The Melodifestivalen caravan keeps rolling around the country, and lands in Kristianstad for week 3. Last week’s winner Felicia is looking like a strong contender for taking the crown at the Grand Final, so let’s see if we have anybody here this week who could give her a challenge.
Beside the competitors, this week’s highlight is set to be Nanne Grönvall, who is going to be celebrating her 40(!) years on the Melodifestivalen stage. The queen has competed in Melodifestivalen 8 times as an artist and songwriter, plus another 6 times as just the songwriter.
The songs are once again released at midnight between Thursday and Friday ahead of the competition, and we will be adding them all here for your reference.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at the artists of the week and what we can expect from them on Saturday.
1) Patrik Jean – Dusk till Dawn
Patrik Jean returns to the Mello stage for his second time as an artist, but his biggest success has of course been on the songwriting side, when he was part of the winning team in 2020 for The Mamas. Patrik is bringing a proper dance club banger and the kind of song and number that just about any other country would be wanting to send to Eurovision, and it has quite a few similarities with last year’s ESC winner JJ. But as this is Sweden, there isn’t even any certainty he will make it to the Mello final. The staging looks great with effective lights and a full line-up of dancers being trapped inside light boxes and lifting Patrik up. This is excellent!
2) Korslagda – King of Rock’n’roll
This is not a joke entry or a parody act, the guys in Korslagda are being serious about their rock’n’roll. The band has been around since 2019 and their sound is somewhere in the realms of AC/DC (which becomes very clear in the intro of this song) and the eccentric Swedish music & comedy legend Eddie Meduza. The word that flashed across my brain when watching their rehearsal for the first time, was gubbrock (old dude rock), and then the singer turned around and I though his leather vest actually had the word GUBBE written in huge letters. Well had to do a couple of retakes and it turns out his name is UBBE. Anyway, for some strange reason these guys have been on top of the odds table before anybody heard any of the songs, but you can be certain they go down during this week. But they’ll surely find support from the raggare crowd.
3) Emilia Pantic – Ingenting
A Gothenburg native with Serbian roots, Emilia Pantic is making her debut in Melodifestivalen with a ballad that tells a rather personal story. The setting with a park bench and a light post is simple but works well with the song. Emilia’s live vocals are not the strongest, so it feels like a slow song with melodious singing might not be the best choice to present herself to two million viewers. I’ve been digging her much more in the style of the upbeat Han vill ha dig, which has been on heavy rotation in my headphones. This unfortunately doesn’t stand a chance of advancement. But Emilia is such a fun personality and has been making the best Mello content in the run-up to the competition, so here’s hoping she comes back to Mello in some capacity, if not singing an upbeat indie pop banger, then as a social media rep or interviewer.
4) Medina – Viva l’Amor
Medina of course had huge breakthrough success on their first Mello stint in 2022 with In i dimman with a third place, and they came second in 2024 with Que Sera. If that trend is taking them towards victory remains to be seen. The new offering is following the same succesful recipe of happiness and party vibes, catchy beats, plus piling all kinds of foreign language cliches in the lyrics. This time it’s Viva l’Amor, including La Liberte, Bamboleo and El Fuego in the lyrics. The staging with a flag and a torch looks like they are demonstrating for love, but I find myself wishing they’d bring the Palestinian flag for it to actually mean something in the context of the ESC. In any case, this is a sure-fire finalist.
5) Eva Jumatate – Selfish
Another girl with a ballad in the same heat, not sure what SVT was thinking in placing them together. Anyway, Eva has a very strong voice and brings a very nice and melodic power ballad, although it is rather anonymous and does not show much of Eva herself or her personality. The staging is mostly relying on lights and some graphics, plus there’s a pyro rain at the end. But Eva and her vocals are taking the main role in the number, as they should. She has plenty of routine from performing on stage, from musical theatre (like the lead role in Matilda at 10 years of age) and from Sweden’s Got Talent (also at 10). She’s just turned 18, which makes her the youngest competitor this year.
6) Saga Ludvigsson – Ain’t Today
Saga gained a lot of support last year for her Melfest debut and made is straight to the final then. She of course also has a background from Sweden’s Got Talent (2019 at 12 years old), and she also made the final in Idol in 2023. Like last year, Saga brings a country pop tune, this time written by Dotter among others. The song does not feel very original, but it is catchy and gets stuck in my head after a couple of listens.The staging includes big industrial fans and six dancers, with Saga having to do plenty of choreo and different camera angles from crawling to lying on the ground. Maybe they could have trusted a bit more on her natural charisma and wonderful stage presence. Here’s hoping that part will shine through more when she’s had more time to rehearse all this stage action.
All photos © Nina Uddin
