What a pleasant surprise from Melfest this year. I’ve kind of been aware of the Swedish pop group A*Teens but where I would’ve been the right age to listen to them, I was a Steps guy. For context, A*Teens started when the members were – well – teenagers, and they were known for covering ABBA tracks back in the day. Seems like they had a pretty good following in the U.S., even being featured on a few Disney soundtracks. They had reunited last year, keeping the name which – while understandable, to capitalise on their nostalgia – is a bit goofy. They, then decided to enter Melodifestivalen, which is a Swedish music contest that is also used to select Sweden’s representative for the Eurovision Song Contest.

And man, this was my favourite from this year’s Melfest. They know what they’re going to be good at and they’re not trying to “reinvent” themselves, and while as a result the composition might sound dated, the production still sounds modern enough that it offsets the dated composition. It also helps that it’s in one of my favourite keys. As a Steps fan, I love upbeat and catchy bops like this no matter how dated they are, and A*Teens delivers very well, especially in the live performance at Melfest. In another world, this would’ve been sent to Steps, and I won’t be surprised if A*Teens ends up supporting Steps in a tour or they find themselves at the same festivals.

However, I’m also very glad they didn’t win, because of how toxic the Eurovision brand has become. Iconic being sent to Eurovision would’ve spoiled it, especially with how crap this year’s Eurovision was in terms of production, and while I don’t always comment on whether Eurovision is a “career killer” (coming from a country that is collectively a bunch of sore losers when it comes to Eurovision) I do think with the circumstances surrounding Eurovision, it would’ve probably hurt A*Teen’s reputation internationally, probably even more so than FELICIA despite the eggs she got from the televote.

One can still be curious if they did do it though. If they did, it’d be the closest thing to Steps doing Eurovision for the UK, and we could’ve seen how they may have fared. On that note, if you want more ties between Steps and Eurovision, Aussievision has you covered. They should probably update this now, considering Delta Goodrem’s appearance for Australia.