 Sweden is one of the early countries which has been participating since 1958 in the Eurovision Song Contest. The Swedish contributions are legendary, many good songs over the years and at least four winning songs “Waterloo” by ABBA in 1974, “Diggi-Loo-Diggy-Ley” by the Herrey’s in 1984, “Fångad Av En Stormvind” by Carola and “Take me to your heaven” by Charlotte Nilsson (now Perelli). ABBA has probably influenced the whole contest and the Swedish music culture. From the time ABBA have won the ESC, Sweden is recognized with this happy and melodic sound, which is now called “Swedish Schlager” and it’s very popular in Scandinavia. The interest in the Eurovision Song Contest is enormously high and everybody is following the contest every year. The pre decision in Sweden has gained huge popularity as well and is nowadays even more watched than the Eurovision Song Contest itself. The Meldodifestivalen has the highest viewing figures in Sweden, the participating songs are all in the charts. In six shows Sweden has been judging which song should represent Sweden in the ESC. Making this show so popular, there is one guy responsible: Christer Björkman, who took part himself in 1992 with “I morgon är en annan dag”, did not shape up very well. But he is the man behind the scenes to thank that the Melodifestivalen has become what it is now.
In a very exciting heat Anna Bergendahl could convince especially the televoters with “This is my life”. Another entry with a guitar on stage! Looking back into history, Sweden normally sends uptempo songs to the ESC, the last ballad Sweden send was “Kärleken är” by Jill Johnson in 1998 which came 10th. The chance of winning with a ballad are equally high compared with an uptempo song. It must convince by first hearing and it must be taken into consideration that there are many ballads this year. In the recent years, Sweden always qualified for the final, and its almost unimaginable having a final in Oslo without Sweden. “This is my life” is catchy, rememberable, easy to listen to and Anna has a lot of charme, as well as the winning smile. Good luck Sweden! |
Participant(s): Anna Bergendahl
