Eurovision – Sweden

Sweden has certainly taken signifigant measures to win this competition. There is nothing Swedish about the performance, other than the performer being a Swedish icon, and she’s still singing in english and french. The theme will appeal to a large audience; Narnia will appeal to the big four, and she may already have devoted in the big four as well. There is also nothing controversial. The only statement being made is that of a strong female presence. It’s not sexualized but Malena is beautiful and charming. No one wants to argue with that statement. And Narnia is a story about good vs. evil. The clean route has earned Sweden a win in the past (The Herrey’s). Malena also won Melodifestivalen with televoting, so people like her, and responses to stories and blogs support that. She definitely has a chance of doing well and winning. It’s hard to say without seeing all the changes to the final performance. On the one hand it might too serious, not quite loveable enough. But it sounds like for the final performance they’re really putting on a show, and the Narnia theme, with Malena’s futuristic wings, might be a little more fun. 

After ditching Malena’s black attire for the Narnia themed performance of “La Voix” details about the new white gown have been revealed.All cost records will be broken with a dress designed by Camilla Thulins that costs almost 400,000 swedish kronor, which is over 37,000 Euros ( 49,235.87 USD). According to the designer, it takes someone with a great body and strong confident personality to pull it off, which is exactly how Malena is viewed. Apparently it will eventually have futuristic wings, but it is otherwise classic 1800’s style. The visual concept has evolved further and  is focused on contrasts; with her on white and her dancers in black. The LED screen behind them flashed singular colors, lots of greens and whites, and again the backup singers will have a more poppy part to contrast Malena’s opera voice. Here is a video of the first reheasal:

   The concept of contrasts, in addition to satisfying every other requirement for a winning song (I’m referring to those described by Raykoff and Tobin in A Song for Europe: Popular Music and the Politics of Eurovision Song Contest”- catchy tune with memorable and repeatable lyrics, the clear distinction and contrast between the  verse and chorus, use of costumes and choreography, and a clearly defined finish) is a winning one I think. In this case it is also between high brow and low brow, something that Malena can relate to persoanlly in her career, and one that is a winning recipe for gaining a fan-base, everyone loves mid-brow. While it’s not a terrifically risky attempt, you can certainly see the Swedes attempting to configure a win with every step and change they take. 

The Melodifestivalen performance of “La Voix” had an opera scene type of theme, with male and female back up dancers,performing mostly refined choreography. The new theme has been announced and it calls for the transformation of Malena to a Nordic Ice Queen, and the overall theme is Narnia. Malena will be wearing all white instead and will be accompanied by all female back-up singers and and dancers, dressed in dark clothing as vlakyries. as  The masks are still a go and will rest on ice blocks at the front of the stage. According to Christopher Bjorkman, head of the Swedish delegation, they have “…decided on a strong female statement, and all the five backing singers will be women.” He revealed that the dramatic life at the end will be removed and therefore the ending will be different. The backup singers will sing in a more poppy style, the orchestration will change, but Malena will keep her operatic singing style.  

Lyrics:Can you keep a secret?Can you keep a secret?I’m in love with you.Can you make a promise?Can you make a promise?Stay forever trueThen I’m forever yours Chorus: Je t’aime, amour, quand j’entends la voix// I love you my love when I hear the voiceJe t’aime,ami, c’est jamais sans toi// I love you my friend, it is never without youTell me what you’re feelingTell me what you’re feelingI just want to knowTell me what you’re dreamingTell me what you’re dreamingLet your feelings showStay and don’t let goChorus  Je vis ma vie pour toi, c’est l’universe pour moi// I love my life for you, it’s the universe for meJe t’aime, amour, quand j’entends la voix// I love you, my love, when I hear the voiceJ’entends la voix// When I hear the voicela voix// The voiceThe lyrics are quite obviously wittingly kept simple.  The english chorus is pop like and the french chorus is sung in more of an operatic style. The melody is dramatic yet the song is also danceable. The combination of these elements is of mild camp; the combination of high brow and low brow. And the simple english and french text will appeal to countries outside the Scandonavian area.  

This is the official music video for “La Voix”. Because the Swedish selection (Melodifestivalen) is the last one to close for the season, Sweden only has one live performance for viewing for the national selection to show in the official preview videos. They later release an official video regardless. The video presents quite a different interpretation, somehwhat more sophisticated in the black and white, barefoot shots of Malena writing and singing, absent is the glitz and glam of the stage performance. It is more of a documentation of charming Malena’s journey from her occupation at the Royal Swedish Opera to her other job in Frankfurt where she stars in the opera La Cenerentola, recording “La Voix” somewhere in between.

  This is in fact the only way they could make a video that Malena had time for, it does remind the audience that she has a serious, time-consuming professional career in addition to Eurovision. This may or may not win her fans as she is a hard working serious professional performer.  According to Malena it is her “..first and only pop video!”

This years Melodifestivalen winner and Eurovision entry is Malena Ernamn with “La Voix”. She is from Sandviken, a town in Sweden that is known for producing musical artists, mainly in Jazz. She attended The Royal Academy of Music, the Music Conservatory in Orleans, and the school of the Royal Swedish Opera. She is one of the most popular opera stars in Sweden (mezzo-soprano), a member of the Royal Academy of Music, and one of the most sought after opera singers in the world. She is no stranger to the popular music world however, and transitions quite easily; performing various cabaret’s, jazz, musicals and even comedy sketches at award shows. Her breakthrough performance was in 1998 when she performed as Kaja in Sven-David Sandstroms “Staden”, and she’s risen to stardom since then, performing in Tokyo, Paris, Rome and Los Angelas as a solo act and in operas. About the high culture, often times conservative world of opera she says:”I think we have worked really hard within the opera world to become part of the popular music scene, but can’t!!! Only the audience can make opera popular music. Hopefully La Voix can play a small part in making that happen.” La Voix (The Voice) was written by Frederik Kempe, who has written numerous songs for Swedish Melodifestivalen entries.The lyrics are by Kempe and Ernman. It is the first Swedish entry to include French lyrics, which make up the chorus. This is the winning Melodifestivalen performance:

    Malena described her participation in Melidofestivalen and Eurovision as a  ”a fun thing to try.” Even outside of the vocal quality and gestures, there are operatic performance elements in the choreography and use of the masks. I think that the Swedes at least accomplished the goal of sending “not another ABBA-tune” according to Swedish Head of Delegation Christopher Bjorkman.  In fact, it seems like a return to the dramatic ballad that precursed ABBA. Maybe Sweden is not longer attempting to re-create ABBA, but realizing they need a different approach.For Melodifestivalen, for the eighth year, the semi-finals and a second chance round were held before the grand finale. This year however, a new dual system was added for the voting in the semi-finals and the addition of a wildcard qualifier chosen by an international jury. Eleven acts competed in the final. Malena’s win can be attributed to televoters, as she was only seventh according to the regional juries and national juries. 

Sweden’s first appearance in the Eurovision contest was in 1958, in Hilversum, Netherlands. They’ve competed 48 times since and have done consistently well. They have finished in the top 25 another 10 times. It is the only country apart form the big four that has been in the final every year since the relegation in 1993. The last two years they have not been as successful however, marking the first time that they haven’t finished in the top ten two years in a row in 20 years. Clearly, Sweden is always in it to win.You cannot study Sweden’s history in Eurovision without studying it alongside Melodifestivalen; an annual musical competition organized by Swedish Public Broadcasters Sveriges Television (SVT) and Sveriges Radio (SR). The winner of the contest becomes Sweden’s Eurovision entry. The winner is chosen by a panal of judges and since 1999, telophone voting; each has an equal influence on the outcome. Only Sweden’s first Eurovision entry was not determined by Melodifestivalen, having been selected internally by the Swedish broadcaster at the time.Melodifestivalen has been the most popular television program in Sweden and has produced four Eurovision winners, the first being the most well-known. ABBA’s Waterloo won Eurovision in 1974 and also launched the group into international success. 

ABBA’s win was significant in Eurovision history because it marked a break from the “dramatic ballad” tradition. The conductor comes out dressed as Napolean, and the performers are wearing flashy costumes, with a militaristic influence and silver platform boots. It is a combination that is couched in camp; the intersection of high and low culture-adding flare to the historical content and recontextualizing the historical event of Waterloo, replete with a catchy, up-beat melody. The singing not in their native language, along with simple choreography were also unseen at the time. Their next win came in 1984 with the group of three brothers called the Herrey’s won with their song  ”Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley”. The lyrics were written by Britt Lindeborg, and the tune by Torgny Soderberg.    Besides the gibberish of the chorus, the song is sung in Swedish. It’s about a man who finds a pair of golden shoes that make him feel like dancing, and he enters a “magical world” where he can surpass any obstacle so he decides he wants everyone to have a pair. The brothers are impossibly clean cut which adds to the impossibility, and appeal, of the scenario. A fellow participant dubbed them “the dancing deodorants” . The gibberish seems to be an attempt to appear to western Europeans. They avoid politics by using meaningless words which seems to be a theme as it harkens back to previous entries such as “Boom Bang-a-Bang”, “Ding-A-Dong”, and “La La La”. The next win was in 1991 with a song called “Fanged av en stormvind” by Carola. Carola had an established career as a Swedish pop-star. It was performed in swedish and  likens her love for someone to the effects of a storm wind. This represents another trend in Melodifestivalin winners as young female pop-singers.    Both of these winners can also be described as schlager music, the term used locally to refer to light orchestrated pop songs that usually have a key change. In Swedish it translates to “hitter” or “hit”. These songs are so prevalent in Melodifestivalen that the festival is often called Schlagerfestivalen. Both “Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley” and “Fanged av en stormvind” were covered by the Swedish heavy metal band Black Ingvars on their 1998 album “Schlager Metal”.  The popularity of this style has decreased in recent years but it remains the most frequent genre to win the competition.The last Swedish win in ESC was in 1999 with Charlotte Perelli (formerly Nilsson), one of Sweden’s most popular pop-stars, with the song “Take Me to Your Heaven”. It was originally written in Swedish and won Melodifestivalen in Swedish, but was sung in English for ESC , taking advantage of  the relaxation of the requirement to perform in a native language. It is another up-beat song about love, with her asking her lover to take her to heaven by loving her. It has been argued by fans that it is too derivative of ABBA.