HANDICAPPING THE ANDRA CHANSEN

Only two more spots to fill before the Ultimate Schlager Diva Showdown of 2008!

We just have to hold on one more week through the Andra Chansen round and then we can all enjoy ourselves a big slice of a Hero sandwich when Char wins the whole shebang and makes another camptastic strut across the Eurovision stage.

But the question on everyone’s mind at the moment seems to be which two songs will move on to play also-ran to this year’s Schlager Anthem?

Since MF has established the Andra Chansen round as a tournament-style song-versus-song brawl, we’ll look at each pairing and see if we can handicap our way down to the two songs that will move on to the Globen to join Amy and Christer, Sanna and Rongedal, BWO and Frida, and Linda and The Winner… *cough* Sorry, we’ll just call her ‘Charlotte’ for now.

In the first matchup, we have the E-Type/Poodles dancerock collabo against Sibel’s power ballad. E-Type and the Poodles come with experience, both with MF and in general, but as I’ve said a couple of other times, Sibel is an Idol contestant, which means she comes into the competition with a fanbase in place that is already used to the idea of voting for her. As well, while I liked Line of Fire at the time, I don’t really remember it now, while Sibel’s That Is Where I’ll Go is both fresh in my mind and made a far stronger impression the first time I heard it. Sibel also has the added benefit of being involved in a competition year where both the lady contestants and more traditional schlager are being highly touted, meaning that people will likely respond to her ballad better than the E-Poodles’ rocking and rolling. Moving on to Round 2: Sibel.

In the second pairing, we have the ‘TEENAGE FIGHT’ (thanks, Luuk!) between Ola ‘My Hair Belongs to Magnus Backlund’ Svensson and the poptastic song-stylings of Caracola. I, personally, would LOVE to see Caracola move on. I wasn’t wowed by Love In Stereo, but I found myself singing Caracola’s ‘ooh-wah-doo-bop-a-doo-bop-ay-oh-yay-oh!’ over and over in the week after their performance. However, this is another case where the Idol voters will flock to the phones and make sure that Ola is well represented. His middling song aside, Caracola is going to have to be flawless if they want to beat him. Moving on to Round 2: Ola.

In the third battle, we see underdogs Nordman take on the super-pairing of Andreas Johnsson and Miss Melodifestivalen herself, Carola. Given that Carola and Andreas (Androla, as they will be heretofore referred) weren’t even expected to BE in this round, this is where things could get interesting. They certainly have a more contest-appropriate song in One Love than Nordman do with I Lågornas Sken (though it’s not, amongst the other finalists, the strongest entry), but the public have laid down a pretty obvious gauntlet to these two, letting them know that they’re going to have to WORK and earn their place in the final. Moving on to Round 2: Androla. Against a stronger song, they might have had trouble, but they lucked out drawing against Nordman.

In the last match, sexless Deitrich-wannabe Suzzie Tapper squares off against sexy opera-babe Therese Andersson. Now, I think this is a no-brainer, but I thought it was a no-brainer that Suzzie Tapper would come in last in her heat, so I guess I underestimate the power of a woman singing a husky baritone. Tapper’s only real edge comes from her song being Swedish in a year when the majority of final songs are English-sung, however Therese Andersson presents the better offering by far with her classical crossover. Moving on to Round 2: Therese Andersson. She'd better!

Now, hypothetically speaking, if these are the winners of their first rounds of voting, that means that the voting configuration for the second round is Ola versus Sibel and Androla versus Terran.

In the first match up, Ola v. Sibel, the voters will obviously be wildly confused, thinking that they’ve tuned into a rerun of Idol. Let’s hope that they’re confused enough that they remember what they did the first time out, and vote off Ola first, leaving Sibel to continue on (she reached third place on her Idol season, where Ola only placed 8th). Between their two songs, Sibel’s is arguably the stronger of the two in both construction and lyricism (occasionally that matters to me… so what?), and she is by far the better natural singer. Ola has a certain charm, and that will be his strength here. He will need to play up his showmanship in order to distract people from the fact that his song isn’t as interesting as either Sibel’s or anything that’s already in the final, and that his voice isn’t as strong as either Sibel’s or anyone’s who’s already in the final. Moving on to Globen: Ola. Let’s face it, voting blocs made up of teenage girls who think a boy is cute can be very powerful!

In the second match up, we have the Androla juggernaut facing off against the New Swedish Nightingale. This will probably make for the most intriguing voting of the night, and this is the head-to-head that could really go either way. Obviously Androla come with oodles of public support based on just who they are (though, not enough to go direct), and Carola has the benefit of being a multiple winner, but One Love is not getting the hottest reviews by voters (I happened to like it, though I can see how this is not the sort of thing one would like to see in Belgrade). On the other side of the coin, Therese Andersson seems to have won herself a boatload of respect and new fans for her rendition of When You Need Me, but also presents a more ‘non-traditional’ song that might have some purists scratching their heads. While this one COULD come down to the live performance, I think it’s more likely than not that Terran’s ride will end here. Moving on to Globen: Androla. Love her or hate her, it’s Carola, people. She performs in the Finalen. It’s what she was built for.

So, there you have it. By my estimation, Ola Svensson and Carola & Andreas will be joining the lineup in Stockholm, and subsequently losing to Charlotte Perrelli.

As God intended it.

(Sorry, Carola!)