12points.tv

Charlotte Perrelli is back in Melodifestivalen this year, performing her song The Girl. Now a dramatic thing happened - the song leaked on the net already.

SVT is normally very strict on keeping the songs very well hidden untill just a couple of days before the semifinals. The only options they now seem to be having is either release all 1 minute snippets or disqualify la Perrelli as well as Why Start A Fire by Lisa Miskovsky that also got out in the open already. Disqualifying would be a pity, but listen to it below and judge for yourselves. The Girl is written by Fredrik Kempe, who is responsible for three winning songs in Sweden, including Hero and last year's Popular.

Charlotte, Danny, Christer and Lotta. A very exciting Melodifestivalen semi-final approaches.

Tonight, 12points.tv was in attendance at a press conference held by SVT in a posh Malmö hotel. All 8 songs for Saturday's Melodifestivalen were played in their entirety for a room full of journalists. It was like a set up out of a science fiction movie - 3 rows of tables filled with people all staring at a giant portable stereo placed on a table on stage. But everyone was there for the same thing - to get a preview of this weekend's contestants. The songs for the most part did not disappoint.

Usually my own schlager/ESC opinion differs from how Swedes like their songs, so I had a look around the room to see what the journalist's reactions were, so you can get a varied opinion. The strongest songs came from Charlotte Perrelli, Christer Sjögren and Lotta Engmark, and Danny Saucedo, but most songs are at least intriguin. Here are our thoughts.

We are at Malmö Arena for the rehearsals today - some songs improved, some songs crashed.

Melodifestivalen is about to start but here are some pictures to whet your appetite.

An audible gasp when Lisa Miskovsky takes a place in Stockholm. Perrelli goes home empty handed.

++ Interval acts announced ++ Germany vs Azerbaijan  ++ First MF act announced for Stockholm Pride ++ Why we adore Litesound ++..

Today Eurovision.tv has revealed some news about the interval acts during Eurovision. Untill yesterday the presidential son-in-law had not yet received an invitation despite the fact that he announced his participation already a few months ago. Today at last the confirmation did come. Emin Agaralov will be joined by a mixture of foreign and local stars, from traditional to pop culture.

We're at Globen in Stockholm for a Melodifestivalen rehearsal. But the big question is: "Where the hell is Loreen?"