One is a Melodifestivalen veteran and the other is a newcomer to the Eurovision scene. But YOHIO and Ellen Benediktson have both survived the first semi-final in Malmö and will proceed direct to the final in Friends Arena. Let’s review the first set of Melodiestivalen results!
Qualifiers
YOHIO with “To the End”
Bedecked in black and gold sequins, YOHIO looked liked a futuristic vision of Michael Jackson. His song “To the End” is much more mainstream than “Heartbreak Hotel” was last year. But YOHIO is staying true to his style. He wore a purplish pink cape and kept his funky hair. He may be toned down this year, but the glam rocker is alive and kicking!
Ellen Benediktson with “Songbird”
Eighteen-year-old Ellen Benediktson has demonstrated confidence far beyond her years this week and appears to be flourishing before our eyes. She cares less about the drama and fame than she does about her music, and it’s lovely. Her number “Songbirds” is quiet, but powerful. Voters clearly responded!
Andra Chansen
Helena Paparizou with “Survivor”
Perhaps the biggest news out of tonight’s semi-final is that Helena Paparizou, the winner of Eurovision 2005, will not be going straight to the final. She has been relegated to the second chance round. But don’t get too stressed. As she says in her song she is a survivor, and we know that Miss Paparizou knows how to fight!
Linus Svenning with “Bröder” (Brothers)
YouTube cover star Linus Svenning was listed as the third-favourite by the bookies, who seem to have got his ranking just right. His number is quiet and mellow, and worked really well with the hand-held lighting devices. It’ll be interesting to see how he fares in the second chance round.
Eliminated Acts
The producers don’t reveal who finished first, second, third and fourth, but they do fill us in on those who didn’t fare so well.
5. Elisa Lindström with “Casanova”
The first problem was the song. The second problem was the clothing. This number was vintage schlager, but in more of a dirty thrift store way than a chic, vintage Gucci kind of way. Good voice. Good moves. Better luck next time. You’re lovely even if the song was not.
6. Alvaro Estrella with “Bedroom”
His vulgur lyrics about having sex on a coffee table did not impress us, nor did it impress the Swedes. But it’s amazing that IKEA now makes such strong furniture…PS Farid Mammdov called. He wants his glass cabinet back!
7. Mahan Moin with “Aleo”
Watch out for this one. She’s got the looks, the voice, and the dance moves to be a contender. Just not this year. The song was a bit too Tooji. And so were those dancers…
8. Sylvester Schlegel “Bygdens son”
Sly looked very cute on stage in that red-and-blue striped coat with top hat. We’re fairly certain Alice saw him in Wonderland. Sadly his fairy tale did not have a happy ending tonight and he came last 🙁
Do you think Helena will be able to pull through Second Chance? Are you thrilled for Ellen? Let us know in the comments box below!
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I didn’t want to hope too much for Ellen incase of being disappointed 😛 I’m so glad Sweden saw her and quickly dismissed Elisa (though she was my guilty pleasure lol) But yaaaaaay, superb choice!! It will be interesting to see Helena battle it out in the 2nd chance round. Love Yohio too. Awesome staging and pretty solid song 🙂
@Melissa J: No and for one reason! No one cares! The most important thing and the reason behind all this is the music taking part of! If anyone is more drawn into judging anything else but the music … it means the music does not mean anything. Although I fully understand your opinion and although I loved the tablet moment under the host skirt (BIG LOOOL) …at the end of the day, it’s irrelevant the quality of the hosting this year (I mean having Danny getting undressed over and over again is it sign of great hosting?? Or just a… Read more »
@Alex: I could not agree with you more. You’ve made the most accurate and trustworthy complement to Songbird. Despite not knowing Ellen, for someone who is a debutante in this whole Eurovision-lead-up-to-circus …to be able to captivate so many voters with just that one song, just that one performance in only 3 minutes, it’s out of this world. Only because of this, I can honestly say that she is a force to be reckon with. Sanna and all the others should feel intimidated … And if people want to start comparing her to Anouk, fine .. they can even do… Read more »
Is anyone going to talk about how bland the hosts are this year and the disappointing lack of any real opening/interval act? You can tell me there’s not one awesome Swedish pop artist that would have been able to perform for the interval. I really miss Gina and Danny from last year–great hosts that kept me entertained, had good rapport, and even sang a bit for us. This year, the humor seems a bit forced and there’s no chemistry(of a platonic nature, I mean) between the hosts at all! I get what they were trying to do with the opening… Read more »
I have only one word for Ellen: YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!
After almost 10 years of a dreadful schlager decade … it’s so good to see Sweden finally giving credit to great songs … and Ellen is worth of such merit. 🙂 There is still hope!
🙂
Why do you all have to compare Survivor with My number one? Of course Survivor is nothing like My number one but last night’s fight wasn’t between these 2 songs. The song may not be that brilliant but, compared to the others, Helena had the best one and it wasn’t fair at all that she didn’t go straight into the final.
@ Dhani.
Grow up and leave the hate at home. YOHIO came and did a job & the Swedish public chose him to go direct to the final. YOHIO put on a more polished performance than he did last year, sounding more confident.
For you to say you want to kill him is very weak. I personally had YOHIO as my favourite and I hope he goes on to bigger and better things.
Last year, Robin won after passing through the AndraChansen. This could be repeated again. Why not?
yohio has a flat schlager popsong. those who calls it rock, really should step out of their pink pop-world
@Carolos, of course it is something. It’s a pop song ????
Helena sang “ask me for a second chance” (one of the lines of “Survivor”).
Be careful what you wish for
HELENA PAPARIZOU IS SURVIVOR! GO HELENA! GO!
Now that I have listened to them properly, I personally liked “Aleo”. The others were just awful and needed to be fisted with a pineapple.
Hero + Alive = Survivor
Helena will be the runaway qualifier from “Andra Chansen”! 😀
“Aleo”. My little guilty pleasure. So good that I didn’t need to wait in order to download it or hear it again, for that matter.
I’m happy about “Brother” – it was really emotional.
Everything else – mediocre at best. Helena’s song can easily go down the drains, if you ask me. She IS great, but that song – yup, down the drains.
I used to love “Bedroom” but what kind of singing that was, please? Give that to someone who can sing. I’ll listen the studio version of it. Polished.
The performance that gave Ellen a spot this year…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dhPz9xLu6I
The reason Helena did not advance is because her song is not good. It’s not a dance song. it’s not a ballad. It’s not rock. it’s nothing really
Oops, I confused Ellen and Elisa in my post – my bad.
Helena’s song is quite frankly over rated, I was anticipating it but I was sorely disappointed… I think it’s a pretty boring song. It lacks the effectiveness of ‘My number one’. I didn’t really feel Ellen’s song either and found it boring. Overall I wasn’t that impressed with this semi… good show of course though as it is Sweden 😛
I wanted Linus to Final 🙁
Hope he’ll make it trough the second chance….
Anyways, i like the finalists actually 😀
Yohio had an amazing song and a nice performance.
Ellen had a beautiful ballad. Not as beautiful as Linus tough, but i love this one 🙂
Can’t wait for next week ^_^
And yes, Songbird was my #1 of the night, if only barely above Helena. Shades of Adele and Anouk, but still an elegant performance of her own. Now if she could be a little more lyrical with her vocals, she could really be a force during the Final.
I ranked YOHIO as 3rd and Helena as 2nd, but Elisa as first. Either way, I’m happy with these results. Helena will probably bust through the second chance round – she was confident, sounded great, and her song was fairly strong. Too many backup vocals though? I’m really happy that Elisa got there, even if her voice isn’t totally perfect. She was still really good and had quite a marvelous song. I wouldn’t expect her to win the contest, though. YOHIO was great too, and somewhat unexpectedly. His vocals have improved 100% since last year and he sang a song… Read more »
Aleo had to pass to the final. -_-
I’m not surprised Helena didn’t go to the final. Let’s face it, Helena is better than the song. Survivor is not bad but it’s nowhere as good as My Number One.
I’m furious about Helena not going straight to the final. Her song was the best of them all
i wanna kill yohio right now damn i hate him so much
I AM SO MAD AND ANGRY RIGHT NOW, HOW CAN SWEDEN NOT SEND HELENA PAPARIZOU THROUGH????? SHE HAS AN AMAZING AND STRONG SONG WHICH CAN WIN IN COPENHAGEN!!!
YOHIO HAS A MEDIOCRE, FLAT STUPID SONG AND HE IS THE MOST ARROGANT LITTLE **#*#* I HAVE EVER SEEN !!!!
( at least sweden is not completely tone deaf , for sending Ellen directly to the final, but IT SHOULD’VE BEEN WITH HELENA!!!!)
I would have been much happier had Helena gone to the final with Ellen to Andra Chansen but otherwise I’m very pleased with these results. This time, in my opinion, Yohio deserved the votes he got. The song might be safer but I like the mood and the melody.
Ellen was good…but Helena absolutely killed it on stage..
I’m sad Elisa was eliminated, but Ellen being able to take down Helena makes me feel so much better. #TeamEllen
I was hoping it would be the other way around with Helena Paparizou as the 2nd qualifier to the Final and Ellen being in the Andra Chansen round. But I am still happy with this outcome at least we get to here Helena again.