Almost one month ago, he picked up a second-place finish for Italy at Eurovision 2019. Now “Soldi” singer Mahmood is making the most of his success, with a performance on the Swedish summer show Sommarkrysset.
The show is broadcast live from Stockholm’s iconic Gröna Lund amusement park and features weekly shows with Melodifestivalen and Eurovision stars, as well as popular Swedish acts.
Mahmood made an appearance in this week’s episode with a performance of his Eurovision song “Soldi”. The Swedish audience thoroughly enjoyed the Italian Eurovision star, singing — and clapping — along with his song.
The performance appears to have been choreographed by Eurovision regular Sacha Jean-Baptiste. It didn’t have the elaborately choreographed staging she is known for at Eurovision, but Mahmood made the most of the Sommarkrysset stage and worked his camera angles.
And if this Instagram photo is anything to go by, after the show Sacha, Mahmood and friends went out to celebrate. Whatever they’re serving, we want some.
Show host Gry Forssell also had a brief chat with Mahmood on the Swedish tradition of fika. And if you want to know why it is funny to quiz an Italian about fika, ask your cool Italian friend.
The Italian translation for Mahmood was provided by Swedish influencer Nicole Falciani, who may be best known to Eurovision fans as the fiancée of Eric Saade.
The show also included a performance from Swedish Eurovision 2010 star Anna Bergendahl. She performed her Melfest 2019 and OGAE Second Chance entry “Ashes to Ashes”.
She gave a visually simple performance, but showed off her rich vocals. The audience reaction showed that despite Anna’s Eurovision non-qualification almost a decade ago, there’s still a lot of love for her.
Sommarkrysset continues over the summer, with weekly shows running until early August. Upcoming episodes will include performances from Swedish Eurovision stars Måns Zelmerlöw, Charlotte Perrelli and Benjamin Ingrosso, as well as Norwegian breakout stars KEiiNO.
waaaaat?? Mahmood in Sweden!!!!
He’s Always Our ?? Proud!
????
Such a shame Mahmood was not crowned the winner in May! Shame, shame, shame!
Angry-with-Duncan-much?
Yes , shame!. Anyway Mahmood is showing all the people that he is a real winner !
Really hoping Mahmood gets offered a gig in the US. I would love to see him perform here.
Americans don’t speak Italian … nor does Mahmood speak any good English … how would that work? With a Donald Trump racist anti-muslim tweet ?
Muslim… mahmood is catholic!
Lovely to see Mahmood doing it so well. Hope he comes to London soon
Well, it¨s not that surprising! Soldi is among the biggest ESC hits of the season, even in Sweden! It is even the biggest hits of all ESC entries here.. Of course he should seize the opportunity
And Anna Bergendahl has had the biggest MF hit of the year, John Lundvik excluded!
The program is great BTW! I wish Allsång på Skansen had a stacked list like this but no..
Denis so in sweden you you hear Soldi (played by radio ecc)? That’s incredible, an italian song, so proud of mahmood ! The winner song arcade is it played more than soldi ?
Well, it’s more that he is streamed a lot here. Spotify is huge here. And he is streamed more than Duncan Laurence. Most people would know Soldi here. If youre big on Spotify then youre big in Sweden. He has had radio play too. Quite frequently. Soldi and Spirit in the Sky are the only ESC songs I hear played regularly here.
Proud of our mahmood 🙂
I don’t understand, how was that choreographed exactly? I mean he’s just walking around the stage..
When even outside of Eurovision people are still focusing on God d*** it visual presentation of who is dancing and what’s happening on stage … LISTEN to the song and enjoy it for just once!!!
i wish poland send something like that to eurovision one year: http://festiwalopole.tvp.pl/43063050/bartosz-porczyk-wspinaczka-czyli-historia-pewnej-rewolucji
Can someone tell me please what it is fika in swedish ? (In italian I know… 🙂 )
Fika is fika in swedish, if that’s what you meant 🙂
Oops sorry what does it mean fika in english ? 🙂
it’s a word for the swedish style of taking a coffee break- like with little snacks and conversation vs. the american way of getting starbucks and drinking it alone
Thank you ! In italian it is another kind of thing 🙂
I actually had to look up the Italian meaning of it, but I was already familiar with the Swedish meaning of it (I’ve met a few Swedish knitters through Ravelry who’ve been more than willing to explain what “fika” is). That, and anyone familiar with the Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson (“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and its sequels) knows that the fika ritual pops up a lot in those books. The characters often socialize over coffee, whether it’s coworkers in an office or someone coming to another’s house to visit, and coffee has become a very important part… Read more »
As someone who loves linguistics, I do love when a word has very normal meaning on a language and completely different (naughty) on another.
Heck, it even happens in dialects of English! In the U.S., some people use the term “fanny” to refer to a person’s behind (not so much anymore because it’s considered an old-fashioned term), but in the U.K. and Ireland the same word refers to female naughty bits. So what we call “fanny packs” in the U.S. they end up calling “bum bags” in the U.K. I also think of the meaning of the term “slut” in English and Swedish: in Swedish it simply means “stop” or “final” (depending on context), but in English it refers to an easy woman (of… Read more »
Of course there’s a lot of love for Anna because she didn’t do anything wrong. I thought she sang well and the song was one of my favourites. There’s been far worse songs qualified for Sweden so give her a break.
soldi being a smash hit in sweden is the last thing i expected tbh, they usually go for the most basic songs but this year they chose the italian contemporary r&b anthem ahh kings
lol thats the only song i’ve heard from everyone here the last two weeks
And they did go for the usual basic pointless music … Norway of course got their 12 on televote … Soldi’s success is pretty much a Spotify consequence as well as Duncan’s.
Why? It is a good song, of course swedes like it.
It is a song that you can listen to outside of esc without thinking it is a esc song, and those kind of songs we like.
I watched the video of the exhibition and Mahmood was great, and all the people was singing the Italian words of Soldi and clapping…. what a success ! And in a few days he will perform also in Spain, it’s the moment of Mahmood, he’s becoming an international star 🙂
Is Sasha Jean Baptiste everywhere? Can’t people see she never does anything special? She is not Fokas Evangelinos.
No she’s nothing special and it reflects on the staging she’s given to Tamta, Jessica and EQUINOX the last two years which means she’s failed with 60% of her entries for the past two years lol. Don’t get me wrong, «Fuego» was kinda amazing but it’s so blatantly obvious that she neglects the entries she’s working with giving them subpar staging at best while nailing others. And yes I do react on this because I feel like the artists and acts who invest a lot of time into Eurovision deserves a stage director who’s 100% into their performances.
Fuego was epic because of Eleni. She would have slayed no matter the staging.
She’s not a STAGING person … She’s the Paula Abdul of Eurovision … only uptempo choreographies are her thing … so in 2020 expect some Fuego grandsons and granddaughters
Mahmood (and Soldi) became so popular here in Israel 🙂
I hear it all the time xD At weddings, at the pool, on the radio, it’s amazing