Introduction

The Swedish Melodifestivalen exists since 1959 and has become the most successful TV shows in Sweden. Since then it’s the platform to find the Swedish representative song for the Eurovision Song Contest. By now it has become so popular that even other countries copy that festival concept. Over four semi finals, one second chance show and one grand final, all broadcasted from different cities like Karlskrona, Gothenburg, Skellefteå, Malmö, Karlstad and Stockholm, the winner has been selected.

Due to the fact that Loreen had a fulminous success with “Euphoria” all over Europe the chance to win the ESC another time in a row seems to be quite unrealistic. Therefore the well established Swedish singers did not participate in this year’s edition of the Melodifestivalen; there were mainly unknown singers and newcomers. 

For the first time in history one song, which went through the second chance show “Andra Chansen” has reached the crown of the contest: “You” by Robin Stjernberg. From the international juries he was the favourite, but the Swedish public voted him as a second favourite only. The 22 years old singer comes from Hässelholm – just 60 km away from Malmö. He has been a member of the band “What’s Up”, where also Eric Saade was a member of. Robin has made the 2nd place in the Idol 2011; he could sign a record contract with the Lionheart Music Group. His first single was named “All This Way” and his debut album “My Visions” reached #1 in the Svergiestopplistan.

The song “You” has been composed by himself, it’s a pop song with a happy feeling effect the special thing in this song are the high yodel notes and the striking melody. As a host country Sweden is automatically qualified for the grand final. The start position #16 has been drawn already, which is a quite good one. This is probably not the strongest Swedish entry, but the Swedish public will always stand behind the Swedish entry. Lycka till!

History

Participations: 53          

Debut: 1958

Biggest success: 5x 1st place “Waterloo” by ABBA in 1974, “Diggi-Loo Diggy-Ley” by The Herrey’s in 1984, “Fångad Av En Stormvind” by Carola in 1991, “Take Me To Your Heaven” by Charlotte Nilsson in 1999, “Euphoria” by Loreen in 2012, 1x 2nd place “Nygammal Vals Eller Hip Man Svinaherde” by Lill Lindfors and Svante Thuresson in 1966, 5x 3rd place “Främling” by Carola in 1983, “Bra Vibrationer” by Kikki Danielsson by 1985,  “Se På Mej” by Jan Johansen by 1995, “Den Vilda” by One More Time in 1996, “Popular” by Eric Saade in 2011, 2x 4th place, 6x 5th place, 1x 6th place, 3x 7th place, 4x 8th place, 2x 9th place, 5x 10th place

This year Sweden is attending the Eurovision Song Contest for the 53rd time and it will also hosting the contest for the 5th time in history. 

The debut entry “Lilla Stjärna” by Alice Babs made a respectable 4th place in Hilversum 1958. The big hype for Eurovision is coming from the overwhelming success of ABBA with “Waterloo” in 1974.

After Sweden’s first victory at the ESC, ABBA has become one of the most successful bands of the world, and they have started an outrageous career like no others. Not many people know that ABBA has already participated in the Swedish national selection one year before with “Ring Ring” and came third. One year later the big success could be made. “Ring Ring” has become a hit later on.

A lot of people mourned that many Swedish entries in the years after, were copies the ABBA style and sounded similar. But this is the sound of popular Swedish music, called “Swedish Schlager” which is very hip all over the country. There are “Schlagerkvälls” in discotheques and bars everywhere and many ESC songs and pre-decision songs are played and sung by original artists and the crowd. Sweden has won four times: ABBA with “Waterloo” in 1974, “Diggi-loo Diggy-ley” by the Herrey’s in 1984, “Fångad Av En Stormvind” by Carola in 1991 and “Tusen och en natt” by Charlotte Nilsson in 1999.

There were a lot of other Top 10 songs, which especially were very successful in the Scandinavian countries: “Främling” by Carola Häggkvist in 1983 (3rd), “En dag” by Tommy Nilsson in 1989 (4th) and “It hurts” by Lena Philipsson in 2004 (5th).

In the meantime Sweden has become one of the most successful countries in the ESC. This is still topped by Ireland with seven times and the UK, France and Luxembourg with another five victories each. Every time Sweden wins the contest the question will be, which Swedish city has the honour to be the host city. The 1975 and 2000 ESC have been hosted in the capital Stockholm, 1985 in Gothenburg and 1992 and 2013 in Malmö. There is a very high interest in the ESC in Sweden so it’s always one of the most important TV events of the year, especially if Sweden is the host country and we all can be sure that the Swedish broadcaster SVT will make the most possible effort to produce a unique memory.