Step aside Molly Sandén! Just days after advancing direkt till final during Semi-Final 4 of Melodifestivalen 2016, Frans has unseated Molly to become the favourite to win this year’s Melfest.
Back in November, when bookies UNIBET released their first set of odds, Molly was sitting pretty at the top, while Frans languishing near the bottom with odds of 50/1. He sat in 21st position, putting him behind Eclipse, Martin Stenmarck and Linda Bengtzing.
Well on Saturday those three acts all bit the dust, but Frans emerged as Sweden’s latest darling with his simple yet stirring number “If I Were Sorry.” The 17-year old — full name Frans Jeppsson Wall — wore casual clothes and stood in front of a black screen, forgoing choreography to deliver a natural, completely authentic performance. At times the song sounded more chatty than singy, and it really struck a chord with viewers. Frans won the audience poll after the first rehearsal and now the bookies have narrowed his odds to just 2.25 — putting him well ahead of second-place Molly at 4.00.
Oscar Zia, Robin Bengtsson and Wiktoria round out the Top 5.
Are you feeling the hype? Does his simplicity endear him to you — or just leave you a bit bored? Comment below and let us know!
Wiktoiaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
My top 5 1 Wiktoria 2 Oscar Zia 3 Ice Wilder 4 Molly Sanden 4Lisa Ajax 5 Samir & Viktor
My top 5 1 Wiktoria 2 Molly Sanden 3 Ace Wilder 4 Oscar Zia 5 Lisa Ajax/Saraha
Fredrik and Loo are correct. Why compare to Yohio? Nothing similar. The reason Yohio was hyped was due to all the fan-boys trolling Internet about how he is so different and what not. And his look. But outside, in the real world no one wanted him to win. I live in a pretty large Swedish city and everyone I knew didn’t want Yohio to win. Those fan-boys were also the reason he won the tele-voting, nothing else.You honestly think every one thought it was the best song? For such a hyped entry why wasn’t he a bigger hit then? He… Read more »
@Loo and @Sebastien K thank you for the information. I guess it’s cristal clear who will win. I was rooting for Molly, but I’m aware that she could have come up with a better song. Anyway it was fun watching melfest, great concept and great songs. Good luck in May!
@Loo, thanks for all that extra context. Super interesting, and it makes a lot of sense. Every situation is different from the past. Now let’s stop speculating and see what actually happens!
@Alex L I’m also from sweden. 🙂 I also remember Ace being 1st on spotify, but Sana was 2nd. Fun fact is that on Instagram Samir & viktor have together 720k followers, Molly has 560k, Lisa Ajax 224k, Oscar Zia 149k, ISA 90k, Ace wilder 36k, the others have very few. I think this tells alot about their fanbase before this years mello. But i’m sure the new artists Bengtsson, Wiktoria & Frans will get more followers in the future, especially Frans if he start using instagram.
@Alex L. Well there is a big difference here. Yes, you are absolutely right with Ace. Ace toped all the charts at the time of the final. Correct. HOWEVER, Ace was totally unknown for the public before the contest and Sanna is one of our most beloved artists, she is probably the Carola of her generation. Swedes also thought in 2014 that it was her time as it was her 7th time in MF.That was a totally different story. The case with Molly I believe is that the song isn’t strong enough. Molly is one of our biggest and well… Read more »
@Loo you said you are from Sweden so you can help me out with this. Wasn’t Ace a big favourite on 2014? If I recall correctly she was number one on all the online streaming platforms and iTunes. And I remember reading some harsh comments against Sana after the final and even after. People changed their mind that night, right? Clearly Frans is the big favourite so far.. but the hype can vanish quickly, that’s for sure. Yes, I don’t want Frans to win, but I respect that his song seems unique and organic somehow. And I have another question.… Read more »
@Denis You are absolutely right. I think he will be top 3 with the juries and that is all he needs as he will smash the televoting. I believe he will break the all time record in number of votes. Especially as the app probably will work in the final this year.
And to everyone comparing this to Yohio. Do your research before you start to argument about something you obviously has no knowledge about. Frans is a totally different story. Gosh.
The difference between Frans and Yohio is that Yohio’s hype was because of who he was as a person, not the song. Heartbreak Hotel peaked at 8 on the official Swedish chart (the worst peak for a melfest favorite in years.) Frans has huge support because of his song. It will peak at 1. Some people say that If I Were Sorry and the performance is boring, uninteresting etc. But let’s remember that this song got over 500 000 million streams on Spotify the last 24 hours just in Sweden. He conquered the whole Sweden and created all this hype… Read more »
@Fredrik
Yeah i’m the only one..
So the massive landslide he got in the televoting is just my imagination then? lmao
@YAAAAS: No, everyone did not want Yohio to win 2013 – I cannot think of anyone I know that was cheering for Yohio. I guess that you get your impression from the Internet, where Yohio fanboys hyped him.
I have not voted in MF since Loreen won 2012, but this year I will use my 3 mobile subscriptions and vote with the App – I might perhaps also vote using the phone number!
@EugeneESCUK
Well in 2013 eveyone wanted Yohio, he had the same hype as Frans but got almost no points from the juries. I think the same thing could happen this year hopefully.
@Loo stop fooling yourself. Frans will not get more televotes than Måns, this will probably be the “tightest” melfest since 2014 when Sanna won with 2 points.
And yes, I do love “If I were sorry” but Youniverse still has a chance, and I would prefer if we send Youniverse, because France would be a joke in ESC.
Hate to repeat myself but I think Frans will be a smash with both juries and voters. Maybe not such a huge runaway as Måns but still big enough.There’s nothing to suggest the juries will like him less than the audience, don’t know where that comes from. Just because you don’t like the song doesn’t mean the juries won’t like it. They too might see what we Swedes saw and sees.
The hype here is huge around Frans, even bigger than Måns. I think anything but a win would be considered a huge upset
Radios played heroes for months.And if you go to buy a cd with the internationals hits of the year you will find heroes among them! In my country Greece you still can hear heroes on the radios! I also wamt to say that I respect Sweden like a nation(my mother is greek -swede) and Iike a music industry .I voted for Sweden many times.Frans is a good artist but his song is not catchy.so I think that Robin is the best option or Sweden this year.It looks that im the one with this opinion.
@Bella, At this point of their years Euphoria and Heroes didn’t conquer Europe, so you are wrong.. (Indeed, remember Heroes didn’t win the televoting and after two weeks all Europe forget that song, it only sold well in Sweden, Norway and Spain. Euphoria was a massive hit yes.) “If I were sorry” could really work in Europe like it’s happening in Sweden right now. (BTW it’s the only song so far that my friends (no eurovision fans) actually told me this is not like other crap songs you played me, not seems a eurovision song and is very modern and… Read more »
international*
has*
Frans has a bigger hype in Sweden than Måns and Loreen. Maybe not as internatonal, but within the country. People love him.
And also I love Robin’s song. But I want Frans to win as he as, without competition, the best song of the year.
And you say that Frans has a bigger hype than Mans and Loreen had.People are you joking? Euphoria and heroes conquered Europe.They were in top ten in many european charts and in some of them in number one! They also achieve the second and the third highest scoring in eurovision! Frans cant do that! He dont have a good song and a good presentation. Loreen and Mans were superior in many ways.They were perfect!
I cant understand why everyone think suitable for eurovision Ace, Oscar or Frans but not Robin.And the thing that Frans became such a favourite in one night is a bit weird.You think that Frans boring song can achieve .something and you can’t see that Robin is better.
@EugeneESCUK Well I don’t think that the juries will be able to resist Frans. Friends arena will explode next weekend when it’s time for Frans. Not even Loreen or Måns had this much hype (hype isn’t enough to say now btw, he’s a new superstar) and the juries will get the hype and understand that this is what Sweden wants. After all the juries is not ESC-fans, they’re people from the music industry and they will surely enjoy a good song. Frans will probably get running number 7, 9 or 11. Måns got 35 % of the votes yes, but… Read more »
Yes, I agree despite I love “If I were sorry” that was inspire by “Catch and Release” (I really love this song as well, here in Spain it’s very huge right now, and what it’s funny is “Catch and Release has no success in Sweden or at least it didin’t chart there). Anyway, my point was that Frans offers something different and new to Eurovision and I feel it very organic and authentic. I prefer that kind of songs and acts than Euphoria’s copies like “Icebreaker” or all avarage pop ballads we have every year pretending be Loreen or Sia… Read more »
I guess so. “Sorry” came out in October so it’s impossible. Otherwise, Most of melfest (and all NF) are inspired by other songs.
IMO, at least “If I were sorry” brings something new to Eurovision, that’s what matters.
“If I were sorry” was written and presented to SVT before “Sorry” came out.
Overrated song from an overrated country doubles the useless hyping …
I was just having this conversation yesterday. I think it’ll come down to either Wiktoria, Frans or Oscar. Either way id be happy.
But Oscar has it in the bag for me.
Tbh Frans’ song is as boring as it gets. He is really just talking his way through a boring song. Ace Wilder is my personal winner, but that is just cause she is my queen. But Ace has it all. She has an amazing stage number, catchy song and she looks amazing on stage. Otherwise I really like Lisa Ajax, serving some toilet paper realness. Even with the crappy backdrop, she looks amazing and delivers a good performance. MPH is also good, even though she can loose her voice at times. Molly Sandén’s verses are pure amazingness, but the chorus… Read more »
His accent is real, and in any case, isn’t half as ridiculous as Margaret’s Caribbean accent. She’s from Poland!
@Loo
This doesn’t change anything for me because I prefer the American accent.
Well, if he really wins, it will be safe to say that Sweden will be the Austria and the Germany of ESC 2016.
I’ll be happy if he wins, but the lyrics don’t really make much sense, do they?
Why would he rob a post office just because he was sorry? Huh?
I keep thinking he will charm both juries and voters and win by a massive landslide. I don’t think anyone or anything can stop him. As someone said, not even Måns had this much hype last year. Frans is now beyond hype, he’s something new. He’s everywhere. It will take a huge bulldozer to de-throne him.
Well now I have to excuse my DULL english. Ofc. I mean “His “dull” english.” *** Sorry.
And for everyone who criticizes he’s “dull” english. Stop making a fool of yourself. Frans is british. Just watch this interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT6j4UfWQlM
Maybe he will not win the jury voting*
Get over it guys. “If I were sorry” is the best song this year my a mile. I don’t think he will be killed by the juries at all. Maybe he will not win, but as he will be the BIG winner among televoters I think all he need is perhaps to be in top 5 at the juries (which I think he will). The juries understands music and will understand that it’s a GOOD song. Powerful in it’s own simple way. Beautiful. You guys outside Sweden has NO clue how much the song is on the radio now. And… Read more »
Can this Frans hype madness stop already… its ruining my Melfest buzz
Oscar or Molly for the win!
I can understand his appeal to some extent: simple, attractive, boyish, almost naive…but I don’t think he’ll do very well with the juries…my personal fav is Oscar Zia…he’s the whole package. If Frans is chosen, we’ll have another 2013 on our hands. 🙂
Dear swedes, please send Isa!
If Isa will beat Saraha in Andra Chansen, she can be 2nd in final, after Samir & Viktor. Then Panetoz and Boris Rene will be 3rd and 4th.
On 5 March Sweden will carry Andra Chansen and next day Samir & Viktor should be top 3 in odds.
@Leaf
I know that Dolly Style cannot win ESC, but at least their song is not a lullaby.
I like them because I am a big fan of the Japanese culture and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu.
Anyway, Ace’s “Don’t Worry” and MPH’s “Hunger” are my favorite songs of Melodifestivalen 2016. 🙂
@Marie
I think that the older Asian perv vote is not influential enough in Europe for Molly Dolly Polly Lolly and their other synthetic WIG friends to do better at Eurovision.
@Rona’s Hair
There’s some people who think that the finnish song is good, so I’m not surprised that they say that such a pathetic song like “If I Were Sorry” is an amazing song.
Even Dolly Style’s “Rollercoaster” and Samir & Viktor’s “Bada nakna” are better than this trash song.
@ct_greece
Great Minds think alike, neighbor.
As Kaliopi would say: I Love Greece!!!
@Alex: “Frans kind of has the Lena-effect. All performances in Melfest are so blown up and polished and Frans just stands out being authentic and “normal”. That’s why people are hyping it.” Exactly what I was thinking, a minute and a half into his song. At that point, I knew he would at least make Andra Chansen. If the public and juries fall over themselves trying to decide between the odds-on favorites before the contest, and the other surprise finalists (Wiktoria for one), this kid is going to sneak right past them all, and probably win the whole thing by… Read more »
@MGR Are you really serious when you talk about Samir & Viktor? lmao
They will place 8th again like last year. Juries will destroy the song and people know that Bada Nakna is not a ESC song.
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What if Bjorkman orders them to do otherwise?
If I wanted a potato, I would go to the garden and pick out the carrot too. If I wanted a potato.. Are u serious. How could anyone like this song! I’m sorry! It is the worst direkt-til-final this year. I would rather Panetoz over this, which is saying something. Also, Molly S isn’t that disappointing to me, so IDK what people are talking about.