Melodifestivalen: Round 3

Round 3 of Melodifestivalen was held in Gothenburg last Saturday. Viewership was down for this week; most of Sweden is tuned into the Olympics in Sochi.

The line-up:

1. "Echo," Outrigger

2. "Red," Eko

3. "Yes We Can," Oscar Zia

4. "Burning Alive," Shirley Clamp

5. "All We Are," State of Drama

6. "En enkel sång," CajsaStina Åkerström

7. "Busy Doin' Nothin'," Ace Wilder

8. "Around the World," Dr. Alban and Jessica Folcker

The Great: Ace Wilder and Eko

Ace Wilder, born Alice Gernandt, had a hit last year with "Bitches Like Friday." She performed "Busy Doin' Nothin'" at Melodifestivalen this weekend. After it was announced she had qualified directly for the final, the Swedish Ke$ha (just kidding, Ace is much prettier and cleaner) appeared shocked to hear her name called. While this is a great pop song, the lyrics are probably too light to be well received at Eurovision. But it's very fun to enjoy for now. Watch Ace Wilder here.

A friend described this act as "Depeche Mode fronted by Julianne Moore." It's a good throwback to some 80s New Wave pop, helped by strong vocals from lead singer, Anna Lidman. Eko unfortunately failed to qualify for the next round of voting. But they are pretty new to the scene, and I'm sure we'll see them at Melodifestivalen again. 

The Good: Oscar Zia

17 year-old Oscar Zia got his start on the 2012 season of Swedish X Factor (as did last week's competitors, J.E.M.). Oscar is young, cute, and clearly well liked. His song, "Yes We Can," qualified to go to the final directly. Watch his performance here.

The Rock: Outrigger and State of Drama

It was an interesting choice to have the two most promising rock bands go up against each other in the same week. Pop-rock band, State of Drama, were present in last year's Melodifestivalen, and they did pretty well. The metal-influenced Outrigger is relatively new and unknown. I don't really understand how to make metal and schlager fit together, but I guess that's for Sweden to figure out. (Here's a fun video of Outrigger covering Sweden's 2012 Eurovision representative, Robin Stjernberg's "You.") These two bands qualified for the Andra Chansen round, so we will see them fight it out again in March. Videos were very hard to find of these two performances, which I attribute to the fact that most Melodifestivalen clips are uploaded by beautiful Swedish gays, and the gays will have nothing to do with these bands. I'll sum up Outrigger's performance: cute Swedish man in a straight jacket and Hannibal Lecter facial mask. Metal. Cages. Vocal grates. And below is State of Drama, shot from the audience.

There wasn't really anything terrible this week. To be honest, it was a rather boring presentation. Sorry, SVT! Luckily, next week will be the most intense line-up yet. Melodifestivalen all-stars, Alcazar, are reuniting after disbanding in 2011. Anton Ewald and Janet Leon, both young and strong contenders, are competing at well.