The voting almost killed me

Winner of Melodifestivalen 2009 is Malena Ernman with "La voix". Congratulations to her and composer Fredrik Kempe. But it was a close race with my big favourite Caroline af Ugglas who came second, only 11 points behind. And more interesting - less than 4.000 televotes differed between the two women. It has never been that tight in the top ever before. Also, never before have the jury and the people had such different taste. I was well disappointed when Måns was in the lead and questioned what the members of the jury actually listened to. Fine, the voting sequence was TOO exciting for words and pretty darn good television but why, why, why would the juries vote for a song so similar to what we sent last year that fell flat in Eurovision? Aren't they supposed to have guide lines on how to think? (Fresh sound etc.)

It was amazing to be in the audience inside Globen to witness the whole shebang. Alcazar was clearly the favourite among the schlagerfans there but EMD had heaps of fans of their own in the seats too. I was sitting on the right side of the stage, just above the greenroom. Great seats and fun to follow the performers after they had been on stage. Caroline was dancing with hands and legs like crazy just like during the dress rehearsal to the other songs and became totally wild when "Tingeling" was performed. All singers stood up and danced to that. I haven't seen the broadcast yet but the camera must have caught them. I want to go out partying with that Owl-woman at some point during my lifetime. Such energy and devotion. Petra Mede and Malena Ernman could tag along too. Now, that would be a night to remember!

The final result looked pretty much like what I predicted yesterday. Except that Malena got far less love from the jury than I thought and Måns got more. I had been extremely disappointed if Måns or EMD would have gone to Moscow. Malena wasn't my first choice but I am pleased with the result and I think she will land Sweden a top 10 placing in Eurovision for sure. The Moscow line up is not the strongest of years so perhaps she'll do even better. Måns and EMD would have disappeard in the middle. I am not bitter about Caroline's second place as I never dared to believe all the hype. It was just too good to be true and I know that Caroline is more than overwhelmed with the result. Although now that I know how close it really was I can't help but think the "what if"-game.

Here is the result!

1. Malena Ernman - La voix 182p
2. Caroline af Ugglas - Snälla snälla 171p
3. EMD - Baby goodbye 145p
4. Måns Zelmerlöw - Hope & Glory 144p
5. Alcazar - Stay the night 139p
6. Sarah Dawn Finer - Moving on 87p
7. HEAT - 1000 miles 82p
8. Agnes - Love love love 40p
9. Emilia - You're my world 28p
10. Sofia - Alla 12p
11. Molly Sandén - Så vill stjärnorna 2p

The Swedish televotes:
1. Malena Ernman 322.657
2. Caroline af Ugglas 318.952
3. EMD 231.098
4. Alcazar 199.014
5. Måns Zelmerlöw 182.651
6. HEAT 178.283
7. Sarah Dawn Finer 146.300
8. Molly Sandén 51.467
9. Agnes 49.819
10. Emilia 48.844
11. Sofia 19.885
A total of 1.748.970 televotes were registered.

The jury voted:
1. Måns 96
2. Sarah 75
3. Alcazar 67
4. HEAT 58
5. Caroline 51
6. EMD 49
7. Agnes 40
8. Malena 38
9. Emilia 28
10. Sofia 12
11. Molly 2

I'm off to a MF-dinner now with friends but when I come back I will sit down and watch Melodifestivalen on TV and then probably come up with more things I want to say about the show.