News - Lena Ph says no to Melodifestivalen | Eurovision Song Contest News - 2009 Moscow, Russia 

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Written by

Leif Rberg

Published

24/Sep 2008 at 15:32

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gylleneskor.se, esctoday.com

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Lena Philipsson & Orup Promopicture 2008 - © Jonas Linell/b-martin.se
© Jonas Linell/b-martin.se

New single

Lena Ph says no to Melodifestivalen

Lena Philipsson and Orup will tour across Sweden this autumn. They have just released a new single, a new album is on the way and their successful show will air on Saturday, on SVT at 20:30 . And according to Lena Philipsson, she will not compete as a wildcard in Melodifestivalen 2009. In a recent interview, Lena spoke about the eastern countries' impact on Eurovision, the reasons behind Sweden's disappointing placings and gave her opinion on the next act to represent her country in Moscow.

Lena Philipsson and Orup have worked together since 2004, when their working collaboration began with the song Det gör ont/It hurts that won that year. Since then Orup has written songs for Philipsson's latest two albums Det gör ont en stund på natten men inget på dan and Jag ångrar ingenting. They joined forces for the show Lena+Orup in Stockholm in January 2007. Since then the show has been sold out.

This autumn they are going to take the show on tour across Sweden. But first, SVT will broadcast 90 minutes of the show on Saturday 27th of September. The show Lena+Orup includes most of the team's big hits, lots of humour, glamour and show numbers.

Lena was one of the guests on the TV show Carin 21:30 on SVT last week, the topic was “The threat from the east”.  Lena was there to talk about the eastern countries'  impact on the Eurovision Song Contest and why Charlotte Perrelli didn’t get a better place in the final. Lena said that she thinks the eastern countries are hungrier for victory and their entries are more contemporary than Swedish ones. 

She says that it seems it’s rather the  younger generation that writes the songs in the eastern countries. Melodifestivalen needs new songwriters, new selection and a more open audience that votes. An international jury in the Melodifestivalen will not make much of a difference, she believes, it is  rather all about getting the right songs from the beginning in the process. "In the final it’s a bit too late to do anything about it", Lena said. She also stated that she is not too enthusiastic about the idea of the juries  in Moscow "Sweden has to endure setbacks and comeback and try to get back in the game.", she concluded.

Lena also stated she has no plans to be in Melodifestivalen 2009. It’s too close to the Det gör ont performance with the microphone stand still in fresh in the memory and maybe she should hand over to the new generation instead. When asked “which artist do you think Sweden should send to the Eurovision Song Contest next year" she answered "I think we should send BWO, so we can see if they are so international as they always say they are, that would be interesting. "

This week, the duo release the single Nu när du gått, that received good reviews on the Swedish media. The following album Dubbel will be released on 12th of November. The album includes eight duet songs and one solo for both Lena and Orup. Orup has written five songs himself and the other five together with Lena. The song Jag måste skynda mig på was also on the album Lena 20 år that was released in 2007.

Lena Philipsson & Orup – Nu när du gått video (new single)


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Cyprus is gonna win ESC next year [49443]
Sun 28 Sep 2008 15:17:13

Charlotte was exhausted, so was other artists as they worked as hard as Charlotte


Cyprus is gonna win ESC next year [49443]
Sun 28 Sep 2008 15:15:16

Some people think Charlotte wasn't successsful beacuse the problem was that she was exausted, no I don't think so, her performance didn't show any exhaustion, her choreography was rather flashy and not convincing, it was rather like being too sure of yourself, Ani Lorak & Kalomoira had better performances modern song and more appealing to audiences whereas Charlotte was as I said too sure of herself as being a former winner.


Vladimir P [31751]
Sat 27 Sep 2008 14:52:25

I like Lena. It would be nice to see here in MF again. I know many people here attack Charlotte, but I think "Hero" is a great song and she tried her best. The problem was that she was exausted (I think EBU should stop that 3 dress rehearsals thing - it's too much) and I think there were some mistakes with the camera work that didn't help much. In spite of everything, I think Charlotte is a true professional.


Cyprus is gonna win ESC next year [49443]
Sat 27 Sep 2008 14:31:08

She is doing the right thing, Carola tried 3 times and lucky winner with count back in 1991, Charlotte the former winner finished 18th with second attempt, and Lena previously participated with top 5 position she is not realy encouraged to take that risk.


Stockholm calling [44413]
Sat 27 Sep 2008 12:38:20

Euro Sheep
I got the impression that Lena was happy with her results and the fact that Sweden would not have to qualify the following year. Anyway, she has a great sense of humour :)
No, I think Sanna will stay number one in Svensktoppen for a while :)




Euros 'n' Sheep [52112]
Sat 27 Sep 2008 12:06:09

Stockholm calling
Ooh :S I have to disagree - Lena is soooo bitter! :P She was a right b**** after she only came fifth in Istanbul - everyone who saw her said so!

But I am so happy "Nu När Du Gått" is at number one - it's a fabulous song and this classic Swedish tune is miles better than that contrived american c*** which has been hogging the top spot for too long! So do you think Lena & Orup will knock Sanna off the number one position in Svensktoppen?




Mario Mir [44111]
Fri 26 Sep 2008 21:53:46

@ Princess Engla

I agree. Swedish schlager and cheese-pop heard in MF sounds absolutely old-fashioned and dull for rest of Europeans. It's becoming a contest "For Swedish only" and its winners hasn't got any chance in ESC, neither with televoting nor with juries.
Swedish good artists (Roxette, Ace of Base, September...) would never enter MF, fortunately for their careers.




Stockholm calling [44413]
Fri 26 Sep 2008 18:57:06

Congrats to Lena and Orup. "Nu när du gått" went straight to number 1 in the Swedish charts today :)


.`.Big BB.`. [52276]
Fri 26 Sep 2008 16:11:09

great song,

LENA U LOOK AWSOME!!!!!


Princess Engla [47430]
Thu 25 Sep 2008 22:04:10

I loved "Visst finns mirakel" too! It was a great song, great performance and a great singer.


Princess Engla [47430]
Thu 25 Sep 2008 21:58:48

MF is by far the best National Selection. The other countries aren´t even close... MF is much better than ESC. That´s why I think Sweden should draw out from ESC and only focus on MF!


Stockholm calling [44413]
Thu 25 Sep 2008 21:52:32

"Visst finns mirakel" was one of my favourites too, very good lyrics and a great performance by Suzzie.


Willox Willox [32746]
Thu 25 Sep 2008 21:34:27

MF is the best national selection. no other selection even come close to the magic of melodifestivalen.


Florian Grillhofer [esctoday.com editor]
Thu 25 Sep 2008 21:24:10

@ w s:

Totally agree, I also loved "Visst finns mirakel" and the performance was great! Suzzi's rough voice made it special!
And I also love Bobby's songs!


A o [11689]
Thu 25 Sep 2008 19:07:29

Love Lena hope she comes back soon!


Fabio Deluca [37739]
Thu 25 Sep 2008 18:36:05

I don't think Melodifestivalen is the best national final... Only 3 or 4 songs really stand out every year, the rest is absolute rubbish. 4 out of 32 is not a very impressive mark.


w s [29210]
Thu 25 Sep 2008 17:30:01

I didn't know "Visst finns mirakel" was by Ljunggren. I was the best song from all the national finals together. Though Suzzie's performance and voice made it so special.


Axel Kearns [47152]
Thu 25 Sep 2008 17:15:35

I absolute all of Bobby Lljunggren songs.... all masterpieces even this years Visst finns mirakel, was by favorite by a mile.


Stockholm calling [44413]
Thu 25 Sep 2008 16:51:07

"people like Gson, Kempe and Bobby Ljunggren, write such bad songs..... "
I disagree. Bobby Ljunggren has written many good songs, for instance "Se på mig", "Kärleken är", "För att du finns" and this year "Visst finns mirakel", "Empty room". Watch this:
http://en.wikipedia.(...)wiki/Bobby_Ljunggren


Willox Willox [32746]
Thu 25 Sep 2008 15:16:35

Melodifestivalen is the best national selection for eurovision...by miles..


Willox Willox [32746]
Thu 25 Sep 2008 15:15:03

ani so cpoied charlotte at the ESC2008 and not in a good way. she didnt look very appropriate with he dress and everything..uuh..
charlotte is the true beauty between those two..

goo charlotte.. go away fake ani


Axel Kearns [47152]
Thu 25 Sep 2008 13:26:55

Well after all the energy they put into Melodi festivalen, they deserve the final every year....


Mina Carnation [51405]
Thu 25 Sep 2008 12:39:54

well Sweden almost didn't have any bad placings

That's true. They've never been left out of the final (although this year they would have if it wasn't for the juries) and in the 10 years of televoting they've only been out of the top ten 3 times. 7 times in the top 10 in 10 years (a victory included) is a very good record.


Sims Moyal [26444]
Thu 25 Sep 2008 12:07:54

well Sweden almost didn't have any bad placings
they were in the top 10 since 2000 ! so i dont think they can complain about bad results - the only thing they can complain about is when in 2007 they sent the worst S^&%$ in the world which is really a total steal from "Love grows" by "The Lighthouse"


Axel Kearns [47152]
Thu 25 Sep 2008 08:39:48

I must agree, "It hurts", was by far the best Swedish entry for ages. Thank God Ani did NOT copy anyone but just was her pretty sexy self....


drusus 1 [10652]
Thu 25 Sep 2008 00:44:48

Thank god ! It would have been another fan hype stuff and a failure at the televote - maybe Lena, unlike Carola, learned from former mistakes. Just hope other permanent MF participants ( BWO and Co ) and composers refuse to take part at the MF too. Singers are just one part of the problem, someone, people like G :Son, Kempe and Bobby Ljunggren, write such bad songs.....


Max Raspail [36649]
Thu 25 Sep 2008 00:13:42

Oh no, Lena! Please come back to Eurovision!


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