Sweden’s Melodifestivalen continues to be one of the toughest national selections year after year. The 2019 contest in particular saw a number of strong contenders and shock eliminations.
Luckily for us, the creative output of these artists most certainly doesn’t stop when the contest comes to an end. A number of artists from Melfest 2019 have released some new songs to satisfy our appetite for Swedish pop bangers and more.
Here’s a roundup of the new songs by Wiktoria, Lisa Ajax, LIAMOO, Malou Prytz, Dolly Style, Nano and High15
Wiktoria – “OMG”
Wiktoria is continuing her change in musical style with her latest track “OMG”. Moving away from the country-tinged tunes of yesteryear, this latest song sees the “Not With Me” singer fully heading down the pop route. In the lyrics, Wiktoria sings to her loved one, and asks that he finally makes up his mind about whether he’s ready to commit or not: “Do you love me, you love me, you love me, you love me / You love me, you love me, you love me, you love me or not? / Like, oh my god”.
The Swedish star has usually had relatively little movement in her Melfest performances. But, the accompanying music video for “OMG” sees Wiktoria try her hand at some choreography with four backing dancers.
Lisa Ajax – “I Like”
At Melodifestivalen 2019 she served the emotional power ballad “Torn”. But as we head into the summer season Lisa Ajax is increasing the BPM for her new song “I Like”. A delicious pop offering, the lyrics note that, although Lisa and her lover may have a tendency to fight, that’s just the way their relationship works: “Scream and slamming the door / Still ending up on the floor / Boy, you know I don’t mind / Oh, baby, that is what I like”.
LIAMOO, Steerner & Hechmann – “Broken Hearted”
Leaving Hanna Ferm behind following their duet at Melfest 2019, LIAMOO has instead teamed up with Swedish DJ Steerner and Danish producer Hechmann for his latest song “Broken Hearted”. A guitar-driven track with instrumental post-chorus, it definitely feels suited to getting a crowd going at a summer festival. Lyrically, Liamoo is dedicating the song to all those who have ever gone through a bad breakup: “I ain’t singing this for love / I’m singing for the broken hearted / For the ones who’re sleeping alone / And waking up in the night / And can’t get started”.
Malou Prytz – “Left and Right” and “All Good”
One of the breakthrough artists of this year’s contest, Malou Prytz’s latest solo track is “Left and Right”. Although her Melfest entry “I Do Me” was very much teenage-pop, this new song is more mature in both production and lyrical content: “You’re taking me higher / Than mountains of gold / Now we’re gonna keep moving our bodies / To the left, to the right”.
Malou is also featured on “All Good”, the debut single from Millé – a German singer who was also a backing dancer for Serhat at Eurovision 2019. Millé’s soulful vocals blend well with Malou on the mid-tempo track. The two sing in unison throughout the highly repetitive chorus: “When I’m with you, it’s all good / It’s all good when I’m with you”.
The accompanying music video sees the two singers wandering around the city, playing arcade games and generally enjoying spending time in each other’s company.
Dolly Style – “Sunrise”
Melodifestivalen 2019 was unfortunately the first time that Dolly Style were knocked out in the semi-finals. But that hasn’t stopped the latest line-up of the girl group from continuing on and releasing the new song “Sunrise”. Upbeat, early Katy Perry-reminiscent bubblegum pop, fans of the group won’t be disappointed with their latest offering. The lyrics are all about enjoying life and partying the night away: “We crash into the water like a shooting star / Swayed into the party like a wrecking ball / We dance the night away until the sunrise”.
If you want more from the group, then be sure to check out their recent cover of Alessia Cara’s “How Far I’ll Go” from the Disney film Moana.
Nano – “Arch”
He gave us the soulful “Chasing Rivers” at the competition this year, but for his latest song Nano has gone down the pop/dance route. While the Swedish singer’s rich vocals are prominent in the verses of “Arch”, they’re heavily post-processed in the chorus. This makes the lyrics rather difficult to understand; instead they come across as a series of random digital sounds.
High15 – “On My Mind” and “Back To Me”
Their entry “No Drama” might have been knocked out in the semi-finals, but this result at Melodifestivalen 2019 certainly hasn’t killed High15’s musical spirits. They’ve released a couple of new songs since the contest, the first being “On My Mind”. A decent pop-RnB song, the lyrics note that the girl group has only one person on their mind and that they don’t feel right unless they’re with them: “Do you think about me when you’re feeling down? / You’re on my mind / I want you to want me, I ain’t where I should be / This isn’t right”.
The quartet’s latest track is “Back To Me”. This song shows off more of the group’s harmonies, particularly in the chorus. Lyrically, the song sees the girls realising that their lover only comes back to them when he’s lonely: “Same old story, you say the right things to get back with me / Now I know that you know no better / Next time I know that I’ll know better / Now you’re running back to me”.
What do you make of these latest songs from Melfest 2019 alumni? Do you want to see any of these artists return to Melodifestivalen next year? Let us know in the comments below!
A collection of tunes that scream how mentally Christer Bjorkmann has his own “7th win” orgasms … yet again and as always they give us nothing new as far as music criativity and innovation” is concerned … and SVT wonder “why are televoters so down on us?” Maybe if they learned a thing or two from Björn and Benny about what originality in pop music means … then maybe … maybe …
Sweden got top 10 with voters this year, hardly what you would call low votes.
Meanwhile your country UK got what, 3 points from voters and didn’t do much better on jury vote either. Maybe you should wonder why UK constantly fails to impress both groups before you give “advice” to other countries?
STOP
Well you forgot the best release of the all! Molly Sandens album, all songs about her breakup from Danny. It is really good, and i have not even liked Molly before
Taylor Swift has done that way too often as well as Adele…so the concept is by now tiredsome boring and not that appealing…
Yes, I want LIAMOO to return. But not next year, cause he participated in 2018 and 2019, so he has to wait until 2021, right? Anyways, I want him in Eurovision one day. Voice, charisma and beauty <3 <3
yes we have a rule that 2 years in a row then a 1 year break.
Completely unrelated, but on wikipedia it says that BNT (Bulgaria) has amassed a massive debt of 50 million Bulgarian lev (25.5 million euros) and that it has been declared bankrupt. Guessing that means that Bulgaria won’t be back for for around 3-5 years.
I honestly would have been curious about a Bulgarian victory. Eurovision in the hands of BNT, such experts… would probably have been very entertaining.
Guess Bulgaria’s ESC glow up came with a huge cost
That’s why you rely on local songwriters since they will likely cost less.