Cornelia Jakobs – Hold me Closer.
The first thing that we have to say is that the juries loved this song considerably more than the real televoting public of Sweden, which isn’t a surprise. What is a surprise is that the Swedes have seemingly moved away from schlager in its purest form and remembered that the Eurovision is a contest for all genres.
Looking at the Melodifestivalen performance, Cornelia clearly knows how to hold the camera in the palm of her hand as she sings this song … and that is definitely going to be a plus point. There is one hell of a voice that comes out of her throat which reminds me of Cerys Matthews in certain points of the song, rather than a Patricia Kaas – and that’s not a bad thing either, because it makes me feel comfortable with the song.
As we have seen with Arcade, a simple staging of a powerful song can still reach into the hearts of Europeans. My only question is if this can stand out above the sea of ballads that this contest has? I’m going to have to say yes because of the quality of the song – and despite what people tell you, its still a song contest.
Phil’s score – 6 Points.