Do It Right

The live broadcast of Melodifestivalen typically runs smoothly and without a hitch. It's likely due to the practice, practice, practice beforehand. The artists, dancers, show hosts, backing singers, tech crew, camera crew, etc. run through the program at least three times before the event hits the airwaves every Saturday. Many of the artists need the extra time to try out their routines and work out any issues because of the complicated show numbers. One artist, Sean Banan, has several wardrobe changes, pyrotechnics, confetti, and harness work in a three minute span. Another, David Lindgren, tried the harness route but decided to scrap his idea of flying over the audience because it restricted his overall dance number. I'm sure the head of choreography has waking nightmares for six straight weeks. My condolences.

Many Swedes are meticulous about the way things are done. Things should be done right. With so many cues and details baked into a live production like Mello, it's inevitable something will go wrong. And when it does, it gets noticed. The first semi in Karlskrona had a few hitches. A few graphics and a song recap were delayed when a computer froze up. One of the show hosts, Gina, had to redirect the audience while the tech crew worked out the kinks. You think this would pass without much notice. Think twice.

Some countrymen took to Twitter and Facebook to tsk-tsk the broadcaster and crew for the slip-up. Comments of "This shouldn't happen." and "Why do I pay for this?" were common. One of the more sensationalist daily newspapers, Aftonbladet, event wrote an entire article about the short lived but well noted snafu.

How did the show respond to the error? They made fun of their mistake during the next semi in Gothenburg. The song recap starts up. Black and white footage from the 1950s flashes onscreen instead of the true 2013 footage. Gina, our host, abruptly returns to the screen, "What?! Another problem? What a fiasco!" The real recap is queued up, the audience snickers at the joke, and all is forgiven.

I wonder what the country would have thought about a 30 minute power outage in the middle of a broadcast, a la the 2013 NFL Super Bowl.

Melody who?

Since we have introductions out of the way, it's time to introduce the big star of this blog! That Melody Festival thing I mentioned before. If you're a Swede, you know what Melodifestivalen is all about. You might love it, hate it, avoid it. You still know about it. The American and Swedish American audience might need more background.

Take a seat and I'll call roll. It's time for Mello 101.

First: It's a song contest, there's a jury, and the audience has a role in voting for the winner. Sound familiar? Don't be fooled: It's not American Idol. This song contest has been running strong since 1958.

You've heard this one before. Can you sing along?

ABBA in Melodifestivalen 1974

Second: The contest has changed formats, but the goal is always the same: Pick a song that will best represent Sweden in an international song competition called Eurovision. Countries all over the continent gather in May to see who has the best song. Eurovision started as a way to unite Europe during the post-war years. Melodifestivalen is sometimes called the Swedish Eurovision Contest in English. Swedish fans just call it Mello for short.

Loreen (and dancer Ausben Jordan from Texas) - Melodifestivalen winner in 2012...

and Eurovision winner in 2012. This means Sweden hosts Eurovision in May.

Third: The field starts with 32 songs and artists. The field is broken into four semifinals (eight artists assigned to each semifinal). The artists are a mix of household names and new faces who compete directly against each other. Singers can choose any language, but the song has to be 3 minutes or less.

The winning song in 2009 was in French and English:

It placed 21st of 25 in Eurovision. An uncharacteristically low placement for Sweden.

Fourth: The contest is like an Everlasting Gobstopper. It lasts a crazy long time. Six weeks in all. The first four weeks are semifinals. The fifth week is a second chance round. The sixth week is the final where the remaining eight artists compete for the chance to represent Sweden in May.

Fifth: It's huge in Sweden! I'm talking Super Bowl numbers. The audience is loyal throughout the six week tournament.There are only 9.5 million people in the whole country. Last week, 3.6 million of them sat down to watch part two of six - on a Saturday night!

That's the bare bones explanation of Sweden's biggest entertainment event of the year. Now that you're versed in the basics, you're ready to follow along as we visit Malmö for the fourth semifinal, Karlstad for the second chance round, and Stockholm to pick our 2013 winner.