Melodifestivalen

Melodifestivalen (Swedish pronunciation: [mɛlʊˈdîːfɛstɪˌvɑːlɛn]; literally "the Melody Festival")[lower-alpha 1] 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;[1] 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.[2][3]

For this year's edition, see Melodifestivalen 2021.

Melodifestivalen
Logo since 2016
Also known as
  • Melfest
  • Mello
GenreSong contest
Presented byList of presenters
Country of originSweden
Original languageSwedish
No. of episodes59 editions
Production
Production locationMultiple cities in Sweden (Host cities)
Running time
  • 1 hour 30 minutes (semi-finals and second chance round)
  • 2 hours (final)
Production companySveriges Television (SVT)
Release
Original release29 January 1959 (1959-01-29) –
present
Chronology
Related shows
External links
Official website

The festival has produced six Eurovision winners and twenty-four top-five placings for Sweden at the contest. The winner of Melodifestivalen has been chosen by panels of jurors since its inception. Since 1999, the juries have been joined by a public telephone vote which has an equal influence over the final outcome. The competition makes a considerable impact on the music charts in Sweden.

The introduction of semi-finals in 2002 raised the potential number of contestants from around twelve to thirty-two. A children's version of the competition, Lilla Melodifestivalen, also began that year. Light orchestrated pop songs, known locally as schlager music, used to be so prevalent that the festival was sometimes referred to as schlagerfestivalen ("the schlager festival") or schlager-sm ("schlager Swedish championship") by the Swedish media.[4][5] However, other styles of music, such as rap, reggae, and glam rock, have made an appearance since the event's expansion. The introduction of a grand final in Stockholm has attracted substantial tourism to the city.[6]

Origins
Main article: History of Melodifestivalen
The first generic logo for Melodifestivalen, in use 2002–2010
The second generic logo for Melodifestivalen, in use 2011–2015

With seven nations competing, the first Eurovision Song Contest took place in Lugano, Switzerland in May 1956. Sweden's first contest was the third, in 1958. Without broadcasting a public selection, Sveriges Radio (SR)[lower-alpha 2] chose to send Alice Babs to the contest in Hilversum, Netherlands. The song selected was "Samma stjärna lyser för oss två" (The same stars shine for the two of us), later renamed "Lilla stjärna" (Little star).[7] It finished fourth at Eurovision on 12 March 1958.

The first Melodifestival, incorporated into the Säg det med musik radio series, took place on 29 January 1959 at Cirkus in Stockholm; eight songs participated. Four "expert" juries in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, and Luleå decided the winner.[8] The competition was won by Siw Malmkvist performing "Augustin", but SR decided that the winning song—regardless of its original performer—would be performed by Brita Borg at Eurovision. This policy, of selecting the artist for Eurovision internally and having other artists perform potential Swedish entries at Melodifestivalen, was stopped in 1961. The competition became a stand-alone television programme in 1960, known as the Eurovisionschlagern, svensk final. In the event's early years, it was broadcast to Norway and Denmark through the Nordvision network.[9] The competition adopted its current name, Melodifestivalen, in 1967.

Melodifestivalen has failed to be staged on three occasions. In 1964, the competition was cancelled due to an artist's strike; Sweden did not send a song to Eurovision that year.[10] Sweden was absent at Eurovision for a second time in 1970 because of a Nordic boycott of the voting system, which had led to a four-way tie for first place at the 1969 contest.[11] After SR staged the 1975 contest in Stockholm, left-wing groups argued that Sweden should not spend money to win and host Eurovision again. This led to mass demonstrations against commercial music and the organisation of an anti-commercial Alternativfestivalen.[12] Therefore, Sweden decided not to send a song to Eurovision 1976 but returned in 1977.

Participation
Further information: List of Melodifestivalen contestants
Charlotte Perrelli, the 2008 winner of Melodifestivalen, performing at the Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade

Hundreds of songs and performers have entered Melodifestivalen since its debut. Although songwriters living outside Sweden were once not allowed to enter Melodifestivalen, the 2012 contest marked the first time foreign songwriters could submit entries, provided that they collaborated with a Swedish songwriter. To be eligible, songwriters and performers must be at least sixteen years of age on the day of the first Eurovision semi-final.[13]

Until 2001, participation in the festival was limited to a single night. The number of contestants ranged from five to twelve. A two-round system was used intermittently between 1981 and 1998, in which all but five of the contestants were eliminated in the first round of voting. Failure to reach the second round under this system was seen as a major failure for a prominent artist; when Elisabeth Andreassen failed to qualify in 1984, it almost ended her career.[14] The introduction of weekly semi-finals in 2002 increased the number of contestants to thirty-two. At least ten of the contestants must perform in Swedish.[13] A CD of each year's competing songs has been released since 2001, and a DVD of the semi-finals and final since 2003.

Melodifestivalen has been the launch-pad for the success of popular local acts, such as ABBA, Tommy Körberg, and Lisa Nilsson. The competition has played host to performers from outside Sweden, including Baccara, Alannah Myles, Katrina Leskanich, Cornelis Vreeswijk, and Margaret. Melodifestivalen participants have also represented—and unsuccessfully tried to represent—other countries at Eurovision.[15] While local success for Melodifestivalen winners is common, most contestants return to obscurity and few have major international success. The impact that the competition makes on the Swedish charts means an artist need not win the competition to earn significant domestic record sales. For example, the song which finished last at Melodifestivalen 1990, "Symfonin" by Loa Falkman, topped the Swedish singles chart.[16] The most recent occurrence was 2016 with Samir & Viktor's song "Bada Nakna". In 2007, twenty-one participants reached Sverigetopplistan.[17] The week after the 2008 final, songs from the festival made up the entire top fifteen on the domestic singles chart.[18]

Selection of contestants

The process of narrowing thousands of potential entries down to twenty-eight lasts over seven months. SVT directly selects fourteen entries from amongst the submissions from the public at large. Thirteen additional entries come from special invitations made by SVT or other entries that SVT has selected from amongst the submissions. Finally, the twenty-eighth entry is selected via the "Svensktoppen Nästa" competition. At least 10% of the final twenty-eight songs are sung in Swedish. The entire process can begin as early as May of the previous year and is finished by January.

Songs

SVT begins looking for songs nine months before the start of the televised Melodifestival (within days of the previous year's Eurovision final).[19] The deadline for submission is in September and songs can be in any language. In the pre-selection, song length is limited to three minutes and twenty seconds; songs must be shortened to three minutes if they reach the final twenty-eight and qualifying songs may also be remixed.[13]

The submission process is overseen by members of the Swedish Music Publishers Association (SMFF), whose task is to reduce the number of songs, which have numbered over 3,000 a year since 2002, to around 1,200.[20] The 3,440 entries received in the preselection for Melodifestivalen 2009 is the most in the competition's history.[21] The SMFF's choices are then given to a sixteen-person jury of music professionals, SVT staff and other members of the public.[22] The jury ranges from teenagers to people in their fifties.[23] The songs that qualify, along with their composers and lyricists, are announced at the end of September. This is often followed by fervent speculation over who will perform the songs. Songwriters that qualify must provide interviews to SVT, attend a press conference before the competition, and remain open to promotional appearances if their song reaches the final.[13]

Artists and wildcards

SVT selects performers for the entries. Artists who perform the demo of a song automatically enter the competition; they must perform their songs if suitable alternate performers cannot be found. The artists' songs risk disqualification if they refuse.[13] In the past, this rule led to the disqualification of, among others, Carola's "När löven faller" in 2003 and Stephen Simmonds's "So Good" in 2006.[24][25] SVT may also give songs to other performers without considering the interests of the demo artist. This prevented the Brandsta City Släckers (in 2004) and Pernilla Wahlgren (in 2005) from performing the songs they had submitted.[26][27] Replacements for disqualified songs fare unpredictably at the competition. In 2006, "Naughty Boy" by Hannah Graaf (the replacement for Simmonds' song) finished second to last in its semi-final. In 2002 and 2007, by contrast, the replacements performed by Jan Johansen and Måns Zelmerlöw reached the final ten. The contestants that will perform the twenty-eight qualifiers from the preselection are announced in late November. Singer-songwriters are common. As such, artists often confirm that they will participate before the official announcement.

The wildcard (joker) system was introduced in 2004 to diversify the music featured.[28] Four artists, one in each semi-final, were invited by SVT to enter a song of their choice into the competition, provided it does not breach the rules. The wildcard songs and artists were announced in January. Since the wildcards' introduction, three have won the competition. In 2011 there were 15 wildcards. The wildcard system was discontinued in 2013.

Hosting
The Ericsson Globe hosted the first of its twelve finals in 1989.

The venues for each year's Melodifestival are announced in September of the preceding year. The semi-finals are held in towns and cities throughout Sweden. The 16,300-capacity Ericsson Globe in Stockholm has hosted the final since the semi-finals were introduced in 2002, through to 2012.[29] In 2013, the final moved to the newly built Friends Arena in Solna Municipality, Stockholm County.[30] The Scandinavium in Gothenburg was offered the 2005 final, but turned it down as it clashed with a Frölunda ice hockey match.[31]

The event spent its early years at one venue: Cirkus in Stockholm, which hosted the first ten competitions. It has hosted the final of Melodifestivalen seventeen times in total. The Stockholm Globe Arena has hosted seven finals, and SVT's headquarters in Stockholm has staged five. The competition first took place outside Stockholm in 1975 as part of a decentralisation policy at SR.[32] Stockholm has hosted 37 finals in total, including the first fourteen. Gothenburg has hosted eight, and Malmö seven. The competition's final has never been held outside these cities. Before the 2002 expansion, the host of the previous year's Melodifestivalen would host the Eurovision Song Contest in the event of a Swedish victory. Hence, the 1985 Eurovision was held in Gothenburg, the 1992 contest in Malmö and the 2000 contest in Stockholm.[33] Since 2002, the only venues that have hosted more than three semi-finals are Gothenburg's Scandinavium, which has hosted one every year since 2003, and Malmö's Malmö Arena. In 2008, Andra Chansen was held in Kiruna, north of the Arctic Circle. Since 2013 the final is held at the Friends Arena.[34]

Televised rounds

The televised Melodifestival lasts six Saturdays and consists of six live shows: four semifinals, in which seven songs compete; a Second Chance round featuring songs which narrowly missed out on qualification from the semifinals; and a grand final. Ten songs comprise the final: two automatic qualifiers from each of the semifinals, and the two most popular songs in the Second Chance round. In 2015, there are seven songs for each semifinal, and twelve (eight winners and four from Andra Chansen) in the final.

Semifinals and Second Chance

Prior to the introduction of the current format of semifinals (deltävlingar) in 2002, the competition was usually a single live show. Under the current system, four semifinals are broadcast at 20:00 CET on consecutive Saturday nights. The semi-finals begin in early February, and seven songs compete in each show.

Unlike in the final, no juries are used; televoting decides the results. The songs are performed live with telephone lines open for the first round of voting; two songs with the fewest votes do not qualify to the second round. The top five battle for a place in the final and Andra chansen round – the 1st and 2nd placed songs qualifying to the final, and the 3rd and 4th placed songs progressing to Andra chansen. Both finalists reprise their entries at the end of the broadcast. The organisation of a semi-final system for Melodifestivalen popularised televised heats at national Eurovision selections.[35] A similar system was adopted by the Eurovision itself in 2004.

The Second Chance round (Andra chansen) is the fifth heat in which the remaining four entries to the final are chosen. The third- and fourth-placed songs from each semi-final (eight songs in total) compete in the event. The first Second Chance round in 2002 had a panel of former winners decide the two finalists.[36] Between 2003 and 2006, the semi-final performances were re-broadcast, and a round of voting narrowed the songs to three or four. Another round then determined the two finalists. The programme was broadcast on the Sunday afternoon after the fourth semi-final. It was held in a smaller venue than those that would have hosted the semi-finals—such as Berns Salonger in Stockholm, which hosted the Second Chance round in 2005.

In 2007, the Second Chance round became a full semi-final, taking place in a venue comparable in size to those hosting the others. The expanded Second Chance takes place on a Saturday night, adding an extra week to the event's timetable.[37] The format of voting also changed with the introduction of a knock-out system. The system pairs the eight songs off against each other, then narrows them down to four before pairing them off again. The winners of the two-second round pairings go through to the final. The two finalists do not reprise their songs at the end of the programme.

In 2015, the system was changed again. The eight songs are divided into four duels, with one song from each duel qualifying into the final, bringing the number of finalists to 12.

Final

The final takes place at 20:00 CET on a Saturday in early or mid-March. Twelve songs (11 songs in 2009, 10 before 2015) participate, two from each semi-final, four from the Second Chance round, and, only in 2009, the international jury's choice. A running order is decided by the competition's supervisors the week before to ensure that similar songs and artists are kept apart in the final.[38] Dress rehearsals for the final are held on the prior Friday, and tickets sell out almost as quickly as those for the final itself.[39] The final attracts much tourism to its host city; a survey in 2006 showed that 54% of spectators had travelled from outside the host city, Stockholm. Of these, 6% had come from outside Sweden.[6]

As at Eurovision, a broadcast of the EBU logo introduces and closes the television coverage, accompanied by the prelude to Marc-Antoine Charpentier's setting of "Te Deum". Video "postcards" introduce the entries. The final includes interval performances, which are performed while the juries deliberate and before the tele-vote closes. Former Melodifestivalen contestants have performed as interval acts in the past, including Lena Philipsson in 2005 and the multi-artist medley of former entries in 2000.[40][41]

The winner receives a trophy, Den stora Sångfågeln (The Great Songbird), from the previous year's winner. The trophy, designed by Ernst Billgren, was unveiled in 2005 and awarded to all previous Melodifestivalen winners at the Alla tiders Melodifestival gala in March of that year.[42] The winner of the competition reprises their song at the end of the event.

Voting
Main article: Voting at Melodifestivalen
Ulf Elfving announcing the votes of the Stockholm jury at the 2005 final. The points scored by each entry are shown on a graphic scoreboard.

Before the introduction of the current voting system in 1999, a group of regional or age-based juries decided the winner of Melodifestivalen. In 1993, televoting was used experimentally but proved unsuccessful. The Swedish telephone network collapsed due to the number of calls, and claims by the Swedish tabloid press suggested the use of televoting had drastically altered the results. Evening newspapers released what they claimed to be the back-up juries' votes, which showed that the winner, Arvingarna's "Eloise", would have finished fourth had the juries' votes counted. SVT never confirmed the accuracy of these claims.[43]

SVT has eleven regional news districts, which have been represented by a jury in the final of Melodifestivalen in past editions.

The current voting format introduced in 1999 is a positional voting system, similar to that used at the Eurovision Song Contest. The voting is made up of two segments, in the first of which juries announce their votes; in the second segment, the televoting result is announced. The total value of votes has been 2 x 473 points between 2010 and 2017, 2 x 638 in 2018 and 2 x 464 since 2019. Televotes (or in-app voting) and jury votes have an equal 50/50 weighing in the final result. The juries, usually 11, have represented either Swedish regions or, since 2010, countries participating in the year's Eurovision Song Contest. Until 2017, each jury awarded 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 points to their top seven songs; however, since 2018, the points have been changed to 1 to 7, 8, 10 and 12 points. In 2019 the number of juries was reduced from 11 to 8. After the jury voting, the televoting result is revealed by hosts based on the juries' total score starting with the artist having lowest amount of jury points, and finishing with the one having received highest amount of points from juries. Until 2019 televoting points were revealed in their own ascending order and not according to jury voting. Between 1999 and 2010, the televoting points were fixed; the top seven songs would receive 11, 22, 44, 66, 88, 110 and 132 points (12, 24, 48, 72, 96, 120, and 144 points for the 2009 contest). Between 2011 and 2018 televoting points were given to each entry based on its percentage of the total vote. If an entry receives 10% of the televotes it will be equivalent to 10% of 473 points, i.e. 47–48 points (or 638 and 63–64 points respectively in 2018). In 2015 app voting was introduced. In 2019, SVT changed televoting to a system of eight groups: those using the app voted within one of seven age groups, and telephone votes were in the eighth group. For the semi-finals, each group's vote would carry a score of 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, and 1; for the final, 12, 10, 8–1; for the second chance round, each group gave one point to the most popular entry of each duel. The scores within each round were then added together to decide the places. 2019's edition also saw an end to voting by SMS, due to a decline in usage. The song with the highest number of points at the end of the voting is the winner.

Telephone lines open immediately after the radio preview for the final and do not close until the juries have voted, while app voting allows to vote only when the song is being performed. Two telephone numbers are also used for each song, giving voters the option of whether to donate money to SVT's Radiohjälpen charity appeal or not as they vote. Only residents of Sweden can vote.[44][45]

The votes of the juries are announced by spokespeople who are not members of the juries. The votes are read in ascending order, beginning with one point and finishing with twelve. When read, they are repeated by the host, for example:

Spokesperson: "Ett poäng till melodi nummer två." (One point to song number two.)
Presenter: Ett poäng till (name song)." (One point to (name song).)

Since 2010, most spokespeople have announced the points in English, with the hosts repeating them in Swedish.

As the votes are announced, they are collated on a graphic scoreboard. SVT varies the way the jury votes are announced from year to year. For example, the finalists of Expedition: Robinson acted as spokespeople in 2004, and in 2006 Fredrik Lindström announced jury tallies using the dialects of each region.[46][47] The final of Melodifestivalen has broken Nordic voting records on several occasions; in 2007, voting figures exceeded two million for the first time.[48]

If there is a tie, the song that has received more votes from the public receives the higher position.[49] There have been two ties for first place in the history of the contest. In 1969, Tommy Körberg tied for first place with Jan Malmsjö. The juries then voted for their favourite out the two, leading to Tommy Körberg winning. In 1978, Björn Skifs tied for first place with Lasse Holm and Wizex (performing together); a similar tie-break process resulting in Skifs winning.

Winners
Main article: List of Melodifestivalen winners

Fifty-six of Sweden's fifty-seven Eurovision representatives have come from Melodifestivalen; the 2020 winner was scheduled to participate in Eurovision before the latter was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Sweden has won the Eurovision Song Contest six times: in 1974, 1984, 1991, 1999, 2012 and 2015. Sweden has the second highest number of wins for a country at Eurovision; only Ireland has won the contest more. The 1974 Eurovision winner, ABBA's "Waterloo", was voted the most popular Melodifestivalen song of all time at the Alla tiders Melodifestival gala in March 2005.[42] Later that year, it was voted most popular Eurovision song of the contest's first fifty years at a gala in Copenhagen.[50] The following table lists those entries which finished fifth or higher at Eurovision:

Year Song Artist Position in Eurovision Song Contest
1966 "Nygammal vals" Lill Lindfors & Svante Thuresson 2nd
1968 "Det börjar verka kärlek, banne mej" Claes-Göran Hederström 5th
1973 "Sommaren som aldrig säger nej" Malta[lower-alpha 3] 5th (as "You're Summer")
1974 "Waterloo" ABBA 1st
1983 "Främling" Carola Häggkvist 3rd
1984 "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" Herreys 1st
1985 "Bra vibrationer" Kikki Danielsson 3rd
1986 "E' de' det här du kallar kärlek?" Lasse Holm & Monica Törnell 5th
1989 "En dag" Tommy Nilsson 4th
1991 "Fångad av en stormvind" Carola Häggkvist 1st
1995 "Se på mej" Jan Johansen 3rd
1996 "Den vilda" One More Time 3rd
1999 "Tusen och en natt" Charlotte Nilsson 1st (as "Take Me to Your Heaven")
2001 "Lyssna till ditt hjärta" Friends 5th (as "Listen To Your Heartbeat")
2003 "Give Me Your Love" Fame 5th
2004 "Det gör ont" Lena Philipsson 5th (as "It Hurts")
2006 "Evighet" Carola Häggkvist 5th (as "Invincible")
2011 "Popular" Eric Saade 3rd
2012 "Euphoria" Loreen 1st
2014 "Undo" Sanna Nielsen 3rd
2015 "Heroes" Måns Zelmerlöw 1st
2016 "If I Were Sorry" Frans 5th
2017 "I Can't Go On" Robin Bengtsson 5th
2019 "Too Late for Love" John Lundvik 5th

Rules

Most of Melodifestivalen's rules are dictated by those of the Eurovision Song Contest. However, regulations have been introduced by the Swedish broadcasters. The competition's official rules are released by SVT early in preparation for each year's Melodifestivalen, to ensure any changes are noted by songwriters and performers.

There was a limit of six people on stage for each performance. This included the Melodifestivalen choir (huskören, literally "the house choir"), a five-person group of flexible backing singers used by most participants. Artists could use some or all of the back-up singers, or use their own group. All vocals had to be completely live; human voices were not allowed on backing tracks.[13] However, from 2009, the number of performers allowed on stage was eight, and voices were allowed on backing tracks.[51] A live orchestra was used every year from the event's debut to 2000, except 1985 and 1986. Two orchestras were used between 1960 and 1963, a large orchestra and Göte Wilhelmsons kvartett, a jazz quartet.[52] Since 2001, participants have performed to backing tracks.

Entries cannot be publicly broadcast until the semi-finals are previewed on radio.[53] Entries eliminated in the semi-finals may be broadcast as soon as the semi-final has finished. An embargo is placed on songs that qualify for the later rounds until the previews for the Second Chance are broadcast. After this, restrictions on the broadcast of contestant songs are lifted.[13]

Broadcasters sometimes make sweeping changes to winning songs before they go to Eurovision. For example, at Melodifestivalen 1961, Siw Malmkvist won with "April, April". Performing after her victory, she stumbled on the lyrics of the song and laughed out loud. The press criticised this as childish. SR replaced her with Lill-Babs for the Eurovision Song Contest.[54] The 1987 winner "Fyra bugg och en Coca Cola", performed by Lotta Engberg, is another example; the song's title was changed to "Boogaloo" for Eurovision, as use of a brand name was against the Contest's rules. This name was chosen as Sweden's two previous Eurovision winners had also included the suffix "-loo".[55]

Until 1999, competing songs were only permitted in Swedish, apart from 1965, 1973, 1974, 1975. This did not stop most winning entries recording English (and other-language) versions of their songs. Since the abolition of Eurovision's language restrictions in 1999, regardless of the performance language at Melodifestivalen, every Swedish entry has been in English. Spanish, French, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Bosnian and Persian are among the other languages to have featured. Cameron Cartio's entry in Melodifestivalen 2005 was performed in a constructed language.[56]

Media coverage

Melodifestivalen is broadcast on television, radio and the internet. It is broadcast on SVT1 with international coverage on SVT World. Until 1987, the competition was broadcast on Sveriges Radio TV, later known as TV1. Between 1988 and 2000, the event was broadcast on different channels depending on where it was held. Finals in Stockholm were broadcast on Kanal 1 (formerly TV1) while finals in Gothenburg or Malmö were broadcast on TV2.[57] Sveriges Radio has broadcast the event on P1, P3 and P4, where is currently broadcast.

Although the final is traditionally held on a Saturday, in 1990 it was held on a Friday. TV2 suggested this would attract more viewers. In 1991, it was held on Easter Sunday for the same reason.[58] The 2002 final was delayed by a week for coverage of the 2002 Winter Olympics.[59]

The competition has had an official website since 1999.[60] Webcasts have been provided since 2005.[61] Since 2006, between February and the Eurovision final in May, SR has webcast a radio station dedicated to the competition called P4 Melodifest. On P4, the public previews semi-finalists every Friday.[53] Broadcast the night after the final, a dagen efter ("the day after") television programme acts as an epilogue to the event. It gauges the reactions of the finalists after the competition's climax. No commentary is given for the event on television. Carolina Norén is commentator on the event for Sveriges Radio.[23] The festival has been broadcast in widescreen since 2002 and Dolby Digital since 2004.

The competition's viewing figures have been rising since 2002. In 2007, approximately 4.1 million Swedes—almost 44% of the country's population—watched the final, and between 2.9 million and 3.2 million viewers watched each of the semi-finals. The viewing figures for the 2007 festival are nearly two million short of the highest recorded viewing figures from 1990.[62] Melodifestivalen is given heavy coverage in the Swedish press. A study by the Economic Science and Communication Department at Karlstad University concluded that coverage from the press may have influenced the results of the 2007 festival.[63]

Musical styles and presentation

Melodifestivalen's image has evolved throughout its existence, but one word has defined the competition's music: schlager. In Sweden, schlager (a German word literally meaning a "hit") represents any song associated with the competition, from the jazz music featured heavily in the 1960s to entries such as Linda Bengtzing's in 2006.[64] Christine Demsteader of The Local described Swedish schlager as "typically characterized by an annoyingly repetitive melody and trivial lyrics of little or no meaning".[65]

Jazz artists such as Monica Zetterlund and Östen Warnerbring won the event in the 1960s.[66][67] ABBA, who won Eurovision in 1974, went on to be Sweden's most successful music export. The group influenced not only Melodifestivalen, but the entire Swedish mainstream music scene.[68] In the 1980s, Bert Karlsson's Mariann Grammofon record label was responsible for the prevalence of "easy, memorable tunes".[69] The early twenty-first century has seen more variety in the competition, such as Afro-dite's 2002 disco winner[70] and The Ark's 2007 "retro glam rock" effort.[71]

On-stage gimmicks have long been a part of performances at the competition. Lena Philipsson's use of a microphone stand in her performance of "Det gör ont" at the 2004 competition is an example. When Philipsson hosted Melodifestivalen in 2006, four tongue-in-cheek short films were broadcast during the semi-finals to show what had happened to the microphone stand in the years since her win.[72] Pyrotechnics are another common gimmick in Melodifestivalen performances. After the 2007 event, Karolina Lassbo of Dagens Media criticised the festival's musical content and production, arguing that the 1988 competition was "the time when Melodifestivalen was still a schlager competition" and the event had become "a cross between [reality series] Fame Factory and [inter-city game show] Stadskampen".[73]

See also

Notes
  1. Translated by SVT as The Swedish Eurovision Song Contest.
  2. Sveriges Radio controlled Swedish public service television and radio until 1 July 1979, when SVT was created.
  3. The band changed its name to Nova for Eurovision.

References
  1. Television in Sweden. Sweden.se (30 September 2005). Retrieved on 20 October 2006.
  2. "Månadsrapport Februari 2012" (PDF). MMS – Mediamätning i Skandinavien. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  3. Lindström, Therese (12 March 2012). "Över fyra miljoner såg finalen". Aftonbladet. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  4. "Jag koncentrerar mig på schlagerfestivalen" Archived 17 October 2006 at the Wayback Machine (in Swedish) ["I am concentrating on schlagerfestivalen"]. Aftonbladet.se (27 February 2002). Retrieved on 20 October 2006.
  5. Anders Foghagen (13 October 2006) Agnes diskad från Schlagerfestivalen Archived 26 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine (in Swedish) ["Agnes disqualified from schlagerfestivalen"]. TV4.se. Retrieved on 20 October 2006.
  6. The Swedish Research Institute of Tourism (17–18 March 2006). Melodifestivalen 2006 Archived 29 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on 23 January 2008.
  7. Leif Thorsson. Melodifestivalen genom tiderna ["Melodifestivalen through time"] (2006), p. 12. Stockholm: Premium Publishing AB. ISBN 91-89136-29-2
  8. Thorsson, p. 19
  9. Thorsson, p. 17.
  10. Thorsson, pp. 48–49.
  11. Thorsson, pp. 82–83.
  12. Thorsson, pp. 118–119.
  13. Melodifestivalen 2007—Tävlingsregler (in Swedish) ["Melodifestivalen 2007—Competition rules"]. Sveriges Television AB (May 2006). Retrieved on 21 October 2006.
  14. Thorsson, p. 171.
  15. Swedes abroad. ESC.info.se. Retrieved on 29 April 2007. Archived 16 May 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  16. Thorsson, p. 213.
  17. Barry Viniker (16 March 2007) Melodifestivalen invades charts Archived 30 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine. ESCtoday.com. Retrieved on 20 April 2007.
  18. Total schlagerdominans på topplistan Archived 21 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine (in Swedish) ["Total schlager dominance on Topplistan"]. Expressen.se (20 March 2008). Retrieved on 21 March 2008.
  19. Sietse Bakker (26 May 2006). SVT announces Melodifestivalen 2007 Archived 21 November 2006 at the Wayback Machine. ESCtoday.com. Retrieved on 21 October 2006.
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Bibliography
  • Leif Thorsson. Melodifestivalen genom tiderna (1999, second edition 2006). Stockholm: Premium Publishing AB. ISBN 91-89136-29-2.

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