That's right, Museled readers! Another week, and another set of picks for the next round of Melodifestivalen. The semi-finals are over and now only Andra Chansen (the second chance round) remains till the big finale in Friends Arena. But before we give you our selections for these duels, let's go over what happened last week.

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After a semi-decent (for once) opening number, the strongest heat of these first four weeks kicked off. It was almost unfair how much quality was packed into one heat when you consider how many weak songs and numbers have been able to advance because of the low overall standard in their respective heat.

First up was Midnight Boy's "Don't Say No" and the song was everything we wanted it to be. It fully committed to its 1980's synth-fuelled dance beat and the visuals accompanied it perfectly. Midnight Boy was an excellent performer as well. It's an absolute crime that this came last place in this heat but thankfully, the song has been doing well on Swedish iTunes.

 ~~ Read our Museled interview with Midnight Boy here! ~~

Caroline Wennergren's "Black Swan" made it past the first round of voting but sadly couldn't nab that other spot in Andra Chansen, which is a shame as we'd really have loved to see her perform this song again. She had such allure in her demeanour and also looked absolutely stunning on stage. This song was truly unique stylistically compared to everything else in the competition, in a good way. Combine the musical Chicago, a soulful big band, with just a dash of Danny Elfman, and you'll have "Black Swan."

JTR's "Building It Up" was vocally and musically better than the rehearsal clip made it out to be, made sense since we knew they could sound better than that just by browsing other videos of them on YouTube. The number was decent but we absolutely hate the "rap" break. Seriously, just drop it, break it, kill it with fire. Overall, it's a nice enough song but admittedly, it does sound a lot like the same young boy-band-pop that's come out in the last few years. It's nothing groundbreaking but a pleasant enough listen. The fact that this advanced direct to the finale wasn't exactly surprising given the voting power of the teenage-girl demographic in Sweden, but we'd still have put it to Andra Chansen instead. For your listening pleasure, we recommending the acoustic version, as it strips the song down, better showcases the boys' vocal abilities, and also minimises the "rap" break misfire.

Hasse Andersson's "Guld och gröna skogar" is a bizarre song. There's not much more we can say about it because it really doesn't translate well outside of Swedish culture. We're not even talking about the fact that the lyrics are in Swedish, but stylistically, the song is nothing that we can wrap our heads around. Apparently he is quite famous in Sweden, hence his advancing to Andra Chansen, but this isn't something we will ever listen to after the contest wraps.

Dinah Nah's "Make Me (La La La)" was robbed out her rightful spot in the finals. Robbed, I tell you! (For those who didn't watch the show, the song only advanced to Andra Chansen). Some have criticised the song for not being more lyrically innovative but who cares! The song has strong production, she sang it well, she is absolutely the one in charge on stage, and that shaky-cam during the epic dance break is phenomenal. No other song is this year's competition is this punchy and it's a must-have for every good gym/work-out/pre-gaming playlist.

Annika Herlitz's "Ett andetag" isn't necessarily a bad song. Sure, it's basically trying to be Frozen 2.0 but Annika sounds lovely singing it. That being said, it feels a little old-fashioned to stand a chance in the current music scene and it certainly wouldn't have done well at Eurovision. But it's pretty enough that you can listen and feel pleasant from doing so.

Now onto the most important number of not just the night, but the whole damn contest. Måns Zelmerlöw's "Heroes" threw down the gauntlet like nobody's business. With production that is entirely modern, a sweeping hook, the absolute best visuals this show has ever seen (with animation and a light show to enhance the song's narrative), and Måns serving up the best vocals he's ever brought to the competition, this is the number to beat. He rightfully advanced to the finale and if this song doesn't win, it will make the no-points-from-Germany//2-point victory of Melodifestivalen 2014 look like spilled milk by comparison. We've been shamelessly promoting this song by sending it to our friends and acquaintances all over the globe and the reaction has been unanimously positive: "Wow!" "I love this!" "He sounds fantastic!" "These visuals are amazing!" "How much are flights to Sweden?"
Also, in case you didn't know, grey is now the new black; you can thank Måns Zelmerlöw for that.

Per usual, we did a video review of the show that you are welcome to watch; it also includes our reaction to watching Måns Zelmerlöw's "Heroes" for the first time. Don't judge us, or do. We're not bothered either way.

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Now onto our picks for Andra Chansen. First of all, we have to address the elephant in the room which is the fact that SVT's decision to use a "duels" format is a dreadful idea. Instead of just allowing the votes to speak for themselves, the duels format pits particular acts against one another and here is our big gripe about it: if you have two strong numbers competing against one another and then two weaker numbers competing against one another, those weaker numbers are getting an unjust advantage over the stronger ones.

But let's go through the terrible duel pairings and we'll give your our breakdown of the acts and our selection for who should (but might not necessarily will) go through.

Andreas Weise's "Bring Out the Fire" vs. Linus Svenning's "Forever Starts Today"

This is the pairing that has us most cross about this duel format. If all eight of these acts were evenly fighting against one another, these two would hopefully and probably both advance to the finale. But instead, they have to fight it out. Linus Svenning for some reason unbeknownst to me seems to be the favourite to win this duel and that makes us have to suppress the urge to rub our temples furiously. "Forever Starts Today" is a much better song than Linus' entry last year and he sounded okay singing it but his complete lack of stage presence and showmanship, as well as his horrendous styling, were so off-putting to us that we were actually shocked by how pleasant the studio version is to listen to when you remove his terribly weak visual element from the equation. All those back-up dancers with the drums are figuratively dragging his lifeless-self all over that stage to try to compensate but it's simply not enough.

Our Duel 1 pick: Andreas Weise's "Bring Out The Fire"

Andreas Weise's number is the total package. The song is contemporary, has a strong groove, and he sings it very well. He's also far more of a showman than we're used to seeing on the Melodifestivalen stage and his dancers are clearly feeding off of the energy he is dishing out on that stage. Regardless of whether this song advances, it's won us over to the point that Andreas Weise is now on our list of Swedish artists to keep professional tabs on. Hopefully he'll release an album or at least an EP with more songs like these and a music video that can further showcase his strong performing abilities.

Hasse Andersson's "Guld och gröna skogar" vs. Kristin Amparo's "I See You"

We've already given you our breakdown of Hasse Andersson's entirely questionable song so it shouldn't surprise you that…

Our Duel 2 Pick: Kristin Amparo's "I See You"

We're not as big a fan of Kristin's first performance of "I See you" as it did neither the song nor her beautiful voice justice. On top of that, her styling was incredibly unflattering which was upsetting to see considering that she's such a stunning woman that we think it a crime that someone clearly unqualified to handle her was allowed to give her such a dated hairstyle. (Just so we're clear, we're not saying that a woman's value should ever be about her looks, but for Melodifestivalen, we judge every aspect of the performance, including the styling, which includes the wardrobe, hair, and make-up ~ also, we're just as inclined to be harsh on the male contestants if they show up looking a mess. Case and point: Linus Svenning). So instead, we shall recommend to you the studio version of "I See You," as it's a perfect song to click on when feeling pensive and reflective.

Dolly Style's "Hello Hi" vs. Dinah Nah's "Make Me (La La La)"

Dolly Style are weeaboo trash, and it is deeply offensive to me that SVT continues to glorify such racist acts that make a mockery of and fetishise Japanese pop culture. As for "Hello Hi," it's such a horrendously bad song that I would choose living next to a construction site for five years over having to listen to this miserable excuse for music. Also, those girls can't dance to save their lives.

Our Duel 3 Pick: Dinah Nah's "Make Me (La La La)"

Thank you, Dinah Nah, for being the one act in this year's competition to make us want to turn up. We're obsessed with that shaky cam and the song doesn't just make us want to La La La; it makes us want to throw down on the dance floor, stomp, shake, and hair-flip till the sun comes up. And yes, her number's so good that we're putting it in our post twice.

Behrang Miri feat. Victor Crone's "Det rår vi inte för" vs. Samir & Viktor's "Groupie"

Initially, we were pleased to hear that Behrang Miri would be returning to the Melodifestivalen stage since his last song, "Jalla Dansa Sawa," was a fun melting pot of a dance song that we still listen to to this day. We're not going to put the official music video in because it's an English version of the song that lacks the same magic of the original. "Jalla Dansa Sawa" is a trilingual song that combines Swedish, French, and Arabic. This type of multicultural blending is so rarely seen in popular music, let alone celebrated, that it made the song's success all the more meaningful. Though "Jalla Dansa Sawa" was good enough that it should have been in the finals, "Det rår vi inte för" is more so underwhelming. Remember those songs from five years or so ago that combined musically grand choruses with impacting rap verses (like Tinie Tempah's "Written In The Stars")? hough "Jalla Dansa Sawa" was good enough that it should have been in the finals,  is basically a D-list version of that style. Instead, we'll recommend you listen to "Jalla Dansa Sawa" and dance your heart out to it.

Our Duel 4 Pick: Samir & Viktor's "Groupie"

We know that this song has been quite divisive amongst the Swedish public but it's actually been selling and streaming very well. It was even recently certified Gold. Now we won't deny that the live vocals for this number in the first performance were horrendous. But there was something so ridiculously entertaining about the number that we really enjoyed watching it. These two are all spastic energy, and watching them be chased through the venue by middle-aged cameramen while stoic Swedish audience members stood swaying awkwardly made it all the more hilarious. If you listen to the actual studio version, the song is pleasantly catchy but it's Samir & Viktor's ability to be entertaining that has us sold on this number needing to be victorious in this duel. Watch and don't be afraid to laugh. We certainly did.

***We feel compelled to take his opportunity to plug Samir & Viktor's first single, "Success," as it had a much stronger production and was all-around excellently trashy clubby music that we love to get it popping to.***

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Be sure to watch Melodifestivalen's Andra Chansen round on Saturday, March 7, on svtplay.se at 8PM Swedish time (11AM PST, 2PM EST) and tweet along using the #Melfest hashtag.

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It's the moment we've been waiting for, Museled readers! The rehearsal clips for the final semi-final of Melodifestivalen 2015 have gone live. Not only does this mean another post for us to write in which we give our picks for this week, we have finally gotten a peek at the highly-anticipated comeback of Måns Zelmerlöw! But before we get to those, we'll include our review of last week's show. But if you prefer, go ahead and jump over that. Here we go!

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Last week's show kicked off with a pre-filmed/recorded number that initially had a nice rhythm going. It transitioned into live singing and performing that became dancey with punching keyboard. Unfortunately, the supporting "singers" could not even begin to hold their own live once it was time for them to be in charge (seriously, who gave them a mic?) so hopefully SVT will return them to the background. Now on to the entries themselves.

Ellen Benediktson's "Insomnia" may have been an improvement from last year (it would have been hard not to be), but we were a much bigger fan of her outfit and hair than we were the song itself. It lacked drama, punch, or any real impact. Also those nasally vocals any time the song picked up did nothing but grate on our nerves. The softer parts might have worked better if they had been in tune.

Though Kalle Johansson's "För din skull" (For your sake) didn't advance past the first round of voting, we quite enjoyed the song. Even the glitter shower at the end suited the youthfulness of Kalle himself as it came off like a milestone of that age, be it prom or graduation. Kalle has a lovely voice and the fact that his songs are usually done in Swedish adds an extra authenticity to his artistry. "För din skull" is much like a hug that gives you exactly what you need upon receiving it and Kalle is someone we'll be keeping an eye out for. Keep making that feel-good music, boy!

Andreas Weise's "Bring Out the Fire" was in a league of its own in this semi-final, though Andreas himself was robbed out of a direct advancement to the final, as Sweden opted instead to send him to Andra Chansen. With some of the best vocals of the night and more showmanship than any other act, it was entirely clear that this is a man who knows how to work a stage. The song did just what we've been imploring all to do: excite us! Even the dancers turned up, no doubt being inspired by Andreas' skilled performing abilities. It'll be another week before we can see if Sweden does the right thing and votes this through to the finals, and Andreas has already promised us that he'll kill it at AC. Go, Andreas, go!

Andreas Johnson's "Living to Die" rightfully came in last place and we honestly have no idea how such a seasoned Melodifestivalen veteran could fall so far. The song was bleak, the vocals were weak, and it was as if he was barely present for his own number. But hey, at least his suit was nice.

In a surprising, more like shocking turn of events, Isa's "Don't Stop" advanced straight to the finale and we couldn't be more put off about it. The song was such generic garbage that we're fairly certain we'll be browsing Tumblr instead of paying attention when this song gets played again in the finale. Isa is a decent performer but we can't even begin to pretend to like this song. Not only is it a knockoff of Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off" (a song we already disliked to begin with), it's not even the first knockoff in this competition! (Reminder that Eric Saade's "Sting" is the summer-discount version of Ariana Grande's "Problem"). We're not put off by Isa herself, and would be happy to give her another listen if she puts out a better song(s), but as for "Don't Stop," it's really more like "Please Stop."

Kristin Amparo's "I See You" claimed the other spot in Andra Chansen, much to the surprise of many, but we actually prefer the studio version to the live one. In the live version, it felt like she was really trying to push the song forward because of the large venue she was in when really, if she just sings the song and lets it relax and have its quiet moments, the impact is actually greater. We highly recommend listening to the studio version, as it does the song, her voice, and her hair far more justice (sorry, we had to throw that hair bit in because her stylist must have been drunk to think that that unflattering elderly-aunt-do was a good idea when she already has such big, gorgeous hair on her own. Fix it!) If she ever competes again (next year, perhaps?), we would really love for her to do a big uptempo dance number. Her vocals are so strong that even with a large production on the track itself, we have no doubt that she could still be the star over all of that. Besides, doing just that is precisely what has gotten her as much popularity as she has.

Jon Henrik Fjällgren's "Jag är fri (Manne Liem Frije)" (I am free) advanced straight to the finale, just as everyone knew it would, and he had all the support of the audience (also not surprising, considering that this semifinal took place further north in Sweden than the other semifinals). Clearly, a great deal of time and effort went into developing the stage production and it really showed. He also generally sang well, and looked good too (especially since he got rid of that dreadful pornstache he was sporting at the press conference). We can only imagine the pride so many people across Sweden must have felt to see someone in Melodifestivalen that they could finally relate to, and we couldn't be happier for them. Remember folks, representation matters!

 We did yet another video review of this semi-final that you can watch here:

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Now onto this week's entries!

1) Midnight Boy - "Don't Say No"

We love-love-love camp 80s music. Then again, calling 80s music "camp" is a bit redundant. But when we heard that Midnight Boy's whole angle is that he makes 80s music, we really didn't know if we'd like what he'd put out. From what we've seen from past Melodifestivalen acts who have done songs that are very clearly inspired from the 80s (or hell, even the 50s), we haven't cared for it one bit since it's been little more than poorly executed imitations. But upon actually hearing this clip, it's not bad! It seems like Midnight Boy and his whole team are well studied on the 80s and how to stylistically make his music of that era but still work in the 21st century. Even Midnight Boy's vocals sound much like various singers of the 80s, a bit melodramatic but not necessarily in a bad way. Also those dancers on stage turning on the "come hither" factor and rubbing on themselves totally suits the number. We still don't know if this will place well considering how much stronger this heat is compared to the others but we're actually looking forward to hearing this in full now.

2) Caroline Wennergren - "Black Swan"

It's a little difficult to put a finger on what this song is supposed to be so there's not as much for us to comment on as some of the other acts. But still, there's a sort of femme fatale allure to it and Caroline herself looks stunning on stage. With her cheeky rasp serving up something we've not heard before and those legs (seriously, Caroline, you are a knockout!), we're hoping this one will throw down on Saturday.

3) JTR - "Building it Up"

This felt like a somewhat odd clip to choose from the song. Based off the other things we've heard from JTR, we feel like the song will probably be better than the sum of this one small section and that we'll quite enjoy it. However, since these write-ups we do are largely based on these rehearsal clips, we'll just say that the song seems good, but maybe not quite good enough in this heat to advance direct to the finale. Still, it seems fun, youthful, and catchy and they'll probably snatch up a fair few new teenage fangirls after this.

4) Hasse Andersson - "Guld och gröna skogar" (Gold and green forests)

Right. This feels entirely dated, but we're pretty sure that's the whole point. We're not trying to be mean about this, but we're really not a fan of the song. Stylistically, it's nothing anywhere near the sort of music we'd normally listen to nor is it something that we think is right for the Melodifestivalen finale/Eurovision itself.

5) Dinah Nah - "Make Me (La La La)"

This year has been lacking in upbeat dance numbers but fear not, Dinah Nah is here to give us what we've been missing! Most (but not all) of the Melodifestivalen songs we keep listening to years later are the more upbeat ones and it seems like this could be added to that playlist. From our preliminary research, Dinah Nah seems like an artist that's not afraid to get down and dirty with her dance pop, which we love when artists do, so here's hoping that this makes us "La La La" all over ourselves.

6) Annika Herlitz - "Ett andetag" (One breath)

This is the woman who does the Swedish Elsa in "Frozen" (in case you didn't know already, Sweden dubs their "children's" films). So it should surprise no one that this is basically Let It Go 2.0. It's an understandable move considering how much (unwarranted) hype that song has but regardless of the fact that she sounds good singing this song, we're not sure if this one will make the cut for us to download after the heat is finished.

7) Måns Zelmerlöw - "Heroes"

*picks self up off the floor* We're absolutely salivating after this clip. Of course we're not surprised that we love this song but we couldn't help but worry that we'd built up the hype too high in our minds but leave it to Måns Zelmerlöw to fully deliver and then some. Though we love his past dancey/schlager entries "Cara Mia" and "Hope and Glory," this song seems like it suits who he is as an artist much more. The visuals also work well, as the animations and light show are appealing to look at but overall things are kept dark enough to create allure and serve up some provocative mood lighting. He's flexing the hell out of this number and as for the vocals, we always knew Måns was a fantastic singer but WOW, that sweeping hook is right in his vocal sweet spot and immediately sank into us. (Seriously, we already know that hook will be in our head all day at work). From the song itself, to the staging, and Måns' vocals, this number is downright intoxicating. Have we mentioned that this is only from a 30 second rehearsal clip???

Final tally ~ Our ranking, based on the rehearsal clips, is as follows:

Direkt till finalen (Direct to the finale): Måns Zelmerlöw's "Heroes" and Dinah Nah's "Make Me (La La La)"
Andra Chansen (Second Chance Round): JTR's "Building It Up" and either Caroline Wennergren's "Black Swan" or Midnight Boy's "Don't Say No" ~ This is the strongest heat yet but at the very least, this would be our top 5 for now!
6th: Annika Herlitz's "Ett andetag" (One breath)
7th: Hasse Andersson's "Guld och gröna skogar" (Gold and green forests)

** Friendly reminder that this is not a prediction of Saturday's voting results, but our preferences**

Be sure to tune in at 20:00 Swedish time (11:00 am PST), February 28, on SVT's website to watch the third semi-final. You won't be able to vote unless you're actually in Sweden but you can watch from anywhere in the world! Also, tweet along with the #Melfest hashtag. To all the entries, break a leg!

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