1. The Heirs: "Ring baby ring"
"Drill, baby, drill", says Donald Trump. "Ring, baby, ring", sings Casper Janebrink, perhaps in the hope of getting phone votes from the older viewers. This is Partille-Motown with tight choruses, bugg-friendly tempo, and echoes of a simpler life, as it was before Tiktok, heart rates, and all those semifinals.
2. Arwin: "This dream of mine"
From oldest to youngest. 17-year-old debutant Arwin sings about following his dreams and doing his own thing over string machines and airy retro synthesizers in a song alloy of equal parts bombastic wind machine ballad and rising techno darkness.
3. Saga Ludvigsson: "Hate you so much"
Now it's country pop, with rattling strings, whistling, and "hey ho". And a dance-on-your-grave-refrain that breathes so much Swedish Radio P4 that the Traffic News Desk could break in at any moment to report that there's a traffic jam in the northbound direction after a wildlife accident near Byske.
4. Victoria Silvstedt: "Love it!"
"From Paris to LA, I don't care what they say, I just go with the flow", explains a hoarse Victoria Silvstedt in the intro to a Eurodisco song, specially written by Jimmy Jansson and Thomas G:son for schlager nights at the country's gay clubs. Think Lady Gaga, but on Skaraslätten, and without the voice.
5. Vilhelm Buchaus: "I'm yours"
Vilhelm Buchaus, 23, sits down by the campfire together with a bunch of untested songwriters in the context. He pulls out his acoustic guitar and accompanies the sausage grilling with a sorrowful love ballad that draws power from dad's record collection and a both wide-ranging and sensitive rock voice.
6. Scarlet: "Sweet n' psycho"
This year's final contribution is the duo Scarlet, equipped with new circus, horror movie piano, and a rap metal verse that goes "boom pow karate" on the audience. Then they roll out a huge Abba refrain on stage. It breathes Max Martin hard rock and direct ticket to Strawberry arena.
