Music that makes you fat

Can music make you fat and generally unhealthy? I believe that it can. And yes, I'm being self-ironic...

Melodifestivalen (The Melody Festival) is an annual Swedish music contest. Its nominal purpose is to select the Swedish representative to the Eurovision Song Contest. In reality, it's a get together of the Swedish music business. Since millions of people are watching the contest every year, being one of the participating singers or bands is a real win, even if you loose! All songs in the contest are released on the same CD, even those voted out in the first rounds.

Melodifestivalen is also a pop culture phenomenon of major proportions. My family isn't an exception. Every year, me and my mother buy large quantities of snacks and candy, consuming them voluptuously while watching the contest.

There's just one problem. A few years ago, the contest was reformed and expanded, from the usual 12 (?) songs in a single finale, to a whopping 32 songs. Unless I'm mistaken, there are now four quarter-finales, one runner-up heat and one finale.

Can you even begin to imagine the quantities of snacks and candy me and my mum are consuming these days???

Actually, we decided (for lofty health reasons, of course) to fast during the quarter-finales and the "second chance" heat, lest we become obese or get diabetes!

:D

"Melodifestivalen 2009" is the official collection of songs from that year's contest, one of the better years in my opinion. As usual, the mix of styles is bewildering. There's Alcazar's gay disco song "Stay the night", H.E.A.T's heavy metal "1000 miles", Rigo's Latino-Jamaica combo "I got U" and the opera-disco hybrid "La Voix", featuring Malena Ernman (who won the contest).

If you want to hear what 50+ Swedes in small towns dance to, try out "Sweet kissin' in the moonlight" featuring Thorleifs. Or why not drink some beer, get obese, don a too small T-shirt and pretend you are still a teenager? Then you'll dig Micke Rickfors and his "Du vinner över mig". Want to sing in the shower? Markoolio might help you out. Your 12-year old daughter might enjoy Amy Diamond. There's even a serious ballad on this CD, Sarah Dawn Finer's "Moving on" (yes, she's American).

Incidentally, "Melodifestivalen 2009" shows what a small country Sweden really is. Two of the singers on this album, Marie Sernholt and Måns Zelmerlöw, are a couple in real life. Imagine competing against your own boyfriend or girlfriend. Måns Zelmerlöw showed up in Melodifestivalen 2010 as well...as the show host! But that's another show, as they say.

"Melodifestivalen 2009" isn't exactly American chart music, but most of the songs on this double-CD are sufficiently pop/disco/soul-inspired to work internationally as well.

Five stars!!!

And guys, be careful with what you eat, OK?