Sweden: Melodifestivalen Semi Final 2 Preview

Before we begin with semi 2, a quick look back at the outcome from semi 1. As expected, Danny and Arvingarana went Direkt which was a great outcome for me, less good was Lillasyster, who I was looking to come last and I’m still a bit surprised to see them finish so high. More a case of Jessica Anderson and Kadiatou underperforming but it will be interesting to see how they fare head to head in Andra Chansen. Paul Rey grabbed the other Andra Chansen spot and his song is the sort of spotify friendly ‘grower’ that could do well there.

Anyway, onto semi 2:

1. Anton Ewald- ‘New Religion’ Anton is back again. The presence of Danny Saucedo and Eric Saade didn’t help, but overall expectations and interest felt quite low here. ‘New Religion’ is a decent enough song but one of Melfest’s many watered down versions of something that could be in the charts. I’m not very impressed with the staging snippet for this with a somewhat silly, dated and unnecessary dance routine coupled with some poor miming. It may be a new religion, but it’s the same old Anton.

2. Julia Alfrida- ‘Rich’ This is just not a competitive song here and another entry that is ‘taking inspiration’. The P4 Nasta qualifiers always struggle in this field and are rarely helped with the draw either. The staging is very empty as well with fans faces an overused backdrop. It's a competent attempt but this won’t make the secong round of voting.

3. WAHL ft. Sami- ‘90-talet’ Did anyone have high hopes for this? It’s not really ‘fun’ enough to compensate from being fairly average, whilst by its nature is trying to target a fairly limited age range which isn’t the best approach with the way the app vote works. Is there enough appeal for anyone without much interest in their 1990’s references? Andra Chansen the limit here, but will avoid bottom spots.

4. Frida Green- ‘The Silence’ ‘The Silence’ is one of the better songs in this semi and Frida one of the better singers too but that won’t prevent this having a very hard time of things. Just look at how Nathalie Brydolf got along last week. From what I've seen this entry is even more beige and I can't give this much hope here.

5. Eva Rydberg and Ewa Roos- ‘Rena Rama Ding Dong’ A bit more of the melfest fluff that did well in semi 1 but this is really pushing it. The good news is that it’s distinctive in what is a fairly middle of the road semi, where most of the rivals also have issues. Nowhere near as hopeless as some of the odds suggest, with double figures available on this just to reach Andra Chansen.

6. Patrick Jean- ‘Tears Run Dry’ My expectations for this were fairly high here and Patrick delivers a good song and solid vocal. The presentation is executed well, although my concern is that it might be a bit too effeminate and alternative from a first time participant and could cost some votes. There should be enough here for Andra Chansen and I don't discount this going Direkt.

7. Dotter- ‘Little Tot’ Dotter’s song title has been a concern of mine going into this semi and I’m still not 100% sold here but that's probably just as a native English speaker. Dotter has however the best entry in this semi and is a certainty to go Direkt, even if I feel this staging is, again in this semi, a bit off. ‘Little Tot’ is nothing special, but is the first potential Melfest winner and would get Sweden a respectable position.

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After Dotter, I don’t think there’s too much to pick between Anton Ewald and Patrick Jean for the 2nd direkt slot. I’ll throw Anton in with his act being more tried and tested but both should at least reach Andra Chansen. It’s hard to predict how well ‘Rena Rama Ding Dong’ will do, in my book I have it anywhere from 2nd to 5th and I do think there’s some value in backing this. ‘90-Talet’ is a more predictable 4th/5th. Last Place could easily go either way between Frida and Alfrida, I lean towards Julia here.

Semi Prediction:

1. Dotter

2. Anton Ewald*

3. Patrick Jean*

4. Eva Rydberg and Ewa Roos

5. WAHL ft. Sami

6. Frida Green

7. Julia Alfrida

*An earlier version of this article had Patrick Jean incorrectly at no. 2 in the list from an earlier draft (Like I say, not much in it). Amended before the show. All other text, referring to Anton having the edge, unchanged.

Feel free to leave your predictions in the comments below.