Back in the 80’s and 90’s I loved the Eurovision Song Contest. Those days are over, but I still make sure to catch it every year. Here in Sweden, it’s almost impossible to miss it anyway. The Swedes sure love their Melodifestivalen (the Swedish qualification for the ESC) and every year the contest sparks a bunch of hits, revitalises dead careers and creates new stars. The ESC is also just about the only competition where I don’t mind in the least that Sweden beats Finland, which they do every year. In fact, the Finnish entries are so embarrassing that for three minutes every year, I deny that I’m a Finn at all. After four rounds of pre-selection and a ”second chance” (the best losers – songs that didn’t qualify directly from the pre-selection but had to go another voting round) we finally have the 10 finalists who will compete for the ticket to Athens in May. The final will be on Saturday, but already now I can reveal the winner. Carola. The song isn’t spectacular but it is pure Eurovision – 15 years ago. ”Evighet” is the same kind as her ”Fångad av en stormvind” winner, all down to the wind machine in fact. And since this is Sweden where schlager reigns supreme and Carola is the biggest star in the country, the other contestants don’t really stand a chance. The problem is… she won’t stand a chance in Athens. In a contest with its own genre, the songs representing the genre now have the odds against them.

My candidate for the ESC is Rednex with ”Mama take me home”. It only got to the final via the Second Chance which means that it will be DOA on Saturday, it’s a shame. Although I can’t say that I’m immediately in love with the song, it’s still not a bad song by any means and I think that Rednex possess the qualities that are needed in the ESC these days: they put on an entertaining show, they look good, the singing is on-key, they are known outside the ESC arena, and they just simply stick out from the crowd, in a positive sense. Or maybe it’s just because I like country music, nevermind.

(Speaking of country, I just read in the paper that the Germans have selected a country comedy act for the ESC. I wonder when they will finally realise that the rest of Europe doesn’t get their humour. The joke, however, is definitely on them.)

Last year the Swedes voted for a relatively unknown performer and a song that I thought was horrible but that they were sure had a good chance – until the voting in Kiev had finished. Just desserts. This year, they will vote for a song because they love Carola and the chance of success in the ESC is not a factor now (they quite simply believe that she is invincible). But of course, the competition is still wide open. Not that I will be all that bothered anymore whichever way it goes. I just enjoy observing the Swedish Melodifestivalen frenzy!