chance to release a single in the UK. Luckily one of her very best songs (one I posted on ITG immediately when I heard it in 2007) has been chosen as her UK debut, and now a video has been released. It's nothing very remarkable, but is certainly an improvement on the embarrassingly old-fashioned UK videos made for September. Why she needed new videos at all, I'll never know. It concerns me slightly that Velvet is being promoted by the same people who are working with U2 and Red Blooded Woman, but hopefully the great quality pop music will shine through. Now we just need Radio 1 to get on board, cos the inevitable Clubland TV hourly rotation will not be enough to get this song the notice it needs.
96% Poptastic!

Nick Lachey - Patience (Listen)
The ex-98 Degrees singer and presenter of the acetastic High School Musical: Get in the Picture is soon to release a new album, and after his last one had the most excellent lead single of What's Left of Me, I was looking forward to seeing what would be the first song released this time. Sadly we don't get a new Nick/Emanuel Kiriakou collaboration, as the song turns out to be a cover of Patience by Take That! It actually works really well as a Nick song. He makes it more BSBs than Take That. I like his version, but it's kind of sad that Take That won't get a chance to release Patience in America themselves. Then again, if it does well for Nick, it could be a good launching pad for our boys over there. If they want it, that is.
83% Poptastic!

Kate Deigman - It Was You (Watch)
I can't really see why, but the video for Kate's debut single is getting absolutely loads of plays on YouTube at the moment. Her claim to fame seems to be counting Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Gary Barlow among her fans (but Gary's mate Eliot Kennedy wrote the songs, so that's no surprise), but she totally lacks any claim to goodness. She's like the new Sandi Thom, singing in the style of Joss Stone. Can you think of a more terrifying proposition? I can't! Obviously she is getting all these hits from somewhere, perhaps the support of a tabloid or something like that, and there must be quite a bit of money behind her, because a blandathon like this would never just catch on of it's own accord. Perhaps it's one person watching the video on 123,575 computers at once?
32% Poptastic!

The Next Big Thing?

Elouise
With the success of retro-pop female singers in the past few years, and the current 50th anniversary celebrations for Motown, it's no surprise that Elouise is going for a Motown sound with her music. She even samples the classic Marvelettes single, Needle in a Haystack on her song Since You've Been Gone. It's a lovely, jolly pop song, but it sounds more like Emma Bunton's last album (nb: not a bad thing!) than Duffy or Amy Winehouse. Her songs are certainly poptastic, and her live shows get great reviews, but I believe that the retro trend has been around long enough now that there are so many bandwagon-jumpers, only something spectacularly original and special will be successful. Elouise is not that, but she's good fun anyway. My favourite is Miracle Man, cos it sounds like Ace of Base!
Hit Potential: 27% Poptasticness: 87%

Liam and Me
This new American indie-rock act have made what is a very clever choice in this musical climate - they're releasing their most electro song (Say It Out Loud) as a single, and it's a pretty good one too. It does remind me a bit of Protocol, who were not particularly successful, but I loved them personally, and now that electro is in fashion, Liam and Me may have a bit more luck. With the crapness of The Killers new album (except for Human, of course), maybe Liam and Me can take their place. Their only problems are a) their ungrammatical name (not as bad as "The Yeah You's" though, eek!) and b) they're hilariously geeky and ordinary-looking. I think some of you (eg. those who like Melody Club) will love this group, and Say It Out Loud is a great single, but I wonder if it may be a one-off success. We'll see.
Hit Potential: 50% Poptasticness: 82%

Jessie J
This young British singer has had an excellent start to her career, although unfortuantely one she may not want to mention too much at the moment - despite being a total unknown, she supported Chris Brown on his recent European tour. The songs on her MySpace sound extremely professional, and will make great album tracks, but I'm still waiting to hear a brilliant debut single from her. Stand Up sounds just like Natasha Bedingfield, and is better than anything she's released since I Wanna Have Your Babies. Hello is another great track, the most poptastic one she's done - it reminds me of the Swedish singer Pauline, who I love. I still don't think it would be a hit, at least not as a debut single, so her future success all depends on whether her management find her something ace to record. It will probably be a while before anything's released, but I think we will definitely be seeing more of Jessie.
Hit Potential: 68% Poptasticness: 83%
Saturday, February 21, 2009

Number One? I think so!

In a wonderful case of 'anything the USA can do, we can do better', Tinchy Stryder and N-Dubz have made Kanye, Ne-Yo and Akon seem like total novices. If you'd told me a few months ago that I would be excited to hear of a collaboration between Tinchy and N-Dubz, I would certainly not have believed you. I loved the Tinchy/Taio single, but presumed the latter was fully responsible for its aceness, having a far superior track record. Then last month I found myself quite obsessed with the new N-Dubz song, Strong Again, which is the most poptastic thing to come out of UK r&b in quite some time. I also saw them being interviewed on Sound and found them quite entertaining and endearing.

My anticipation was justified as their new duet single, Number One, is brilliant! The section that Mr PJ posted a few days ago is the best bit, as the full track involves a bit too much rap for my liking, but a chorus like that can survive any amount of crap rapping surrounding it. The best bit is when Dappy and Tinchy take turns to say words, which sounds weird but it works. It is a Tinchy single overall, and sounds quite like Take Me Back. Tinchy and N-Dubz are two of the biggest names in UK r&b right now, and with a song like this, they are definitely going to win over lots of new fans. This is going to be HUGE, and deservedly so!
Friday, February 20, 2009

Lost in a Melody

Time to review this week's Melodifestivalen entries. Yay! You can listen to them all here.

BWO - You're Not Alone
It is well known that I adore BWO, but with the exception of Will My Arms Be Strong Enough, I definitely favour their upbeat numbers to their ballads. They've done much better in MF with upbeat songs previously, so I'm not sure why they entered this. It's still very good, but I'd prefer another Lay Your Love On Me or Temple of Love.

Sofia - Alla
I thought this was terribly boring at first, but it develops into something rather enjoyable. Greek-Swedish Sofia Berntsson was previously in MF with a song called Hypnotized but I couldn't remember it at all until I checked YouTube. It was actually a great Helena Paparizou wannabe, so I look forward to hearing this in full.

Maja Gullstrand - Här för mig själv
Her babyish voice is pretty annoying, and the song is so quiet and uninvasive it's actually quite strange. I don't mind it, but I can't see this grabbing people's intention tomorrow night. I am quite intrigued, though, to see what Maja is like in person. Her voice doesn't seem to match her look at all.

Mikael Rickfors - Du vinner över mig!
Quite a jolly, energetic rock song by an older singer. It will be good if he sings it well, which I suppose he will as he's been a musician for many years. He was a member of The Hollies for 3 years as the lead singer, then went solo and was apparently successful, but I'd never heard of him, so I guess not that much!

E.M.D. - Baby Goodbye
It's amazing that Sweden never had a boyband until E.M.D. and still they're not a really great one. They've had some OK songs, nothing incredible, but perhaps their success means their next album will be better. This is more poptastic and less wimpy, almost *N Sync-ish. I think they'll definitely go to Globen.

Molly Sandén - Så vill stjärnorna
Molly has had a brush with Eurovision fame before, having represented Sweden in Junior Eurovision in 2006, where she came 3rd. She is 16, even younger than Amy Diamond (by 3 months), but this song won't appeal to many people of her age. It's a typical MF big ballad, nothing special but could be popular with older viewers.

Rigo & The Topaz Sound feat. Red Fox - I Got You
Rigo has had some hits in Sweden, and even featured the fabulous Pauline on one of his singles, but it's still not really my kind of music. I don't think this will be to many other people's taste either. It's very annoying actually. I really can't imagine this going though and will be shocked if it does.

Velvet - The Queen
Velvet's made several good singles, but only a few great ones. Déja Vu was her MF entry last year and failed to get through but was a big hit anyway. The lyrics are very simplistic here and I don't find it super-catchy like Chemistry or Fix Me. It may be better in full, but I loved Chemistry instantly, so it's already lagging.

So, a little bit underwhelmed this week compared to the last two, despite two of my favourite Swedish pop acts being among the contestants. Still, that does mean BWO have a very good chance of success, which is naturally important to me as a BWO-megafan. Hopefully some of the songs will click more when we see them live. My prediction is that EMD and BWO will go through to Globen, with Molly and Mikael going to Andra Chansen. However, I also think Velvet and Sofia have a chance of going through in Molly or Michael's place. Riga and Maja I think have no chance unless they really pull it out of the bag. You never know what may happen!



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