Hej, Sverige! The wait is almost over and the quest to find out who is going to follow Robin Bengtsson as the winner of Melodifestivalen 2018 is about to begin.
The long awaited Swedish national final starts this Saturday in the beautiful city of Karlstad. Amongst the acts is the return of fan-favourite Benjamin Ingrosso.
However, he is not the only one that will kick of the festivities. The Good Lovin’ star will be joined by Kikki Danielsson on her ninth Melfest appearance, dancer Sigrid Bernson, artist and athletics sprinter John Lundvik, television personality Edward Blom, 20 year old newcomer Renaida and Norwegian sensation Kamferdrops.
Expect glitter and fabulousness! Don’t believe us? Well, SVT have got us covered. At 19:00 CET tonight, you’ll be able to watch snippets from each act’s rehearsals. For now though, SVT has released a minute of each song for you to judge so far!
You can listen to all the semi-final 1 snippets by clicking the links below:
MELODIFESTIVALEN 2018: DELTÄVLING 1 KARLSTAD
1. SIGRID BERNSON – “PATRICK SWAYZE”
2. JOHN LUNDVIK– “MY TURN”
3. RENAIDA – “ALL THE FEELS”
4. EDWARD BLOM – “LIVET PA EN PINNE”
5. KIKKI DANIELSSON – “OSBY TENNESSEE”
6. KAMFERDROPS – “SOLEN LEVER KVAR HOS DIG”
7. BENJAMIN INGROSSO – “DANCE YOU OFF”
What are your thoughts on each song? Who do you think is in with a shot of making it direct to the final? Shout out your thoughts in the comments section below!
1. Sigrid Bernson — Absolute DRIVEL 2. John Lundvik — As far as i’m concerned, SEND THIS TO EUROVISION – beautiful emotion in his voice and HIGH quality 3. Renaida — Using an “en vogue” cliche as the basis of a song is never effective, but vocally it should go through 4. Edward Blom — Perhaps would’ve done well at Eurovision 30-40 years ago, but i can’t see it doing anything now 5. Kikki Danielsson — Even through the Swedish, it evokes a certain sentimentality that I appreciate, but again, I can’t see this doing anything at Eurovision 6. Kamferdrops… Read more »
After first listen nothing stood out to me. Its a pretty weak semi final. After multiple listens I think I like Sigrid’s song the best. Benjamin’s is kind of a let down
Also it is worth noting that when we say its a weak Melfest semi, we aren’t comparing it to other country’s selections, we’re comparing it other Melfest semis. Yes, we know these would be stand outs in other countries, but compared to what we typically get from Sweden, these are a bit weaker than average
A rather weak SF. At first listen nobody screams winner for me, though John Lundvik voice sounds really interesting. At first listen:
1. John Lundvik
2. Bejamin Ingrosso
3. Kamferdrops
4. Renaida
5. Sigrid Berson
6. Kikki Danielsson
7. Edward Blom
I’m not sad at all that I’ll miss this semi-final. None of the songs wowed me enough. But if I had to make my top 7, then:
1. Sigrid Bernson
2. Renaida
3. John Lundvik
4. Benjamin Ingrosso
5. Kamferdrops
6/7. Kikki Danielsson and Edward Blom – I dislike both songs.
Why everyone likes Kamferdrops? It’s bland like a background music in a store or an elevator. It’s mellow but in teh end forgettable.
Oh my god this Melodifestivalen bashing is so exhausting. We all know if these songs were in any other country’s national final you’d be calling them possible Eurovision winners. Just because it’s Sweden we have to bash everything. We’ll see who’s laughing when Sweden gets another top five placing.
I’m a huge MF fan (I only watch Melfest no other NF) but even I have to admit this semi is pretty weak. That doesn’t mean the others won’t be strong. There is usually one weak SF every year
“We all know” – no we don’t – I don’t see why should you assume that. Kudos to Sweden for getting it right most of the time, but it’s quite unlikely that it will get a top five placing with any of these songs.
Renaida, Kamferdrops, and Benjamin all sound great. I don’t mind John too. Sigrid’s song isn’t horrible but she is a terrible singer. Edward and Kikki have no place in this competition.
Edward Blom for the win
I don’t think that the songs are weak, in every other national final such songs would be among the leaders (except for Kikki and Edward, maybe John Lundvik). The biggest problem is that the most of the rest songs are very generic and unoriginal, there are not many difference among them. The pleasant exception is Kampferdrops, hope they will qualify directly !
By watching the snippets and the rehearsal clips here’s my temporary top 7:
1. Kamferdrops
2. Kikki Danielsson
3. John Lundvik
4. Benjamin Ingrosso
5. Sigrid Bernsson
6. Renaida
7. Edward Blom
My also temporary prediction:
1. Kamferdrops
2. Benjamin
3. John
4. Sigrid/Renaida
5. Renaida/ Sigrid
6. Edward
7. Kikki
The only standout song here is Kamferdrops from the little I’ve heard till now.
On the plus side, there is no doubt Melodifestivalen is a great show and it is wonderful that the Swedes and many ESC fans love the show and its relation with Eurovision. I certainly look forward to watching it and SVT does a great job. I am sure they will too this year. Many countries look to Sweden as a formula for seeking success in the ESC, the more the better. On the whole every year Sweden has a great line up of songs, but they also have a handful of awful songs. I can see this in the first… Read more »
Top 3
Kamferdrops–liked from the get go; liking the sax. Likely direkt til final.
Benjamin–not bad, but not great. Likely andra chansen.
Renaida–somewhat catchy, but cliche. Likely andra chansen or direkt til final.
Honourable mention: John Lundvik. Likely andra chansen.
The others do nothing for me.
Melfest bashing time starts. If these songs are bad, most of other national finals are abysmal. But I have to say most of these songs are current but not original enough.
My turn is really good so far
John Lundviks song is better than the song Spain selected..
I’ll just skip this show, entirely.
What’s going on Purple Mask?
I’m agreeing with you again..
John Ludvig……What a voice and I have a feeling this song WILL build and build…
Also quite like Kikki’s authentic country song
Quality will out!!
Most comments don’t seem to get MF. They think it’s only about finding a winner. It is not just about that. As the title says it is a festival of songs. It’s about having a good time and being entertained through music. That is the main purpose and that is what Björkman is paid for to provide.
Swedes know a winner wont come from the first semi. That is not why we are watching it, we watch it because we know the songs will be fun and entertaining.
Exakt. I år verkar underhållning vara än mer viktigt! Locka anti-mello tittare med Edvard Blom, Kamferdrops, och lite annat smått och gott, mixat med hög kvalité. Kommer bli trevliga lördagar! : )
Denis, har du mellopyntat, fixat melloljustaken och planerat mellotårtan och fixat bubblet till champagneglasen ännu? Vad är väll julafton mot mello?
; )
Thanks Denis. Few viewers give a thought about ESC before sometime into the final night and most vote by their hearts in each semi without much consideration of the other semis. And rightfully so as the show would be unbearable otherwise.
I think this will be good entertainenmen, and many will be interesed to wach this year.
Eller vad tycker ni svenskar? Lockar unga och gamla, lite tok, lite nostalgi. Men bra. Lagom bra! 🙂
Snart dags att mellopynta och fixa melloljusstaken med dottern!
Ingrosso och kamferdropps gillar jag mest. Men tror mååånga kommer rösta på Edvard Blom och Kicki! : )
Are you trying to tell me that Edward Blom was among the 28 best songs when thousands of songs were submitted? Come on…
Very disappointed from the first semi, especially from Benjamin Ingrosso… I cannot even make my ranking, sorry… Waiting for the other semis (MARIETTE FTW)
Are you trying to tell me that you don’t even know what is Melodifestivalen about ? It’s not about 28 best songs, it’s all about variety
7. Edward Blom
6. John Ludvik
5. Kikki
4. Renaida
3. Sigrid Bernson
2. Benjamin Ingrosso
1. Kamferdrops
I really like Kamferdrops and Benjamin. Renaida and Sigrid are cool, bot nothing special. Kikki is not my style, John is soo boring, no charisma, and Edward’s song is to wtf.
KAMFERDROPS IS SO GOOD! I’m bit dissapointed in Benjamin, but I still wanna see him in the final bcs he’s cute
Very surprised with Renaidas song, for me its the best in this heat. What a hit it sounds like.. Benjamins song gives me nothing at all but I guess its still improvement from last years mess..
What I want
1. Renaida
2. Kamferdrops
3. Edward Blom
4. Sigrid Bernsson
What I believe
1. Benjamin Ingrosso
2. Edward Blom
3. Kamferdrops
4. Renaida
Will probably send 5 votes for Renaida, Kamferdrops and Edward
Kamferdrops is the only decent song for me,the rest is pure generic trash
Nothing special so far. Maybe at least a couple of them have creative staging.
Here’s my guess!
Direkt till finalen:
Benjamin Ingrosso
Kamferdrops
Andra chansen:
John Lundvik
Sigrid Bernson or Renaida
I could see Kamferdrops or Renaida switching places as well…? I dunno.
IMO nothing really stands out here…
The clips have been out for less than 2 hours and everybody here in Sweden are already complaining lol.
But seriously, the winner is rarely in semifinal 1. The last one was Loreen in 2012. Loreen would’ve also supposedly won last year in semifinal 4 (according to Björkman) but even though Nano won the Swedish ppls votes, most of the winners are from semi 3 or 4. So don’t worry y’all 🙂
I feel like they do this to sabotage some artists. They put all the strong songs in two semi-finals and they make two other semis filled with flops.
Same. I have a friend whose cousin works with melfest and she said the strongest artists are usually in the latter semifinals to attract more viewers and more votes to radiohjälpen (this has lacked since the app came along)
John Lundvik, wow. Am I the only one who thinks he’s the best of this bunch?
I do. I think he has great potential. According to swedish press too. To bad he’s been given the unlucky nr.2 spot.
Well Milla it’s just 7 songs so it doesn’t really matter where it is. Didn’t Verona and many other NF songs overwhelmingly win by singing 2nd?
In Melfest.. yes it does. That spot have been diffcult to advance from and is usually given to someone that they don’t believe in much. They just don’t say it out loud.
He is good : )
I don’t know if I’m right but if last year Nano (the best) was in the first semifinal, and Loreen (one of the worst, worse than Anton) was in the last, this is not looking good for Sweden. The Nano-quality should’ve been here in the first semifinal.
This year’s Nano is Martin and I think he start the thirt semi. Not sure. : )
I don’t get Melfest system at all… Benjamin’s song was described as 100% odd/unusual, but are you kidding ?! His song is very generic, almost like every pop song released in 2017
I expected something more unique from Kamferdrops, but unfortunately her entry is generic like Renaida and Sigrid, Benjamin is great, radio friendly, and it gives me “attention” Charlie Puth vibes, I don’t think there’s a winner here, although I’m sure the songs will grow on me. And again people are overlooking Melfest for a winner… Just enjoy.
John Ludvik is underrated af!
These song aren’t bad at all and don’t deserve the hate they get but I have to agree that the winner of this years Melodifestivalen probably isn’t in SF 1
Benjamin Ingrosso has the best snippet but it remains quite weak for Eurovision.
I have no doubt there will be better stuff in second and third semi
1 kamferdrops
2 benjamin ingrosso
3 sigrid
4 john lundvik
Haha and then it started – complaining about Melfest level. I think that many countries would like to have some of these songs in their preselections. Benjamin and Renaida the best for me
Yes, if you look at it that way! 😀
I understand you are happy about music from Sweden, but no, no country would’ve wanted these songs in their selection. Maybe other semifinals are better.
These songs are so bad that I think Sweden is losing it, such songs should’t be in Mello in the first place.
Awful. Their winner is not coming from here. Actually want Edward to win this semi-final due to how bad this is.
Elevator music for the 21st century
I have the feeling Benjamin Ingrosso is serving us the same song than last year, this is clearly really similar to me…..
Wow…not the most impressive way to start THE fest
Perhaps these songs are builders that get better in the back half
I hope there’s better stuff coming
The staging on these need to be top-notch to make up for the songs
No way Christer sees this lot as his way to another victory
melfest is boring this year there is no winner in sweden
You know there are three more semi finals right?
yep still don’t see the esc winner coming from sweden imo
Did anyone in 2015 until Måns performed in the last slot in the last semi final?
Based on…
Kikki and edward are out:
Renaida/John lundvik will join them
Benjamin through to final
Kamferdrops/Sigrid will join him.
My perception from this.
I’m quite underwhelmed with this semi… If one of these songs win, Sweden could be only a borderline qualifier.
Not a winner here.
Benjamin Ingrosso should easily make the final out of these seven, but the second spot is probably up for grabs between Sigrid Bernson and Kamferdrops. Sigrid probably will get the short straw due to her opening the semifinal, but you never know.
1) Benjamin Ingrosso
2) Sigrid Bernson
3) Kamferdrops
4) John Lundvik
5) Renaida
6) Kikki Danielsson
7) Edward Blom
Benjamin Ingrosso’s song is pretty good but I could imagine that it sounds gruesome on stage.
Very weak level for melfest , the winner is certainly not here.
I thought last years semifinal was weak as well..
*First semifinal.
Well last year’s winner was in the first semifinal. The winner in the eyes of the public.
No he wasn’t? Robin Bengtsson came out of semifinal 3
OH WAIT I got it now I’m dumb nvm me
Yeah. One song among six quite bad. However.. was never a huge fan of Nano’s Hold on because of the weak vocals in the chorus. And it was repetative.
They saved the best for last in my opinion. Loreen.
My Turn by John Lundvik is the best here! It’s something like an American Idol winning song ??
Definitely not the strongest semi. I think Benjamin will easily win this. I think John is second.
Sigrid Bernson – completely lifeless
John Ludvik – more boring than Martina Bárta’s song of the same title
Renaida – basic, unimpressive
Edward Blom – county fair music
Kikki Danielsson – Joanne her impact
Kamferdrops – can barely hear her voice over that generic tropical house beat
Benjamin Ingrosso – sounds like Attention by Charlie Puth but much worse
Weak semi-final tbh.