Tag Archive for Ulrik Munther

ESC 2012 – Those Who Didn’t Make It: Danny – Amazing

March 11, 2012 Eurovision No comments

We’ve had six very exciting weeks, with the Swedish preselection for the Eurovision Song Contest. And last night, a winner was crowned out of the ten finalists.

Since the start of the week, it was clear there would be a battle between the runner up of last years Melodifestivalen Danny and Loreen, who also took part in last years contest with ‘My Heart Is Refusing Me’ but failing to reach the final in Andra Chansen.

But not this year, after all ten finalists had performed, the international jury of eleven countries including Belgium, Cyprus, Malta, Germany, France and the United Kingdom Loreen was on top followed by Danny and Molly Sanden.

After an interval act by Eurovision ’05 winner Elena Paparizou (”My Number 1”, Greece), who gave a ‘Chicago meets Pussycat Dolls’ rendition of last years Swedish entry ‘Popular’ , host Helena Bergstrom announced the results of the Swedish televoting. With 33% of the votes, Loreen was voted as the best act and therefore the Swedish representative in Baku in May, also breaking the curse of being in heat 1. Since the system of 4 heats and second chance have been introduced, none of the qualifiers from semi 1 have ever represented Sweden at Eurovision. Pre-contest favourite Danny, who gave a much better performance then he did 2 weeks ago, became for the second year in a row the runner up, bless him!

So that means we’ll see Loreen again in a few weeks time when we start our official countdown with all the selected Eurovision Song Contest participants. Watch this space. As for Danny, no doubt he’ll have a massive hit with ‘Amazing’ in Sweden and we are quite sure to see him back in Melodifestivalen at some point.  As for now, we’re all out’melodifestivalen’ed and would like to say ‘Sweden see you next year’ with Danny’s finale performance of ”Amazing’. Enjoy!

MF 2012 – Welcome to Globen Part 3

March 8, 2012 Eurovision No comments

it’s Thursday folks, which means that today the rehearsals for the Swedish Melodifestivalen have started. In our chapter today we have two more artists to present to you, among them one of the big favourites, before we give you the final 3 tomorrow.

Loreen – Euphoria

One of the big contenders to win this Saturday evening, is this interesting lady, Loreen. Her rise to fame started back in 2004 when she was picked as a wildcard by the jury to join the finalists for TV format Idols. After being voted out she worked for a tv station for a year and came back to the music industry in 2011 when she was selected for Melodifestivalen with ‘My Heart is Refusing Me’. The song made it to Andra Chansen but failed to qualify for the big final. This year the chances were different as Loreen was one of the first acts, together with Death By April, to make it directly to Globen. Her entry ‘Euphoria’ written by Thomas G:son, Peter Boström is an uplifting dance track which reminds very much of the type of dance music done in the nineties. We were astonished by the performance of Loreen, which gives the track an extra dimension, there’s something Kate Bush in her act and it comes across very well.

Verdict: Judging by sales, polls, etc Loreen is THE artist to beat, and many of the fans are really really hoping she’ll be the one. Looking back at previous years, she should be the representative but never underestimate the power of the televoters. Personally we think she would be a great choice for Eurovision, due to the artistic level she’s putting in her song. She seems a down to earth person, knows how to sing and sell her song, and with a title like that, it shouldn’t really go wrong should it?

Ulrik Munther – Soldiers

Our second, and last finalist for the day, is 18 year old Ulrik Munther who qualified directly for Globen, in Gothenburg. Ulrik is no stranger to Melodifestivalen as he took part a few years ago in Lilla Melodifestivalen, which is a similar concept for children to take part with their own songs and then take part in the Scandinavian song contest. Ulrik won the competition when he was 15 and also won MGP Nordic. But now he’s taking part in the adult Melodifestivalen with ‘Soldiers’ written by Johan Åberg, Linnea Deb, Joy Deb, David Jackson & himself. It’s a very charming song of the young lad, the harmonica gives it an extra boost in the cute direction. We had our doubts at first especially with the title, as we were expecting quite cheesy lyrics about world peace, but let’s be honest this is a sincere song. It also sounds a bit like it could be an anthem for scouts, the kind of songs you would sing when you’re at a campfire.

Verdict: It’s a very varied final, because again this is a song which potentially could do well. Ulrik looks very cute, he has a song which could appeal to wide appeal on the Eurovision stage after the successes of Tom Dice (Belgium 2010) and Paradise Oskar (Finland 2011). But will he be able to compete against the likes of Loreen e.g.? We’re not fully convinced in that sense that we don’t think Eurovision is his first intention. He wanted to be heard and seen and introduced to the Swedish public. Mission accomplished and who knows perhaps in a few years time, when he’s a massive heartthrob Kempe could write him a massive dance song.

Tomorrow, our final part in the Welcome to Globen series with our final candidates Bjorn Ranelid & Sara Li and returners Molly Sanden and Danny Saucedo.

Melodifestivalen Andra Chansen Countdown Duel 3

March 1, 2012 Eurovision No comments

And we’re back for another duel in which we present two acts battling it out this Saturday during the second chance round in Sweden’s Melodifestivalen. The concept; 8 acts are battling in 4 duels, the winners of duels 1,2,3 and 4 will then battle it out again until the two final acts are known who will be joining Loreen, Death By April, Ulrik Munther, David Lindgren, Molly Sanden, Bjorn Ranelid & Sara Li, Lisa Miskovsky and Danny Saucedo in the grand final in Stockholm on March 10.

We’ve presented four acts already and today we’ll see girl band Timoteij taking on MF veterans Lotta Engberg & Christer Sjögren

Timoteij are a four piece female band which can be compared as the Swedish version of UK/Australian act Bond. the main difference  with Bond is that these four blonde girls mix vocals with traditional sounds on beat. In 2010 they took part for the very first time in ‘Melodifestivalen’ with ”Kom” and became instant favourites. ”Stormande Hav” is the track which will hopefully lead them to the final. It’s a lot more grown up then ”Kom” was but very infectious. It reminds very much of that other Celtic group Sarek, and we hear a bit of ‘Magical Sensation’ on speed (sung by Katy Satyn, in the Belgian preselection of 2006) too. Overall this is a great song and from all qualifiers they probably should be the ones making it, but with fierce competition from Thorsten Flinck, Dynazty, Sean Banan and their duellists of tonight, we think they might just possibly loose out. Sorry girls!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twdVuR0VZBo

Taken on the girls of Timoteij are Lotta Engberg & Christer Sjögren, both are not unfamiliar to the contest as Lotta won Fyra bugg and Coca Cola Melodifestivalen back in 1987, representing Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest that year and has since taken part in the Swedish selection several times. This duet with Lotta, is Christer Sjögren’s second attempt after he took part in the 2007 edition with ‘I Love Europe’, a typical schlager, qualifying directly for the final in Stockholm. ‘Don’t Let me down’ is such a guilty pleasure. From the first notes onwards you just know that this is going to go the ‘Loveboat’ way. And you know what, even if it is for all the wrong reasons this is such a catchy song. It is what it is, it is pure Swedish schlager and you know what, we absolutely don’t mind that at all. It does exactly what it says on the tin. Both artists show that they have all the expertise that they need, and that they can sing anyone down. They are without a doubt, the ones to watch this Saturday evening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WweIREUcipc

Our verdict: You probably could have guessed it already, but even though they will not be competing against eac hother in the first round, we can not find anything wrong with Lotta & Christer and therefore our green card to proceed is going to them. Sorry Timoteij.

If you want to find out the real duels for Saturday night, you can find them here Tomorrow we’ll continue with our final duel between Youngblood & the TopCats. Watch this space!

Don’t forget the ‘Andra Chansen’ round can be followed live on http://svt.se/melodifestivalen on Saturday evening 8pm CET.

Melodifestivalen Göteborg; The Results…

February 12, 2012 Daily News No comments

Melodifestivalen 2012 continued last night with the quest for its Swedish representative at Eurovision Song Contest this year. Eight acts sang their hearts out, two of them made it direct to Globen, while two have to duel for two more tickets.

Let’s remind ourselves of the candidates:

1. Ulrik Munther – “Soldiers”

2. Top Cats – “Baby Doll”

3. Sonja Aldén – “I din himmel”

4. Andreas Lundstedt – “Aldrig aldrig”

5. Timoteij – “Stormande hav”

6. David Lindgren – “Shout It Out”

7. Mimi Oh – “Det går för långsamt”

8. Thomas Di Leva – “Ge aldrig upp”

In all honesty, we were a tad dissapointed with the overall quality of songs when we heard the studio versions but the performances did give us a few surprises, which made us like some of the songs. And some surprises too:

The Rockability of the Top Cats seemed to have their impact as the group, went along with MF returners Timoteij to Andra Chansen. There they will take on the duel with the AC songs from last week, or the four acts still to be decided from heat 3 and 4.

The first finalist that was announced to directly join Loreen and Death By April was the young Ulrik Munther, who’s song ‘Soldiers’ along his boy’ish looks must have charmed the Swedish public. We weren’t quite sure about the song at first but after a few listens, it is remarkably likeable. The second finalist joining him was no surprise either. After giving a splendid performance, musical star David Lindgren joined him as well with ‘Shout it Out’. The dance song, initially been given to Danny Saucedo who rejected it, had increasingly grown over the past few days and become the big favourite to win this heat.

As explained last week, SVT doesn’t allow the videos of the winners and AC to be uploaded until a week before the final, to avoid favouritism. The full Melodifestivalen show will however be available later on today on http://svt.se until Monday evening 11.59pm CET.

Therefore we give you the video of one of the acts who didn’t make it. Andreas Lundstedt, the man in Alcazar, took part as well this year with the Agnes-inspired ‘Aldrig Aldrig’. We think this would have sounded better in English to be fair. Nevertheless it is so camp, and its got good looking boys in it. So enjoy!

Melodifestivalen; What to expect in Göteborg

February 10, 2012 Eurovision No comments

Sweden’s favourite musical event is continuing its search for their next Eurovision representative. Who will join Loreen and Death By April in the final and who will have to give it another go in ‘Andra Chansen’?

8 new artists, among them quite a few returners to the contest, promise to give a highly entertaining show with a variation of Swedish pop, ballads, rockabilly and some orchestra.  Among the returners is Andreas Lundstedt, the male 3rd of Alcazar. Ready to meet the other hopefuls?

 1. Ulrik Munther – “Soldiers”

2. Top Cats – “Baby Doll”

3. Sonja Aldén – “I din himmel”

4. Andreas Lundstedt – “Aldrig aldrig”

5. Timoteij – “Stormande hav”

6. David Lindgren – “Shout It Out”

7. Mimi Oh – “Det går för långsamt”

8. Thomas Di Leva – “Ge aldrig upp”

We are particularly looking forward to the Swedish answer to  UK/Aussie band ‘Born’, Timoteij. The four ladies took part two years ago in Melodifestivalen with the ethnic ‘Kom’, won their heat and eventually finished 5th in the final. This year they have promised something even more powerful. So bring it on girls! Reason the more to have a look back at their 2010 performance.

Enjoy the Swedish version!

And for the English viewers, ‘Kom’ was also translated in English as ‘Run’

Melodifestivalen Göteborg can be followed via livestream tomorrow night at 8.oo pm CET on http://svt.se/melodifestivalen and will be available until Monday night 11.59 pm CET on http://svt.se/replay

 
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