So, first off, Saga Ludvigsson's plastic country making #1 straight to the final was not what i expected at all, and i doubt many others did. No real idea what people saw in it, but i guess the others having disappointing performances helped it stand out. Though it continues a general trend this year of weak entries (that will probably be forgotten when this MF is done) ending up #1 in each semi and the real favorites going to final as #2.
So, Scarlet... great staging of course, maybe a bit underwhelming musically. What i don't like is that the industrial / metal element is really just used as a framing, the bulk of the song really is ABBA-esque dance pop, and the unnecessarily long and repetitive chorus takes up so much time, their vocal skills or anything else doesn't get enough room. The weird distorted vocals and other noisy elements of the studio version, which made much of its character, were also toned down in this version.
Staging was good but a bit dark, it was hard to see what was happening around them, and it sure was a lot. Overall, it would have been a pretty good entry for Sweden to send something new, but i'm all sold on the KAJ train now.
So Arwin... great singing talent, but the performance felt a bit bland and lacking in substance behind the flash, and the song is melodically weak, if somewhat creatively arranged and structured. I really thought he would make the final, but i can see him returning, good luck for the future.
Arvingarna, or is it Arwingarna... oh GOD that was hilariously mediocre! My parents, who are just in the target audience for this, thought it was awful and very inferior to their previous attempts. First off, the song is a packed conglomerate of over-used melodic and lyric cliches. Second, the staging, while it could have looked cool if it was done right, was obviously over their skill level. The result:
Disaster bop!
They obviously couldn't focus on their singing and had to be very careful not to trip on these stairs, which would of course have been outright physically dangerous. The vocals were outright bad at some points, weak for almost all of it. Also, their expression later on when they weren't sent to the final was pretty funny, clearly no disappointment there...
So, Vilhelm Buchaus... i'm sure "Elon Musk as a Americana singer-songwriter" is not a look anybody's begging for, but enough about that. The staging idea with it staying on his face almost all the time was done well, and not used often enough IMO. The song is slightly above the (very low) average for this genre in MF, and he did a convincing emotional delivery with strong vocals and stage presence, i thought he or Arwin would be 2nd place to Scarlet.
Finally, another disaster bop with Victoria, seriously, she couldn't sing at all! She sounded completely out of breath, and it was all flash & glitz around a bottom tier song with non-existant vocal skills. This was seriously a Gunilla Persson-level disaster, except better executed visually.
As for the "finalkval" voting.... i guess the result was pretty fair, i actually thought it would be Arwin, but Meira Omar is a fair choice, i just don't think the song is very strong. The selection was really drawn out, as everything this year. And you know their self-congratulation has reached the depths of desperation when they start getting nostalgic about their interval acts...
Also, anyone think if Ronny & Ragge had competed, they could have won?
But yeah, as for now, i'm completely down with KAJ as the winner, i guess Scarlet would be good but it would be a missed opportunity for Sweden to send something nobody would have expected before. They, or something similar can return, KAJ has everything set to win this year. Fortunately, don't think Måns has a great chance, his song doesn't stand out among the similar ones in the final.