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EUROVISION 2016

EUROVISION

Swedish Eurovision entry in ‘plagiarism’ row

Frans, Saturday night’s winner of Melodifestivalen 2016, the competition designed to choose Sweden’s entry for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm, has been plunged into a controversy about alleged plagiarism.

Swedish Eurovision entry in 'plagiarism' row
Frans celebrating his victory on Saturday night. Photo: Fredrik Sandberg / TT

After a gruelling six-week selection process, 17-year-old Frans Jeppsson-Wall's song ‘If I Were Sorry’, a firm favourite of Melodifestivalen fans, was voted the winner of this year’s competition to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest, won last year by Swede Måns Zelmerlöw.

However, according to Swedish tabloid Expressen, there has been a plagiarism controversy bubbling away for a few days.

Several music industry observers have apparently suggested that the winning song is very similar to Matt Simons' ‘Catch & Release’, which was a minor hit in Sweden in 2014 but a bigger hit in the rest of mainland Europe.

“I've only had time to listen quickly once but can state pretty quickly that the similarities are striking,” Henrik Nyström, general manager of the Nordic branch of Simons' record, Pias, told Expressen.

“The two songs are incredibly similar. We are looking into the matter.”

Paul Connolly, The Local’s music critic, was less sure: “There is a similarity in the melody of the verse but the choruses are quite different.”

“If I’m honest, however, I find both songs terribly anaemic – neither tune could fight its way out of a paper bag.”

Måns Zelmerlöw performed a special acoustic version of his 2015 winning song Heroes at the interval.

A nostalgic medley of hits from the last 15 years of Melodifestivalen was also performed while the votes were being cast.

Frans emerged as the winner just ahead of Oscar Zia and his song Human.

What do you think?  Listen to both songs below. 

Frans – If I Were Sorry


 

Matt Simon – Catch and Release

EUROVISION

Sweden among favourites after leaping through to Eurovision final

Cornelia Jakobs, Sweden's entry to the Eurovision Song Contest, burst into tears and jumped onto presenter Mario Acampas, after shooting through to the final on Thursday night.

Sweden among favourites after leaping through to Eurovision final

Jakobs was emotional at the press conference after her victory, telling the story of her progress from an “largely unknown” indie artist to the Eurovision stage. 

“There are a lot of feelings right now in this little body, an extremely large amount of feelings that can’t really fit in, so they’re exploding,” she said, before beginning to cry. “But I’m so happy and overwhelmed by all the support I’ve got from all these fantastic countries.” 

When the time came to pick lots for which half of the final she would appear in, she leapt onto Mario Acampas, the presenter asking questions at the press conference, wrapping her legs around his waist and clasping herself tightly to his torso. 

He then walked her over to the bowl where the lots were lying. 

“I want you to choose the second half,” she said to him. “Imagine that I have a pistol here and on the count of three I’m going to shoot you if you don’t choose.”

He refused to pick for her so she took one herself and got the second half. 

Jakobs, with her song, “Hold me closer”, was the clear favourite to go into the final, and will go through alongside Finland’s The Rasmus, and his song Jezebel, Serbia’s Konstrakta with “In corpore sano”, as well as entries from Belgium, Czechia, Azerbaijan, Poland, Estonia, Australia, and Romania. 

You can see her performance on Thursday in the video below. 

In the final, she will meet the other favourites, which include Ukraine, Italy, and the United Kingdom. 

The final will be shown on Sweden’s state broadcaster SVT at 9pm on Saturday. 

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