Friday, March 09, 2012

"Euphoria"-euphoria = foregone conclusion?

"I'm feeling great, I'm feeling awesome".

Well that's not the case if you're either Danny Saucedo or Loreen, as this year's Melodifestivalen front-runners have both been struck down with throat/voice problems. But don't worry, because even if the vocal fortunes are against them, the gods of Memorex will make it all ok :) Only joking of course and I hope both of them recover in time to give their best vocal performances 24 hours from now.

Yes, it's exactly one day left till the Melodifestivalen final and it appears that the people of Sweden have spoken. If the popularity polls and the download charts are anything to go by, it's a foregone conclusion that "Euphoria" performed by Loreen will win Melodifestivalen on Saturday night.

But Sweden will only have it's say in 50% of the voting with the other 50% being decided by a group of international juries, initially introduced to provide a barometer of international taste with a view to how well a winner will do at Eurovision. They got it pretty accurate last year with "Popular" so here's hoping that whatever song they choose, it will get at least a top 5 result again, in Baku.

What do I think? Well, on the whole I've been disappointed by the quality of the songs this year in comparison to, say, the last 4 years - every year there's been at least 5 or 6 songs which I'd continue to listen to after the contest was over, but I can't say the same for 2012. The question I asked after hearing all this year's songs was...where's the Melodi gone? Where are the enduring songs? "Amazing" is very modern and contemporary, as is "Euphoria", but neither of them could be described as a classic, memorable song. Although having said that, "Euphoria" is better than "Amazing".

In any other year Danny would have been a very obvious winner, but two things are stopping him this year: "Amazing" just isn't a good enough song, and he's met his match against such a commanding, compelling performer as Loreen.

Whatever happens tomorrow night, I hope Sweden (and the international juries) make the right choice - and I don't mean Thorsten Flinck!!

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