Tonight eight acts had their second — and final — chance to make it to the Melodifestivalen 2017 final. And from the swirl of smoke, pyro and shooting flames of Andra Chansen four acts have lived to sing another day.
Eurovision 2012 winner Loreen is NOT among them, as she was bested by up-and-coming YouTube star Anton Hagman. Let’s review this duel by duel.
Andra Chansen 2017: We review the results
Duel 1: FO&O beat De Vet Du
FO&O
Ahead of tonight’s show they told wiwibloggs that they’d be ditching their elevator to the sky in order to focus more on their faces (rather than gimmicks and technology). The boys were as confident as ever, nailing their boyband choreography. The camera angles focused on them far more this time, including some cheesy hand choreography to match their lyrics about wearing a ring. During the bridge they worked some fierce back-lighting that showed off their silhouettes. But overall the stage felt somehow empty and the performance a little monotonous — especially when compared to the frenetic cuts and quick pace of De Vet Du. Sweden obviously thought differently!
De Vet Du
Their song has been streamed more than any other song in the competition and it’s easy to see why. It has a youthful, feel-good factor. They’re the guys every guy wants to be — and who every woman wants to be with (well, of a certain age, anyway). This was largely the same — same colourful costumes, same silly facial expressions, same shirtless DJ HUNK. Among the small tweaks were a greater focus on the massive drag race flags and a spot of green light on the DJ spinning with his gym-honed arms.
Duel 2: Lisa Ajax beats Axel Schylström
Axel Schylström
He ditched the dated white jacket, replacing it with one in a nice shade of pink, and wore ankle-exposing trousers — both of which pulled him into 2017 as he served metrosexual realness. And while he changed the wardrobe he brought the same swagger. Axel, who we’re pretty sure isn’t a natural dancer, seemed to be living every moment of this performance and his moves were surprisingly on point. Vocally he was as sound as in the semi-final and this performance seemed to have extra soul. He can be proud.
when you rt your own tweet #melfest pic.twitter.com/4uGWj93o55
— polya #AMillionYears (@landruts) March 4, 2017
Lisa Ajax
She still doesn’t give a f*ck, but she does give off girl-next-door with attitude. Once again Lisa wore a questionable see-through shawl and a glittering sports bra which made for a decidedly racy outfit. The LED still featured her fresh face and endearing smile, and she was as vocally there as you’d expect. Many have suggested this was less monotonous, perhaps because the camera angles showed off a more playful side of Lisa, as she winked and pouted at the camera. Subtle changes, big difference!
Duel 3: Boris René beats Dismissed
Boris René
The “Her Kiss” singer made it to the final last year owing to his voice and charisma. And once again he proved that he could charm the panties off of a nun as he danced, smiled and hit all his camera cues. Same energy, same vintage sound, even more confidence and charm.
Dismissed
This avant-garde pop-rock band turned the stage into a runway all their own, voguing and showing off their original look, which contrasted their mainstream sound. This time around it seemed even more obvious that some of the members are just their for visual effect — they barely sing or play instruments— but that’s fine. This version of a band works very well indeed. But it seems that Sweden was less awed by their originality this time as they couldn’t overtake the former footballer.
Duel 4: Anton Hagman beats Loreen
Anton Hagman
Loreen described him as “drop dead gorgeous” in her intro, and she isn’t wrong. Once again the singer-songwriter, who found fame on YouTube, brought those puppy dogs eyes and his quiet charm. His number seems somehow simpler and more pure than many entries in the contest. Compared to the very dramatic number from Loreen, this is more accessible and easier to come to terms with. Perhaps that helped him sway the day? That and the presence of a clear melody.
Waiting for an Oscars / Miss Universe moment where @SVTmelfest reveal that the wrong name was read. #melfest #melfest2017 pic.twitter.com/T1nXN5VQiu
— William Lee Adams (@willyleeadams) March 4, 2017
Loreen
Last week the purple heart on the screen didn’t come to life until the third minute. But tonight it was pumping from the start, suggesting that more Swedes had come to terms with the tune. The performance was still dark, dramatic and mysterious. But for me, at least, it felt less hell-like — perhaps because I was less shocked by it this time. Vocally on point and expressing gratitude every time she put her hands on her heart, this performance meant a lot to her — and not just because this is Melfest. She lives her music and it’s delightful to see. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to top Anton and the Eurovision winner goes home empty-handed. As one user tweeted at us, “politics and music don’t go together.” Certainly not in Sweden it seems!
Did all of your favourites go through? Who didn’t make the cut that you wanted to? Do any of these acts have a chance to win Melodifestivalen? Let us know in the comments box below.
Last week, when Loreen was relegated to Andra Chansen, I warned that nothing was a sure thing, and many others warned that the boy-band fan-base could possibly cause problems for her. Even her words complimenting Anton would imply that he might have a future at Eurovision (I doubt it will be this year). So, I wouldn’t be too hard on her. Be that as it may, here is how I saw the showdowns: Duel 1: 9.175 FO&O: “Gotta Thing About You” (advanced) 9.300 De Vet Du: “Road Trip” Suffer no delusions: Like JTR before them, FO&O will likely finish low… Read more »
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Knock-off SIA is out
As “Statements” out, bye bye Melfest. Not a fan of them (finalist), the crowd was too much with teeny
You are making trouble from nothing. Any one from any national minority can enter selection on equal terms with the rest.
ESC 84, it’s still a matter of representation. Mostly white doesn’t mean only white. Like Australia Europe is a continent of migration and minorities. If we want to be truly diverse and representative we should do a better job of truly showing all of the people and minorities in Europe. It’s not only white people living in Europe, we have black people, Asians, Romani, Kurds, Sami people and what not. They all have different cultures who have shaped the countries of Europe. They are all part of Europe too, that should be highlighted. Australia does a great job showing that.… Read more »
@Purple Mask
But Australia population are mainly immigrants, while most of European countries is not, and most of the Europeans are white.
Getting off topic a bit here. Please ignore if you prefer – these are difficult issues. The problem with the slogan “Celebrating Diversity” is that it draws attentions to the conflicts and shortcomings in Europe rather than uniting us through music like the contest is supposed to do. The sad truth is that some people in charge of Russia, for example, are right now trying to BAN the showing of the new “Beauty and the Beast” Disney film, because it portrays gay characters (even if they are antagonists). This is seen in Russia as censorship for the cause of protecting… Read more »
Critical thinking? If my dead mother had regrets over something she did in her lifetime id be furious if someone took advantage of it in a song contest and it would be a huge insult but thats just me..
I find it ridiculous reason not to vote for Loreen because of the bag lady she supposedly disrespected. And why should we consider it disrespectful? Cause one of her children say so? It’s an opinion. His opinion isn’t divine authority, it’s only an opinion. Where’s the critical thinking?
Can we take Loreen instead of our representative? Pleeeease 🙂 Or at least Dismissed.
And Europe, pls stop ruining our hopes for great show in Kyiv by eleminating most interesting entries!
Ugh i just watched both Anton’s and Loreen’s performances and the quality is not even comparable between them. I did really like Anton’s song at first, but that was probably because I had just watched FO&O’s mediocre tune right before I saw his for the first time. Loreen was much better, in terms of both vocals and music. Shame on the televoters.
@Colin I was talking about this year’s competition, not in the past. The slogan in 2017 is “Celebrate diversity”. There’s not much to celebrate for now. Now, talking about the majority of Europeans being white, that’s debatable. It depends on your definition of the word majority.
Russia already said about Moscow Eurovision Party April 21, so can’t withdraw.
@eurovision6 thx for you explanation.. I know more about this song now. @PP I don’ t think Estonia will be the black horse. If other two Demy’ s is not good as “This is Love” then probably all 12 points from South Europe go to Italy, all 10 points go to Greece. If Russia withdraw, I think it will be Italy vs Australia. Serbia and Armenia maybe blackhorse. But Sweden will not win because it will not top Italy’ s televote. If Sweden win, it will creates 3 consecutive years that the juries do not agree with televote, and it… Read more »
Something crazy and sick happened in Sweden last night!! ????
Am I the only one who thinks that now Anton Hagman is unstoppable ??
That kind of victory has long echo.
black man + white man won esc in 2001 for estonia
@Thomas – It’s just that majority of Europeans are white. There WERE *outstanding* results by Black singers (Aminata for Latvia 2015 and Kallay-Saunders for Hungary 2014 – one of my personal favorites), and also an underrated performance by Senit for San Marino 2011. On the other hand, a bad song is a bad song no matter who sings it (Haba Haba, Norway 2011). Also, Loreen won ESC and she is of Mid-Eastern descent. Conchita Wurst won ESC as a queer act. We DO celebrate diversity! As for Boris Rene, I find this guy wonderful! I just wish he had better… Read more »
papai joci from hungary is rroma (is double r in the begining)
jon henrik / boris rene can be for sweden
I hope that Boris René wins the competition. So far there’s no black singer in the contest. The theme being “celebrate diversity”, for now the only diversity I can see is in the music. There’s no queer entries, only white singers, and let’s not talk about the ethnic minorities…..
Under what rock do you live?…or should I say esc bubble?? Get out of there for a few seconds and look at the real world. Nobody likes Loreen!!!!…her type of feminism is very aggressive, both men and women are against this type…she acts weird as if she smokes something…fake modesty card played in interviews …and unpleasant overall, not ugly, but unkempt, messy.
Regarding the symbolism of the woman with the handbag: Why should we consider it disrespectful? Is the woman hitting anyone with her bag in this act? And does the opinion of one of the woman’s children necessarily need to be taken as divine authority? Where is the critical thought and nuance? So ridiculous that this would be a reason not to vote for that song…
Why the woman with the bag had regrets ?
Anyway so happy that Sweden voted talent, not pretentiousness.
To clarify: So it wasn’t just about politics. It was because she was seen to have disrespected the memory of someone who had lost their mother. Loreen refused to change the “handbag” symbol despite being allegedly threatened with a lawsuit, and the result was that the Swedish public boycotted her song.
This also explains why Twitter kept telling me “Loreen finished last,” and I had no idea why! In short: it was personal. Sorry, I didn’t know.
ESC84
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Woman_Hitting_a_Neo-Nazi_With_Her_Handbag
(the meaning of the lady with the handbag above) However the lady has been said to have had regrets over it and her son has begged for people to stop using the image (hence why it imo was disrespectful of Loreen to use it in her performance) 🙂
ESC84 We can listen uptempo song of Demy from Greece “This Is Love and that song is not so good and with that song Greece don t have chance to be in TOP 5 even in TOP 10. Maybe 2 other are better than this, and we read that one is uptempo, one ih middle tempo and one is ballad I think figh for victory wili be between Italy, EBU baby Australia , Sweden and maybe Russia if they want to participate (but I think they wait last day, march 13 to say they witherdraw from contest, like Armenia did… Read more »
Why didn’t Loreen qualify?! 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁
Thank you all. I now have a greater understanding.
Have a good night. x
That’s it, abandon the Loreen hype train, I’m boarding the Wiktoria and Jon Henrik ship. Hope it doesn’t sink like the Titanic. Look seriously, I am not going to give my thoughts on the duels because I will probably be saying what you others have said, so it’s definitely redundant. However, surprised that for the first duel, FO&O beat De Vet Du despite the fact that apart from FO&O ditching the spaceship, the performances look similar so I expected De Veu Du to win their duel. Overall, bad day for the Swedes, although I feel the damage can be reduced… Read more »
What is the meaning of lady with hangbag?
Italy one steo closer to win the contest. Now we wait Australia/Russia/Greece/any black horse..
Purple Mask
I can only speak for myself and not the rest of Sweden even though ive seen similar opinions but my reason was that Loreen made it too political. It was also very disrespectful from her to keep the lady with the handbag (Danuta Danielsson) in the performance. Why? Because the son of that very lady has told the media that its an insult to his mother. Despite that she kept it in without a relevant explanation so thats pretty much why I voted for Anton.
After 2015 and 2016, haven’t people learn never to underestimate Sweden? Yes not voting Loreen through was a mistake. It was a worthy finalist and would have done very well if chosen. And it’s a bit sad no one wants artistry in the contest:( But it’s not like she was the only good act. There are several good acts chosen. But every year people go on and on how Sweden won’t score well with any of the remaining finalists only to be surprised they did well. Last year especially people were arrogant and said Frans would be bottom 5. And… Read more »
Hey Purple Mask
the best part of it being a “song contest” is that ~the better song~ is subjective and based on taste.
Loved Euphoria but Statements was just a noisy mess whereas Anton’s song is cute, catchy & perhaps more importantly; listenable.
Wow… Unfortunately I didn’t have time to watch Andra Chansen but the result shocked me! But the catch is…. It is not made by Loreen not making into the finals. Tbh I knew she wouldn’t make it. After 1944 another song similar to that kind of music will do rather poorly… And beside that “Statements” was more of the artistic act rather than Eurovision performance. I was really shocked that Boris Rene made it instead of Dismissed. Her Kiss for me is a cheap rip-off of that song “I’m so excited, and I just can’t hide it” (I don’t remember… Read more »
@eurovision6: May I ask, what is the point of having a “song contest” if people don’t vote for the better song? (I’m not angry; I like Anton too. I would just like some explanation.)
Amor A.
I voted for Anton Hagman and I do agree that Statements is the better song
WTF lol Sweden prepare to be in the bottom this year. You had your chance with Loreen, whateven is the world coming to?
I’m more heartbroken about de vet du, specifically dj hunk.
Maybe he needs comforting??? 😉 😛
Waiting for Trump’s statement on this new tragedy in Sweden.
Loreen is so overhyped no one gave an S h I… About her in 2011. Then Tomas gson wrote a fantastic song for her which won then she disappeared into obscurity and came back now banging a political drum and people are fed up of politics being mixed with entertainment
@AngieP, if we all enjoy the music and don’t express our opinions, blogs like this wouldn’t have a purpose to stay working, don’t you think so? If you don’t like it, maybe it’s not the right place for you.
Look, even if you don’t like Loreen or think she is overhyped, you HAVE to admit Statements is a better song than Kiss You Goodbye. It’s better written, produced and has a deeper message. I’ve heard multiple Kiss You Goodbyes but only one Statements.
@Xeph, I care because I love Eurovision and Sweden, is that enough? I like when countries take this seriously and show us that they are very committed, but this year, in general, there’s a huge lack of meaningful songs, powerful messages, new styles or directions, shocking songs/performances, unforgettable voices or singers and more.
It’s just my opinion, I cannot lie in order to please people’s ears.
@Beardphrodite – then why do you care if he wins or not? You cited he’s not ”original enough” and I sort of agree, but he’s still the most original out of the acts in the final.
That was a real shock!! Loreen’s song wasn’t my favourite, but I expected her going through. Really glad about Boris, I really like his song! Loreen is a great singer and artist! Nothing is going to change, because she didn’t go to the final of MF or win. She’ll keep up the good work and offer good music. I can understand some of you liked this song. It was a divisive one, you can love it or hate it. Others may be upset mostly because it’s Loreen, a person we discovered because of her win in 2012, and you’re a… Read more »
@Xeph look at my comment again, did I mention anybody? No, so there’s my answer to your question, was that hard? I thought it was clear.
@#American
Yeah, I saw that too. He was so sure he would lose, that the win came unexpectedly!
@maca
The truth is I expected much more applause to Loreen than Anton. That was a surprise.
@Purple
Yup…..he’s the same guy who participated in the Lithuanian selection for 2016 and 2017. I have seen his previous videos. He is quite a quirky and fun personality.
Time for beating heart by order :
1. Boris : 90 secs
2. FO&O: 87 secs
3. Lisa : 85 secs
4. Anton : 78 secs
5. Axel : 70 secs
6. De Vet Du : 65 secs
7. Dismissed : 1+25 secs( two distinct periods of flickers)
8. Loreen : 0 secs( no distinct flicker)