It’s the charming town situated in gorgeous Dalarna County, Sweden, and boasts a population of around 6,000 enthusiastic Melodifestivalen fans. And on Saturday everyone will be turning out in Leksand for Semi-Final 3.
Seven acts will take to the stage, two will advance to the final, two to Andra Chansen and three will be sent home for good.
You’ve heard the snippets and you’ve seen the rehearsals too. Or 30-second snippets of them at least.
Now we want to know what you think in our Semi-Final 3 poll. You can show your love for as many of Saturday night’s acts as you like, but you can only vote one time. Be sure to click the box next to each act you want to support before pressing submit.
We’ll reveal the results ahead of Saturday night’s show.
1. The Lovers of Valdaro – “Somebody Wants”
Electronic-pop duo the Lovers of Valdaro won the Melfest wildcard as part of the P4 Nästa contest. Group member Erik appeared at Eurovision 2018 as one of DoReDos’s backing singers.
Songwriters: Peter Boström and Thomas G:son
Watch the rehearsal clip here.
2. Dolly Style – “Habibi”
Bubblegum pop trio Dolly Style have competed at Melfest twice before, with “Hello Hi” and “Rollercoaster” Both times they made the andra chansen round.
Songwriters: Jimmy Jansson, Palle Hammarlund and Robert Norberg.
Watch the rehearsal clip here.
3. Martin Stenmarck – “Låt skiten brinna”
Martin represented Sweden at Eurovision 2005 with the glitzy song “Las Vegas”. He has also returned to Melfest twice, in 2014 and 2016.
Songwriters: Uno Svenningsson, Tim Larsson and Tobias Lundgren
Watch the rehearsal clip here.
4. Lina Hedlund – “Victorious”
The former Alzcazar singer is making her sixth Melodifestivalen appearance and second solo entry. She last competed, with Alcazar, in 2014, placing third.
Songwriters: Melanie Wehbe, Richard Edwards, Dino Medanhodzic and Johanna Jansson
Watch the rehearsal clip here.
5. Omar – “Om igen” (Again)
Omar Rudberg was one third of FO&O. Since leaving the group, he has released a number of singles, including “Que pasa”.
Songwriters: Omar Rudberg, Johan Lindbrandt, Robin Stjernberg and Jens Hult
Watch the rehearsal clip here.
6. Rebecka Karlsson – “Who I Am”
Rebecka came to fame on the 2016 series of Swedish Idol. She placed second to overall winner Liam Cacatian Thomassen.
Songwriters: Rebecka Karlsson, Anderz Wrethov and Henric Pierroff
Watch the rehearsal clip here.
7. Jon Henrik Fjällgren – “Norrsken”
Joik singer Jon Henrik is a two-time Mello veteran. He last competed in 2017, where his song “En värld full av strider (Eatneme gusnie jeenh dåaroeh)” placed third.
Songwriters: Fredrik Kempe, David Kreuger, Niklas Carson Mattsson and Jon Henrik Fjällgren
Watch the rehearsal clip here.
MF has always been a formulaic show with a whole lot of well-produced, but predictable entries. However, there used to be at least one “gem” per semi final. This year, I really, really have a hard time finding those. In the first semi final, “Ashes to Ashes” really grew on me, even if I find Anna’s charisma to be a bit too “cold” for this type of song and I really dislike the lyrics. And, sadly enough, it’s still my favourite out of the 21 songs so far.
My favourites are definitely the Lovers of Valdaro and Omar! Rebecka is good too.
Omar has really surprised me. Vocals, styling and song are all on point. And it’s in swedish!
Melodifestivalen is no longer what It used to be. Last week’s San Remo proved to be so much better than Melfest’19 in term of song quality, vocals and overall show.
What would you consider to be the golden age of Melodifestivalen?
This blog is 70% about Melodifestivalen. When some other country writes modern pop songs everybody is like ”oh how generic and avarage ,have heard million times”, Swedes do that every years and it’s always ”oh how amazing”.
Yeah, but I don’t see anyone here saying, that the songs this year are amazing. They’re really not that good.
Rebecka Karlsson is amazing
In the performance clip, Rebecca is not good. She’s singing really flat and it’s not easy to listen to. Her studio clip is fine but she’s not bringing it when she sings live.
Somehow I had to think of Heidi and Barbie when I heard Jon Henrik’s song. 😀
I’m pulling for Jon Henrik + Omar! Norrsken is certainly different than his previous two songs, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing – he learned a lot of what didn’t work in those attempts, imo. Jag Ar Fri is one of my favorite songs of all time, but I think in hindsight it’s true that it wasn’t a good choice for Eurovision since it was so heavy on pre-recorded vocals. I’m not sure how the chorus of this song will be handled, but it is an improvement to see JHF stepping up the presence in his own… Read more »
DTF
Rebecca and Dolly Style
DGAF ABOUT ANDRA CHANSEN, BUT
Lina and Jon Hendrik.
I won’t predict, because big names have shitty songs, but I don’t know what the small names in Sweden are. My top 4 isn’t the real top 4, so I’m ready to lose my favorites. Anyway, any snippets released yet, aren’t promising.
Pleasantly surprised to see Lina (don’t think her name is Linda, haha) doing relatively well in this poll. Tbh I do like her song (I realize many aren’t fans, but to each his/her own).
Asides from her, I’d also like to see Jon Henrik, Dolly Style, and either Rebecka or Lovers of Valdaro make it to AC at least. It’s a weird round because I don’t feel particularly strong for any of the acts as of yet.
Jon Henrik and Omar DTF
Easy choice this week for me.
I think I’m with Jon Henrik and Omar. It’s not like I love these songs, but I take what I get.
Yeah, I hoped his song would be more similar to his 2017 or 2015 entry, but in a mediocre selection like this, it’s still a very clear stand-out.
I was never a fan of any of Jon Henrik’s Melfest entries. I had hoped he would enter with something more similar to Daniel’s Joik.
Other than Martin (whose song I LOVE – but am disappointed with the general staging from the clip), I feel like anyone could be going to ac
Very very underwhelming, all 7 acts are nothing special, It looks like Sweden doesn’t want to win this year….
Think Liamoo and Ferm Could Do very Good though
Do we have the results of the audience poll yet?
Just checked SVT site…nothing yet! Soon!