De Vet Du on Prop Cars and the Decline of the Swedish Grammis (Interview)

Photo: Lizel Strömberg (ZEL Photography)

De Vet Du have one hell of a challenge ahead of them, as SVT has bafflingly put them in an Andra Chansen duel against FO&O. Typically, viewers expect to see the more popular acts be given an easier match-up so as to increase the likelihood that they will move on to the finals and serve as a draw for larger viewing figures on the last Melodifestivalen show of the season. But for whatever reason, two of the most popular acts to end up in Andra Chansen will be battling it out against one another. It's particularly confusing, as De Vet Du have blown every other competing entry's viewing figures on the official Melodifestivalen Youtube channel out of the water. Even when you factor in the fact that De Vet Du were in semi-final 1 and thus had a start to the following weeks, as well as all the direct qualifiers who would not have their performances released until after semi-final 4 aired, no one has matched their YouTube traction.

So what preparations have they made to increase their chances of winning their duel? We asked them at their first Andra Chansen press conference. As always, for ease of following the multiple speaking members, we will abbreviate the transcriptions as follows:

Johan Gunterberg - JG
Chris Martland - CM
Tor Wallin - TW

JG - We made the car faster. We still wanna be secret about it. It's funnier for you if you see it in the rehearsal.

In addition to the preparations for Andra Chansen, De Vet Du attended the Swedish Grammis during the weeks they had off between the first semi-final and now. They offered some biting truths about the current state of the award show.

TW - It was fun. It wasn't a great show.
JG - Usually it's better. [There's a] new production company now.
CM - They had like seven commercial breaks.
TW - Three hours long.
CM - [That's not normal] for the Grammis.
JG - The show was too long, it was like three hours.
TW - With tiny breaks all the time. It was a struggle.
JG - Usually Grammis is the best thing the whole year for the music business. It wasn't that good this year so we're disappointed.

When asked if they'll try to schedule any meet-ups for the international fans that will come pouring into Sweden during the week of the finals, they are uncertain about doing so.

JG - Nothing planned yet but maybe. We'll see how it goes here first. 
TW - We can have it in my room. All the international fans. The more the merrier.

Watch our full interview with De Vet Du here: