"It's Björn Ranelid all over again", according to one of the blokes they interviewed on the web-only after-show coverage of Melodifestivalen. I think he was a newspaper journalist, and he was referring to the controversy in the equivalent round of Melodifestivalen last year when Björn Ranelid's "novelty song", "Mirakel" made it through to the final. And there's no doubt, "En riktig jävla schlager" (A real bloody schlager) is a novelty song also. Performed by the group, Ravaillacz (which … [Read more...]

The songs in the second heat of Melodifestivalen 2013, the competition which chooses the Swedish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, were considerably better than those which featured in the first heat last weekend. But that's not to say they were great songs or performances, or even potential Eurovision winners, as the comparison comes from quite a low base. Nonetheless, there were a couple of songs which surprised me with how good they were. I really quite liked Louise Hoffsten with her … [Read more...]