Sweden has come to its fourth preliminary heat which offers a duet between Anna Sahlene and Maria Haukaas Storeng. They will be up against other well known names like Sarah Dawn Finer, Agnes and Thorleifs. A one minute clip from each of the eight songs competing Saturday evening has now been released. These eight… Read more
After tonight’s live show aired from Leksand, E.M.D and Molly Sandén are through to the Swedish final, which will be held in the Globen arena in Stockholm on the 14th of March. Velvet was the first artist on stage with her song, and her stage-show was like a Cinderella fairytale, her song is after all… Read more
On Saturday it’s time for the third semi-final in Sweden. And as usual SVT releases 1 minute of the songs on Friday afternoon. Listen to the songs and make your own opinion, who will win this week? In the second semi final there were actually no big surprises. Almost all of the favourites went through… Read more
Swedish broadcaster SVT has now released 1 minute clips of the songs for the second semi-final on Saturday. Listen to the songs and get to know the artists better. Last weeks semi-final was a really tough one, and there were a lot of surprises. Journalists had been talking about Nina Söderquist and Marie Serneholt, but… Read more
After tonight’s live show, two artists qualified for the final in Stockholm, which will be held on the 14th of March. An additional two songs have to go through the Second Chance to get to the final. All week there has been speculation about who will go through to the final, and who will miss… Read more
After Friday nights dress rehearsal EuroVisionary talked to three of the artists about their performances and expectations for tomorrow’s semi-final. Alcazar, Marie Serneholt, Nina Söderquist found time to talk to us. Many of the artists have been holding back during this afternoons rehearsals but that is simply not an option for Alcazar. Lina Hedlund says:… Read more
As well as a lot of other Swedish fans, I am counting down the hours until Saturdays live show. After having seen the performances on stage during yesterdays rehearsals, I’m really excited…and really torn regarding who will go through to the final. It’s easy to have a lot of opinions when you’re at home by… Read more
There were a lot of tension in the air when the dress rehearsals started earlier today. This was the last time the artists rehearsed on stage before tonights dress rehearsal. We are getting closer to the final moment where everything needs to be ready. The one’s of you who’ve seen the pictures from yesterdays rehearsals… Read more
Finally it’s time for the first Semi final of Melodifestivalen 2009. Eurovisionary attended the first day of rehearsals to take the pulse on the artists. Eight artists will compete for two direct spots to the final. Among those are well known names such as Shirley Clamp, Emilia and Alcazar. The first semi-final will take place… Read more
During the first day of rehearsals SVT held a press conference where all the contestants of semi-final 1 participated. EuroVisionary met the artists and asked them one simple questions that turned out not to be so simple. In our gallery you can also see pictures from first rehearsal. First of all this was a opportunity… Read more
On Wednesday night Swedish journalists had the chance to listen to the eight songs that will battle on Saturday for the 2 places in the final. Of course EuroVisionary was there. Considering that this is only the first semi-final I think the line up is extraordinary good. I can’t remember last time there were this… Read more
In the second heat of Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins, the Icelandic pre-selection, Ingó and Hreindís Ylva Garðarsdóttir Holm were the ones to qualify for the Icelandic final that will take place on the 14th of February. The first song in this weeks heat is Páll Rósinkrans with the song Fósturjörð (Native Land). Páll has competed several times in… Read more
On the 7th of February it’s time for the first Swedish semi-final. And now, the running order is finally official. Debutant Nina Söderquist opens the 1st semi-final in Gothenburg. And it is another debutant, Malena Ernman, that closes the 4th semi-final in Malmö. This is the running order for Melodifestivalen 2009: Semi-final 1, Göteborg 1. Nina… Read more
This year Melodifestivalen will undergo many changes. An international jury and head to head matches in the semi finals are just two of them. Will this have any effect on the artists? And if so, how? If you look at Sweden’s result in Eurovision Song Contest over the last couple of years they haven’t been great. The Swedes have finished… Read more
The last couple of weeks before the holidays, Swedish broadcaster SVT announced the names for Melodifestivalen 2009. For us Swedes, there are quite a few well known names. Stars like Alcazar, Marie Serneholt, Shirley Clamp and Måns Zelmerlöw are going to participate this year. But I can’t help but wondering if the artists name is really… Read more
SVT has announced seven more of the artists for Melodifestivalen 2009. All of the artists that were announced are making their debut in Melodifestivalen, but some of them are well known to the Swedish audience. Mikael Rickfors and Molly Sandén both has had succesful careers. Mikael Rickfors – Du vinner över mig (You will win… Read more
Former Melodifestivalen participant, Martin Stenmarck, is climbing the Swedish charts with his new single ”A Million Candles Burning”. The song came to life through a unique partnership between Martin Stenmarck and Scandic Hotels. Since his participation in Melodifestivalen and the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005 (with the song ”Las Vegas”), Martin Stenmarck has released three… Read more
Swedish broadcaster SVT has now revealed the titles as well as the composers for 28 of the 32 songs competing in Melodifestivalen 2009. There will be several famous Swedish composers competing next year. Thomas G:son, Andreas Lundstedt and Måns Zelmerlöw just to mention a few. As described in previous articles, there are going to be… Read more
Swedish broadcaster SVT has now revealed which cities will play host to Melodifestivalen 2009. There are no surprises this year as each of the cities hosted Melodifestivalen semi-finals before. The concept with 4 semi-finals was introduced 2002, and SVT has decided to keep it for Melodifestivalen 2009. Gothenburg, Skellefteå, Leksand and Malmö get to host one… Read more
It was a rainy night with dark heavy clouds hanging above Kungstorget in Gothenburg, Sweden, when Rix fm festival had its annual stop there. Invited to entertain the Gothenburg audience was Kate Ryan, Måns Zelmerlöv and E-type among others. Rix fm is a radio station in Sweden, which every summer invites famous Swedish artists to… Read more
Not only is Siw Malmkvist a well known Swedish singer, she is also an actress, TV hostess and a muscial artist. Siw is without a doubt a woman with many skills. As little children, Siw and her sister Lill would often sing together, just because it was fun to sing. When she got a little… Read more
Swedish singer Shirley Clamp has participated in Melodifestivalen several times over the years. On Tuesday, she gave birth to a little baby girl. Shirley is no stranger to Melodifestivalen and Eurovision Song Contest since she has participated both as a songwriter, as a backing singer and as a solo artist. In 2001, she was the… Read more
After having recovered from health problems over the last couple of weeks, Charlotte Perrelli was on stage again at Swedish crown princess Victoria’s birthday party. The 14th of July is Swedish crown princess Victoria’s birthday which is always celebrated with a gala broadcast on television. Several Swedish and international artists such as Leona Lewis, Linda Bengtzing… Read more
Swedish group BWO have participated in Melodifestivalen three times, in 2005, 2006 and 2008. On Tuesday evening they gave a concert in Umeå, a city in the north of Sweden. Umeå C is an organisation that among other things arranges concerts. This summer Umeå C are organising three different concert nights to which they have invited 2008 Melodifestivalen artists,… Read more
Lasse Holm has been on tour with his show Diggiloo every summer since 2003. This year the audience will meet artists such as Nanne Grönvall, Måns Zelmerlöv and Lotta Engberg. The Diggiloo tour started almost by mere accident in 2003. Lasse Holm, who had been host of the TV show Diggiloo, read a newspaper headline… Read more
The search for a new project manager for Melodifestivalen is finally over. Ronnie Lans, 42, is going to be the project manager of Melodifestivalen 2009. Ronnie Lans has been working in the TV industry since the early 90’s. He has been involved as a project manager in a number of Swedish TV-shows such as Idol,… Read more