Time for me to review this year's Swedish entry
Frans - If I Were Sorry
Status: No, thanks :?
Song: Sweden has become one of the most successful countries of the 2010's and hosted the contest twice in four years, I won't talk about the shows but I definitely think 2016 was miles better on every level than 2013 in terms of organization, visuals and ideas. Musically, I liked some of their popular entries (2011, 2012), including the black sheep everyone considers awful (2010); I loved "Undo" (2014) and especially "La Voix" (2009) since that particular song made me become a Eurovision fan
(hence why I sport a picture of Malena Ernman). On the contrary, I found "You" (2013) random and boring, and "Heroes" (2015) was nothing more than the usual average Melfest entry, so the problem I have with Sweden is that they have particular standards that unfortunately don't change, and the blatant lack of musical diversity in their NF lead to a rather homogeneous track record; as I'm getting fed up with their formula, it'll be interesting to see if they'll try new things or keep on sending what they've send already in the following years. Anyway, let's get back to the song our hosts sent this year: "If I Were Sorry" is a a mix of pop and Idon'tevenknowwhat dealing with two people who were either friends or lovers, one of them betrayed the other, and the one who has been betrayed does not feel sorry for moving on. If Frans knew that girl was worth a second chance, he would have moved mountains for her. That's how I understand it anyway, I might be wrong as the lyrics aren't that clear. Apart from the fact that there are too many "If I Were Sorry" lines, I don't mind the text. However, the musical aspect hasn't exactly charmed me: the short intro - composed of some electric guitar notes - quickly leads to the first verse: a discreet beat sets the pace of the song (which remains the same from beginning to end), reverb/synthesizers effects are used and some piano chords punctuate Frans's vocals. In this regard, I'm confused: he's definitely not singing, but he's not truly speaking either, that's odd. Of course, it reminds me of Bieber's apathetic phrasing and accent, which I'm not fond of (except for a few songs of his), and that is the first reason why that entry doesn't do it for me. The guitar loop of the beginning comes back during the second part of the first verse and additional finger snaps can be heard, then for a few seconds Frans's voice and the electric guitar form a duo while two bell/drum sounds resound. The chorus starts off with the beat of the first verse and the electric guitar melodic loop. The second verse is pretty much the same as the first one with only some additional strings. The bridge is rather stripped down, which allows the lyrics of that part to stand out. I guess that people who dig the melody find the whole song quite mesmerizing, for me it's just very repetitive: the three main instruments (and a couple of electronic sounds) that are used basically perform the same melodic patterns over and over again. There is no twist or change of pace to keep me interested in what's going on, that's very flat and even imo, it bores me. Kudos to Sweden for sending a piece of music that's current at the moment and sounds different from their usual Melfest cheese, but that's not my jam at all. I can't believe that song did enjoy so much success in the charts, I must be disconnected from what's trendy. :?
Voice: What can I say?
Frans gave a great performance (the contrary would have been quite worrying actually
), his vocals were as good live as in the studio version, but that's not a very demanding song either, so... I don't like his voice personally.
Staging: The Swedish snobbery is impressive
Like when Björkman said 2013 would be focused on music after Loreen's victory (how ironic!), they decided - after winning with a projector - not to use any of the technological devices of the most technologically-advanced Eurovision stage ever...
Anyway, the staging was very simple: Frans stood on stage behind a microphone stand; at the beginning, the stage was completely black, which made him stand out. A few white spotlights lit up in the background and some words of the lyrics appeared in golden colour (dance, stop, mistake, devil, lies). During the first chorus, the backdrops looked like moving shiny black and yellow printed circuit boards, the colour pairing is kind of odd though, white would have been better than yellow imo. During the second chorus, a shiny crossed-out heart turned into the word "stop". After the bridge, Frans went to the b-stage so that cameramen could shoot the whole arena full of shiny dots. Overall, there was not much going on, and I guess the song demanded that, at least it didn't try to be what it was not (unlike "Heroes"). It was cute, but the song is a no for me. Frans wore casual clothes (to play the boy next door card): a taupe-y brown jacket, a white shirt, black trousers and grey shoes.
Outcome: Sweden placed 5th out of 26 countries in the grand final, since juries ranked them 9th and people ranked them 6th... Well, I'm speechless, that's all I have to say!
I understand it's current, appealing to young people and not Eurovision-y, but I didn't expect such enthusiasm towards that entry, even people in the audience were shouting like crazy during the performance: I was like
Well, good for them Swedes! Reaching top 5 while hosting is rewarding. Personally, I think this was hella overrated as I find it insipid and monotonous, somehow I'm relieved Sweden were prequalified, otherwise they would have taken the place of either Croatia or Serbia in the semi, and that wouldn't have been cute tbh. In my personal ranking, "If I Were Sorry" is placed 42nd out of 42, worst song of that edition to me (and I'm not even sorry!). I assume Swedes will get back to visuals next year, I just hope the song will be worth it because they have lost me in the last two years. Hoping for a comeback of either Mariette or Caroline Wennergren
Ideally I'd like a fresh sound from Sweden, even within their pop sphere there may be something original to present at Eurovision. No more "youuu" hook please, and don't rely too much on presentation, I ain't here for Cirque du Soleil if you know what I mean
If only Björkman could allow new composers and artists (and not only his friends for 30 years), that would give their NF a breath of fresh air because I feel like it's musically going round in circles. For a nation that claims to master pop music, I guess it's not an absurd request
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