First Impression Festivalen 2021: Grand Final

Completely ridiculous, but that was also his stated goal. Sweden had gone a record time without winning ESC and Saade had finally showed the way forward.

Danny pushed to win, not to make great music and the pressure he put on himself was enormous. He was punished for it and fortunately seems to have come to his senses since.

As Eurovision fans we should be very glad he’s brave enough to compete in Mello this year. He is the only Mello competitor in the last decade that can fill Sweden’s biggest arenas by his own accord. He has a much larger following than the likes of Saade, Charlotte or Loreen inside Sweden. If he does well that will open the door for bigger artists competing in the future.
 
The Rivalries

Top 3 of 2020 - Patrik Jean, The Mamas, Dotter and Anna Bergendahl
Both Dotter and the Mamas is back with vengeance and has the resources and production teams to back them up. While Dotters decision has been organic and spontaneous the Mamas themselves where not head over heels with the idea of competing so soon again. Their initial reaction was that they weren't sure about weather it was worth the amount of work and spending so much time away from their families. However with a concentrated effort from management and songwriters convincing them wasn't a difficult task. Their definite decision to take part came after a cryfest and therapy session with PsyD Robin Stjernberg.

Bergendahl hasn't intended to compete as an artist in 2021 but rumors has it "The Silence" was under serious consideration for her 2020 bid. Indeed she was the one singing on the demo when Frida Green was given the offer this year. The song is strong and Frida's vocals should give it justice.

As we all know and appreciate Mello is a song and not an artist competition and it's only fitting that last years winner gets to come back and compete again after losing out on ESC last year. Just as with Frida the song is considered to be strong. It's unclear how much support these debutantes will receive from their record labels and to have any chance at winning they both have to prove that their artistic aspirations extends further than strong live vocals.
 
Odds Update on the First Impression Festivalen competitors:
  1. Eric Saade: 12% -> 17%
  2. Danny Saucedo: 19% -> 16%
  3. Dotter: 11% -> 10%
  4. Tusse
  5. The Mamas
  6. Kadiatou: 3% -> 4%
  7. Charlotte Perrelli: 5% -> 4%
  8. Anton Ewald: 3% -> 3%
  9. Paul Rey
  10. Mustasch
Not in the top 10:
16. Efraim Leo: 1%
17. Elisa: 1%
19. Tess Merkel: 1%
20. Jessica Andersson: 1%
22. Lovad: 1%
23. Clara Klingenström: 1%
 
The Rivalries

The Male pop sensations
They are every fan girls wet dream and Christer would never think of putting them in the same SF. Nevertheless the Golden boys have taken quite different paths to this year's MF.

Danny began his career in Idol 2006, two years after Loreen and Darin made their debut and the year following an all time Idol high of Agnes, Sebastian, Mans, Sibel and Ola. He finished 6th and scored a minor hit covering Mello veteran Tommy Nilsson and followed up with a chart topping album. In the fall of 2007 he formed EMD with the two Idol 2007 participants Erik Segerstedt and Mattias Andréasson. EMD debuted in MF 2009 in the boy band EMD. In 2011 he returned to win Mello as a solo artist. He came a respectful second to his close friend and colleague Eric Saade. Danny’s rising pedigree as a solo artist made it difficult for him to juggle both acts and EMD decided to take a hiatus. Following the tragedy of 2012 Bjorkman somehow convinced a depressed Danny to take on the hosting job of Mello 2013. Danny was at the time very vocal of his mental troubles and uncomfortableness with the pressure of being a presenter for Sweden’s biggest TV-show. Nevertheless he put up a very solid performance alongside the stellar Gina Dirawi. All was not lost however, Danny managed to snag Molly Sandén and the power couple helped each other heal and over the next five years he built a career singing in Swedish. In 2019 he dumped Molly and came out as bisexual to no one's surprise. Danny has gradually been developing his fan base and is at this point one of the bigger artist in Swedish music industry.

It's a little known fact that Ewald debuted as a 15 yo background dancer in Velvet’s ‘The Queen’. He continued dancing professionally the following years and his wide grin can be in the dance break of Danny’s Amazing. In 2013 SVT needed a fresh face for the pop idol heartthrob. Ewald was launched as “the new Eric Saade” who even did his own choreography and dance routines. Ewald was determined to prove that wasn’t the case and made sure to outperform Saade in the dancing department. He had also shored up his vocals by having the credible John Lundvik backing him. Here’s where things started to go south however. By neglecting putting his mic in front of his face Ewald ruined the illusion of him actually singing and the killer bop of 2013 and had to go through AC to ultimately finish a disappointing 4th. In 2014 SVT again needed to fill the teen boy bop niche, snubbed John Lundvik and gave his song to Ewald. While Lundvik wasn’t thrilled about the arrangement Ewald boasted in the media that the song was written especially for him. This time Ewald was determined to show his vocal prowess by not overly relying on the backing singer, a direction proving to be ill advised when his finalen performance of Natural went down as one of the top 10 biggest fails in modern Melfest. That fiasco coupled with some other bad press temporarily killed off Ewald’s career and he had to resort to modelling while learning how to write and produce music. Ewald does however have a loyal fanbase and it’ll be interesting to see if he has improved his vocals since last time.

Saade debuted in MF 2010 as a total newcomer to Swedish TV-audiences. Nevertheless he already had some connection to the establishment. His longtime girlfriend Molly Sanden had both won Junior MF and competed in Mello the year before. A few years before he had been part of an assembled boy band with Robin Stjernberg. After having panic attacks from the pressure of juggling school and working as an artist the band kicked their manager, Saade chose to leave the band to continue collaborating with his manager and they continue to this day. He lost out to Bergendahl in 2010 and returned to win the next year. After cheating on Molly with one of his dancers the couple fell apart during 2012. After his friend picked her up Saade was not the most comfortable hanging out with the two and the media jumped on the occasion to blow it up as a major drama. His 2015 return was overshadowed by Mans winning ESC and he's been struggling to have the same kind of relevance since. The last few years Saade has has made a mildly successful detour to Swedish but has always planned to come back to English releases. It’s still a dream of his to win ESC and Mello 2021 being billed as a revenge match between Danny and Eric should work in his favor.
 
In the final everyone is a winner, so let's all stand up celebrate our fantastic performers.

Be that as it may, the three artists winning the least are:





=10th - 07 points - Clara Klingenström
=10th - 07 points - Elisa

12th - 06 points - Kadiatou
 
Finishing equal 7th are...






=7th - 10 points - Anton Ewald
=7th - 10 points - Lovad
=7th - 10 points - Danny
 
In 6th position and receiving points from all vote casters is...








6th - 15 points - Efraim Leo

Top scorer: David 5000 - 8 pts.
 
An old HIV favorite coming up next. 5th is...








5th - 18 points - Jessica Andersson

Top scorer: David 5000 - 10 pts.
 
Spearheading the old guard we have MF 2021's self proclaimed 'Superior Veteran' living the good life...











4th - 19 points - Tess Merkel!

Top scorer: Hak - 7 pts.
 
We still have three young acts vying for top spot! The final three are

Charlotte Perrelli, Eric Saade and Dotter!
 
The winner of First Impression Festivalen 2021 is...











1st - 29 points - Charlotte Perrelli with 'Still Young'!

Top scorer: David 5000, Suomi - 12 pts.
 
In second we find Saade, someone who's not used to be second on the ball:




2nd - 23 points - Eric Saade!

Top scorer: Suomi - 10 pts.
 
Complete Final Standings
1st - 29 points - Charlotte Perrelli
2nd - 23 points - Eric Saade
3rd - 20 points - Dotter
4th - 19 points - Tess Merkel
5th - 18 points - Jessica Andersson
6th - 15 points - Efraim Leo
=7th - 10 points - Anton Ewald
=7th - 10 points - Lovad
=7th - 10 points - Danny

=10th - 07 points - Clara Klingenström
=10th - 07 points - Elisa
12th - 06 points - Kadiatou
 
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Complete Heat Results

Heat 1

=1st - 14 points - Danny
=1st - 14 points - Tess
=1st - 14 points - Kadiatu
4th - 12 points - Lovad

-------
5th - Eva & Ewa - 10p
5th - Arvingarna - 10p
5th - Mustasch - 10p

-------
8th - Paul Rey - 2p
9th - Emil Assergård - 0p


Heat 2

=1st - 26 points - Elisa
=1st - 26 points - Dotter
=1st - 26 points - Charlotte Perrelli
4th - 12 points - Anton Ewald
-------
5th - Frida Green - 12p
5th - Patrik Jean - 12p
--------

7th - WAHL feat. SAMI - 6p
8th - Nathalie Brydolf - 4p
9th - Lillasyster - 2p


Heat 3
1st - 24 points - Efraim Leo
=2nd - 18 points - Jessica Andersson
=2nd - 18 points - Eric Saade
4th - 16 points - Bobby Ljunggren
-------
5th - 14 points - Klara Hammarström
-------
6th - 12 points - Tusse
=7th - 10 points - Julia Alfrida
=7th - 10 points - The Mamas
=9th - 02 points - Sannex
=9th - 02 points - Alvaro Estrella


Thanks to @Soumi, @Hak & @David_5000 for voting!!
 

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