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Perrelli's return to the schlager spotlight yielded mixed results for her dedicated fans 

Third time lucky? Charlotte Perrelli is one of Sweden's most talked about pop stars. Launching herself onto the wider public by winning ESC 1999 for her country, her career since has been filled with poptastic highs and lots of sparkley outfits. A second attempt for Eurovision glory in 2008 led to another win in Sweden, but not such a brilliant placing at the ESC final. This year, a third song, "The Girl" tried to secure its place at Eurovision, but didn't even get past the semi-final heat in 2012. 

12points.tv were situated inside the arena in Malmö for her Melodifestivalen turn and sensed a problem was coming when the reaction of the audience during rehearsals was muted at best after her performance. How could this consumate professional who threw everything but the kitchen sink into this great performance not strike a chord with the Swedish public? The 12points jury does it's analysis below. Was the song girl-licious and girl-tastic or just girl-umpty?

Song/Lyrics - 12/12
Most Melodifestivalen songs that make it far don't get too personal in the lyrics. For example, this year had the classics: "you're amazing/amazing/you're oh oh oh amazing". But through our interview with Charlotte Perrelli, she told us that the lyrics were very personal to her. After some chaos in her own life and a particularly nasty divorce, she had her feet on the ground again and was happy to sing about it all. The music sounds as if it's an old ABBA record with a scratch in it, but managed to throw in musical enough tricks to keep it interesting. 

Performance - 12/12
We saw Charlotte rehearse and perform this song a total of 10 times over 3 days of rehearsals and she hit it 100% every time. No other act in rehearsals could manage such a feat, suffering with tired voices and shattered nerves. Watching Perrelli march back and forth over 3 minutes would be tiring for most people, but Charlotte does what a performer should do - be consistent. The use of the Beyoncé-esque video screens worked well but maybe were a little distraction.

Choreography (including Arm-ography and Hair-ography) - 6/12
We think the staging and choreography are what ultimately kept the votes away for poor Charlotte. I am guessing in an attempt to make this song even more exciting than her other two entries is what derailed it. If you look carefully at the song, it has four different settings over 180 seconds - in front of a screen, on stage, back by the screen, on stage again. It was almost too much to take in. Combine so much movement with some typically frantic and meaningless choreography (a ballet/line dancing combo) and the effect of that could mean all the intricacies are nullified. Swedes DO tend to voite for something that is reasonably safe, and maybe this was just too scary for them.

Camp Factor - 12/12
Charlotte's costume cost 500.000 Swedish kronor (€56.000). Enough said.

Would My Mother Like it? - 8/12
I would imagine she'd like it. She appreciates good camp, like her son.

TOTAL: 50/60.  Well done, Charlotte. Better luck next time. 

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.

This week's Melodifestivalen songs had their first run through, and 12points.tv were at the arena to check it out.

The press were allowed into Malmö Arena today to watch a run through of Saturday's songs. Below are our initial impressions.

GLAMOUR. Charlotte Perrelli's song is, as you would expect, incredibly slick and sincere. If you thought the arm-ography for "Hero" was good, wait until you see what "The Girl" has in store for you. There's lots happening in under 3 minutes - screens dropping, catwalk action, wind machines turned on, lots of hair tossing, religious iconography and a great musical hook. To top it all off, for the rehearsal, Charlotte was wearing a shirt saying "I Will Always Love You" with a giant picture of a young Whitney Houston on the front. How fab. The current betting odds in the press room place Charlotte at 3,80 to 1, with 3 songs ahead of her. Does that mean being relegated to the second chance round? Don't be idiots, texting Swedes. Go here to see a one minute clip of Charlotte's rehearsal today.

CHARM. Greek-influenced group OPA! may not stand a chance, if typical Swedish voting is anything to go by. But that is a great shame because the song is totally charming and their mandolin player is quite a looker.

HILARITY. Christer Sjögren and Lotta Engberg's song "Don't Let Me Down" has the funniest lyrics I think I've ever heard in Melodifestivalen. They are so over the top that I laughed each time they ran through the song. If you're expecting another "I Love Europe", you won't find it here. There are a ton of string players and a lot of meandering back and forth. The press around me say this is their favourite.

GLOW IN THE DARK. We all knew that the last song at the last semi final was going to be something special, and Danny Saucedo brings out the unexpected with his song "Amazing". Danny and his backing dancers are wearing space-age costumes with lights that change colour and pulsate. It's likely you've never seen anything like this before. Danny is a super talent and has a very flexible tenor that suits an arena. Gimmicks aside, it's obvious this will go straight through to final. I know I will be in a minority here, but Loreen's song had no gimmicks or tricks and it worked better.

Other notes from today's rehearsal.

• Axel Algmark wore jeans so tight during his rehearsal, you can rule out thinking he may be a Muslim or a Jew.
• Hanna Lindblad needs a great song to match her talent. She is brilliant live but her song isn't doing much in the arena.
• Dynazty is not the usual kind of music most 12points.tv readers will go for, but their vocalist sang very well and unlike most contestants, without any playback.
• Lots of fabric in Lisa Miskovsky's song. Fans and fabric. But I don't discount it, it could be a sleeper hit.

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

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