It’s week 2 in Melloland, and the circus has moved to Gothenburg. The line-up has everything from a first-timer to a previous winner to actual fire-fighting Mello legends.
You can also expect the Mello diva of all Mello divas, Charlotte Perrelli in an interval act with the hostess Gina Dirawi, paying tribute to other Mello divas.
SVT got plenty of criticism last week, when the reveal of the third place artist (who still gets a second chance to make the final) was only shown on SVT Play and not on linear TV. So they quickly reversed that decision and this week’s show will be on SVT channel 1 in its entirety.
The full songs are released on Spotify on Friday, so we will add them here once they are out.
But let’s get right into the artists who are participating in this week’s competition in Gothenburg.
1) Arwin – Glitter
After last year’s debut success, pop prince Arwin is back at Mello for his second year. He has changed his language to Swedish and is bringing very fun and catchy 80s influenced pop with funky Roxette guitars and groovy Benjamin Ingrosso moves. The stage show is more reminiscent of 1960s TV show pop numbers with dancers on platforms, and with a bit of glitter thrown in for good measure. I’ve got the song stuck in my head instantly, which of course means it is a bop and needs to go straight to the final! Well done, young Padawan!
2) Laila Adèle – Oxygen
Moroccan-born, Sweden-raised Laila Adèle has been doing soul, jazz, gospel and musical theatre, most recently as one of the Dream Girls. She actually participated in Melodifestivalen already 20 years ago in 2006, and is thus making a comeback now. Her song is a formulaic power ballad telling the story of how she fell in love with music as a child and went on to pursue the career as a singer. The number is based solely her formidable voice and the lights, with Leila standing in place on a platform.
3) Robin Bengtsson – Honey Honey
The winner of Melfest in 2017 is back once more, and this time he brings a country-tinged stomp-and-holler type of song singing “Honey, Honey, take my money…” It’s pretty catchy, gotta give it to him. He also brings on stage six testosterone-dripping dancing guys in denim, which will surely appeal to a few demographics.
4) Felicia – My System
The artist formerly playing the role of Fröken Snusk came out as Felicia, but still held on to the mask covering half her face. After her Melodifestivalen stint as Fröken in 2024, she broke free and has been putting out some excellent pop tunes in English now, including her debut Black Widow, which we’ve had on heavy rotation. For this Melfest she is bringing more of an EDM number with plenty of lasers. The song has some excellent parts and when the beat drops, you are taken instantly into the club to dance your heart out. The big thing everybody’s talking about after the rehearsals is how at the end Felicia is taking off the mask covering her mouth, but then instead covering her eyes with giant sunglasses.
5) Klara Almström – Där hela världen väntar
Klara Almström had her breakthrough in Idol 2022, when she took third place. She is now making her debut in Melodifestivalen with a midtempo tune from the school of Swedish Pop a la Laleh. The staging is not much, but Klara looking straight into the camera with those smiling eys will surely win over many hearts with this positive tune that turns almost anthemic towards the end.
6) Brandsta City Släckers – Rakt in i elden
These guys are actual firefighters (except for one) and they had their big break in Melodifestivalen 2002 with Kom och ta mig, which has given them quite a legendary cult status in Mello circles. The firemen are back slightly silver-haired, but they still bring along as much clapping, woo-ooo-ohs and hey-heys as ever. The stage show obviously must have plenty of pyrotechnics, what else…
All photos © Nina Uddin
