By Aline Mahrud

WHEN? Saturday 5 February 2022

WHERE? Malmö Arena WHERE DO I WATCH? SVT Play UPDATE: Covid means Stockholm will now be the venue for all 2022 events

We’re at the venue of the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest final, our last live Eurovision, and our highlight is the 1st appearance in 8 years on a Melodifestivalen stage for the legend that is Shirley Clamp.

• Read on for reasons including MF winner Robin Bengtsson and TV star Omar Rudberg

We saw her at our 1st live Melodifestivalen finalen in 2004 when Min kärlek (My love), see main picture, finished 2nd as well as a Eurofest appearance at London’s Royal Vauxhall Tavern a decade ago.

This will be Clamp’s 7th attempt at an MF victory and highlights over the years have included ballad/stomper Att älska dig (To love you) making 4th in 2005 and band Shirley’s Angels taking Alexander Bard co-write I Thought It Was Forever to Andra Chansen in 2011.

2022’s attempt is a Clamp co-write which she describes saying: ‘You can expect a big song with hopeful, beautiful lyrics.’ Her fellow authors have songwriting credits for Steps and Westlife so our hopes are high.

Min kärlek also takes a bow as 1 of our greatest Andra Chansen songs ever.

3. Shirley Clamp Let There Be Angels (Mats Tärnfors, Pelle Nylén, Shirley Clamp, Jakob Skarin)

Closing the show will be Robin Bengtsson who won MF in 2017 finishing 5th in Kiev, Ukraine with I Can’t Go On. He returned to MF 2 years ago with Take A Chance finishing 8th. He appears to be the early favourite to win this year’s MF. 1 of his fellow finalists in 2020 was Victor Crone who has co-written Bengtsson’s entry this year and represented Estonia in Eurovision in 2019 finishing 20th with Storm.

7. Robin Bengtsson Innocent Love (David Lindgren Zacharias, Victor Sjöström, Victor Crone, Viktor Broberg, Sebastian Atas)

4. Omar Rudberg Moving Like That (Omar Rudberg, Gustav Blomberg, Amanda Kongshaug, Kristin Marie)

Rudberg was a 3rd of boyband FO&O who finished 7th in MF the year Bengtsson won. He participated as a solo artist 2 years later when Om om och om igen failed to progress from its semi but since then the half-Venezuelan has played a lead character in Netflix show Young Royals and so this could be his time, particularly with this co-write.

Malou Prytz Bananas (Alice Gernandt, Jimmy “Joker” Thörnfeldt, Joy Deb, Linnea Deb)

Show opener Prytz has some big names in her songwriting team and with a title like that we’d expect this to bang. She has MF history making the 2019 finalen finishing 12th with I Do Me. We said then: ‘We suspect Malou may return to MF in later years with something stronger and likely to do better.’

Other acts are:

2. Theoz Som Du Vill (As you wish) (Tobias Lundgren, Axel Schylström, Tim Larsson, Elize Ryd, Jimmy “Joker” Thörnfeldt)

5. Danne Stråhed Hallaballoo (Danne Stråhed, Fredrik Andersson, Erik Stenhammar)

Read Scandipop for more details of these artists.

6. Cornelia Jakobs Hold Me Closer (Isa Molin, David Zandén, Cornelia Jakobsdotter)

Jakobs was part of Love Generation who competed in 2011 and 2012. 2011’s entry Dance Alone was a RedOne co-write at a time when he was best known for his work with Lady Gaga.

• Keep an eye on monstagigz.com during January as we’ll be previewing 2022’s 28 entries.
• During February this site will predict how each heat will go on the Friday after we’ve heard the songs before the Saturday events. Heat 2 preview Heat 3 preview Heat 4 preview
• In March we’ll forecast how the finalen will go and how each of the 12 qualifiers would do in May in Turin at Eurovision.
• Picture via Facebook courtesy Shirley Clamp
• Have you heard any of these songs or seen any of these shows? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
• Enjoyed this review? Follow monstagigz on Twitter @NeilDurham, email neildurham3@gmail.com and check us out on Instagram and Facebook