ButterTart's 100 Greatest Melodifestivalen Songs - 2002 to 2024

75. Dolly Style - Hello Hi (2015)



AC – Lost to Dinah Nah​


“This has got to be one of the worst things I've ever had the misfortune of watching.”
@win_the_game, 07/02/2015

Every time a Dolly sings, a @ZenGiraffe gets its wings.

Be honest, you knew I’d shoehorn there three very disposable girls into this list in one way or another.

Although I like Habibi and Rollercoaster, it’s Hello Hi which gets the nod here. This features the OG Dollies – Molly, Holly and Polly and, although nearly a thousand members have come and gone with such names as Lolly, Folly, Trolley, Lunn Poly, Where’s Wally and R Olly, they were at the apex of their powers with the original trio.

Hello Hi is an absurd fever dream of an entrant; brazen, sickly power pop with absolutely no relevance to the music industry in 2015. I think that’s why this is my favourite of the Dolly trilogy – we knew what to expect with later efforts but the ridiculousness of Hello Hi was a wonderful, organic surprise. The AC duel between this and Dinah Nah was a battle of gloriously excessive bangers which we're lucky to have lived through. We're lucky to get one per year these days. I’m sure you’ll pretend not to care for Hello Hi but I bet you can sing that chorus word-for-word.

Dolly Style are, incredibly, still going, long after the departure of the original three members. They release around 600 singles per year which roughly equates to one new song per new band member. Joining Dolly Style has become a form of national service for young women across Sweden, and there’s a whole seedy underbelly to this unstoppable brand which I’ve tried to avoid reading about in case it sullies my opinion of their glittery pop stompers.
 
ButterTart said:
75. Dolly Style - Hello Hi (2015)



AC – Lost to Dinah Nah​


“This has got to be one of the worst things I've ever had the misfortune of watching.”
@win_the_game, 07/02/2015

Every time a Dolly sings, a @ZenGiraffe gets its wings.

Be honest, you knew I’d shoehorn there three very disposable girls into this list in one way or another.

Although I like Habibi and Rollercoaster, it’s Hello Hi which gets the nod here. This features the OG Dollies – Molly, Holly and Polly and, although nearly a thousand members have come and gone with such names as Lolly, Folly, Trolley, Lunn Poly, Where’s Wally and R Olly, they were at the apex of their powers with the original trio.

Hello Hi is an absurd fever dream of an entrant; brazen, sickly power pop with absolutely no relevance to the music industry in 2015. I think that’s why this is my favourite of the Dolly trilogy – we knew what to expect with later efforts but the ridiculousness of Hello Hi was a wonderful, organic surprise. The AC duel between this and Dinah Nah was a battle of gloriously excessive bangers which we're lucky to have lived through. We're lucky to get one per year these days. I’m sure you’ll pretend not to care for Hello Hi but I bet you can sing that chorus word-for-word.

Dolly Style are, incredibly, still going, long after the departure of the original three members. They release around 600 singles per year which roughly equates to one new song per new band member. Joining Dolly Style has become a form of national service for young women across Sweden, and there’s a whole seedy underbelly to this unstoppable brand which I’ve tried to avoid reading about in case it sullies my opinion of their glittery pop stompers.
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Three very TOO LOW girls
 
There’s something about Hello Hi which if it catches me in the right mood makes me very emotional. I think because it represents the basic yearning for human connection - in a way we are all Polly, Molly, Dolly striving to be heard.

As an aside, I was hanging out with a lot of straight people around the time of this and when I played this at a house party it lasted about 16 seconds before the aux cord got pulled. I made a speech about how I’ve sat and listened to their straight nonsense for hours and I can’t even have one song? Pathetic!
 
ButterTart said:
Incidentally, I feel like I’ve completely glossed over the top story from this write-up, that Martin and Dilba were briefly married. One can only imagine the SIZZLING pillow talk these charisma dynamos engaged in. “My penis is now inside you” “Oh goodness, thanks”.
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Rumours are that their marriage broke down due to Dilba’s continuing nonchalance for everyday couple activities.

Martin would be like: Dilba shall we go to the pub
Dilba:
BC8FD31E-8DCB-499D-86BB-8FCCD9207EDE.jpeg


Martin: Dilba shall we get a takeaway
Dilba:
BC8FD31E-8DCB-499D-86BB-8FCCD9207EDE.jpeg

Martin: Dilba it’s our wedding day for gods sake, turn around for our picture
Dilba:
32BAF6BC-CDE1-447E-B7DE-AAF10B68DB8D.gif
 
Suomi said:
There’s something about Hello Hi which if it catches me in the right mood makes me very emotional. I think because it represents the basic yearning for human connection - in a way we are all Polly, Molly, Dolly striving to be heard.

As an aside, I was hanging out with a lot of straight people around the time of this and when I played this at a house party it lasted about 16 seconds before the aux cord got pulled. I made a speech about how I’ve sat and listened to their straight nonsense for hours and I can’t even have one song? Pathetic!
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I think you must have fell in with a bad crowd. My friends will let me play ANY OLD SHITE, although I've yet to broach Dolly Style with them...
 
Suomi said:
Rumours are that their marriage broke down due to Dilba’s continuing nonchalance for everyday couple activities.

Martin would be like: Dilba shall we go to the pub
Dilba:
View attachment 25214


Martin: Dilba shall we get a takeaway
Dilba:
View attachment 25214

Martin: Dilba it’s our wedding day for gods sake, turn around for our picture
Dilba:
View attachment 25215
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Truly a face that you'd see on a poster of barred shoplifters down the newsagents.
 
74. Smash Into Pieces - Heroes Are Calling (2024)



Finalist - 3rd place​



“this is so fucking generic it hurts.in what world did it take SEVEN songwriters (i.e.- it didn’t). The lowest denominator, music by vox pop. Awful.”
@Sheena, 01/02/2024

Okay, so I admit I was slightly disappointed when I first heard this a couple of months back. Six Feet Under was such a moment for me that a clone hurriedly written on the back of a 7-11 receipt on the way to the studio was not giving me kizunguzungu.

Then I watched them perform it live.

Smash Into Pieces are very, very good at what they do, and what they do is histrionic nu-metal pastiches of Linkin Park. When I saw them absolutely batter this into next week at the final, all misgivings about it being a lazy rewrite were completely forgotten.

If I’d heard this before Six Feet Under, I’d have treated it like the second coming of Blind Channel. The chorus is truly thunderous, and you know by now that’s 95% of what I look for in a song. Even though it doesn't have the intensity of its predecessor, it's still urgent and immediate, maintaining a pace which makes for an eventful three minutes. It genuinely impresses me that Chris Adam can BELT like that seemingly without effort – he’s not what you’d call a flamboyant frontman. He also has the exact same head shape as me so kudos for him for attempting a baseball cap and giving hope to spoonfaces everywhere.

Rock seems to be making a comeback at Melodifestivalen after a few years of tokenism, and it was refreshing to see Smash Into Pieces very much in the conversation about potential winners as opposed to being treated like a curio shoved into the final to pad out the runtime. #JUSTICE4COCKROCK
 
Just catching up:

ButterTart said:
84. Katrina and the Nameless - As If Tomorrow Will Never Come (2005)



AC - 6th place​


“It is a crime against humanity, I really am at a loss as to how it got through”
David, 29/12/2008

Eight years after doing the job for the UK at Eurovision, Katrina ditched the Waves, hooked up with a bunch of session singers she saw no reason to get to know on first-name terms, and threw herself into Melodifestivalen.

If I was judging this thing on melody alone, As If Tomorrow Will Never Come would be MUCH closer to the top spot. Sadly, I have to take lyrics into account and this boasts the most genuinely awful song-writing in the history of the contest (and this is the contest that gave us UNDO).

The song tackles the challenging topic of letting your hair down, having fun and screaming and shouting. The context is never made clear – are they off out? Are we invited? Do you think I’ll be okay in trainers? Rest assured, though, that tonight is the night and everything’s alright. The heat is on and, by golly, they’ll rock ‘til dawn.

The song itself is possessed of an absolutely THUNDEROUS chorus, a real statement moment which feels somewhat unearned given the lyrics but is still as stirring as all fuck. It’s a barnstorming, balls to the wall homage to Meatloaf, performed with such aplomb that it’s fundamentally impossible to dislike. There was absolutely no way this wasn’t going to feature in a ButterTart Best-Of ranking. Yes, the lyrics are shockingly inept (Although that's to be expected given that the writer, Mr T Gson, exhibits such poor attention to detail that he's been going about with an accidental colon in his surname without realising), but the overall song is a proper tour-de-force, one of the key ingredients which made 2005 such an astonishing year.

Why bother whether it's right or wrong? Pretend this night is the only one.
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THIS is what Bonnie Tyler should have entered Eurovision with. It’s an undeniable chorus, let down I suppose by the unlike-ability of Katrina Aguilera
 
ButterTart said:
79. Arja Saijonmaa - Vad du än trodde så trodde du fel (2005)



8th in heat 2​


“I LIKE OLD HAGS BUT I DON'T LIKE OLD HAGS WITH RUBBISH SONGS.”
@Apoca, 02/01/2009

8th in its heat? WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK? Sverige, vi har ett resultat: du har ingen smak.

I mean, fair enough she just shouts the whole thing, her choreography amounts to wagging her finger before a brief shimmy with the Barry Manilow-looking dancer, and it’s possibly the most matronly schlager performance of all time, but I mean COME ON.

This is the sort of lunatic fringe sorely missing from the modern contest, an absolute saggy-tits-out STOMPER which starts off ridiculous and spends the next three minutes making progressively less sense.

We’ve established by now that I’m a slut for a big chorus, and Arja bellows one for the ages here. I have no idea what she's saying but I fully support it, such is the frenzied drama of that hook. I love that Vad du än trodde så trodde du fel is so relentless throughout; even the dramatic stop-start towards the end (where Arja gamely misses her cue to start singing again) doesn’t do anything to diminish the pace of it all.

I’ve never really seen Moopy talk about this one, which either means it’s an overlooked gem or, once again, I’ve thrown my weight behind a song the seasoned Mello fans wouldn’t wipe their arse on. From the evidence at hand I sincerely hope it’s not the latter, as this is a glorious slice of mid-00s excess.

Chalk up another success for 2005, and add it to the evidence pile for TART VS STENMARCK: THE LAS VEGAS ROBBERY
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Arja sang the demo for this and Om Natten (TW: Jessica Folcker’s hair) this year and had her choice of either. Make no mistake, this is one of the greatest songs the contest has produced and whatever negative thing you thought about this entry, you thought WRONG


Arja - Om Natten
 
Suomi said:
Arja sang the demo for this and Om Natten (TW: Jessica Folcker’s hair) this year and had her choice of either. Make no mistake, this is one of the greatest songs the contest has produced and whatever negative thing you thought about this entry, you thought WRONG


Arja - Om Natten
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Christ, she was on to a winner* either way. She must have been in favour that year.

*Noble failure at the first possible hurdle.
 
73. Anton Ewald – Begging (2013)



Finalist - 4th place​


“Ugh, it's like Eric Saade fucked Chris Colfer”
@VoR, 09/02/2013

:disco: Now here’s one Moopy seems to genuinely fucking HATE.

Having appeared in Melodifestivalen as a backing dancer for Velvet, Danny Saucedo and Andreas Lundstedt, Anton borrowed Etzia’s wildly malfunctioning smoke machine and set out for solo glory. Needless to say, Moopy was THRILLED.

I give Anton the same credit I gave to Theoz, that he puts a proper shift in here and makes every second of his time on stage count. The lad can properly move – in fact, he does nothing BUT for the duration of the song. Of course, this comes at the expense of vocals but who really gives a shit? By this point, Addis Black Widow had already happened and the post-vox era was in full swing.

Begging (spelt with a g, are you listening LIAMOO?) is a full-on BANGER, a highlight even of the club banger phase the contest was in at the time. It actually shocks me that this had to trudge through AC to claim its rightful place in the final – Anton threw EVERYTHING (except competent vocals) at this and delivered the sort of spectacle that normally all but guarantees a golden ticket. Saying that, he was in the same heat as Sean Banan and I’m not about to pretend I’d have wanted Anton to qualify at his expense.

Anton came back the following year with the less-good Natural, and a few years after that with the excellent 5 Seconds of Summer cover ‘New Religion’. Sadly, there were some… personal issues plaguing him that year so I feel kind of uncomfortable about the whole thing.
 
72. Roger Pontare - Himmel och hav (2017)



5th in heat 2​


“Move over Rog, there are younger and more attractive people joiking now.”
@D5K, 19/04/2017

(Stupid selfish SVT have disabled embedding for the performance, so we'll have to make do with the studio version)

It should come as no surprise that I love a bit of MAD ROG. My fondness for the amiable loon is well documented around these parts and it was inevitable that he’d show up at least once on this list.

Himmel och hav finds Rog in slightly more sombre form than his previous outings, but that’s not to say he doesn’t fully deliver his trademark thunder. Decked out in traditional garb, paired with Ted Baker glasses he got in a 2-for-1 at Specsavers, the mad one belts this out with gusto. The bridge is where it’s at for me here, the ‘Jag kastar loss släpper allt jag har’ serving as a dramatic segue into the sweeping anthem of a chorus. ‘Dramatic’ is actually the key word here, as Rog wrings every molecule of emotion out of the song with a performance befitting the world’s greatest living musician.

Special mention needs to go to the intro sequence; the torch lighting procession as he makes his way to the stage is one of my all-time favourite Melodifestivalen moments; it’s such an amazing visual and cues us up to expect something suitably epic. As far as Eurovision-adjacent MOMENTS OF LIFE go, the big three are:
1. Edurne moves the sun across the sky with the power of thought
2. Mad Rog's torchlight promenade
3. Giant trumpets

Of course, the Swedish public farted in Rog’s general direction and he failed to qualify from his heat. This was SEVEN years ago and he’s not returned since, so I’d like to take this opportunity to ask Sweden to apologise ON-SCREEN for snubbing this icon they’re unworthy of calling their countryman, and grovel upon their very knees for him to come back next year to save Meldodifestivalen, society and, very possibly, the world.
 
Velvet Skies said:
He was only 2000 votes short from (deservedly) limping through AC :o
Meanwhile in the same heat, Etzia and her #1 global hit "Up" crashed out in 6th place...
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I desperately wanted Etzia to make this list but there was just no room for ‘iconically shit’. Well, B-Boys International made it so I should say there was no room for more than one iconically shit.
 
ButterTart said:
I desperately wanted Etzia to make this list but there was just no room for ‘iconically shit’. Well, B-Boys International made it so I should say there was no room for more than one iconically shit.
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There was nothing 'shit' about Etzia. Up is one of the greats of the modern era. It was just a pity she was done up something rotten by a malfunctioning smoke machine and a choreographer with a penchant for roller skating.
 
win_the_game said:
There was nothing 'shit' about Etzia. Up is one of the greats of the modern era. It was just a pity she was done up something rotten by a malfunctioning smoke machine and a choreographer with a penchant for roller skating.
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Somebody (I think it was @VoR) posted an image of Etzia at the time which was just one of her hands reaching out from the plumes of smoke engulfing her. I couldn't find it but I really wanted to use that in the write-up. When I think of 'Up' that's literally the first image that comes to mind.

Also, reading the threads back through for quotes, you really were a massive cheerleader for this song.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: VoR
71. Anniela – Elektrisk (2011)



Heat 2 – 6th place​


“She really is a hopeless live singer, I'd only seen one performance before and thought it was just a one off, apparently not”
@Lockhart, 12/02/2011

Poor Anniela :(

Imagine having rehearsed to within an inch of her life, poised to make her mark in what she hoped to be the first of many appearances on the grandest stage of them all, only to be punched in the stomach by a jealous Sanne Nielsen seconds before going on stage. As if having to gasp desperately for air throughout her moment in the spotlight wasn’t cruel enough, it was only on watching the performance back later that she realised she’d forgotten to take off the astroturf neck pillow she’d worn for the Megabus ride to Gothenburg,

I first heard Elektrisk in studio form and I was disappointed at how much of a disservice Anniela and her shitty cardio did it on the night, because this is a FANTASTIC song. It’s spiky and urgent and deserved a vocalist who could give it the right amount of attack right out of the gate (Perhaps lying down for a good chunk of the first verse wasn’t the best choice of choreography to get the vocals off on the right foot?).

This has everything I need in a pop song, by which I mean a catchy chorus which leads into an even bigger, beltier second chorus. It has a satisfying, bouncy beat throughout which means my attention doesn’t even dip during the verses. In short, it’s a very well constructed pop song completely let down by its performer.

Anniela never did grace the Melodifestivalen stage again. She returned to the UK and resumed her full time job as Patsy Kensit, eking out a living with appearances on Celebrity Big Brother and Richard Osman’s House of Games.
 
70. Sarek - Genom eld och vatten (2003)



Finalist - 6th place​


“This heat is really crap... I think it shows that apart from a few "golden years", the MF is not that different from the other pre-selection contests - i.e. comprised mostly of UTTER SHIT.”
Tal, 27/08/2007

Who knew Lisa Scott-Lee had tried her hand at Mello?

This is an odd one – when I first heard it, I assumed it was by an established group and entered the competition much later than 2003. Neither of these assumptions turned out to be true. Genom eld och vatten just FEELS like a big deal; an entry by a beloved Swedish institution fielding something well ahead of its time.

This is a banger whichever way you slice it, and I’m surprised it wasn’t in the mix for the win in 2003. It’s jubilant, energetic, breezy, relistenable and unapologetically Swedish. I’m sure if the girls had their time again they’d not elect to wear throw rugs from Dunelm but, other than that, I think it’s safe to say this is a triumph.

When I go to the MF pre-party at Nalen, I can guarantee I’ll hear this at least once and that it will get an enthusiastic reception from the assembled gays, D-list celebrities and middle-aged Swedish hen parties. Although the schlager louts of yore rightly occupy the majority of the conversation about Melodifestivalen all-timers, this is one which seems to have also firmly embedded itself as a classic.

Because it's only been a decade or so since my interest in MF began, I feel like there's a bit of a recency bias to my list of favourites. It's nice to have a stone cold early-years BANGER like this to stan so I can bluff people into thinking my well of knowledge is deeper than it is.

Sarek came back in 2004 with Älvorna, which I don’t much care for, before filming commitments on Totally Scott-Lee put paid to the band as a full-time chart force.
 
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I know I'm in a minority but for me the brooding drama of Älvorna is so much better than Genom eld och vatten.
 
Genom Eld & Vatten is definitely in my top ten of all time. It wasn’t in the mix to win but it was such a huge radio hit that summer and it’s crossed over into being a Swedish classic with even the straights losing their minds for it.

The song was submitted about six times before it was accepted, but the early iterations were more folky and man with a guitar.

If you like this then they also have two others bangers well worth a SPIN:



 
Holy shit at both :disco:

The first one in particular sounds like something I need to submit to ASFM in a few months when you've forgotten you recommended it to me.
 
Suomi said:
I would prefer it if it were sung by Linda Bengtzing (and why she hasn’t realised this is her path back is BEYOND ME)
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Correct. I feel like I've been campaigning for this for 10 years to all to no avail 😮‍💨
 
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69. Ralf Gyllenhammar - Bed on Fire (2013)



Finalist - 7th place​


“Is it bad to hope he burns?”
Tinu, 23/02/2012

I’m just going to put this out there now and deal with the consequences later: Ralf Gyllenhammar should have won Melodifestivalen 2013. There. I’m sorry, he just should. Not only was Bed on Fire an absolute knockout moment that year but it would have ensured The Makemakes wouldn’t copy the staging two years later and end up earning Austria nul points ignominy.

Ralf (pictured)
sheamus.webp
puts in a hell of a shift with Bed on Fire, delivering one of my favourite vocals in the history of the contest. This is a blistering, ridiculously melodramatic rock barnstormer which manages to maintain a manic energy throughout despite Ralf spending the entire performance sat at a piano (A piano on fire, mind, but still). There’s more than a passing whiff of Bond theme about this, which doesn’t hurt a bit; this is ‘go big or go home’ manifested on the Melodifestivalen stage. I’m ACUTELY aware that Bed on Fire won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but there’s really no denying that this absolutely earned its place in the final. I say it should have won because it was so DIFFERENT to anything else Sweden had sent before and has a matchless intensity that I think would have translated well to a European stage. If Melodifestivalen 2013 was a 32 song pile-up then this was the body they should have pulled out of it.

Ralf went on to sully his legacy by returning with his band Mustasch to enter ‘Contagious’ in 2021, a rock song so shit even I have no time for it. He was also convicted of sexual harassment in 2018 so, you know, there’s the small matter of him being a massive bastard.

I still think he should have won Melodifestivalen 2013, mind.
 
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68. Hanna Lindblad – Goosebumps (2012)



Heat 4 - 7th place​


“Kylie has called, Hanna, she wants the last twelve years of her career back.”
Man in a Hamster Wheel, 25/02/2012

7th in its heat. 7th.

Heat 4 of 2012 was the scene of two of the most horrific robberies of all time and it enrages me to this day that the U.N. never imposed sanctions on Sweden for allowing it to happen.

Goosebumps is fucking PHENOMENAL. I know ‘Manipulated’ is the Lindbladbop of choice for a few people around here, but Goosebumps is leagues above for me. It sets a pace in the opening moments and doesn’t let up for the next three minutes. Even the solo Flashdance bit is still breathless and exciting. Fair enough, the vocals are a bit wobbly and the big note and ad-lib heavy final chorus is somewhat ill advised but I let Anton Ewald off the hook for similar and Hanna puts no less graft in that he did, so shonky vox can be cheerfully overlooked when the overall performance is strong.

If I may quote noted music scholar @Tisch for a moment, Goosebumps slaps, bangs, fizzes and fucks. I actually didn’t realise how much I liked it until I was ordering this rate and it kept moving further and further up the ranking. I’m not convinced that it’s high enough even now, a concern that will preoccupy me until I do the next write up and decide that song is the best thing I’ve ever heard.

We established with Mimi Oh earlier that pop numbers by solo females were routinely butchered by the Swedish public in the early 2010s, so I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me that this got dealt a similar hand. Goosebumps would have won Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, just so you know.

PISSY PISSY PISSFLA-A-APS
 
ButterTart said:
Of course, the Swedish public farted in Rog’s general direction and he failed to qualify from his heat. This was SEVEN years ago and he’s not returned since, so I’d like to take this opportunity to ask Sweden to apologise ON-SCREEN for snubbing this icon they’re unworthy of calling their countryman, and grovel upon their very knees for him to come back next year to save Meldodifestivalen, society and, very possibly, the world.
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Blame Swedish Gen Z for this. There was this whole thing where a bunch of them decided to rally around Lisa Ajax and Dismissed on Social Media for no other reason than they wanted Roger and Mariette out of the competition. Maybe it has to do with the songs but I suspect really just ageism jumped out. :square:
 
ButterTart said:
This has everything I need in a pop song, by which I mean a catchy chorus which leads into an even bigger, beltier second chorus. It has a satisfying, bouncy beat throughout which means my attention doesn’t even dip during the verses. In short, it’s a very well constructed pop song completely let down by its performer.

Anniela never did grace the Melodifestivalen stage again. She returned to the UK and resumed her full time job as Patsy Kensit, eking out a living with appearances on Celebrity Big Brother and Richard Osman’s House of Games.
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She never released any music after 2011 so I think it is safe to say MelFest ended her music career. :D :(
 
67. Pagan Fury – Stormbringer (2019)



Heat 4 – 7th place​


“the token heat four rock entry is about as welcome around these parts as Liam Neeson at a Black Lives Matter convention”
@VoR, 19/02/2019

There's a bad moon on the rise
I will fight for you
I'll go through fire and ice
Nothing I won't do
And the winds will paint the sky
Hear them call my name
Stormbringer, Stormbringer

STORMBRINGER

Sorry, but in what world would a song called ‘Stormbringer’ by a band called ‘Pagan Fury’ NOT feature prominently in a ButterTart Best Of? I’m on record as saying this was my favourite song of the year just from the title being announced. 2019 was to be my first year of going to the final and how excited I was to see this performed live.

Went well, lads. Went very well.

I remember there being some sort of backlash around this at the time because Pagan Fury were session musicians for the video game Crusader Kings and not a ‘real’ band, which is the only reason I can think of for this hotly-tipped favourite crashing out so spectacularly.

This gives me everything I could ever have wanted; HOT VOX, pointy shoulder bits, those Death Note-looking things mincing about on all fours. Yes, it’s essentially just repurposed schlager but isn’t that true of every great song throughout history?

Five years on and my flame still burns as bright as it ever did for Stormbringer. I feel like this was just a couple of years too early to fully capitalise on the rock renaissance at the contest, so it will forever remain a piece of glorious ephemera from a time unworthy of its presence.

Pagan Fury have gone on to release a flurry of singles which have all had the rare distinction of being fingered as potential ButterTart ASFM entries.
 
Haiku Rewrites said:
Blame Swedish Gen Z for this. There was this whole thing where a bunch of them decided to rally around Lisa Ajax and Dismissed on Social Media for no other reason than they wanted Roger and Mariette out of the competition. Maybe it has to do with the songs but I suspect really just ageism jumped out. :square:
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This is why I actually like the demoscopico voting they use now. Young people are arseholes, old people are arseholes, but at least their power is strictly curtailed by only being allocated a finite number of points each.
 
66. Linda Bengtzing - Jag ljuger så bra (2006)



Finalist – 7th place​


“I have a soft spot for the sheer desperation of the semi performance - apparently she had a full blown panic attack backstage before she went on.”
@VoR, 21/01/2016

Well, she had to turn up sooner or later and, by jingo, this is far from the last we’ll be seeing of her before this rate is finished.

Affectionately known by me and Google Translate as ‘Desperationens storhertiginna’, Linda Bengtzing has graced Melodifestivalen with her unique brand of increasingly goggle-eyed frenzy multiple times over the years.

Don’t let the comparatively low placing of this one fool you, we’re very much in 15/10 territory at this point in the rate and it can’t be overstated just how much I love this song. She’s not exactly renowned as a purveyor of misery but, even so, I feel like this is the most jubilant and upbeat of her diabetic coma of a Mello discography. She knows her way around a triumphant chorus and 2:37 in the video above is one of the greatest expressions of unalloyed JOY ever to grace the stage. I actively look forward to that bit whenever I listen to Jag ljuger så bra. No, not because it means it’s nearly finished you rotten buggers.

This came hot on the heels of the cultural landscape-shifting Alla Flickor and could have faded into the background by comparison. Instead, it’s a national treasure in its own right. Others would place this at the top of their Linda B ranking and, honestly, I can’t dispute the logic.

It would also be another 8 years before Linda slipped into the Heat-filler hell she currently occupies, so there’s literally no downside to this entry.
 
65. Kamferdrops - Solen lever kvar hos dig (2018)



Heat 1 - 6th place​



“She was dead before they cut her in half.”
@FetchFugly, 03/02/2018

Oh Jesus, THIS :D

How does one adequately summarise Solen lever kvar hos dig, the greatest pop culture moment of 2018, in a couple of paragraphs?

Kamferdrops was hot on the heels of some attention-grabbing chart successes when Melodifestivalen came a-knocking. She looked set to make her star burn even brighter as she took to the stage in heat 1. Or did she? You see, 73 women took to the stage during the performance, each wearing the same unicorn mask/shellsuit combo which made them look like the world’s gayest brony. They were also joined by a giant illusionist and a man with a catastrophically malfunctioning saxophone. Kamferdrops could have been any or none of these people.

Yes, this was an over-booked, over-stuffed and somehow under-baked NIGHTMARE of a performance which was iconic and amazing but also detracted massively from the song and was a cataclysmic cock-up for the ages. In short, it was a performance of contrasts.

The song didn’t need all the bells, whistles, woodwind blowtorches or spindly magicians. It’s an understated, electropop number with a right sexy bit of sax. It wasn’t competitive at all so I understand why they thought the full tit and minge stage-show was necessary, but they’d honestly have been better placed going with something simpler.

This is one of my favourites of 2018 in studio form. It’s warm, lavishly produced and – most of all – interesting. It doesn’t deserve to be remembered for being a complete mess because that doesn’t do this little stunner of a song any justice.

Needless to say, Kamferdrops’ brief spell as a chart force in Sweden was over as abruptly as it began. The power of that illusionist, making an entire career disappear in the blink of an eye :disco:
 
64. Medina – Que Sera (2024)



Finalist - 2nd place​


“Oh dear, have they strayed into Panetoz bright lights and jokey lolz territory?”
@Tisch, 02/03/2024

Now, I’m a huge fan of Unforgettable. I think it’s a fantastic little banger which people seem to be sleeping on. That said, I do feel like Sweden missed a trick by not giving the nod to Que Sera. They’re the host nation and they’ve drawn the opening slot in the final – there’s literally no more perfect song they could have chosen to make an impact on both of those fronts.

Admittedly, Que Sera isn’t quite as good as In I dimman, but it’s still very, very, very good. Watching this live at the final, it was literally the ONLY song the audience stood up for (except for when everyone ran to the toilet to throw up after the horror of Cazzi Opeia). In fact, it was one of the biggest responses I’ve heard in all of the times I’ve been there in person; the atmosphere tangibly changed whenever they were so much as mentioned. A Medina win just felt CORRECT, and damn it all if I wasn’t carried away on a wave of hope.

Sami and the chunky one with ET legs are proper entertainers and they sold the living shit out of this. It helps that it’s a grade-A party anthem with a chorus that could kill a water buffalo at fifty paces, but it’s the sheer exuberance of their delivery that elevates it to the next level. Also, they had the common courtesy to include a brute of a key change which automatically means it’s illegal for anyone to give this any less than a 9.5/10.

The final performance will remain a moment for the ages, a reminder of what Melodifestivalen can be if it allows its hands to slip from the 10 and 2 position and just have a bit of fun. I look forward to them coming back but I also think they've delivered far more than was required TWICE, and I don't want to risk them running out of ideas and coming back with a 'For You'.
 
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