A year of debuts and love: Sweden takes off with a massive national selection for the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade.
Here is a list of artists and towns, hosting the two semifinals, the second-chance show, and the grand final of the Swedish Eurosong:
Göteborg, 9 February 2008
Face-84 — Alla gamla x
Velvet — Deja vû
Christer Sjögren — I Love Europe
E-type and the Poodles — Line Of Fire
Brandur — Lullaby
Michael Michailoff — That’s Love
Suzzie Tapper — Visst finns mirakel
Face-84 are four girls, all born in 1984, hence the name of the band. Velvet is not new to the Eurovision stage. She participated in 2006 Melodifestival with “Mi amore” with little success. Hope that this year she won’t have a “deja-vu”.Christer is famous Swedish dance and rock singer. He is mostly known as lead vocal singer in the Swedish dance-band Vikingarna, where he sang between 1978-2004. E-type and the Poodles can safely be called the Swedish DJ Bobbo, and Michael Michailoff is famous for recording an acoustic version of ABBA’s Lay All Your Love On Me
Västerås, den 16 februari 2008
Alexander Schöld — Den första svalan
Lasse Lindh — Du behöver aldrig mer vara rädd
Sanna Nielsen — Empty Room
Rongedal — Just A Minute
Andra Generationen — Kebabpizza Slivovitza
Ola — Love In Stereo
The Nicole — Razborka
Had it not been for the stars Christer Sjögren and E-type & the Poodles, the 2008 would have been the year of debuts. Of the 28 candidates, there are 17 new artists, which is an exceptionally high figure. Also, this seems to be the year of bands – more than half of the candidates participating for the trophy are bands. The artist who fits in both the categories is the debutant band Andra Generationen that participate with the song “Kebabpizza Slivovitza”. They mix Swedish lyrics with typically Balkan music – a fascinating combination to listen to.
There are some other artists with previous experience at the Eurovision. One of them is Sanna Nielsen with the song “Empty room” – a ballad that, according to the singer, goes straightly into the heart.. She participated with the song Vågar du, vågar jag at last-year’s Melodiafestival.
Linköping, den 23 februari 2008
Mickey Huskic — Izdajice
Ainbusk — Jag saknar dig ibland
BWO — Lay Your Love On Me
Caracola — Smiling In Love
Patrik Isaksson — Under mitt tunna skinn
Frida — Upp o hoppa
Thérèse Andersson — When You Need Me
Karlskrona, den 1 mars 2008
Charlotte Perrelli — Hero
Linda Bengtzing — Hur svårt kan d va
Nordman — I lågornas sken
Calaisa — If I Could
Fronda — Ingen mår så bra som jag
Daniel Mitsogiannis — Pame
Sibel — That Is Where I’ll Go
Here are the dates, when you need to watch SVT closely:
Semifinal: 23 February, 2008 in Cloetta Center, Linköping
Semifinal: 1 March, 2008 in Telenor Arena, Karlskrona
Second Chance: 8 March, 2008 in Arena Arctica, Kiruna
Final: 15 March, 2008 in Globen, Stockholm
Melodifestival is a four-part competition. The final will be held in the early spring of 2008. Two of the stages will be held in Kiruna and Vasteras – two towns that had not hosted the competition before. The towns of Linköping and Karlskrona are not so fresh in the Contest, but for Gothenburg it will be the sixth time to host the show. Stockholm, is naturally the most experienced: it will be the final city of Melodiafestival for a seventh time.
It’s so great to be part of the show, and to be in Sweden during the Melodiafestival. The atmosphere in the town in party-like, and it gives glitter to the streets and entertainment to the inhabitants and guests of the Scandinavian country. Enjoy it!
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