Why Dotter deserved more in Melodifestivalen
Sweden is one of the countries with the best results in Eurovision, but sometimes surprising things happen in their national final Melodifestivalen as well. Upcoming Swedish singer and songwriter Dotter was one of the favourites to win this year’s edition, but on Saturday she was immediately eliminated in her heat. If you ask me, this was totally undeserved. Dotter sang her song ‘Cry’ and although the performance was not flawless, she deserved way more than a 6th position out of 7 candidates. That is why we honour Dotter’s ‘Cry’ as Song of the Day!

I was surprised to see Dotter so high up in the polls in the weeks prior to her performance as she is not exactly an established artist in Sweden yet, although she released a string of excellent singles, including ‘Creatures of the Sun’, ‘Evolution‘ and ‘Rebellion‘. She also co-wrote Mariette’s ‘A Million Years’ which made it to the 4th place of Melodifestivalen last year. People who heard the song before the show created hype around it, as they believed it could do well at Eurovision. I fully agree, as ‘Cry’ might be the strongest song she has released so far. Actually, a lot of countries would kill for a song like this to represent them! The verses are quiet and intriguing with a subtle production while the chorus is big and vivacious. In terms of style, it does remind me of Julia Michaels’ recent output, which underlines the hit potential of ‘Cry’. In the lyrics, Dotter tells someone to leave her boyfriend as he is not worth the pain and effort, which a lot of us can relate to.

So what went wrong then? Well, the Swedes obvioiusly weren’t as impressed by it all as I was. Admitted, Dotter did mess up the big note at the start of the last chorus, but other than that performance was passionate. The dark staging and unusual camera angles might have put some people off, but I thought it added to the suspense in the track. Looking at the competition she had, I can’t for the life of me understand how she did not go straight to the final, let alone not even qualifying for a second chance. Although this was not the outcome I hoped for at all, I still hope this will boost Dotter’s career in her home country, because she is insanely talented and deserves all of the success coming her way!