Melodifestivalen 2013: Andra Chansen Preview

Ahead of tomorrow's live-blogging, I wanted to write a little about the Andra Chansen ("second chance") round of this year's MF. It's always the week where I'm more excited to see who goes through than to see the performances (since they're basically all repeats). This year, the duel format is--mostly--out, so things could really be up in the air. My favorite song is already in the final (more on that next week), so I'm not too bothered by who makes it through tomorrow, though of course I do have my preferences.

A reminder of the acts competing tomorrow:

1. Cookies 'n' Beans - Burning Flags
2. Eric Gadd - Vi kommer aldrig att förlora
3. Anton Ewald - Beggin
4. Erik Segerstedt & Tone Damli - Hello Goodbye
5. Caroline af Ugglas - Hon har inte
6. Martin Rolinski - In And Out Of Love
7. Robin Stjernberg - You
8. Behrang Miri - Jalla Dansa Sawa

That's the order they made it through, though it seems that Robin will be opening the show while Martin closes.

If I were to place the tracks in order of favorite to least favorite, my list would look something like this:

1. Anton/Martin (too close for me to say, really)
2. Behrang
3. Robin
4. Eric
5. Caroline
6. Erik/Tone and CnB (both of which I simply don't like)

Now, let's take a look at the current itunes chart standings (as of Friday night Pacific Time), which can often be a good indicator of who's popular at the moment. Some have two entries on the chart--the single version and the compilation album version:

ITUNES Rankings
Robin (#8/49)
Behrang (#10/67)
Anton (#21/26)
Martin (#22/117)
Erik/Tone (#34/80)
Eric (#54)
Caroline (#58)
Cookies (#101)

From these, it seems that Robin and Behrang have it in the bag. But don't forget, Anton's track was in the number one position for almost 24 hours after the songs went up. No other andra chansen entry has done that this year. Plus, I'd never discount the "older" vote, which might favor an act like Caroline or Eric, despite their low itunes showings.

Still, I think it's safe to say this will probably end up as a three-horse race between Robin, Behrang and Anton, with Martin offering a possible upset (particularly if he's performing last). And honestly, those are the four best songs this week, so it's as it should be.

Now if Ulrik can just win the whole damn thing, I'll be happy.