Swedes are the worrying kind

Sweden's six week long national final came to end on Saturday night in Stockholm. Ten songs competed in what is known in Eurovision circles as THE selection show.

The winner was The Ark with their glam-rock-disco disaster The Worrying Kind. I guess it's fair to say that I loathe this kind of '70's retro stuff, but I bet there's tons of people, all over Europe, who will love this.

I just have to hope now that the UK don't select Justin Hawkins as I don't think I'd be able to cope.

The Ark - The Worrying Kind



The mp3 is here:- http://www.box.net/public/6addne903d

Sweden:- Wild-cards

Last Saturday night in Nyköping, the Swedes selected two wild-cards from the 3rd and 4th placed songs of each semi-final to take part in the national final in Stockholm next weekend. In a master-stroke of complication, each song was paired with another and went head to head in a knock-out competition to come up with two winners. You can find 'em below.

Sonja Aldén - För Att Du Finns

Sonja's a great singer and really sells this ballad, which despite being formulaic, is certainly worthy enough of being in the Swedish national final.

Sanna Nielsen - Våger Du, Våger Jag

It's uptempo and lively and if Sanna wasn't as flat as a pancake I'm sure this would be an enjoyable enough 3 minutes... sadly her voice is grating on me.

Sweden:- Semi-final 4

Last Saturday night the 4th Swedish semi-final was held in Gävle. The two winners to qualify for the national final are below...

Sarah Dawn Finer - I Remember Love

A nicely performed nice ballad that will appeal to everyone who is nice. How nice!

Andreas Johnsson - A Little Bit Of Love

Another typical schlager song... sing along everyone, you must know the tune by now!!!

As a special treat....

Here's the song Cara Mia from the Swedish semi-final last Saturday...

http://www.box.net/public/zlr7uufr38

Sweden:- Semi-final 3

The third Swedish semi-final took place in Örnsköldsvik on Saturday night. The two songs that have qualified to the national final are below.

Måns Zelmerlöw - Cara Mia

Clearly suffering from the Tornerò effect, this is another high-nrg dance song, belted out by a cute guy with a fantastic voice. On it's plus side this is the sort of thing that would do very well at Eurovision and I'd secretly quite like it to be the Swedish entry. On the downside, it does leave you kind of thinking the Swedes wish they'd entered Tornerò last year!

Sebastian - When The Night Comes Falling

In case you were in any doubt of there being a lack of schlager in the Swedish national final, fear not as here's another schlager by numbers track sung by your camp mate you're secretly embarrassed by. Nope... next...

Sweden:- Semi-final 2

Saturday night saw the 2nd Swedish semi-final take place in Göteborg. The two acts that qualified for the national final are below:-

The Ark - The Worrying Kind

Hideous retro song kind of akin to a lite version of The Darkness. I can't stand this sort of shite... but at least it's not schlager.

Marie Lindberg - Trying To Recall

Now this is more like it... a beautifully simple song that isn't trying to be anything other than that. Because of its stripped down melody you actually take more notice of it. In the unlikely event that Sweden pick this to represent them, I reckon they could do extremely well. However it'll be a case of do they dare to be brave, or play it safe and stick to the tried and tested schlager formulaic pop.

Sweden:- Semi-final 1

And yet another country that began their quest to find a song for Helsinki was Sweden. They held their first of 4 semi-finals in Jönköping. The two best as voted by the public qualify directly for the national final and the 3rd and 4th places songs from each semi-final get to have another go in a wild-card round. Watch the two winners below:-

Anna Book - Samba Sambero

Completely ignoring anything that sounds even faintly modern, the Swedes voted in their numbers for the two most traditional schlager pop songs on offer. This one is kind of Caribbean inspired and sung by a fat bird who reminds me a little (or a lot depending on your take) of Chiara. She also has a good voice and oh God I can so see this winning the whole thing for Sweden... I'm off to cry now as I loathe it.

Tommy Nilsson - Jag Tror På Människan

A big schlager pop ballad. He's got a good voice, but what's with his hair? Talk about being blow dried to fuck! Nah this is less my thing than the song above.