New home for Posh

Posh of Eurovision doesn't live here anymore. She is now speaking Swedish and you can follow her HERE. Please do!

MF 1 according to Posh

Holy cow, Melodifestivalen is back, back, BACK!
The first semi must be the most modern sounding one yet and I love it! Was very excited last night to sit down with schlager-friends and see what SVT would treat us. Here is a short review...

• Nanne, Sonja and Charlotte made a luxurious opening number of "Holding out for a hero" to welcome the presenters on stage.
  


• Måns Zelmerlöw is a natural at presenting. Christine Meltzer showed her nerves from time to time and became a little bit over-excited but did fine all in all. Dolph Lundgren is king! Enough said. Brilliant move to make him part of Melodifestivalen.
  
  
• Ola - "Unstoppable": Good popsong. Liked the piano tinkle taken from Petula Clark's old "Couldn't live without your love".
• Jenny Silver - "A place to stay": Kylie-electropop. Wohoo! Too weird for the general MF-viewer but I will have the studio version in my iPod for a long time to come.
  
  
  
• Linda Pritchard - "You're making me hot, hot, hot": Tries to be Ani Lorak but will have to do with Marie Sernholt. Or less. Nothing warm, happy or sexy about the performance and the song is not good enough.
• Pain of Salvation - "Road salt": Hypnotic! Beautiful voice!
• Anders Ekborg - "The Saviour": Pompous and pretentious. Nice for a musical (Evita/Chess) but not to represent Sweden 2010.
• Jessica Andersson - "I did it for love": Moving ballad. Grower. As if Agnetha Fältskog, Dolly Parton and Dusty Springfield melted together into a classical MF-ballad.
• Frispråkarn - "Singel": Ok for its' genre but I'm always suspicious to hiphop in Swedish.
• Salem Al Fakir - "Keep on walking": Salem is such a musical guy! I feel pure happiness hearing all those harmonies. Fantastic chorus. A real song. Reminds of "Wonderchild" by Christian Waltz.

No use putting youtube clips of the songs that went through on here since SVT removes them as soon as they have a chance. Instead you'll get Dolph "the Superhero" Lundgren singing Elvis.



Final: Salem Al Fakir
Final: Ola
Andra Chansen: Jessica Andersson
Andra Chansen: Pain of Salvation
5. Linda Pritchard
-----------------
6. Anders Ekborg
7. Frispråkarn
8. Jenny Silver

Posh would have voted Salem & Jessica directly to the final. PoS & Silver to Andra Chansen. 5. Ola 6. Linda 7. Ekborg 8. Frispråkarn.

Draw for the semi finals

Today the draw for which country will be in which semi final in Oslo was made by the EBU. The starting positions however will be decided in March.

Semi 1 (Tuesday 25 May)

Serbia

Finland

Russia

Greece

Slovakia

Bosnia-Hercegovina

Iceland

Moldova

Malta

Portugal

FYR Macedonia

Latvia

Belarus

Belgium

Poland

Albania

Estonia

Semi 2 (Thursday 27 May)

Switzerland

Lithuania

Georgia

Turkey

Ireland

Slovenia

Sweden

Ukraina

Netherlands

Bulgaria

Croatia

Denmark

Azerbaijan

Cyprus

Romania

Israel

Armenia

Spain and Germany will be voting in the first semi whereas UK, France and Norway will vote in the second semi.

A double win for Norway?

Norway is a wealthy country. They are not afraid of arranging Eurovision two years in a row. Why else would they pick another song that will to VERY well? I was never a fan of Alexander Rybak but at the same time I could understand what other people were raving about. "My heart is yours" sung by young, handsome opera-boy Didrik Solli-Tangen is a much better song with a bombastic ending including a fireworks-wall on stage. Quite impressive!


Norway 2010 - "My heart is yours"

Norway will end up no lower than 5th place in May. I assure you. This is why:

- Most people in Europe have heard "You raise me up" over the years.
- This sound is doing well with all the Josh Groban look-a-likes and Susan Boyle at the moment.
- Don't forget that there's a jury in ESC that reward musicality as from last year.
- Didrik is a hearthrob, girls of all ages will televote.
- He is singing on homeground with the support of the whole audience in Telenor Arena.
- Statistically, Norway always do well when there's a Swede involved - this time Fredrik Kempe as the composer. (Kempe is in ESC for the third year in a row now and could compete against himself if Peter Jöback wins in Sweden... What a track record!)

Get my point?!

On a whole, NRK put together a national final of high standard. Kudos!
Click these links below to watch my other favourites from Norsk Melodi Grand Prix 2010.

Alexander Stenerud - Give it to me
Venke Knutson - Jelous cause I love you
Maria Haukaas Storeng - Make my day

Denmark's moment

The Danes selected a standard eurosong on Saturday in the style of a duet between Chanée and N'evergreen called "In a moment like this". I haven't decided yet what I think of the choice as I've only heard the song once and none of the other entries in Dansk MGP. Perhaps it was the best song on offer? Perhaps it's even better than that dire Ronan-song from last year? Still not sure if it's good enough. I only know one thing - we won't be going to Copenhagen next year.


Denmark 2010 - "In a moment like this"

Oh, I just found a recap of the Danish songs on youtube. Quite bland but they might be better in their full 3 minutes?!

Finland is VERY Finnish

Finland selected their entry last weekend in Tampere. It was a bland affair to be honest but there were two songs I kind of liked. Of course none of them even made it to the final 3... Your standards are slipping dear old Suomi!

The winning song is called "Työlki ellää" sung in a Finnish dialect by two blondes who call themselves Kuunkuiskaajat. (Try saying that out loud several times in a row..!) They remind me of 70s sisters Koivistolaiset who sang for Finland in 1971 together with Markku Aro. The sound is extremely Finnish ready to go with an accordion and violins. But really, violins are SO 2009 and the accordion has NEVER been in fashion. Not my cuppa and I think they will struggle in the semi final in May but at the same time I know that it could have been even worse. That horrid humppa song could have won.

Good luck Finland - you'll need it!


Finland 2010 - "Työlki ellää"

These two songs are the ones I would have preferred...


Sister Twister - "Love at the first sight" (Euroviisut 2010)


Heli Kajo - "Annankadun kulmassa" (Euroviisut 2010)

I don't know Iceland?

Last night was all about the Nordic countries with Iceland, Norway and Denmark having their national finals and Sweden kicking off Melodifestivalen. Let's start with Iceland...

Hera Björk sang backups for Eurobandit two years ago in Belgrade and this year she'll be fronting Iceland on stage in Oslo with the song "Je ne sais quoi" (I don't know what). She does indeed have a strong voice but to tell the truth the song in itself isn't all that. Unfortunately. She deserves something much better, but Hera has been involved with writing the song herself so there's nobody to blame really.


Iceland 2010 - "Je ne sais quoi"

Last year Hera came 2nd in the Danish Melodi Grand Prix with this super-schlager. Which one do you prefer?


"Someday" - 2nd in Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2009

Gold for the Swiss?!

The second country to reveal their entry was Switzerland. I remember how hyped I was last year after I found out that Lovebugs were going to represent them. It only took me a short search on youtube to understand that I'd like the song based on their previous material. "The highest heights" got a full 5 from me and I am still a annoyed they never got an envelope in the semi final.

The Swiss hopeful this year is Michael Von Der Heide with the French "Il pleut de l'or" (It's raining gold). The song is quite pleasant and it grows on you but who will have time to listen to the song when all you see are two big ears on that stage? I'm not trying to be bitchy here as I do believe that anyone with a good enough voice should be successful no matter their visual appearance. But come on! I'm only saying what all you lot are thinking. Those ears are making Michael a living target for harsh comments.


Switzerland 2010. "Il pleut de l'or".

Early bird Albania

Albania kicked off the Eurovision season already back in the last decade as they always choose entry in December. That leaves them lots of time to produce the track so it will be tip top for Eurovision. Remember "The image of you" back in 2004 that nobody believed in until they saw and heard the final arrangement. And by all means their entry last year "Carry me in your dreams" that improved a great deal despite the green phantom and the two dwarfs on stage...

Albania is represented by Juliana Pasha in 2010 with the song "Nuk mundem pa ty" and I say they have a good start there. This sounds ok already from the beginning so good job! I have no idea if they'll switch language for English in May as they usually do but it won't be necessary if you ask me. The chorus has a feel of French in it for all of us who neither speak Albanian nor French and it works. What do you think?


Albania 2010. "Nuk mundem pa ty".

Best of the decade

Greetings! The season is coming on again after a slow autumn and winter. Roll on the blogging!

I'll start by giving you Posh's favourite MF-songs of the last decade. Please let me know if you agree with me or if there's a song I'm a fool for having missed!

Part 1 (20-11th):




Part 2 (10-1st):



Good taste, eh?! :)

UK jury + televote

BBC published their jury + televote and they are as follows...

UK jury voted (1-12p): Azerbaijan, Armenia, Bosnia, France, Ukraine, Turkey, Malta, Norway, Iceland and Germany.

I'm sorry but I just can't take this jury seriously. 12 points to Germany?! And you are supposed to be professional? I bet they didn't even like the song one bit but only voted for Dita von Teese. And come on, Ukraine ahead of France and Bosnia? You got to be kidding me! Don't even get me started on 7 points to Malta. The BBC should be ashamed of themselves putting those 5 people together to vote. Having said that the televote was not much better but at least it is understandable...

UK televote
1p Portugal
2p Germany
3p Denmark
4p Azerbaijan
5p Iceland
6p Malta
7p Norway
8p Lithuania
10p Greece
12p Turkey

Ralph Siegel is the real Copycat

This is a song from the Maltese semi finals 2009 called "Innocent heart" sung by Ruth Portelli. Written by uncle Ralph Siegel. Does it sound familiar in any way?



The answer can be found HERE!

British rumors

After the British success with Andrew Lloyd Webber writing their entry the rumor about next year's "Your country needs you" is in full bloom. Some are saying that the natural step would be to involve old Take That member Gary Barlow who is supposed to be in charge of a similar talent show on BBC in the near future. Others are saying that we might have Elton John as a composer next year. These are of course only rumors but I would love the idea of Elton writing something classy and timeless for preferably someone already known to the public. Sugababes anyone?!?

Twitter-like updates from EBU

• Eurovision Song Contest 2009 had over 122 million viewers. That is 17 million more than last year. Yay!
• Norway only used their jury in the final due to a technical problem with the local phone operator. That is why they voted last of all countries as they were trying to solve the problem but did not succeed in time.
• There was a similar problem in Hungary where only the SMS votes could be used in the televote. Not sure how big the difference in the end was but I suspect that more people call than text, or is it just me who is old fashioned?
• One country in semi 2 did not get enough callers for the televote to be valid so only the jury was used. No mention of what country this could be. Maybe Slovakia?
• Spain only used jury in semi 2 since the local TV broadcaster did not show the event live - something which is not allowed. EBU promised consequences but what they might be nobody knows...

More juries + Finland televotes

Danish jury (1-12p): UK, Portugal, Russia, Azerbaijan, Lithuania, France, Germany, Estonia, Norway and Iceland.

Spanish jury (1-12p): Germany, Israel, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Moldova, Turkey, Portugal, France, Norway and UK.

Israeli jury (1-12p): Bosnia, Malta, Croatia, Moldova, UK, Armenia, Turkey, France, Norway and Iceland.

Slovenian jury (1-12p): Armenia, Sweden, Moldova, Iceland, Greece, Denmark, UK, Bosnia, France and Norway.

Slovenian TELEVOTE (1-12p): UK, Estonia, Greece, Iceland, Denmark, Azerbaijan, Albania, Croatia, Norway and Bosnia.

Finnish TELEVOTE with total numbers in the semi final:
1. Iceland 9.846 votes, 2. Sweden 5.949, 3. Bosnia 4.237, 4. Turkey 2.693, 5. Israel 2.430, 6. Switzerland 2.219, 7. Belarus 2.103, 8. Malta 1.828, 9. Portugal 1.651, 10. Armenia 1.147, 11. Macedonia 787, 12. Andorra 703, 13. Romania 654, 14. Montenegro 549, 15. Belgium 469, 16. Bulgaria 404, 17. Czech Republic 241. (Total 37.910 votes.)

Finnish TELEVOTE with total numbers in the final:
1. Estonia 16.225 votes
2. Norway 15.560
3. Iceland 9.865
4. Sweden 7.517
5. Bosnia-Herzegovina 5.358
6. Azerbaijan 4.441
7. Turkey 3.909
8. France 3.467
9. Russia 3.180
10. Greece 2.757
11. Israel 2.292
12. Portugal 2.203
13. Albania 2.191
14. Malta 1.986
15. Denmark 1.692
16. UK 1.659
17. Germany 1.650
18. Lithuania 1.531
19. Armenia 1.409
20. Ukraine 1.242
21. Moldova 1.187
22. Romania 1.079
23. Croatia 947
24. Spain 672
(Totalt 94.019 röster.)