By Aline Mahrud

WHEN?: 7pm UK time Saturday 18 February 2023

WHERE?: Sparbanken Lidköping Arena, Lidköping

WHERE DO I WATCH? SVT Play 

Last week’s Heat 2 saw a ratcheting up of quality, a surprise non-qualifier and a Heat 3 performer co-writing the winning song.

• Read on for reasons including finalen and Andra Chansen predictions

We were surprised Wiktoria’s upbeat and fun All My Life (Where Have You Been) didn’t progress although we did flag in our Thursday predictions that it was a far more competitive heat than its predecessor.

1. Paul Rey Royals (Dino Medanhodzic, Jimmy “Joker” Thörnfeldt, Liam Cacatian Thomassen, Paul Rey) PREDICTION: Finalen

Rey finished 6th in 2020 with Talking In My Sleep and 12th a year later with The Missing Piece. Last year he had a co-writing credit on our favourite song from 2021, the song performed by Cazzi Opeia. This year his co-writers also include Medanhodzic who had 2 finalists last year and often writes for Dotter and LIAMOO, who has appeared at 3 MF finals. Royals is a change in pace for Rey to something more uptempo, chanty and flag waving- and we’re here for it.

2. Casanovas Så kommer känslorna tillbaka (Then the feelings come back) (Henrik Sethsson, Mikael Karlsson) PREDICTION: Andra Chansen

The classic schlager and dansband styles have been out of fashion for a while and we think this grown-up boyband might struggle although others in this genre have at least gone on to make the finalen in recent years. Reminiscent of classic Linda Bengtzing of which we were reminded in last week’s interval act. We love the clip.

3. Melanie Wehbe For The Show (David Lindgren Zacharias, Herman Gardarfve, Melanie Wehbe) PREDICTION: Andra Chansen

Wehbe (main picture) co-wrote Move which won MF in 2020 when sung by The Mamas but never made it to Eurovision because it was Covid-cancelled that year. This is classy fare and midtempo rather than ballad. Wehbe is definitely the type of quality act we would like to progress this year.

4. Nordman Släpp alla sorger (Let go of all sorrows) (Jimmy Jansson, Thomas G:son) PREDICTION: 5th

This ethno-folk duo finished 9th in 2005 with Ödet var min väg (Fate was my way) and 6th in 2008 with I lågornas sken (In light of the flames). Släpp alla sorger is dark, gothic and very much what we were expecting. A tougher ask for them to make the finalen in 2023 we think.

LISTEN TO ONE-MINUTE CLIPS OF THESE SONGS

5. Laurell Sober (Anderz Wrethov, Andreas Johansson, Laurell Barker, Thomas Stengaard) PREDICTION: 6th

Laurell co-wrote last week’s winning song Never Give Up by Ukranian refugee Maria Sur. It benefitted from impressive storytelling lyrics although we weren’t so impressed by the vocal. vocal. Sober is catchy but with a self-indulgent lyric less likely to catch the imagination as Laurell did for Maria Sur last week. Laurell is a Canadian singer-songwriter living in Malmö who in 2019 was the 1st woman to have 3 songs competing in the Eurovision Song Contest final. In all, half a dozen of her co-writes have made Eurovision finals with her biggest success being the 4th place for Luca Hänni with She Got Me for Switzerland in 2019. We suspect her performing time will come in MF – but perhaps not this year.

6. Ida-Lova Låt hela stan se på (Let the whole town watch) (Andreas “Giri” Lindbergh, Ida-Lova Lind, Joy Deb, Linnea Deb) PREDICTION: 7th

The 18-year-old artist just last year released her debut EP Hallå Världen Kan Du Stanna? and this is a beautiful ballad to tee up the show’s big finish that we don’t think has quite enough to make an impact in this field.

7. Marcus and Martinus Air (Jimmy “Joker” Thörnfeldt, Joy Deb, Linnea Deb, Marcus Gunnarsen, Martinus Gunnarsen) PREDICTION: Finalen

Will Sweden vote for these Norwegian twins with more than a whiff of Jedward about them? The songs performed last in each of the 1st 2 heats this season have both gone direkt til finalen or to andra chansen and the clip hints at full-on banger without ever quite achieving that status. Definitely leaves us wanting more.

• Picture via YouTube courtesy SVT Melodifestivalen
• Have you heard any of these songs or seen any of these shows? Let us know what you thought in the comments below Heat 1 preview Heat 2 preview Heat 3 preview Heat 4 preview Heat 1 predictions Heat 2 predictions Heat 3 predictions Heat 4 predictions Semi final predictions Finalen predictions
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