Melodifestivalen: Heat Two - Preliminary Judging

Time for round two, and my thoughts on the second heat's song clips. As usual, things can change once I've heard the full versions.

(Listen to clips here)

Eric Saade - Manboy
What. The. Hell. Seriously, this is weird, from the "spooky" background to the ridiculously hilarious chorus. As far as europop goes, I like the melody. It's almost too catchy. But it's SO weird! 3/5

Andra Generationen & Dogge - Hippare Hoppare (Hip Hopper)
Utter crap. Why is this type of thing entered? And the band look way creepy, especially the guy with silly string for hair (!). 0.5/5

Anna Maria Espinosa - Innan alla ljusen brunnit ut (Before all the Lights Burned Out)
A dramatic sounding Swedish ballad, the clip is instantly forgettable. Anna's had a few good songs in the past, but this unfortunately doesn't sound like one. 1.5/5

Highlights & MiSt - Come And Get Me Now
I like the sound of the chorus of this, especially the use of strings. Actually, from the clip, it's probably my favorite sounding song from this heat. I have no idea who these guys are, though. They look a little... old? 3.5/5

Pauline - Sucker For Love
I'm not always a fan of this genre, but I like the hook on this. It'll be interesting to see how it's staged and performed live. The background music reminds me a lot of Razorlight's superior In The Morning mixed with the always-good Zutons. We'll see. 3/5

Andreas Johnson - We Can Work It Out
I've liked a lot of Johnson's past material, though this sounds a little tepid. It goes for "soaring," but may just end up being "boring." It's hard to tell from the clip, especially with this kind of song. Right now it's pretty average. 3/5

Kalle Moraeus & Orsa Spelm�n - Underbat (Wonderful)
I can actually see this style doing very well in the contest, even though the band looks like a bunch of grandparents. It's not horrible, but it's definitely not the kind of thing I listen to, either. 2/5

Hanna Lindblad - Manipulated
This is a very strange one. Again, it's not the type of music I necessarily associate with Melodifestivalen. For a hard hitting club track, it's not wowing me in this clip. It could end up being really outstanding or just lame. Again, hard to tell. 3/5

This is one of the strangest (and most boring) heats I've seen in the past few years. There's nobody I love. Hopefully that changes tomorrow. I think Andreas, Pauline, Anna and Kalle will go through, though Hanna or Eric could change that with really interesting performances.

*I'll be blogging tomorrow throughout the show, so be sure to check back for my thoughts (and to see if my predictions come true!)