Face, body, sex and attitude were all on show tonight in Malmö as seven acts fought it out in the second semi-final of Melodifestivalen 2017. Mariette and Benjamin Ingrosso killed it with “A Million Years” and “Good Lovin'” and are headed straight to the final at Friends Arena on 11 March. Dismissed (“Hearts Align”) and Lisa Ajax (“I Don’t Give A”) came close to the final, but will have to win a duel at Andra Chansen on March 4 to get there.
SEMI-FINAL 1 QUALIFIERS: DIREKT TIL FINAL
MARIETTE – “A MILLION YEARS“
She stood alone — until her dancers sprung up attached to bungee cords. They hung tight and, owing to slow-mo camera cuts, appeared to float across the screen like spirits or ghosts. Mariette’s vocals were on point and she stared so deep into the camera we worried she might see us naked. Dressed in all white, she looked pure and serene — but there was power beneath the cool surface. She managed to give us weight while making things feel light. This is how you slay.
BENJAMIN INGROSSO – “GOOD LOVIN’“
Standing in front of a wall of tin foil, Benjamin gave the impression that he was marinating in hot sauce — he looked delicious and packed just the right amount of kick. Vocally he held his own and those dance moves were everything. He oozes sex from every orifice and has a kind spirit that makes him inviting. This star has taken his place in the sky. Look up, y’all!
SEMI-FINAL 1 QUALIFIERS: ANDRA CHANSEN
LISA AJAX – “I DON’T GIVE A“
She’s been at the centre of a controversy surrounding her four-letter lyrics. But Lisa was completely unfazed by it all, delivering a sound performance that showed off her powerful vocals and evolving sound. Owing to her natural beauty and inviting face, producers showcased Lisa in the LED background wearing a silver sparkle crop top as she stood centre stage dropping the F-bomb into a wind machine. This performance was somehow sweet and inviting despite the language, proving that the girl-next-door can swear, too.
DISMISSED – “HEARTS ALIGN“
If you liked pop-rock band State of Drama at Melodifestivalen 2013 and 2014, then you’ll love Dismissed — who take pop-rock, dress it in drag and then start the party. This was edgy and outré and yet had a modern, mainstream sound. They may be androgynous glam rockers, but that adds to the performance rather than distracting from it. At the end of the day they know how to sing and they know how to vogue, and they won over plenty of new fans — including us.
Eliminated acts
5. ROGER PONTARE – HIMMEL OCH HAV
Roger promised something epic and he brought just that — replete with lit torches, heavy drumming and an uplifting tribal spirit. Perfect for the soundtrack of an animated blockbuster (we’re thinking a sequel to Pocahontas), this had charm in spades. Melodifestivalen fans may have felt the aura of Jon Henrik Fjällgren, perhaps the country’s most famous Sami performer who finished second at Melodifestivalen 2015.
6. ETZIA – “UP“
Etzia slipped into a skin-tight cat suit, showing off her gym-honed legs and pear-shaped figure. Melfest does a body good, clearly! But this was all about the music and she invited us to close our eyes and take in that Calypso realness. Her high-spirited number got feet tapping and her dancers added enough flair to make this feel like a fiesta. It didn’t quite carry that energy through the entire three minutes, but she can be proud of this fun performance.
7. ALLYAWAN – “VART HAR DU VART“
In a country that isn’t known for rap, Allyawan did what he could to prove Sweden can work any genre. The performance featured a lot of dark lights and was anchored around Allyawan’s words and charisma. We don’t speak Swedish so that prevents us from throwing ourselves fully into this. But this much we know: Allyawan can perform!
Did your favourites make it through? Do you think either of the Andra Chansen acts have what it takes to advance to the final? Let us know in the comments box below!
Mark, what do you mean? He is 19 years old. Talk about his music insted of his pearonallity. I can see that he is more teenst when he need to make interwievs in english and espacially when a reporter begins to talk about his family. Benjamin comes from one of swedens most wellknown family whith susessfull actors and singers. Grandmother, unkels, mother etc. When he was a kid he had no chanse to avoid to see how the newpapers first pages was writing about what his father had done against his mother. When wiwibloggs talk about them, it’s offcourse difficult.… Read more »
Benjamin is just a little awkward
@Mar: Absolutely. I thought Jon Henrik’s fans would be a big factor in getting Roger to A.C. or the final. Where were they?
It was 5:02 A.M. in NYC as I started to type this, but the server went down before I could deliver it. So, once again, I’m late with this. I have yet to watch the first semi of Eesti Laul and the 2nd semi of A Dal, and I have not looked at the results anywhere, though I’m sure Elina and Gabi made it through. I went straight to the bottom of this thread to throw in my 2 cents of what I saw in the 3rd round of MF. Again, I’m using 8 criteria for my scorecard. 9.475 Roger… Read more »
Mariette is way above the rest in Melodifestivalen so far.
The right songs qualified in my opinion.
A recomendation for wiwibloggs. Don’t talat too much whith Benjamin about his family. I think it is rather importent fore him that he don’t get sucess because he comes from a family whith a lott of stars in music and acting.
William Lee Adams: “…he oozes sex from every orifice.”
I should collect all of these quotes, and then write a song dedicated to William for entry into Melfest! 😀
(“We wish he was our father” would probably be the title.) xx
Judging from the app votes (i.e. when the heart was beating the fastest) Benjamin and Lisa should’ve gone direct;
Benjamin’s lasted around 1:52
Lisa’s lasted around 1:47
whereas Mariette’s only lasted around 1:37
This Melfest so far has been pretty mediocre. Glad Mariette got through, she was easily the best in this semi. Lisa and Dismissed were clearly at least making AC. I do not however get the hype behind Benjamin, the song imo is awful. He barely should have got to AC in my opinion. Roger Pontare would have been a better finalist.
Benjaminnnn <333333
I'm waiting for Wiktoria 🙂
Benjaminnnn <333333
I'm waiting for Wiktoria 🙂
Mariette has a great song. I think it is much better than “Don’t stop believing”.
“Himmel Och Hav” was great. Deserved to go further. Surprised Simon Cowell’s lovechild managed to get directly through…
From Singapore here. Just watched the whole thing and here are my thoughts: Mariette: Truly expected for her to qualify. Sure, the song was somewhat weak compared to “Don’t Stop Believing”, but man, the performance was excellent. Love the bungee dancers in the background. Benjamin Ingrosso: Tbf I was expecting him to qualify but not directly. The song doesn’t convince me, but I feel it suits more to the Swedish audience who I feel definitely enjoyed it more. Lisa Ajax: F-bombs aside, I enjoyed the performance a lot, although compared to “My Heart Wants Me Dead”, I felt it was… Read more »
I have to say the snippets didn’t do Mariette’s song any justice – the full version sounds dope. And I applaud her for changing up her look so much while managing to stay true to her aesthetic. Also, happy to see suspended dancers – been asking for years why this hasn’t been done more in Melfest/Eurovision – definitely adds drama to the production. Lisa Ajax is terribly underrated. I absolutely adore her – she oozes confidence and completely commands the stage when she’s on it. I’m not sure who her inspiration is but I’m getting Rihanna meets a vocally capable… Read more »
“He oozes sex from every orifice.”
Ew.
Roger was my favorite of the night, he was so robbed!
Needless to say, Mariette just nailed it….
Im afraid that Lisa Ajax will get that Isa-disease (regarding performance, andra chansen result etc.)…
Im cant wait to see more from Robin Bengtsson, Wiktoria and Loreen..
My final’s top so far
1. Mariette
2. Ace Wilder
3. Benjamin Ingrosso
4. Nano
Predicted this exact result, no surprises here. Glad the Swedish people liked Dismissed enough to send them to the 2nd chance, I think they deserved it. 🙂 Mariette was amazing!
Lol at people thinking Benjamin Ingrosso is the new Frans. He’s far from it. Frans brought something new to the contest, Ingrosso re hatches what’s been done before . Neither he nor the song brings anything new to the contest, and during the final people will forget it was qualified. He will end up somewhere like 7th- 9th place. A decent song will only get you so far. As for the other results it was expected. Mariette was the best and deserved to win. Don’t think she will win but come pretty close. Ingrosso was also expected. Lisa Ajax impressed… Read more »
Perhaps Jon Henrik for the win? With Pontare knocked out, surely the door is now open for him to breeze through this contest? (And if Loreen does punk, it could happen?)
It will be Loreen vs. Mariette in the final.
No I can’t see that Benjamin is going to be another Frans this year.. I think he’s ending up somewhere between 7th-9th place in the final.
Mariette will win this, it’s already confirmed.
For the record, Benjamin is 19 years old. His birthday is September, so if he wins Melfest he will also be 19 at ESC.
Benjamin Ingrosso is on the track to pulling off what Frans did last year. He looks like he’s in his early 20’s, he has a decent face and body, and his song is halfway decent.
If this causes him to win the whole competition, I will never forgive Sweden for allowing 12-year-olds to vote for ANOTHER heartthrob. This whole situation needs to stop.
As Filthy Frank has claimed, “It’s time to STOP!’
Mariette was the best by far. Would love to see her win the final as well. Second best was Benjamin, even though I personally don´t like his song that much.
So perfect results!
As for poor Lisa, she will reach the final via Andra Chansen I´m sure. But her song is too weak to be dangerous in Friends Arena.
Oh Mariette! She’s so amazing! I feel like sending her to Kiev just because of the fact that she just glows on stage!! I get great vibes from her 😀
My favorites were dismissed. Spectacular act!
Roger was much better than Lisa or Dismissed. He deserved to get to Andra Chansen. Instead of his masterpiece, we will hear Lisa Ajax’s swearing. 🙁
not surprises with the result, still don’t find my favorite winner so far
first of all Mariette was amazing she totally killed it. although I don’t really like Lisa’s song she nailed it too and deserved to go to the final instead of Benjamin who has a really annoying voice and whose performance was the cheap version of Belgium 2016.
Almost perfect results based on my ranking. I would’ve only switched Dismissed with Roger Pontare. I really thinked he would’ve gotten that last Andra Chansen place. My top 7 after the show: 1. Mariette- A Million Years: Really good live, Mariette is a fantastic performer. Songwise, it’s great but not excellent for me. I miss something; I think I miss a bridge. Totally deserved to be in the final though. 8/10 2. Benjamin Ingrosso- Good Lovin’: Almost tied with Mariette for my first place. I really liked the song, mainstream yet really likeable and catchy. Fantastic stage performance and Benjamin… Read more »
Sweden’s obsession with formulatic pop songs needs to come to an end. When will they send a quality and culturally charged song like Roger Pontare’s?
This was such a competitive semi-final, I do mostly agree with the results, although I wish the Jon Henrik fandom had come through and pushed Roger to AC.
Lisa’s song is kind of awkward, it’s very sweet and romantic and out of the blue she drops an F bomb, it kinda makes me uncomfortable. Mariette, Banjamin and Dismissed were so great, Melodifestivalen is really strong this year.
Lisa Ajax is much better than she was last year <3 <3 she's my favorite at the moment. I don't give a xD
Feel bad for Roger. But with similar stage performance like from 2006 he would better chance for second chance, the stage was emprty only with fire and him.
DIsmissed is surprise , they sound good live and after Roger they have sound best.
We all see that older singers have small chance to go to final or second chance with this sistem of voting in semi 100 % televote.
How on earth did Benjamin qualify? Whilst I don’t like the song, Roger was much, much better.
Mariette in the FINAL!!
She nailed it.
I loved Lisa’s attitude on stage – she didn’t give a f*ck
I’m just tired of teen girls. Benjamin’s voice is awful and the song is a wannabe Justin Timberlake song (and Justin is already bad enough, we don’t need an imitation).
Rather have Roger Pontare in andra and Benjamin out, but well…
Am I the only one who thinks Benjamin can’t sing? Can someone tell me why I think I heard Mariette’s song before, reminds me of some song but can’t figure out wich one.
Mariette was absolutely amazing!! The song, the staging, her voice! She gave light to the night! Loved it!
I wasn’t sure about Dismissed, but live they were fantastic. Deserved second chance.
I expected Lisa to go through.
I’m not excited with Ingrosso, I’d prefer Roger! Shame! He was so good!
Roger deserved his direct pass to the final.It’s a shame he didn’t get it.
Sweden, you’re drunk! Lisa should be going directly to the final, not that Justin Timberlake wannabe! He qualified just because he is cute and that’s automatically an advantage, since many young girls (and guys) vote. Not because of his song, which is quite bad.
Haters gonna gate. Melodifestivalen and Sanremo are the best National Finals and it clearly shows.
I didn’t recognize Sweden tonight
Worst semifinal I’ve ever seen.
Stagins were so so bad.
I’ll admit, I don’t like Mariette but her song is FANTASTIC. It might as tally give us our 7th win in Kyiv!
Mariette deserved her pass! She was stunning! 😉
Other 3, though… Roger beats them all. I am so sorry he is out. Benjamin was likable, but it’s such a typical song. Lisa sounded like she was trying to provoke her parents in such a childish way. Heart Allign is a nice song, but nothing more.
Hardly matters though since none of the songs from this heat will win
Unfortunately for Roger Pontare, this was the right result on the night. What a shame there isn’t a fifth slot!!
The 7 happen to have finished in a very similar order to how I would have ranked them myself – only the top 2 were switched around.
(By the way, Elodie was first on at Sanremo and I was completely blown away by it. Could there be an ESC winner from Italy?)
Everything seems a bit lacklustre at the moment… The whole of Sweden must be hoping Loreens got something special to pull out the bag, or they could end on the right hand side of the board…
I want Mariette to win this whole thing. Her song gives me the “winner” vibes, mind you. I don’t care about the other two SFs.
And once in Kyiv, maybe another win for Sweden.
But let’s see…