Benny’s grandsons Charlie and Felix in Melodifestivalen 2014
Melodifestivalen season is almost upon us and two of Benny Andersson’s grandchildren, Charlie and Felix Grönvall are entering this year with their fellow bandmates Cristoffer Wernqvist and Adam Dahlström. Together, the four lads have a band called Little Great Things.
The group have been drawn to appear in the second Melodifestivalen semi-final on 8 February in Linköping. Melodifestivalen is the competition which is held every year to decide Sweden’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. The show is so huge in Sweden that it’s not just the winning entry that enjoys massive exposure, radio play and CD sales.
The song the group are entering is called Set Yourself Free and is written by the band themselves.
When I caught up with Benny in December last year, I asked him about Little Great Things. He was thrilled that Charlie (lead vocals) and Felix (drums), children to Benny’s son Peter Grönvall and his wife Nanne (themselves Melodifestivalen winners with the group One More Time), are competing in the song competition.
Benny: “Yes! With their two pals. That’s fun isn’t it? It’s very good for them to be there. They also have a gig in Los Angeles at the beginning of 2014, where they’ve got something lined up which is really exciting when you’re young. And even when you’re old for that matter!”
icethesite: “Have you heard the song?”
Benny: “Yep, yep! I have. They’ve had it for a while. It’s a good band. They’re good musicians. The song is very rock and roll, so I don’t know whether people will go for it but then again you really never know with these things!”
Below is a short video (in Swedish) of the band introducing themselves and talking about how they “couldn’t say no” to the whole Melodifestivalen experience.