Christer Björkman declared that the genre was dead back in 2016. But schlager is set to rise from the grave at Melodifestivalen 2022 — thanks to Linda Bengtzing. The soon to be eight time Melfest contestant promised a return to her old sound in an interview with Sweden’s Aftonbladet.
Linda Bengtzing will bring schlager back to Melodifestivalen 2022
Bengtzing enjoyed much success with her early Mello entries, reaching the final on four occasions in 2006, 2005, 2008 and 2011. However, her three most recent efforts have all crashed out in the semi-finals. Now Linda claims to have rediscovered her her old hit-making recipe. “I think I have a newfound passion for what I do and also a newfound respect for myself and my genre. I have come to the conclusion how much I love my schlager songs and that it is true schlager that I want to do, because it is missed”.
For the upcoming “Fyrfaldigt hurra!”, Linda and her people reached out to a songwriting team led by the prolific Eurovision and Mello songwriter Thomas G:son. She says: “We felt that: “This is how it should sound”. It should feel like it’s Linda Bengtzing, not that it’s Linda Bengtzing looking for a new sound”.
Speaking of her losing songs from 2014, 2016 and 2020, she adds that “When you have worked as much as I have done, you want challenges and then I have thought that it has been a matter of finding another sound. But now I feel that it does not have to be. It can be development in a new text.
Many will contend that schlager never went away. Afterall, the last few years have seen the likes of Jessica Andersson, Lina Hedlund and Charlotte Perrelli all reach the final with modern takes on the genre. We won’t get to hear Bengtzing’s “true schlager” until the semi-finals in the spring. However, fans are already hyped at the prospect of a bop in the vein of “E det fel pÃ¥ mig” or “Alla Flickor”.
Are you excited to hear what Linda has to bring for Melfest 2022? What other artists are you looking forward to seeing? Let us know in the comments.
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Svt accidentaly leaked and Estrella is again in the line up with a song that would probably be like “Baila corazon viva viva forever together vamos amor”
The swedes really love it somehow
Off topic : svt leaked all the artists by mistake on the app! Many newcomers which is great. Already look better than 2021 and 2020
Yasss, go queen. I don’t usually like ‘happy music’ but always when Spotify randomly plays one of the Linda Bengtzing Mello bangers, my mood goes up. My biggest favourite was and still is “Ta mig” from 2014, so criminally underrated. But all of them are gold.
Also absolutely looking forward to Anna Bergendahl, these two singers never disappoint me and if they got cool songs, one of them should take the trophy finally, goddammit))
If Anna is participating this year. We will have to wait until Friday
Actually, I stand corrected. We’re going to find out the rest of the melfest participants tomorrow.
great news for the others competing in her semi !
I trully respect her attitude. She loves making music, and if this is her style, then go for it. I have enjoyed a lot many of her entries, so probably I’ll be rooting for her this time
I did love her early entries. And the lady can sing. I do agree that she should lean into what people love about her. Charlotte Parelli’s most successful song in modern Melfest was when she did her version of that Helene Fischer schlager hit and people rewarded Magnus Carlsson when he brought it with Gamla Stan. I think viewers reward authenticity and delivering in your genre at highest level and if she delivers schlager at highest level then I’m rooting for her.
I miss the good old days of old fashioned Schlager. No one says it has to win but it made you feel happy and also showed that Sweden weren’t taking themselves to seriously. Everything is too slick, polished and commercialised now. Bring back the old school clunky key change.
Stop taking everything so seriously and have fun
this is the attitude that gave us the abysmal 2000s era of eurovision. have fun sure, but making it quality should always be first on your mind. the roop’s on fire and discoteque are both rly fun songs, but they are both just straight-up quality songs first, fun second
Schlager is a part of European music culture, so it should also be part of Eurovision. Not all of the songs, but a few schlager songs here and there don’t hurt anyone.
Yes. I agree with you.
The title and attitude give me the confidence that she will succeed in coming dead last in her semi final. Ouch. I hope the new-found respect will help because she kept getting worse and worse songs with each attempt. 2005 til 2011 were actually quite powerful for their times. I feel like this will be a futile attempt to recapture those times with something over-the-top, cheesy and lame. Prove me wrong. I LOVE “Alla flickor”, I’m not above the genre.
“True schlager is missed”… Said no one ever. The one year Eurovision FINALLY starts departing from Swedish industrial songs (with 4 non-English songs in the top 5 and most original compositions scoring high), someone has to come and say “We miss schlager”. Must be a joke… 😀
My hope for next year: more original compositions, more national languages, more heartfelt songs, no more one-size-fits-all commercial songs bought to Swedish songwriters, no more so called “dream team”, more authenticity, and (one can dream) a live orchestra back.
Your answer doesn’t make sense. The Swedish conveyor belt songs they export to countries like Azerbaijan and Cyprus aren’t schlager. If someone says they want true schlager back, they mean schlager, not everything that was written by a Swede.
So El Diablo and Mata Hari were not “schlager”?
No. They were not.
Apart from the fact that Mata Hari was a Dutch production, and not Swedish, these songs weren’t schlager. Just crappy pop songs. I don’t know where you’re from, but if you’re from Northern Europe you should know the difference.
I realize her music isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I quite like Linda’s music, especially her schlager bops from the 00’s. No matter what she brings this year or the place she ends up in, I’m sure I’ll be listening to it on Spotify more than a few times. 🙂
I have absolutely no doubt in that she will end up last in her heat…