Melodifestivalen is an annual song competition organised by Swedish public broadcasters Sveriges Television (SVT) and Sveriges Radio (SR). It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest, and has been staged almost every year since 1959. Since 2000, the competition has been the most popular television programme in Sweden; it is also broadcast on radio and the Internet. In 2012, the semi-finals averaged 3.3 million viewers, and over an estimated four million people in Sweden watched the final, almost half of the Swedish population.
Lars Mattias Winnerbäck is a Swedish singer and songwriter. He was born in Stockholm but spent his childhood in Vidingsjö, Linköping, where he attended Katedralskolan. He moved back to Stockholm in 1996, the same year he released his first album, Dans med svåra steg. He is now one of Sweden's most popular artists.
Cornelis Vreeswijk was a Dutch-born Swedish singer-songwriter, poet and actor.
Lars Hans Carl Abraham Forssell was a Swedish writer and member of the Swedish Academy. Forssell was a versatile writer who worked within many genres, including poetry, drama and songwriting. He was married from 1951 until his death to Kerstin Hane, and was the father of Jonas and Malte Forssell.
The Swedish ballad tradition is the tradition of Swedish poetic singer-songwriters. This visa tradition should not be confused with traditional "medieval" Swedish ballads, which are representative of a typical tradition of Scandinavian ballads.
Sanna Viktoria Nielsen is a Swedish singer and television presenter. On her seventh attempt, she won Melodifestivalen in 2014 with the song "Undo" and so represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark, finishing in 3rd place overall. Sanna was one of the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 commentators for Sweden and hosted Melodifestivalen 2015 along with comedian Robin Paulsson. She was announced as the new presenter for the sing-along show Allsång på Skansen for the summer of 2016. She hosted Eurovision The Party at the Tele2 Arena for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016.
Sweden was in their second Eurovision Song Contest represented by Brita Borg with the song "Augustin". The winning song was elected in the Swedish national final: Melodifestivalen 1959. Eight semi-finals were held on the radio. During the semi-finals, Sveriges Radio decided that the winning song would represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest 1959. The singer for Cannes had already been selected.
Stefan Sundström is a Swedish singer/songwriter and troubadour. After dropping out of school, he started playing in small bands such as Trots, Läppstars and Apache, which later went on to become Weeping Willows. Sundström's music often refers to other important Swedish musicians like Evert Taube, Dan Andersson, Carl Michael Bellman, Alice Tegnér, Astrid Lindgren, Ulf Dageby and Cornelis Vreeswijk.
Mariette Hansson, sometimes credited as MaryJet or simply Mariette, is a Swedish singer and songwriter. Hansson participated in Sikta mot stjärnorna (Swedish pre-selection for European Soundmix Show) in 1999 imitating singer Amanda Marshall. She is perhaps best known for participating in Idol 2009 which was broadcast on TV4. A year later, Hansson was announced as "homo of the year" at the QX Gaygala in Stockholm.
Cornelis sjunger Taube is the fifth studio album by the Swedish-Dutch folk singer-songwriter Cornelis Vreeswijk. This album is homage to Evert Taube (1890–1976), author, artist, composer and singer.
Robin Bengtsson is a Swedish singer who took part in Swedish Idol 2008. He represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 in Kiev, Ukraine with the song "I Can't Go On" finishing in 5th place.
Benjamin Daniele Wahlgren Ingrosso is a Swedish singer and songwriter. As a child, he appeared in the leading role in several musicals, and in 2006 he won Lilla Melodifestivalen with the song "Hej Sofia". He won the celebrity dancing TV-show Let's Dance 2014, and has competed twice in Melodifestivalen in 2017 and 2018 respectively. He won in 2018 and represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal, with the song "Dance You Off".
Sweden participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "I Can't Go On" written by David Kreuger, Hamed "K-One" Pirouzpanah and Robin Stjernberg. The song was performed by Robin Bengtsson. The Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT) organised the national final Melodifestivalen 2017 in order to select the Swedish entry for the 2017 contest in Kiev, Ukraine. After a six-week-long competition consisting of four semi-finals, a Second Chance round and a final, "I Can't Go On" performed by Robin Bengtsson emerged as the winner after achieving the highest score following the combination of votes from eleven international jury groups and a public vote.
Melodifestivalen 2017 was the 57th edition of the Swedish music competition Melodifestivalen, which selected Sweden's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. The competition was organised by Sveriges Television (SVT) and took place over a six-week period between 4 February and 11 March 2017.
"Boogieman Blues" is a song written and recorded by Swedish singer Owe Thörnqvist. The song was released as a digital download in Sweden on 25 February 2017 and peaked at number 74 on the Swedish Singles Chart. It is taking part in Melodifestivalen 2017, and qualified to the final from the third semi-final on 18 February 2017.
Sweden participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. The Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT) organised the national final Melodifestivalen 2018 in order to select the Swedish entry for the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal. After a six-week-long competition consisting of four semi-finals, a Second Chance round and a final, "Dance You Off" performed by Benjamin Ingrosso emerged as the winner after achieving the highest score following the combination of votes from eleven international jury groups and a public vote.
The following is a list of notable events and releases of the year 2018 in Swedish music.
John Lundvik is a Swedish singer, songwriter, and former sprinter. He was part of the athletic team for IFK Växjö. Lundvik also has a singing and songwriter career having composed songs for films and the Wedding of Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden, and Daniel Westling in 2010.
"Move" is a gospel-pop song by Swedish music group The Mamas. The song was performed for the first time in Melodifestivalen 2020, where it made it to the final. The song won Melodifestivalen with 137 points and would have represented Sweden in the first semifinal of the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam. It peaked at number one on the Swedish single chart. The contest was cancelled in March 2020 due to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic.
Sveriges 12:a will be a one-off music competition in the Eurovision format, organised and broadcast by the Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT). It will serve as an alternative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, which was planned to be held in Rotterdam, Netherlands, but was cancelled due to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic.
