Melfest has reached its 5th week, and with this year’s new format it means we are still getting six new contestants, bringing the total up to 30. After the two entries going straight to the final have been picked, the 3rd and 4th places will get to be a part of the final qualification with other runners-up from previous heats. So in the extra half an hour of the program, there will be an audience vote (without age groups) to pick two more finalists from the 10 entries that remain in contention.
Once again we got a sneak peek at the rehearsals ahead of Saturday’s live show, so below you can read what we thought about the entries in Heat 5 and what you can expect from the competition this week.
1) Marcus & Martinus – Unforgettable
The Norwegian twins are in it to win it after coming second to Loreen last year in their Melfest debut. The song picks up where they left last year, electronic pop in the vein of The Weeknd, and with a production evoking Swedish House Mafia. The Eurovision-worthy staging looks clearly the most expensive in this year’s Mello. The background with lasers and computer texts as well as the dancers are clearly giving The Matrix. But M&M are still the main focus and they deliver. Nobody can touch them this Saturday, and they are the most likely to win at the final as well.
2) Chelsea Muco – Controlla
This year’s second afrobeat entry from Chelsea Muco sounds much more like the popular afrobeat tunes that have been on the radio in recent years than C-Joe‘s Mellofied version of the genre. She brings the dance party with six dancing girls along her side, and the song is a great pop tune with catchy hooks. Although one of the hooks sounds like it has been lifted from Rema‘s Calm Down. In any case, this is great but has sadly very little chance of getting to the final.
3) Jay Smith – Back to My Roots
Idol 2010 winner Jay Smith is making a bit of a comeback to the limelight and getting back to the roots with this country-rock effort. Jay is of course the brother of Maria Jane Smith of Smith& Thell, who have been a part of writing this song. You can naturally hear their sound of guitars and claps and hollers with a rather catchy melody, to which Jay brings his great raspy vocal. This is shaping up to be the year of country music, so Jay is in sync with the times. The staging is just straight up a rock band on stage, with the LED showing the name of the song, and that’s all there is to it.
4) Elecktra – Banne maj
Melodifestivalen does have a history of drag artists participating, so it was quite self-evident the viral sensation from the first season of Drag Race Sweden would appear on stage. Elecktra‘s song is in the same landscape as After Dark‘s past efforts, and her rather harsh Skåne dialect with the low voice provides quite a contrast to the pink glitter bomb look. The staging clearly takes it’s cues from Marilyn Monroe in Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend (probably via Madonna‘s Material Girl), but could really have been more extravagant and over the top.
5) Annika Wickihalder – Light
Annika Wickihalder impressed with her voice in Idol 2021, in which she ended up on third place. She makes her Melfest debut with a gospel-influenced pop tune, backed by some of the songwriters behind The Mamas‘ Move. She sings about finding the light within during dark times and the voice really is her strongest asset. The staging is not much more than smoke and mirrors with lights, so they’ve clearly trusted that Annika and her voice are enough.
6) Medina – Que Sera
Medina‘s Sami Rekik and Ali Jammali are back after their big 2022 success with In i dimman. This year’s entry is from the same school of fun party anthems and they bring a dance party to the stage. The song very much reminds of C’est la vie by Khaled, and the lyrics, although mostly in Swedish, have been packed with international cliches and catch phrases – from Que Sera Sera to Loco Loco, Bailando, Dancez Dancez, Allez Allez Allez, Viva la Vida… At the end of the party number Lamin Holmén gets to play a drum, because there has to be drums… as he also demonstrated in Love Love Peace Peace.
Be sure to catch Melodifestivalen Heat 5 at SVT1 or SVTPlay on Saturday the 2nd of March at 8pm
All photos: Stina Stjernkvist / SVT
