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© Claes Andreasson
The swedes keep coming!
Exclusive: The Claes Andreasson interview
Destiny was announced last night as one of the ten finalists in Spain, and Love is in the air competes in Poland, being sung by fellow swede, Erlandsson Mikael. In adition, Torbjörn has the song Questa notte competing in Latvia. Yesterday evening, esctoday.com spoke to Claes about this year's entries, his history with Eurovision and why Swedes are so popular amongst the national selections.
The team were behind Myrra Malmberg's 3rd placed Melodifestivalen entry, Julia, in 1998. In 2004, they wrote This is where you got it from for Arlene Wilkes and finished second. A year later, they wrote I am rock'n roll for Jorun Erdal but were again runners up, this time to Norway's best known rock'n rollers, Wig Wam but only 11,000 votes separated the two songs in the final vote. Last year, the team wrote Here for the show for Trine Rein and Lost and found for Jorun Endal and Geir Ronning which came 4th.
With yet another Swedish songwriting team finding consistent success outside their host nation, we took the opportunity to get their own opinion on why Swedish composers are such hot property across the continent. we also asked about the songs, and discussed the what would happen if Destiny was selected in Spain, but to be performed by a band such as Nash and whether the song would still work, having been written for a soloist.
Related polls
- Sweden decided: How much do you like This is my life?
- esctoday.com National Final Awards 2010: Best SONG not to qualify in SWEDEN?
- esctoday.com National Final Awards 2010: Best PERFORMANCE not to qualify in SWEDEN?
- Latvia decided: How much do you like What for? (Only Mr. God knows)?
- esctoday.com National Final Awards 2010: Best SONG not to qualify in LATVIA?
- esctoday.com National Final Awards 2010: Best PERFROMANCE not to qualify in LATVIA?
- Spain decided: How much do you like Algo pequeñito?
- esctoday.com National Final Awards 2010: Best SONG not to qualify in SPAIN?
- esctoday.com National Final Awards 2010: Best PERFORMANCE not to qualify in SPAIN?
- Poland decided: How much do you like Legenda?
- esctoday.com National Final Awards 2010: Best PERFORMANCE not to qualify in the POLAND?
- esctoday.com National Final Awards 2010: Best SONG not to qualify in the POLAND?
- Norway decided: How much do you like My heart is yours?
- esctoday.com National Final Awards 2010: Best PERFORMANCE not to qualify in NORWAY?
- esctoday.com National Final Awards 2010: Best SONG not to qualify in NORWAY?
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I agree that a country needs to give their own composers a chance to showcase their abilities, but this is also a competition. If a selection committee feels that a particular song that is submitted is really good and has good chances to win for their country, then the nationality of the composer should not be a factor in the selection. Perhaps a good rule is that the performer has to be from their own country because we know that a good song can be ruined by a bad perfomer and an average song can be improved by a great performance. ESC is a songwriters contest but in recent years it has become much more than that so the singer is crucial in the success of the song.
I am Spanish, and I have always liked the Swedish songs (except the one from "Las Vegas" 
. Who cares were the composers are born when almost all the countries sing in English and not in their national languages anymore?
C'mon, it's not the Swedish composers fault if their songs are selected. If they are, then they are obviously better than the other submitted songs.
I can understand the critique in Norway this year where 12 of 18 songs are written by Swedes (together with Norwegians in some cases). In the other countries it's only one or two melodies so I don't see the big deal. A good rule could be that 3/4 of the songs have to be written by citizens. On the other hand with such a rule there will be some problems of drawing the line. If a norwegian has written lyrics and a swede has composed the melody, or vice versa, should that be considered enough norwegian or not? It would be easy for a swedish team of songwriters to give a norwegian credits in order to qualify. This is already a basic practice when songwriters write for big stars who want to seem independent and smart. On the other hand, if one demanded that a song should be made 100% by citizens, this might mean that some norwegian songwriters who collaborate with international partners will choose to send in their songs to other finals. It's also always a problem with quotas in that they can be considered unfair. Perhaps the many swedish songs in this years norwegian contest, which I am totally convinced are based on the jurys perception of quality (why should they open themselves up for critique just in order to benefit swedish composers?), will inspire a lot of norwegians to start writing melodies. One could on the other hand argue that quotas give songwriters from the home country a chance to learn their craft. I shall say that I am myself a strong supporter of free trade and in almost all cases an opponent of quotas. On the other hand I think it's important that each country can develop a national culture and pride.
You either love it or hate it.
I hate it ;-) Crap music from a nice country with nice people.
Drusus, Swedish music is not good because it's hyped. It's hyped because it's good. And many ESC fans would tell you that they would love to live in a country that hypes Eurovision as much as the Swedes do. As far as international success beyond Sweden, do I have to remind you of ABBA, Ace of Base, Roxette and others?
Brainwashing? Objective? You mean people should think like you do and like the music styles you do? And if they don't, they are being brainwashed and not objective? Give me a break! I understand that you are scared that the Swedish have such success at ESC. You've got to face the fact that ESC fans love music with a good melody and entertainment value and if you don't like it, don't vote for them. It's as simple as that.
To Drusus.
For obvious reasons it is tougher to win a national preselection as a foreign composer. Now I'm not saying that most of the swedish exported songs have been the best in their national final. Far from it. Some though have a rather good claim such as "Je ta dore" (It won the national selection and even made Fred Bronsons list) and "I love you mi vida" (one of the favourites). But the important thing to keep in mind is that more and more national selections are becoming similar to melodifestivalen with several heats and with ENTERTAINMENT as a goal. To make it good entertainment you need several decent tunes and good acts. A decent foreign song is better entertainment than a horrible national song. Most songs in these selections are not serious contenders, and this includes many of the swedish exports, they are instead there for the entertainment value. For instance in Sweden we have every year an older artist with a fun tune but with no chance to win. Some criticise this but I think it's good because it makes it more fun for especially older viewers but also for many of a younger age. A Swedish song in another national final has a handicap in that final in comparison with the other songs and it therefore it has to be better with a margin (if you consider the whole package, performance etc) in order to win. If one national song and a swedish song is considered equally good then i think more people will vote for the national song. No one is forcing the spaniards to vote for "I love you mi vida". People will only vote for it if they think it is the best song to send to Helsinki.
Do I smell dead fish? Oh, yes! Drusus is here!
Well, I know why Swedes are so " popular " amongst the national selections - every ESC fan knows why. Because even medicore swedish ESC ( and NF ) songs are hyped by hard core fans and overrated at the ESC. Meaningless songs like " Invincible " are praised, so foreign broadcasters make the following mistake : Swedish song & ESC = success, totally ignoring the fact that Swedish songs outside Sweden never worked very well : Norway 04, Lithuania 05, Estonia 06 ( Swedish singer ) and there are many more examples. Even the typical Scandi sound won`t worked for others ( Bosnia 05 ), the hype just and only works for Swden itself. The majority of the die hard ESC fans made swedish composers strong and popular outside Sweden, though this special ESC fan taste is hardly the taste of the majority, which is why songs like Invincible will never by international hits, never be played at big music stations outside Sweden ( or maybe Scandinavia ). It would be nice if people could be more objective and ignore hypes and brainwashing PR. I am sure it would be the end of this swedish expansion. I don`t wanna see a SSC .....
Poland, And Germany so far have no chance all the songs are pretty poooo, and even romania, some ok songs but not fab
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