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And so tonight, we saw the final heat of Mello, and while I enjoyed it, a lot of reddit people were disgusted with the lack of talent and plethora of mundane songs. A lot of the harshest barbs were flung at the last of the second chance acts to progress through. While I didn’t agree with a lot of the criticisms, this one I certainly did.
His name was Robin Bengtsson and his song was just bad. The rhymes were mostly honey, money, bunny and not funny. As I texted KSP, the worst thing about the final next week would be having to hear the song again.
The winners of the round were partly a big surprise (Lilla Al-Fadji) and partly a relief (8th time entry Sanna Nielsen). KSP and I were rooting for Sanna though I quite liked Al-Fadji for the comic factor. Mind you, as KSP pointed out, it’s a bit weird that a Chilean comedian, performing as a Middle Eastern person, singing a song in a Swedish song contest, was possibly a bit suspect.
The title of his song, Delulu, is apparently derived from Internet slang for being delusional. Anyway, the song was a bit of fun and mostly enjoyable.
While Al-Fadji was somewhat short, Sanna, in second place, was tall and stately and clad in silver sequins in an odd creation that looked partly like a glittering swimsuit and partly like a chandelier. I didn’t seem them together but they would have made an odd couple.
The real shocker tonight, however, was AleXa, a South Korean/American who had no idea what anyone was saying to her. As I said to Mirinda, she understood less Swedish than me. I thought her song was okay, but a lot of people weren’t that keen because, I think, she was American. It feels like the world is slowly taking exception to their self-proclaimed and undeserved exceptionalism.
I felt a little bit sorry for her. She was a bit like a deer caught in the headlights as the show happened around her.
Still, it was a fun night as usual, and there were a lot of text messages from KSP to me and back again. Mirinda enjoyed some of the programme then went to bed before it finished. Which was a shame because I was hoping she’d help me with some translation. Especially given her glowing feedback from Swedish class today.
On a sadder but still entertainment note, Neil Sedaka died yesterday. He was 86. Whenever I hear his name, I think of Frank Zappa. In Just Another Band From LA, in a piece about Aynsley Dunbar, Frank sings “Some men say he sings like Neil Sedaka.“
I forgot to take any photos of the TV tonight so, to lighten the content, I thought I’d include this quip that I found instead.
Smart girl.
