Molly Pettersson Hammar might not have made it out of the Andra Chansen round at Melodifestivalen, but she’s going to perform at Eurovision after all — as one of Ira Losco‘s backing singers. Molly — who co-wrote Ira’s song “Walk On Water” — will join the Maltese backing singers and another Swede on stage at Globen.
TVM reports that Molly is currently rehearsing with Ira and her team in Malta. Molly will be joined by fellow Swede Lars Safsund, who back in 2008 was part of the trio Biondo who placed second in Romania’s national final with the song “Shine”. Ira’s choir will be rounded out by Maltese national final veterans Anna Azzopardi and Pamela Bezzina, an experienced gospel singer.
The production is led by creative director Stephane Boko, who has worked with Madonna, Celine Dion, Cirque du Soleil, as well as working on ceremonies at major sporting events.
Ira will also be joined on stage by the dancer Skorpion, who starred in the “Walk On Water” music video, dancing both on the coast and in a tank of water.
Ira will be wearing a design by Australian stylist Alex Zabotto-Bentley, who has been working with Ira over Skype and in person on the design of the dress. TVM report that the dress is now safely in Stockholm where it is being used in the stand-in rehearsals, with Team Malta due to arrive in Stockholm on Sunday.
Expect something big: Alex has previously worked with Prince, Kylie Minogue and Lady Gaga!
great team definatly malta 2017 well deserved …
@esc2016
of course i won’t forget 🙂
Yeesss im really exciteeeddd!!!They will slay in Stocholm!!! Its my favorite this year!!!!
P.s. rumor has it that Ira is pregnant! Is that true?
@Nicky91
No I will not forget to vote and also you dont forget to vote for Greece
“Shortening “is going to” to “to” doesn’t give the sense of belief for me.”
American here. I can confirm – “Molly to sing backing vocals” means she’s ***definitely*** going to do it. It’s not ambiguous at all.
@still
The Swedes are not a fan of Molly so they will not care if she’s there or not. Molly is very popular on wiwibloggs and that’s about it … Sweden does not give her 12 to Malta because she is on the show
MPH is seriously underrated and deserved some recognition
Backing vocalist have better voice of singers. I think that MPH and other backing vocalist wili be hidden on stage and will not see them. Similar like Sweden 2014, 2012.
That comes as absolutely no surprise to me. My assumption was always that it was Molly P.H. doing the “Ah! Ah! Ah!” parts in the background, starting with the very beginning of the song. She needs to alter the parts where and when the backups sing to allow Ira to shine.
MPH’s present on stage can put the song on higher level. Maybe Malta will slide into my top 15. We will see after rehearsals.
Just a question 😀 Sorry, but I cannot skip it.
Azerbaijan needs some notes also. In which Swedish store can Samra buy them?
I wish it was a duet instead. But at the same time I am happy that Molly will join Ira on stage.
My ten predictive qualifiers from Semi Final 1;
– Malta
– Armenia
– Czech Republic
– Iceland
– Azerbaijan
– Russia
– Croatia
– Hungary
– Bosnia and Herzegovina
– Estonia
With this AMAZING team, everything will come together perfectly! I can now see Ira rivalling Russia to win this Semi Final! For me, Semi Final 1 is all about Malta, Armenia, Russia and Iceland. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they place 1st-4th in this semi and place in the Top Ten in the Final! 🙂 I am very, very happy with this choice as Ira is my absolute favourite this year!! GO FOR THE WIN MALTA!!!! 🙂 😀
To Amiciness
It’s probably because of difference between languages. Shortening “is going to” to “to” doesn’t give the sense of belief for me.
Stellar team! Go Malta!
Yessssss! She totally deserves it! Hope we get to see her in 2017, and possibly win the whole thing 🙂
@Olga…(the one from Latvia): “Molly *to* sing backing vocals” is kinda just a shorthand way of saying “Molly *is going to* sing backing vocals” which is the same as using “will.” 🙂
Anyway, I’m thrilled Molly is in Eurovision! She’ll be a great addition to Ira’s performance. I do hope she’s not hidden in the darkness. Or behind a giant prop a la Russia 2014. :))
So first Brequette and now Molly, good to see two fan favourites in the Eurovision stage, at least as backing singers 😛 Hopefully one day we’ll see them taking the stage by themselves!
That’s indeed great news for Malta and glad for Molly because she will be on the ESC stage, too. I really love “Walk on Water” and I have it in my Top 10. I just wish to see amazing performance by them now. Good luck to sunny Malta.
@Briekimchi: How dare you? She is representing Malta, and Ira is an amazing singer. Yes you love Molly, I do as well, but that was rude indeed.
@Briekimchi
or maybe Molly thinks Ira is a good singer and wants to support her as a backing singer
you can’t deny that Ira is a good singer/performer, but only not in the high notes, that’s not too bad because Molly can hit the high note, and they can work as a team 🙂
Okay, I’ve always wanted to say this, so now is the time…
Of course, I’m not English language expert but, when I read “Molly *TO* sing backing vocals” it seems like it’s not officially announced yet, like it’s only an idea. I’ve seen this only in Eurovision bloggs and used by fans and for me it seems like a language parasyte. As far as I know, it should be *WILL*, so when reading it, we’re 100% sure about it, but *To*… It feels like that is not accepted yet. Correct me if I’m wrong.
@oliverisamazing – Agreed. Why not just have MPH sing the whole song for her? Ira can just stand at the back, pouting seductively as she does….
Wow, backing vocals, what an honour.
@ESCFAN
don’t worry they’ll get my vote from the Netherlands 🙂 🙂
and just relax and hopefully enjoy the performance
This is good news, but Ira is actually an outstanding singer, so the backing vocalists will not outshine her. Her performances in the live event were always great so no one can really complain.
All of you guys are mentioning Molly, who is amazing, don’t forget she has Pamela and Anna which are outstanding. Coupling them with Ira will be just WOW. Please vote for Malta, guys, it would mean the world to us 🙂
Hmm, I wonder if Pamela Bezzina is somehow related to Gianluca Bezzina.
YASSSS!!!!
Congrats to Molly! I think it is what we all wanted and expected to see anyway, but still an awesome little surprise. This performance should be epic with such talented and esteemed professionals working on it.
Snaps for Malta!
@#eurovision2016
same thoughts as me, but of course i’m not gonna be overconfident, having said that this does make me feel positive about this year 🙂
@Sandy
I agree she has a couple of quite well known talents joining her on stage. That will surely increase her chances to qualify
After I read this article, just one comment: MALTA 2017
@error
yeah i’ve noticed it as well, and i think Molly and Ira could work together just fine
@georgekirkas
yeah, i think Czech Republic could win over my vote 🙂
@ Sandy In the video Ira is not seen singing the high note, and if you listen carefully, it is not even her voice!! When she sang live, she was singing another note over the high note. I hope no one expects her to sing two notes at the same time. Ira cannot be expected to sing both her part and the backing vocalists’s parts and do Skorpion’s moves. I know she is a good singer, but she is not that good 😉
@Sandy
you can also look at it like that, well the addition of Molly was done to play to Ira’s advantage, then Ira can sing all the other parts hopefully just slay on stage, while Molly can do the high note, also having her moment to shine
Ira is a good singer, and Molly is a good singer but different qualities, and they both are a strong team 🙂
@Nicky91
In the beginning, I didn’t really like Czech Republic’s song this year but now I love it! I watched the live performance and Gabriela’s vocals slay!
It seems that the backing vocalists (Molly) & the professional dancer (Skorpion) are gonna outshine Ira. I know it’s team work but to me she’s playing it safe by getting other people to do the difficult parts for her cause she struggles with it or doesn’t want to take the risk. Was the song even written for her? There’s only one high
note so why is she not intending to sing it herself? They should of kept the high note out if she can only sing low notes.
God bless Molly’s try-had ass.
@Jan
i know, but Czech republic is very underrated this year, Gabriela is a stunning looking good singer, i like her control in her voice, her voice reminds me of our dutch singer ilse de lange ( from the common linnets), who also has this kind of voice 🙂
and this news on Malta was just a confirmation on one of the 4 backing singers 🙂
@Nicky91
Thanks I know 🙂
I have nothing agains Ira… Just WIWI posts too much about Malta even less important things and on the other hand they forgot to inform about such important thing as 1ST live performance is… Thats my point.. I hope in report from EuroParty today.. One of WIWI bloggers studies in Czech R. so he might be there…
@Jan
well you can be proud of Gabriela, she performed Saturday at Malta eurovision party, and she really sang great, i loved her performance 🙂
she also did sing in a sort of group performance with Hovi, Sanja and Ira, they sang really good singing Come Together, it sounded pretty good 🙂
good luck to you Jan, and to Gabriela 🙂
I have really feeling that there are too many articles about Malta.. There has been no any article about 1st live performance of Gabriela.. Hope there will be comprehensive report from today Czech EuroParty and interview.. Hopefully Gabriela is going to sing today.. It was sure think but she told something in sense that she would not sing during party on Czech TV morning show today..
@oooops
well Ira and Molly have very different voices, so we can’t compare them, but Molly will make the song better, and that’s what a backing singer must do, improve the song
let’s hope Ira and Molly will slay in may 🙂 🙂
@Still
well i really hope their 12 points go to Malta, instead of cliche Russia
and yeah i hope Molly will get some camera time as well on stage
@Antranig Shokayan
this is real teamwork, Molly will shine with the high note and Ira will slay with the lower notes and the chorus, and don’t forget Skorpion dancer, it will be nice seeing him on the eurovision stage as well 🙂
Molly is a great singer, maybe even better than Ira, Molly would be a good backing singer for “Walk on water”
This is the single greatest thing to happen ever.
Eugene you forgot to mention one of the three horses in the race, Sweden 😉 Sorry, but Sweden is ahead of Australia for multiple reasons.
YEEEEY! Molly 😀
So I guess we know where is the Swedish 12p going to in the First Semi. Love MPH <3 I hope she'll get at least a couple frames of camera time
@oooops
and what do you think about Molly as a backing singer? and Skorpion’s moves on stage 🙂