By Neil Durham

WHEN?: 7pm UK time 24 February 2024

WHERE?: Stiga Sports Arena, Eskilstuna WHERE DO I WATCH?: SVT Play

Both this week’s returning acts – Dotter and Danny Saucedo – have come agonisingly close to winning Melodifestivalen and would be expected to advance straight to the finalen from this heat.

• Read on for reasons including Albin Tingwall, Lia Larson, Scarlet & Lasse Stefanz

1. Albin Tingwall Done Getting Over You (Jimmy ‘Joker’ Thörnfeldt, Joy Deb, Linnea Deb)

Tennis player Tingwall was 2nd on Idol’s 18th season in December 2022. Debut single Something About You was released last year with Scandipop describing it as: ‘an electro rave-up that features squelchy synths aplenty. Written and produced by Scandipop-fave Rasmus Flyckt, it’s a sound we’d be very happy to hear him lean into more throughout 2023. It makes for a very exciting first single.’ Done Getting Over You is penned by some of MF’s most successful writers.

2. Lia Larson 30Km/h (Axel Schylström, Jimmy Jansson, Lia Larsson, My Söderholm, Thomas G:son)

Larsson is a TikTok star from Mora who recently had epa-dunk success with songs like Banka Banka and Fara ner på byn (Go down to the village). Her music has been streamed almost 30 million times. G:son and Jansson co-wrote Tattoo and Jansson and Schylström are former MF competitors.

3. Dotter It’s Not Easy To Write A Love Song (Dino Medanhodzic, Johanna Jansson)

This will be Dotter’s 4th MF appearance. Her most successful was in 2020 when we wanted Bulletproof to win and it was difficult to see it lose so narrowly to an inferior song given a fabulous performance.

A year later Dotter finished 4th with Little Tot. We said: ‘While Bulletproof reminded of Florence and the Machine, Little Tot is darker, electronic dance music with a killer hook that brings Robyn to mind. Question marks have been raised about Dotter’s ability to perform at the same standard as the songs she pens but they felt well and truly answered. Lyrically, the message to a younger self about not making the same mistakes as an older generation speaks to us of Sweden’s own Greta Thunberg which we hope resonates.’

She also co-wrote finalist Victorious in 2019 and crashed out of her heat in 2018 finishing 6th with Cry.

4. Scarlet Circus X (Emil Behmer, Henric Pierroff, Ian-Paolo Lira, Jessica Rachel Chertock, Scarlet, Simon Boustedt, Staffan Amberlind, Thirsty)

The female hard rock duo was formed in 2018. They toured Europe alongside Smash Into Pieces, who are, of course, starring in Heat 1. 

5. Lasse Stefanz En sång on sommaren (A song on summer) (Anders Wigelius, Anderz Wrethov, Robert Norberg)

Lasse Stefanz is a Swedish dansband formed in 1967. The group competed once before in the Melodifestivalen in 2011 with En blick och nänting händer (One look and nothing happened), making Andra chansen.

6. Danny Saucedo Happy That You Found Me (Kristoffer Fogelmark, John Martin, Michel Zitron)

Now 37, Saucedo’s best MF years may be behind him. He has competed 4 times always as a co-writer. In 2009 his boy band EMD finished 3rd with Baby Goodbye, he was 2nd in 2011 with In The Club (watch above) and runner-up a year later with Amazing (watch below).

In 2021 he was 7th with Dandi Dansa of which we said: ‘Saucedo appears to have distanced himself from his previous Melodifestivalen efforts and we’re not entirely sure why. Dandi dansa is in Swedish although its lyrics are both playful and nonsensical. Musically, it feels a little Jamiroquai but it’s a lot more fun than that and the Macarena element of the song shows it is tongue in cheek and the staging is a step beyond most of what we’ve seen in a challenging year for Melodifestivalen in 2021.’

• Keep an eye on monstagigz.com during January as we’ll be previewing 2024’s 30 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 1 preview Heat 2 preview Heat 3 preview Heat 5 preview Heat 1 predictions Heat 2 predictions Heat 3 predictions Heat 4 predictions Heat 5 predictions Finalen predictions
• In March we’ll forecast how the finalen will go and how each of the 12 qualifiers would do in May in Malmö at Eurovision.
• Picture via Facebook courtesy Dotter, Melodifestivalen and SVT
• 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