Melodifestivalen: The Golden Years (2006-2010) Rate: top 15 is here

Which is the best MF year?

  • Total voters
    16
daninternational

daninternational

he/him
One last song must fall before we reach the top 25.







#26

Jenny Silver
A Place To Stay

MF score:
8/8 SF1 2010

PJ score: 8.3409


High scorers: 10 @WowWowWowWow @Txetxu @YRSHKD @pookiebots
Low scorers: 2 @stevo_1988 7.25 @Remorque 7.6 @saviodxl​


Just before the top 25, we lose our penultimate semi 8th placer. Jenny Silver is one of the success stories of Melodifestivalen, really. But not in 2010. Given the second performance slot in the first heat of 2010 (between Ola's Unstoppable and Linda Pritchard - both in our top 25), and came dead last, with just under 7000 votes, slightly more than half of Frispråkarn in 7th.

The song itself was always unlikely to do well, a slice of lowkey synthpop that Jenny performs artfully. It was written by Torben Hedlund, a member of multiple Swedish synth bands, Bobby, Kamera and The Paper Faces, and remains his only MF attempt. It reached #12 on the Swedish charts after its elimination.

Jenny Silver started her career as lead singer of Dansband 'Candela', who had a series of big hits in 1994, and she was named the 'Queen of Dansband' and 'the next Lotta Engberg'. Since then, she turned her hand to many things - leading a rock band, touring with Thorsten Flinck, the lead in Evita, an "all-star constellation band" called Debbies Wife and much more.

Someone with a career like that was not to be dissuaded from one last place in MF, so she returned twice more. In 2011 she brought the schlagertastic (and later covered by Steps) 'Something In Your Eyes', which made it to the bloodbath that was Andra Chansen, where she lost to Love Generation. Her most recent attempt was in 2013 as part of 'Swedish House Wives', with Hanna Hedlund and Pernilla Wahlgren - where she finished 6th in the semi.



@YRSHKD (10) says This is what I miss from older Mello editions. Comparing to these, newer entries tend to be more radio friendly and bland af. Take more risks Sverige!
@WowWowWowWow (10) says: Nothing short of sublime. Very much a "Maybe it was too ahead of its time for some people" moment.

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We kick off our top 25 with an artist we haven't seen yet​
 
daninternational

daninternational

he/him
We have a top 10 from those who didn't leave their semi:

Top 10 (alphabetical order)

Elin Lanto - Doctor Doctor
Hanna Lindblad - Manipulated
Linda Pritchard - You're Making Me Hot-Hot-Hot
Magnus Carlsson - Live Forever
Marie Serneholt - Disconnect Me
Sibel - Stop
The Attic feat. Therese - The Arrival
Velvet - Déjà vu
Velvet - The Queen
Verona - La musica
--------------------------------------
#26 Jenny Silver - A Place to Stay
#27 Andreas Lundstedt - Move
#30 Regina Lund - Rainbow Star
#31 Cosmo4 - What's Your Name
#32 Anna Sahlene & Maria Haukaas Storeng - Killing Me Tenderly
#35 Jessica Andersson - Kalla nätter
#36 Lovestoned - Thursdays
#38 Sofia - Hypnotized
#39 Anna Sahlene - This Woman
#42 Nina Söderquist - Tick Tock
#44 Sonya - Etymon
#48 After Dark - (Åh) När ni tar saken i egna händer
#50 Sandra Dahlberg - Jag tar det jag vill ha
#51 Kayo Shekoni - Innan natten är över
#52 Daniel Mitsogiannis - Pame
#57 MissMatch - Drop Dead
#62 MiSt & Highlights - Come and Get Me Now
#64 Günther and the Sunshine Girls - Like Fire Tonight
#66 The Nicole - Razborka
#68 Jennifer Brown - Never Been Here Before
#69 Simone Moreno - Aiayeh (The Music of the Samba)
#75 Calaisa - If I Could
#76 Jessica Folcker - When Love's Comin' Back Again
#77 Face-84 - Alla gamla x
#80 Maja Gullstrand - Här för mig själv
#81 Susanne Alfvengren - Du är älskad där du går
#82 Cookies 'N' Beans - What If
#83 Shirley Clamp - Med hjärtat fyllt av ljus
#86 Anna-Maria Espinosa - Innan alla ljusen brunnit ut
#87 Ainbusk - Jag saknar dig ibland
#89 Hannah Graaf - Naughty Boy
#91 Laila Adéle - Don't Try To Stop Me
#93 Addis Black Widow - Clubbin'
#94 Andersson & Gibson - Anything But You
#95 Caroline af Ugglas - Tror på dig
#96 Sheida - I mina drömmar
#99 Py Bäckman - Magisk stjärna
#100 Svante Thuresson & Anne-Lie Rydé - Första gången​
 
daninternational

daninternational

he/him
And here is our top quarter of the rate:

Top 25

Agnes - Love Love Love
Alcazar - Headlines
Alcazar - Stay the Night
BWO - Lay Your Love on Me
BWO - Temple of Love
Charlotte Perrelli - Hero
E.M.D. - Baby Goodbye
Elin Lanto - Doctor Doctor
Eric Saade - Manboy
Hanna Lindblad - Manipulated
Lili & Susie - Show Me Heaven
Linda Pritchard - You're Making Me Hot-Hot-Hot
Magnus Carlsson - Live Forever
Måns Zelmerlöw - Cara Mia
Marie Serneholt - Disconnect Me
Ola Svensson - Unstoppable
Pernilla Wahlgren - Jag vill om du vågar
Sibel - Stop
Star Pilots - Higher
The Attic feat. Therese - The Arrival
Timoteij - Kom
Velvet - Déjà vu
Velvet - Mi amore
Velvet - The Queen
Verona - La musica​
 
daninternational

daninternational

he/him
Our last untouched multi-artist loses a track as we kick-off the top 25







#25

Velvet
Mi Amore

MF score:
3/8 SF1 2006
7/8 Andra Chansen 2006

PJ score: 8.4591


High scorers: 10 @saviodxl 9.5 @pookiebots @daninternational
Low scorers: 3.75 @YRSHKD 8 @stevo_1988 @WowWowWowWow​


One of our least-represented heats loses its third and final entry, after Kikki Danielsson (#61) and Etymon (#44). This is also the first of Velvet's 3 entries in our rate to fall (not the right one imo), and the penultimate entry from 2006. Despite getting the final slot of the heat, Velvet scored 10k less televotes than Magnus Carlsson in 2nd place, meaning she was sent to Andra Chansen. Somehow at Andra Chansen she scored even less votes (12k), putting her in second last back in the days of straightforward single vote AC. She was beaten by a bunch of male acts not in our rate, plus Elysion (#98) and qualifiers Rednex (#97).

Which is ridiculous because Mi Amore is a bop as so many Latin-titled English language songs are, and to prove it, it went on to achieve great success internationally & became Song of the Year 2006 in Bulgaria. It remained high in charts in Russia, Poland, Hungary, Greece and Italy. BEfore her Mf performance, she had released a disco reinterepretation of Electric Avenue, as well as Livin' Joy cover Don't Stop Movin'. After her MF attempt, she released her first album 'Finally', and then her best single (in my opinion, and the US charts where it hit #14) Fix Me, which was added to the album reissue.


​

She was really feeding us, as in 2007 she also released yet another of her best bops, Chemistry.
We will see her twice more in our rate, so will leave the bio at this point.



@stevo_1988 (8) says My first inkling of the wonder that is Velvet, ironically her best performing entry results wise, but my least fav of hers.
@WowWowWowWow (8) says: It's not in my top tier Velvet, but middle tier Velvet is still leagues ahead of what some could hope to achieve.

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A multi-song artist loses their final entry, next.​
 
saviodxl

saviodxl

Oh nooo. I love love love Mi Amore, but I guess the live performance doesn't resonates very well as the recorded version.
daninternational said:
She was beaten by a bunch of male acts not in our rate, plus Elysion (#98) and qualifiers Rednex (#97)
Click to expand...
spongebob-coffee.gif
 
daninternational

daninternational

he/him
Her second, and final track falls







#24

Sibel
Stop

MF score:
7/8 SF4 2010

PJ score: 8.5318


High scorers: 10 @daninternational @MilesAngel 9.75 @YRSHKD
Low scorers: 7 @Txetxu @stevo_1988 @WowWowWowWow​


A long time after her first cut (#79), Sibel's return to the contest did much worse with the Swedes, but much better with us (unsurprisingly) than her ballad finalist. This is the first elimination to have no scores lower than 7, as we inch closer to the top 20.

Given the honour of kicking of the fourth heat of 2010, more was presumably expected of Sibel's return than 7th place. The song, co-written by Alla/Hypnotized's Dimitros Stassos, is quite a straightforward pop song, though is given an interesting almost AI-like bleepy production, driving drums throughout the song interspersed with complete music stops (see what they did there?), weird grey alien backing dancers and a misjudged false ending for good measure.

Sibel beat only Py Bäckman (our #99) as it failed to make the second round together with her and 6th placed Lovestoned (#36).

She released a couple of bops post-MF, but since then she has focused more on songwriting and singing backing vocals for others.




@stevo_1988 (9) says A big departure from her first entry, it's fun it's party
@WowWowWowWow (7) says: And then she went on to sing backup vocals for Ariana Grande and Carly Rae Jepsen...

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Next the Mandra Chansen qualifiers take a couple more hits.​
 
daninternational

daninternational

he/him
They made it quite high, but couldn't go any....







#23

Star Pilots
Higher

MF score:
3/8 SF4 2009
Round 2 AC 2009

PJ score: 8.5455


High scorers: 10 @saviodxl @stevo_1988 @MilesAngel @Conan @Untouchable Ace
Low scorers: 4.5 @pookiebots 6 @Txetxu 7.5 @YRSHKD​


Back to 2009, and the fourth heat which loses its penultimate entry - leaving Agnes as the last one standing. Star Pilots had an unfavourable #2 draw, right after Agnes had opened the show, but in the first round of voting they came 2nd - ahead of Agnes and SDF #65 (but behind Malena #43). They were then paired with Agnes in the AC/Finalist duel, which thankfully they lost and had to settle for Andra Chansen. There, they beat Amy Diamond in Round 1, before falling to eventual runner-up Caroline Af Ugglas (#92).

Johan Becker won the winner of Fame Factory 2004, ahead of Jimmy Jansson, Sandra Dahlberg (#50), Maja Gullstrand (#80) and his future wife Carola Szücs. His (awful) debut single was a big hit in Sweden.

His MF career started the same year, where he wrote 'Här stannar jag kvar' for Sandra Dahlberg and joined the performance. In 2005, he returned as part of The Wallstones with their Womble-rock schlager.

​


In 2009, he created the group Star Pilots who were heavily inspired by Top Gun and the 80s. Higher was their first single, and took the entirety of its lyrics from other 80s songs. It's not plagiarism if it's this blatant, I guess? After MF, they continued to release music, and scored a #18 hit in the UK with 'In The Heat of The Night'. Very much in the same wheelhouse, it switched the male dancers out for women to better please the LADSLADSLADS.


​

Since then, he has focussed more on songwriting, with success in Japan with the group Exile, as well as writing Girls' Generation's 'Paparazzi'. He also joined the veteran band 'Secret Service'.


@stevo_1988 (10) says The Star Pilots had shelf life of about 18 months, but they churned out some absolute bangers in that time, this is no exception
@WowWowWowWow (9) says: Oh God how I loved that minute when the Sunblock / Cabin Crew style was popular. Also since this was my first year watching the show, it was my first exposure to "Mello songs that are basically just other songs but rewritten" and here we found Waiting For A Star To Fall's corpse picked over.

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Two of the remaining 2010 songs will miss our top 20.​
 
Last edited:
daninternational

daninternational

he/him
For a while it seemed like he was, but not any longer...








#22

Ola Svensson
Unstoppable

MF score:
1/8 SF1 2010
7th place FINAL 2010

PJ score: 8.5773


High scorers: 10 @YRSHKD @daninternational @stevo_1988 @MilesAngel @Untouchable Ace
Low scorers: 5.5 @pookiebots 6 @Txetxu 7 @WowWowWowWow​


He had two eligible songs in the rate period, but Love In Stereo from 2008 didn't make it through our Mandra Chansen. Still, his song that did has performed pretty well in the rate, and is perhaps a sign that we should have let a few more male-only songs through the net.

​


In an unusual turn of events, Unstoppable (The Return of Natalie) is a sequel to Ola's biggest hit, 2007's Natalie - a 5-week #1 and platinum-certified in Sweden. Finishing 8th in the second season of Swedish Idol (Agnes won, Sibel 3rd, Måns 5th), Ola actually had 4 number 1 hits before his first MF participation in 2008. Bagpipe-bop Love In Stereo opened the heat with Sanna Nielsen (#67) and Carola&Andreas (#70), finishing 4th behind them and Rongedal to make Andra Chansen, where Ola lost to ballad Sibel (#79).

In 2010, he was again chosen to open the heat, this time the very first one of the year. In the first round of voting, he came 2nd behind Salem Al Fakir (#63), then won the second round to take the second DTF spot. In a very man-heavy final, Ola came in 7th, thanks to a decent 47 points from the international juries, including douzes from Serbia and Ireland) - and nothing from his 4.3% of the televote.

The song combines a memorable piano riff with questionable lyrics about a zombie, and an explosive pop chorus in true Ola fashion. It was co-written by Ola himself, Alexander Kronlund (Lucky, If U Seek Amy, Til The World Ends, Side To Side), 'Hitman' Hanif (Etzia's Up), and our old filous Dimitri Stassos - meaning it wins out as our favourite of his 4 entries.
​
Between 2010 and 2014, he has released multiple albums with plenty of great and successful pop songs, including 'All Over The World', 'I'm In Love' and 'Jackie Kennedy' which all achieved decent success outside of Sweden.


​

After a break from the industry, he returned with more mid-tempo pop music in 2018 under the new moniker Brother Leo - culminating in a new album in 2022. My favourite is Barcelona.



@stevo_1988 (10) says Another cute Swedish boy with an irresistibly catchy Pop number - sign me up
@WowWowWowWow (7) says: I don't know Natalie and I don't want to know her. This song should be rewritten with the title Insufferable.

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One more song is to be ROBBED of a top 20 spot.​
 
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