EUROVISION 2019 REVIEW: SWEDEN - John Lundvik - Too Late For Love

Its time for a brand new review!

Today, we move to Sweden, one of my favourite countries in the world, who after another incredible year of Melodifestivalen, settled with 'Too Late For Love' by John Lundvik.

Here are my thoughts:

What I Like: Sweden are really clever when it comes to how they vote, so I'm not surprised at all that this won because its so distant from 'Dance You Off' last year., which 'underperformed' last year as far as Swedish standards go. The staging is paired back instead of a big lights show and the song seems to find the balance between Scandipop and Anderz Wrethov PRODUCTION and authenticity and soul just right. Not to mention this is a huge improvement for John Lundvik also, Too Late For Love is a vast improvement on the formulaic 'My Turn' from 2018. This song is also so undeniably infectious and joyous too, to the point where you can't help but smile, and it has that wide appeal where all ages will enjoy the song. For example, this year I watched Melodifestivalen with my mum for the first time, and we both agreed that this was by far the best choice for the contest and is the one she enjoyed the most. Jurors will also lap up this song, it is in a similar vain to 'Nobody But You' last year but executed in an even more polished way, and it swept up all 12 points in the Melodifestivalen jury, so I can confidently predict that this will be at least in the jury top 3 when the contest rolls around. Also that gospel choir give me LIFE and are just the perfect addition to the performance. Unlike other years, you just know that this will sound just as good vocally at the contest as it did in Melodifestivalen as they were the only act not to use playback with live vocal. Basically, don't write this one off.

What I Don't Like: Okay, so this is something I picked up on my initial blog post for 'Too Late For Love', but the staging feels too dark. to the point where you have to really focus on what's going on. I do enjoy the peaks of light that come through, but I feel like they should be a little more consistent. The Swedish delegation have said that they are tweaking the light for the Tel Aviv performance though, so that's nothing to worry about too much. I also have a problem with the line 'I would lit your world with just one spark', as its so grammatically incorrect it hurts. Just change it to light, it won't mess with the structure of the song!

I've also fell out of love with the song as time has gone on, and I feel other entries are maybe giving us something more unique. I felt the same when 'Heroes' won in 2015 though, so maybe this is secretly onto a winner.

Prediction: Well there's no doubt this is in the final, and there are also no doubts in my mind that this should place within the top 5 at Eurovision. It could win, but we have so many contenders at this point that it will need those contenders to mess up their stage shows for me to be confident in predicting a Swedish victory. However Sweden already have a strong realised product so the only way is up for them, maybe to the top.

Final Score: 8.5/10

Summary: A joyous and uplifting piece of soul pop that puts a smile on your face from the first second. The song has mass appeal over all demographics (hence why it won Melodifestivalen). I have no doubts that vocally and visually the Swedish delegation will get this right and it will be another strong result for them.

Thank you for reading! Please leave a like on this post and please check out my other blog posts (including my Melodifestivalen 2019 top 28). Also, feel free to follow me @ESCTBy for more Eurovision ramblings!