Eric Saade - Popular

The Swedish entry for this year's Eurovision



Spyke

It's coming around to that time of the year again where the 'best' music acts from across Europe compete to show what their country has to offer. I say 'best' but often the participants' attempts leave a lot to be desired; if it was about pure popularity then I'm sure the UK could walk this competition yearly (with Sweden and Germany completing the top 3). Each year so many British acts manage to dominate the charts globally (Leona Lewis, Taio Cruz, Adele, Tinie Tempah), why don't we just send someone who has actually had a UK #1? Well, at least this year we've sent Blue (almost a decade too late) who are joint second favourite so I'm going to stop complaining.

Each year Sweden chooses their act by a televised competition called the Melodifestivalen, a show who's status rivals that of the X Factor in the UK (compared to the shambles of a show we had with 'Making Your Mind Up' - see below). Sweden have won the contest four times (beginning with ABBA) and are one of the competition's most successful entries; so they must be doing something right. However over the past few years their success has wavered and the future of the show has come under some uncertainty. This song could change all that...

This is unashamed pop at its best! There isn't too much of this in the charts at the moment but it is very much an Adam Lambert track in the same vein as Pick U Up - is it less camp? No. The up-tempo track hooks you in within few seconds; it just continues to build momentum and then we get the break down before the epic key change. With elementary lyrics like "I'm gonna take the fight/for the spotlight/day and night" and "don't say it's impossible/cause I know it's possible", this is like a great pop by numbers track.

The Melodifestivalen gave us an insight of what to expect from their Eurovision performance. I shouldn't think they'll change it too much as the synchronized dancing, flashing lights and smashing glass really provide a visual display that reaches the same heights as the track. I for one have had this on repeat all morning and placed a cheeky bet on it to win. Whether the song can bring the competition back to Stockholm in 2012 remains to be seen but I'll be disappointed if it doesn't reach the top 5. Here a few of the other notable entries:

UK - Blue were popular across Europe in their heyday, the track has grown on me a lot.
France - Current favourites, though an opera track sang in Corsican isn't really my thing.
Estonia - What Alesha's Drummer Boy should have been, lots of familiar elements to this.
Germany - Lena returns but I feel the slow track might get forgotten in the mix of things.


Clip from 'Making Your Mind Up' - what a mess of a show this was: