Benjamin Ingrosso on Melodifestivalen Finals, Pasta, and Songwriting (Interview)

Photo: Lizel Strömberg (ZEL Photography)

Benjamin Ingrosso has quickly broken out in this year's Melodifestivalen, having not only qualified direct to the finals on his first time entering, but also being one of only two acts to have a music video ready to release for their competing entry even before the competition had begun. He and boy-band FO&O are both the debuting acts from the Swedish label Ten in Melodifestivalen and already they are making big waves. They have demonstrated a more savvy approach to the contest, despite this being the first time the label has participated, by both having music videos to the songs themselves but also by a more rigorous social media presence in promoting their entries across social media.

Ingrosso is positively bursting with personality and enjoys sharing about his passion for Italian food, both eating and cooking it. "I'm half-Italian so of course I love pasta. My father is a chef and restaurant owner [for] thirty years. He owns more than twelve restaurants so I grew up eating fancy Italian food." He is even full of advice on how to cook the proper pasta dish. "The salt in the water. You need a lot of salt because it should taste like the ocean, like the Mediterranean [Sea], it should be very salty. It should be like a handful of salt. Then cook the pasta al dente, if the past time on the package is nine minutes you should cook it event minute and finish the pasta cooking with the sauce. The pasta has a lot of starch and when you salt the pasta that's the only way you can taste the pasta, if you have salt. It releases lot of starch and that makes the sauce thicker and that creates an emotion."

Ingrosso has also recorded a music video for an acoustic version of his Melodifestivalen song "Good Lovin'" and already knows what his follow-up single is, intending to release it just as soon as the traffic of "Good Lovin'" begins to decline. He shares that there are already plans in the works to shoot a music video for that as well. In addition to being his own solo artist, Ingrosso keeps busy as a song-writer, having co-written on Molly Pettersson Hammar's last single, "Liberate".

Watch our full interview with Benjamin Ingrosso here: