Tonight’s second semi-final of Melodifestivalen 2018 looked to up the game in Gothenburg. In the end, it was Samir & Viktor who “Shuffla”‘d their way to the final, along with LIAMOO and his “Last Breath”.
It was Andra Chansen for Margaret (“In My Cabana”) and Mimi Werner (“Songburning”). And it was a sad goodbye for Ida Redig, Jonas Gardell and Stiko Per Larsson.
Melodifestivalen 2018: Semi-Final 2 Qualifiers
Samir & Viktor — “Shuffla”
From old school black and white by the piano, to a full on dance routine. This was most definitely a Samir & Viktor performance from start to finish. With the clever use of the LED screens to create even more dancers, this made the stage look even bigger. With the traditional humour — including Viktor’s “out of breath” moment — mixed with arguably their best song, this kicked the show off in great style.
LIAMOO — “Last Breath”
By himself and bearing his soul, LIAMOO looked every piece the star on the Melodifestivalen stage tonight. Without any need for any complex show or choreography, this was all about him. Thankfully, he rose to the challenge and no doubt won over many doubters, especially after the initial snippets seemed to leave some underwhelmed. Any kind of rap might not be to some people’s taste, but LIAMOO made a point with it tonight.
Andra Chasen Qualifiers
Margaret — “In My Cabana”
After Renaida rocked orange last week, Margaret went to one-up her with a two-piece look that showed off just enough skin. And in the heat of Margaret’s cabana, we don’t blame her. The Polish star sold herself to a new audience tonight with a routine where she barely seemed to stay still at all. With a long camera tracking shot moving throughout the stage — making it appear much larger and complex — Margaret withstood the test. We want to go ape in this cabana again!
Mimi Werner — “Songburning”
Is orange in this season? Mimi’s orange jacket — with plenty of fringe — didn’t quite match Margaret’s fashion, but it was certainly a fitting outfit for “Songburning”. Mimi’s vocal didn’t seem all quite on point in parts of the song, either, particularly in some of the high notes. But the staging of the song definitely played in her favour. The sparking “Songburning” on the LED, leading to the pyro going off, is definitely a nice touch. It’d be hard to see this getting much further, but Mimi hasn’t done herself any harm here.
Eliminated Acts
5th: Ida Redig — “Allting som vi sa”
6th: Stiko Per Larsson — “Titta vi flyger”
7th: Jonas Gardell — “Det finns en vag”
Samir & Viktor and LIAMOO join Benjamin Ingrosso and John Lundvik in an all-male final lineup so far. Margaret & Mimi, meanwhile, join Renaida and Sigrid Bernson in Andra Chansen.
What do you think of tonight’s results? Do you think the right acts qualified? Let us know all your thoughts in the comments section below!
There was something about “Allting som vi sa” that I quite liked. ah well …
I am definitely in the minority regarding Samir & Viktor. It was just awful. Sorry – but this was just a poor rip-off of the ‘Moldovan Sax-guy’.
I get the ‘fun’ element, but so was Dustin the Turkey.
Don’t know if I agree. Dustin The Turkey was more about mocking the contest than being a fun act. Which is why no one found it funny
Samir & Viktor aren’t mocking anybody. They include everybody, they aren’t mocking the contest, they have a catchy chorus and they are two guys just having fun.
You don’t think they were clearly exploting the success of the Moldovan sax-guy?
I am surprised, after hearing Det finns en väg, I actually expected it to be the dark horse of the contest. Liamoo really grew on me. The song itself still reminds me of all the save-the-children hiphop collaborations from the noughties, but the staging and his performance in general were the best of the evening, simple but effective. Deserved qualifier. Well, Samir and Viktor. Not a fan. The entire act feels recycled. LMFAO, song, epic sax guy, and faked tripping accident. They seem to have a gigantic fan base though, so congratulations! About Margaret. I love Margaret, and her song… Read more »
The melodifestivalen app results till now:
1) Benjamin Ingrosso
Small gap
2) Liamoo
3) Samir and Viktor
4) John lundvik
5) Renaida
Substantial gap….
6) Margaret
Small gap
7) Sigrid bernson
8)Edward Blom
9)Mimi Werner
10) Ida redig
Jonas, as expected… meh Stiko was fun, but every Melfest semifinal has that one song no one hates and no one cares about Liamoo is not the music I like, I’d prefer him not qualifying, but I know, that maybe it’s just my taste, so I’ll leave it to other people Margaret wasn’t the best, I even thought she wouldn’t qualify. It’s ok, that’s all Mimi was great and I liked the song and performance, but pyro made the livestream go from 720p to 144p in 5 seconds Samir & Viktor. How happy am I, they really deserved it. I… Read more »
Mimi and LIAMOO were the best!
Has anyone actually considered the lyrics to Liamoo’s song? It is the most self indulgent, narcissistic piece of crap ever. It’s really too bad, because he’s a great artist, and his performance is wonderful. But the lyrics, oh God the lyrics; they are terrible.
My mom’s favorites this time were Margaret and LIAMOO’s songs. Sligthly unexpected. She’s never heard of Margaret before, but In My Cabana really won her over. It’s lovely to see her enjoy Melfest again, after a couple of boring years.
Overall a great show. The production team managed to iron out some of the problems from last week. The pacing, transitions, jokes, etc. were much smoother.
What does shuffla even mean lol, i assumed shuffle, but shuffle is blanda.
Love the song though, best in this Melfest by far.
Still think Mariette will win though.
It’s a dance move from the early 90’s.
How the hell did the two frat bros make it to the final? And not Ida Redig.
Just not right.
Called it with LIAMOO qualifying. I’m so proud of Samir & Viktor, after two attempts both with Andra Chassen, they finally qualify directly. Happy with Margaret and Mimi in Andra Chansen since they were in my Top 4 for this semis.
My 2 favourites qualified! I’m so happy! I saw both performances and they were great! Samir and Victor were so fun and full of energy and Liamoo performed so well.
About Margaret and Mimi, I believe they deserved to go to Andra Chansen. They were both really good.
Indeed, there are only men in the final and women in the Andra chansen round. I didn’t notice that until I read it here. Thanks for pointing that out.
This might be the first time I ever predicted a Melfest semi correctly! ?
At first I cried because “Det finns en väg” hit me right in the heart.
Then I cried because it came last.
Lol, best comment ever
I’m finally content with my country for actually choosing the right and best choices for DTF!
Samir&Viktor has their best song yet and I’m so happy for them to finally reach the final without heading to Andra chansen first. They really deserved, especially after Swedish media constantly ripped them apart this week.
Liamoo brought something fresh and new to melfest. A great song with chances to get into top 3 in the finals.
Glad that we chose the right finalists this and last week. I just hope to see more women advance direct to finals!
Never thought I’d ever say this, but Samir & Viktor are by far the best ones we’ve seen on melfest this year. I’m so happy that they qualified, their song is sooo much fun.
Oh… I couldn’t even remember that I already wrote a comment here. It’s late, guys…. xD
For my taste, Mimi had the best performance of this semifinal. She even made that jacket looks good! The camera work was great. I also think that Ida deserved to have another chance. I actually like last week’s qualifiers much more than this week’s. Liamoo’s track is very polished but it does absolutely nothing for me. Not my genre sorry. I understand why people like “Shuffla”, but it doesn’t work for me either. Everything is so fake and random. As long they are in the final only to warm the crowd, I’m OK. But I really hope they won’t be… Read more »
Those, who are voting in Melodifestivalen are somewhat sexist 😀 Two semi-finals so far and all direct qualifiers are men and all Andra Chansen qualifiers are women 😀
Eurovision attracts a lot of fangirls.
Should people feel guilty because they happened to like performances by male singers?
The two best songs of the night went straight to the final and that rarely happens in MF. I think Samir & Victor will get their best place ever in a final. I can see them reaching top 5. But doubt it will win, especially with a jury. But a good catchy song it is. I know I am going to club to it this summer.:) Liamoo was something new and exciting for MF too, glad to see it worked. It was a good song and nicer to see a simple song without any technology going through. Bit surprised over… Read more »
Liamoo was the best by miles, im just sad Ida didnt make the cut 🙁
My favourite trashpop duo goes direkt but the Queen of the Stool in the andra chansen? I have conflicting feelings.
(OK, I know, the song was underwhelming and not of her usual quality…)
Shuffla was soooo good! I never thought I’d say this, but Samir & Viktor have the best Melfest song by now. I’m totally rooting for them.
Preach!
Margaret was amazing! I think after Melodi experience, she will decide to take part in next year Polish Krajowe Eliminacje and will be representing Poland in Eurovision 2019. Eurovision 2020 in Warsaw!
This was the weakest semifinal in years. The to finalists are finde but in other years they would be in AC.
I am disappointed of this semifinal!
I knew Mimi would deliver! She is a phenomenal artist, so enjoyable to watch and the moment when Liamoo and her were holding hands melted my heart! Personally, would have swapped Mimi with Samir and Viktor but other than that-my prediction was spot on!
Totally agreed
Liam, you were amazing! I’m glad they kinda sorted out some mistakes with the lights and the camera work. Last Breath is going to be a hit I think. And Samir and Viktor deserved a final ticket. I was right about the AC aswell.
So the final is a sausage fest so far and the AC a taco fest XD Would this trend continue in the next semis? Honestly I hoped Ida would reach AC at least, Margaret’s song is so trashy. Next Semi is latino with Mendez, Moncho and Barbi Escobar
Dotter is coming next week! she’s currently the second favourite to win Melfest after Mariette, so hopefully the sausage fest will be over.
Liamoo was underwhelming at best. Ida Redig was far better and should have been in the final instead. Margaret and Mimi deserved second chance after their performances. Sweden got most of this right. But Liamoo is the Frans of this year, and I hope he doesn’t win. Sweden needs something different than Frans/Liamoo.
Agreed!!
Well Frans ended on 5th place in ESC. So thats fine with me.
Swedes love fresh cool entries like Frans, Nano or Liamoo 🙂 They are way ahead from fans. They don’t go generic.
In case you didn’t know, you are one of the fans lmaoooo
As good as Liamoo’s song is, it does seem to last like 7 minutes. I thought it would never end.
Margaret did a great job. I loved her confused look when the presenter moved on from Ida to Mimi in the green room, ignoring Maggie completely.
Hands down, the best song tonight was ‘Shuffla’. And the performance lifted it even higher. It was bonkers, it was entertaining, it was fun. Loved it.
Exactly… I also noticed the moment she was ignored. I thought I missed something, but seems she was ignored. I thought Sweden was very open for an international singer…now I don’t think so…there’s so much talk about her a Polish star competing in Sweden…although she is my favourite, I do not see winning with such an attitude…
Relatively fair results I’d say. I thought Mimi exceeded expectations and I dare say she more than earns a spot in the final (so a tad disappointed she didn’t go direkt til final after that great performance). Still I’m sure she’ll make it. Was a tad underwhelmed by Margaret (despite liking the song) but still happy she got AC. Ida Redig was also super! Quite sad she didn’t get AC. I hope she participates again. LIAMOO’s song is ok. He has an amazing voice but I wasn’t so into the song itself. Would have placed him in AC myself but… Read more »