Introduction

In Sweden it’s one of the highlights of the year – the Melodifestivalen. Almost the entire country is following the singers on their way to the big final in Stockholm over weeks. In each of the four qualifications rounds, two artists qualify directly for the final and two for the second chance contest (the fifth show). In the Swedish final which took place in the Friends Arena in Stockholm, there were 10 songs. Among those were Helena Paparizou (winner of 2005 with “My number One” for Greece), Alcazar (number 1 hit “Crying in the Discotheque”) and several Swedish artists, which are mainly known in Sweden. The international jury gave the majority of their votes to Ace Wilder, while the televoters wanted Sanna Nielsen with the song “Undo” to win, this was a dramatic scene. After seven attempts, Sanna Nielsen finally made it and can represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Sanna Viktoria Nielsen was born in 1984 in Kristianstad and grew up in Edenryd, Skåne (Southern Sweden); she is now living in Stockholm. When Sanna was eleven years old she was singing in the dance band Mats Elmes in 1995 - 1996. At that time she had her first song “Till en fågel”, which came #1 in the Swedish charts in 1996. At that time she was the youngest person, who reached a #1 position in the Swedish charts Svensktoppen. In 1996 her first album “Silvertoner” was released. People have already compared Sanna’s talent with Carola and Sissel Kyrkjebø. Her career went on and on, she was participating on Christmas and summer tours with designated singers like Christer Sjögren, Sten Nilsson, Roger Pontare, Charlotte Perrelli, Shirley Clamp and Sonia Aldén. By now Sanna has release six albums and appears on TV on a regular basis, she even sings full concerts on SVT, at the birthday concert of Princess Victoria and at the Skansen summer festival “Ållsangen”, she is also singing in musicals.

From 2001 onwards Sanna has participated seven times in the Melodifestivalen which is worth to mention here: in 2001 with "I går, i dag” #3, in 2003 with “Hela världen för mig” #5, in 2005 “Du och jag mot världen” (a duet with Fredrik Kempe) #8, in 2007 “Vågar du, vågar jag” #7 (via second chance show), in 2008 with “Empty Room” #2 (this song reached #1 in the Swedish charts), in 2011 “I am in love” #4 (via second chance show) and finally 2014 with “Undo” #1.

The song “Undo” is a romantic pop song, fervently sung by Sanna’s wonderful voice. With her charisma she has bewitched the Swedes and she will certainly do the same with the Europeans in Copenhagen. The stage setting at the Melodifestivalen was dreamy and stylish; if this atmosphere can be carried to the ESC a Top 10 ranking is realistic. The composer is again Fredrik Kempe, who probably knows best what kind of song suits best to Sanna’s voice. This is an outstanding contribution with a very good singer, voice and atmosphere!

History

Participations: 54

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

Last year Sweden has been hosting the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö and Denmark won it. In the year 2000 Sweden hosted Stockholm and Denmark has won as well. What a strange coincidence!

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. Last year Robin Stjernberg made a 14th place in the Grand Final.