Brolle: Brolle has been a fairly well know artist for quite a few years, but many might have forgotten that we first saw him in "Popstars" 2001, a predecessor to the Idol franchise. Since then he has recorded several albums and singles. He has preformed live at many occasions and should offer a solid performance. His sound is pleasant and has an old-school feel to it. If he delivers what I'm anticipating, this has the potential to be good and becoming a radio-hit.
Loreen: Best known from Swedish Idol 2004, she came in 4th place. Since then it's been fairly quiet around her. Apparently she has been working with television lately, both in front and behind the camera. It'a a pity that her music has been dormant, because she has a wonderfully soulful voice. But the Melody Festival do tend to propel artists into the limelight so hopefully she is as good as I remembered her and here to stay. I can't find any of her material on Youtube, but I do want to link to a beautiful version she did, of Celine Dion's "Love is on the way".
Babsan: Obviously the Melody Festival and Eurovision has a long and prosperous relationship with everything pink, sparkles, glitter and glamour. So why now tie it all up in one single person. Introducing Babsan! For those of you who don't know her, she is the fabulous drag-queen alter ego of Lars-Åke Wilhelmsson. She's all about the glitter, the glamour and the champagne. Lars-Åke Wilhelmsson has been performing as her for the past two decades or so and besides doing that he is a very successful costume designer. I already know this will be fun and flirty but not necessarily good. Either way, I can't wait to be entertained!
Elisabeth Andreasson: Wow, bring on the heavy artillery! Elisabeth Andreasson has a Eurovision Songcontest track record that would make any of her competitors green with envy. She won Eurovision Songcontest in 1985, while competing for Norway with her group "Bobbysocks". She came in 2nd place in Eurovision Songcontest in 1996. She's qualified for the Eurovision Songconstest a total of 4 times and never placed under 8th place. Its difficult to know what she will bring to the table this time, but I'm very much looking forward to it!
(She's the one in leggings).
Sanna Nielsen: This is Sanna's 6th time competing in the Swedish Melody Festival. Her track record is impressive. She has never finished below 7th place and she caused a minor uproar in 2008 when she competed with "Empty Room". The Swedish public gave her the most votes and wanted to send her to Eurovision Songcontest as the Swedish representative. But the jury groups throughout Sweden voted to send Charlotte Perrelli and they ended up having the final say. Charlotte Perrelli ended in 18th place out of 25... Sanna Nielsen has a great voice and I'm hoping she will take full advantage of that. Maybe this year will be her year.
The Moniker: Yet another contestant that came out of Swedish Idol. Daniel Karlsson, aka "The Moniker" participated in 2007 where he finished in 4th place. I don't know that much about him, or what kind of music he does now, but if I'm not mistaken he did a decent job in Idol. I literally have no expectations.
Anniela: She is a completely new artist to me. However, I'm not sure if it's because of her or me. I can't shake the feeling that I might be too old or live too far from Sweden to know this music. She is an up and coming pop-artist. She's barely out of her teens and seems to be big on Myspace and Youtube. Her sound is unmistakably modern and club appropriate. She sounds good when produced and it will be interesting to see how well she holds up live. If this is anything like the other stuff she has done, this is a destined radio- and club hit.
Christian Walz: HIGH expectations! I'm not expecting him to deliver a traditional Eurovision song, but actual good music. Why the high expectations? He has released at least two amazing singles, in 2004 and 2005. He's been doing his own music and released his first album in 1998, but didn't make it big until 2004 when he release his hit single "Wonderchild". I'm usually no too fond of high-pitched male voices, but he does it just right. He's never been in the Melody Festival and I'm hoping that he will narrow the gap between what's considered good Eurovision music and good music in general. I know I usually only post one link per artist, but I can't stop myself from spreading good music.
I'm expecting tomorrow's show to be good and interesting. The artists competing should be fairly even in their performance and I can't really say who I predict will do well without knowing anything about the songs. I'm personally most intrigued by Christian Walz, Loreen and Sanna Nielsen. I would be very surprised if Sanna Nielsen didn't qualify directly to the finale, but else from than, I would say it's pretty open.
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