Carola and Andreas Johnson interviewed by TT Spektra

In between rehearsals yesterday, Carola and Andreas gave several interviews with different TV and newspapers. Watch some of the interviews below.

Video: Watch Nöjesnytt Swedish Song Contest Special
Video: Interview from SVT.se
Video: Interviews from TT Spektra Nöjesnytt

This is the tracklisting of the upcoming single "One Love" with Johnson & Häggkvist. 01. One Love 02. Lucky Star 03. One Love (Worktape) 04. Lucky Star (Accoustic Demo) 05. One Love (SoundFactory Club Anthem) 06. One Love (SoundFactory Big Dub Version) 07. One Love (SoundFactory Remix Radio Edit) 08. One Love (SoundFactory Remix A Version) Link: Pre-order "One Love" from CDON

If you buy Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet between February 21-24, you can buy "Carola Hits 25 år" for 59 sek. Tracklisting: 01. Främling 02. Säg mig var du står 03. Gloria 04. Mickey 05. Mitt i ett äventyr 06. Fångad av en stormvind 07. Tommy tycker om mig 08. Det regnar i Stockholm 09. Tokyo 10. Just The Way You Are 11. Every Beat Of My Heart 12. Guld i dina ögon 14. The Girl Who Had Everything 15. Mixade Minnen

We received close to 600 emails in our contest to win tickets to the 25th anniversary event at Palladium in Malmö on February 26. Five winners that will get two tickets each have been selected and contacted by email. These are the lucky winners:

Thommy Löfwenmark, Sweden
Johanna Makkonen, Finland
Sören Möller, Sweden
Mimmi Fredriksson, Sweden
Kim Hansen, Denmark

Congratulations!

In a few days we will be announcing another great contest!

Today at 4.30 pm (Swedish time), the radio show "Lantz i P4" will play one minute clips of all the songs competing in the second semi-finale of the Swedish Song Contest on Saturday. At 3.00 pm the clips will be available on both sr.se and svt.se/mello. Don't miss this chance to catch a sneak peek at Johnson & Häggkvist's "One Love".

Link: "Lantz i P4" website
Link: SVT's Swedish Song Contest website
Link: SR P4's Swedish Song Contest website

Foto: Christian Örnberg, Expressen / Karolina Jonason, SVT

When Carola and Andreas Johnson rehearsed on stage in front of the Swedish media, the reactions were big. Andreas Nunstedt wrote on his blog; "We have a winner".

Anders Nunstedt, Expressen:

"And so Andreas Johnson and Carola Häggkvist stepped into the arena and blew away all competition. The song grows approximately 287% when it's performed live. Very good. Very convincing. Who in the world can stop these two from winning the Swedish Song Contest? Who? Happy Valentine's Carola and Andreas."

Edward af Sillén, Gyllene Skor:

"Dear readers: I suggest you would remember this name: Carola! I think she can go far. The underdog of the week! All kidding aside, the competition heated up when Carola & Andreas (or Johnson & Häggkvist) walked on stage! This is no game! Winning or losing! Nothing in between! On stage, the duo is surrounded by more than 30 TV-sets, standing on top each each other and showing images symbolizing... yes, love! (...) And in the end of the song, in the key change (surprise) a gigantic set of spotlights is lowered down behind the duo and blinds the audience in warm light. THAT'S effective! (...) What a finale. (...) How can I describe the song... probably the same way everybody else is describing it; It sounds like U2! Mixed with rock concert and hit music radio, but with harmonies and a key change. People will like this."

(Translation by Carola International)

Link: Anders Nunstedt's blog on Expressen
Link: Edward af Sillén's blog on Gyllene Skor

Photo: Tommy Svensson / Karolina Jonason, SVT

Yesterday, all artists that participates in the second semi-finale of the Swedish Song Contest met journalists at a press conference. Of course the attention was centered around Carola and Andreas Johnson. See some videos from the press conference by clicking the links below.

Web-TV: Aftonbladet's video from press conference 1
Web-TV: Aftonbladet's video from press conference 2
Web-TV: Expressen's video from press conference
Web-TV: Video from press conference
Web-TV: Video from press conference

Carola and Andreas Johnson are being interviewed during breakfast at the hotel. Photo: SR P4

Swedish radio station P4 follow the Swedish Song Contest closely. This morning they interviewed Carola and Andreas during breakfast. Listen to the interview by clicking the link below.

Audio: Listen to the interview

The bettin firm Svenska Spel has lowered the odds to 1.01 for betting on Johnson & Häggkvist's "One Love" as the winner of the second semi-finale of the Swedish Song Contest on Saturday. That means that if you bet 1,000 sek on "One Love" you will only win 10 sek.

Photo: Sven Lindwall, Expressen / Peter Wixström, Aftonbladet

Today at 5.15 pm (Swedish time), Carola and Andreas will rehearse their "One Love" on stage for the first time. Lots of media will be there. Let's hope Carola's voice is in good shape.

Yesterday, the press could listen to the songs competing in the Swedish Song Contest this weekend. These are the first reactions to Johnson & Häggkvist's "One Love":

Torbjörn Ek, Aftonbladet

"The song starts with Carola singing, before Andreas Johnson joins in. This actually sounds more like Andreas than Carola, and that might be because Peter Kvint, Andreas song writing partner, co-wrote the song.

This song doesn't feel as 'direct' as Carola's 'Evighet'. I think 'One Love' will be more appreciated by Andreas fans, which means it will be doing good. The fact that Carola does her thing vocally at the end will definately take it to the finale in Stockholm.

It sounds like 60's pop, just like Andreas' songs in the Swedish Song Contest the last two years, and far from Carola's previous songs. But it is better than 'Lucky Star' that is played on the radio right now."

Markus Larsson, Aftonbladet:

"The song is like a well made cocktail of U2 and classic Eurovision music. The Globe Arena is not big enough to hold its chorus.

It's good. It's verty good.

If there is chemistry between the stars, this can be a fantastic number.

After we listened to 'One Love', the room goes quiet.

– Peter Kvint... what a guy, says Aftonbladet's reporter Strömberg and closes his notepad.

– When is the flight to Belgrade, I ask and check my watch."

Anders Nunstedt, Expressen:

"'One Love' sounds exactly as expected. Enjoyable mini-Bono-rock, with no emotions, until Carola explodes towards the songs finale."

(Translation by Carola International)

Link: Torbjörn Ek's Swedish Song Contest blog
Link: Markus Larsson's article
Link: Anders Nunstedt's article

Carola has had a bad cold for some time, and her voice is not in perfect condition as we are getting closer to the Swedish Song Contest. Hopefully, she will recover until Saturday.

Johnson & Häggkvist's upcoming single "One Love" will be released on March 20 according to Ginza.se. The single will include both "One Love" from the Swedish Song Contest and the duo's current single "Lucky Star". According to reports there will be remixes of "One Love" made by SoundFactory and accoustic versions of both songs that were recorded this week. Link: Pre-order "One Love" from Ginza

Yesterday, Carola and Andreas Johnson arrived in Västerås where the second semi-finale of the Swedish Song Contest will take place on Saturday. They arrived by train from Stockholm, although Carola almost missed it...

Web-TV: Watch video from Aftonbladet

Carola and Andreas Johnson in the recording studio on Monday. Photo: johnsonhaggkvist.com

On Monday February 12, Carola and Andreas Johnson were back in the studio to record accoustic versions of their single "Lucky Star" and the Swedish Song Contest song "One Love" for the upcoming single. This is from Andreas Johnson's website:

"I've started to feel really excited about this.... I just got back from a meeting with Camilla Thulin that helped me with some details on the outfit I will wear on Saturday.... (...) Tomorrow, when this is published, we have interviews scheduled with radio and newspapers, and after that we will go to the studio to record the b-side of the 'One Love' single....."

(Translation by Carola International)

Link: Andreas Johnson's official website
Link: Johnson & Häggkvist's official website

Johnson & Häggkvist's "Lucky Star" is one of five songs that are challenging on the radio chart Mix Megapol' Mix Top 20. Please take a moment and vote for "Lucky Star" by clicking the link below.

Link: Vote here

People are betting on the winners of this year's Swedish Song Contst. We have previously reported on the low odds for Johnson & Häggkvist from Svenska Spel, Betway, Nordic Bets, Unibet and Ladbrokes. Yesterday, the bettin firm Betsafe published their odds for what artists that will qualify from the second semi-finale on Saturday.

BETSAFE
Johnson & Häggkvist 1,03
Ola 1,80
Sanna Nielsen 2,05
Andra generationen 5,50
Alexander Schöld 6,50
The Nicole 7,00
Rongedal 9,00
Lasse Lindh 11,00

The court case in which Carola was called as a witness in January has ended. Yesterday the man accused of raping a young woman during a tour in 1999 was sentenced to two years in prison.

Radio Rix FM decided to give Johnson & Häggkvist's "Lucky Star" another chance on their chart "Topp 6 klockan 6". It first was a challenger on the chart back on January 31 and failed to enter the chart, but now it has entered the chart at no 6.

RIX FM Topp 6 klockan 6 - Feb 11

1. LEONA LEWIS - Bleeding Love
2. AMANDA JENSSEN - Do You Love Me
3. MIKA - Lollipop
4. E.M.D. - All For Love
5. ALICIA KEYS - No One
6. JOHNSON & HÄGGKVIST - Lucky Star

PLEASE take a moment to visit Radio Rix FM's website and vote for "Lucky Star"!

Link: Vote here

Carola and Andreas Johnson met Swedish media yesterday. Photo: Leif R Jansson/Scanpix

The promotion for Carola and Andreas Johnson's participation in the Swedish Song Contest this Saturday started yesterday with interviews with radio and newspapers.

One thing is for sure, Carola and Andreas enjoy each others company. Watch and listen to the interviews by clicking the links below, and you will hear lots of laughter.

When they are asked if they will use a fan like Carola did both in 1991 and 2006, they answer:

"We don't need a fan. This song doesn't need a fan. We have another surprise in store."

(Translation by Carola International)

Video: Watch Expressen interview
Video: Watch TT Spektra interview
Audio: Listen to interview in Morgonpasset
Link: Read article in Aftonbladet
Link: Read article in Göteborgsposten

Swedish radio station P4 keep a lot of information about the Swedish Song Contest on their website. You can find an article an one radio interview with each artist in the competition. This week, the website has published the radio interviews with Johnson & Häggkvist and the others from Saturday's semi-finale.

On Friday, this website will publish 60 second snippets of all songs. Visit back on Friday for all information.

Audio: Listen to the interview
Link: SR P4' Swedish Song Contest website

Johnson & Häggkvist's "Lucky Star" is one of five songs that are trying to break into the Swedish radio chart Svensktoppen this week. The chart is presented on radio P4 on Sundays 11.00 am.

Link: Svensktoppen website