Melodifestivalen is considered one of the biggest national finals. This year’s edition kicked off last week and saw Wiktoria and Mohombi go “direkt till final” with Anna Bergendahl and Nano going to Andra Chansen. Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to three acts, including Zeana feat. Anis Don Demina. Anis is a YouTuber and shortly after not qualifying, he released a video talking about the experience. However, some of the response that he has received has not been great…
Mina bränder
After the first snippets of the songs in the first Melodifestivalen semifinal were released, the majority of fans agreed on the same four acts that would not be eliminated at this point. Unfortunately, despite many fans loving Mina bränder, it was not seen as a qualifier. On the night, Zeana’s vocals were less than adequate, although Anis gave a strong performance despite a shaky start.
At the end of the night, the lacklustre performance was left in 5th place, narrowly missing out on a spot in the Andra Chansen round.
“We need to talk about Melodifestivalen”
Just two days after the semifinal, Anis released a YouTube video talking about the experience, titled “We need to talk about Melodifestivalen”. The video starts with Anis promoting an episode of his podcast, then promoting his new single, whilst talking through the intensive rehearsal process of Melodifestivalen. He describes the first rehearsal as a “catastrophe”, but they got better and better as they rehearsed.
Anis goes on to talk about how his and Zeana’s song, Mina bränder, has gone on to have the most streams on Spotify out of all the songs released from semifinal 1 (i.e. all of the songs that did not advance directly to the final). He also states that…
Even on YouTube we have twice as many views on our performance as the person with the second most views, I think that’s Anna Bergendahl…
Anis Don Demina
…as well as that they were 8th on the YouTube Trending list. Anis is clearly very proud of his and Zeana’s performance, and he explains that he is so thankful for all the love and support that he has received! He says that after his performance he checked his phone and had received tons of messages from other artists, YouTubers and influencers, and this meant a lot to him.
He then talks about the moment that he was up on stage, waiting for the announcement of who goes through:
I look around the stage at who else is here. Furthest away I see Nano, he took part two years ago and came second, he is amazing, his song is so good, his performance is fantastic. Next to him is Anna Bergendahl, she has won this before, she knows exactly how you win this…then there’s Mohombi, he’s a world-famous singer. Then I look on my other side and there’s Wiktoria, she’s already taken part three times, she sings amazingly, has an unbelievably good song…so then the realisation hit me: “HOW THE F*** DID I GET HERE”.
You can speculate how the new system might have f***** us…but at the end of the day, we were great and had an amazing song
Anis Don Demina
The moment he found out he was the fifth place, Anis describes not feeling upset and angry but just thankful – thankful for the support and the love that he has received from his fans.
Comments: “A pathetic attempt to rip-off a Samir & Viktor song”
Despite receiving plenty of love in the comments section of the video, Anis has also received a high percentage of comments slating his, and particularly Zeana’s shaky performance. One of the most liked negative comments reads:
To be honest, the woman you were performing with had NO singing voice at all.
Bob Swagger – YouTube
Another commenter says:
I think Zeana ruined the whole thing. You were on FIRE, but she destroyed it.
Hjalle – YouTube
Other comments remind Anis that “just because you’re a YouTuber doesn’t mean that you’ll win Melodifestivalen”, describe the song as “bad Mello content”, and other more brutal comments describe Mina bränder as “cringy, a pathetic attempt to rip-off a Samir & Viktor song”:
Sorry but I don’t want to just lick your a** like everyone else here. It was really bad, not Mello content. Just because you’re famous on YouTube, this doesn’t mean that you will win the whole of Mello. Your songs might work for your fans, but they will never win Mello or Eurovision.
Ayah Mezher – YouTube
Honestly, the flames were extinguished, especially in the live performance. The woman can’t sing for a dime and sounded so painful. Anis, you were ok but really shaky at the start, like you were sick…the pyro and lightshow was a bit cringy but anyway. Overall the song was, to be blunt, a pathetic attempt to rip-off a Samir & Viktor song.
Abem lol – YouTube
What did you think of Zeana and Anis Don Demina’s performance last week? Do you agree with the comments, or do you think that Mina bränder should have qualified?
Let us know in the comments below and on social media @ESCXTRA
