Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008

Sweden selected its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 by holding an extending national selection, namely Melodifestivalen 2008. A record of 3 489 entries were submitted to the broadcaster SVT, and 28 were chosen to compete. They were completed with 4 wildcards in the end of December. Melodifestivalen was also this year held on Saturdays, starting with the first of the four semi-finals on 9 February and ending with a final on 15 March. It was the last of the year's national selections, as the official ESC draw was held on 17 March. Four songs progressed from each semi, two to the final and two to the second chance round, where the songs were competing in a knock-out round to gain the last two places in the final.

Eurovision Song Contest 2008
Country Sweden
National selection
Selection processMelodifestivalen 2008
Selection date(s)Semi-finals
9 February 2008
16 February 2008
23 February 2008
1 March 2008
Second Chance
8 March 2008
Final
15 March 2008
Selected entrantCharlotte Perrelli
Selected song"Hero"
Finals performance
Semi-final resultQualified (12th, 54 points)
Final result18th, 47 points
Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2007 • 2008 • 2009►
Charlotte Perrelli and backup singers performing "Hero" at the 2nd semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2008.

The final was won by Charlotte Perrelli with the song "Hero", which was written and composed by Fredrik Kempe and Bobby Ljunggren. Sanna Nielsen, who was the favourite of televoters, came second, as she did not receive enough points from the 11 juries.

Charlotte Perrelli competed in the second semi-final on 22 May. She did not actually finish among the ten best, but thanks to the new rule that the last finalist will be chosen by the back-up juries, she took the final ticket at the expense of North Macedonia. The actual placement was 12th, 7 points after Macedonia and 2 points after Bulgaria. She was drawn into the 15th spot in the final. Although being one of the heavy favorites before the final, Sweden did not finish higher than 18th, receiving only 47 points.

The commentators for the event for SVT were Kristian Luuk and Josef Sterzenbach, with a brief appearance by Carl Bildt in the final. The spokesperson announcing the votes for Sweden was Björn Gustafsson.[1][2]

Melodifestivalen 2008
Main article: Melodifestivalen 2008

Melodifestivalen 2008 was the 47th Melodifestivalen, and the selection process for the 48th song to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest. A new rule—Lex Agnes—went into effect in 2008 calling for each submitted entry to include a document containing all information relevant to the song. It was named after Agnes Carlsson, who was disqualified from the 2007 competition for publicly revealing details of her song before the deadline.[3]

Format

Melodifestivalen 2008 included 32 songs split up into four semi-finals with eight participants in each. The semi-finals were held between 9 February and 1 March 2008 and at each, the two top placing songs went to the final, while the third and fourth place songs went to the Andra Chansen (Second Chance Round). At the Andra Chansen, held on 8 March 2008, the eight songs paired off in two rounds with the two winners at the end of the night qualifying for the final. The final was held on 15 March 2008 and included the eight songs from the semi-finals along with the two from the Andra Chansen to make ten songs in all. The winner and selected entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest was then chosen by (insert voting process here).

It was hosted by Kristian Luuk, who also hosted the 2007 event.[4] Luuk was assisted by Björn Gustafsson and Nour El-Refai.

Preselection

The deadline for the submission of songs was 25 September 2007, and 3,434 songs were submitted, a new record.[5][6] The titles and composers of the 28 semifinalists (excluding the wildcards) were announced on 10 December and 11 December 2007.[7] The wildcards were announced in January 2008.[8]

Schedule
DateCityVenueNotes
9 FebruaryGothenburgScandinaviumSemifinal 1
16 FebruaryVästeråsABB Arena NordSemifinal 2
23 FebruaryLinköpingCloetta CenterSemifinal 3
1 MarchKarlskronaTelenor ArenaSemifinal 4
8 MarchKirunaArena ArcticaSecond Chance
15 MarchStockholmGlobenFinal

Semi-finals
Main article: Melodifestivalen 2008

Final

The final of Melodifestivalen 2008 was held on 15 March 2008 at the Globe Arena in Stockholm. The eight direct qualifiers and the two Andra Chansen winner competed in the final, where the 11 regional juries of Sweden, along with televoting, selected the winner that would represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008.

The winner of Melodifestivalen 2008 was Charlotte Perrelli with the song "Hero", receiving a total of 114 points from the juries and 110 points from the televote. The winner of the televote, however, was Sanna Nielsen with "Empty Room".

Draw[9] Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place
Votes Percentage Points
1Charlotte Perrelli"Hero"114 397,907 16.5%1102241
2Sibel"That Is Where I'll Go"39 120,587 5%0397
3Rongedal"Just a Minute"76 273,521 11.5%661424
4Linda Bengtzing"Hur svårt kan det va?"64 115,321 4.8%0645
5Christer Sjögren"I Love Europe"1 228,674 9.5%22239
6Amy Diamond"Thank You"25 188,872 7.8%11368
7Sanna Nielsen"Empty Room"74 449,419 18.7%1322062
8Nordman"I lågornas sken"4 233,467 9.7%44486
9Frida feat. Headline"Upp o hoppa"6 81,691 3.3%0610
10BWO"Lay Your Love on Me"70 320,741 13.3%881583
Detailed Regional Jury Votes
Draw Song Örebro Luleå Falun Karlstad Umeå Norrköping Göteborg Sundsvall Växjö Malmö Stockholm Total
1 "Hero"12121212124612101012114
2 "That Is Where I'll Go"12422248112139
3 "Just a Minute"8468610121021076
4 "Hur svårt kan det va?"68106484448664
5 "I Love Europe"11
6 "Thank You"211111016225
7 "Empty Room"106841066124874
8 "I lågornas sken"1214
9 "Upp o hoppa"66
10 "Lay Your Love on Me"4102108128282470

At Eurovision

Sweden qualified from the second semi-final as the jury wildcard. They performed 15th in the final, behind Latvia and before Denmark, where they achieved 18th place and 47 points.

Points awarded by Sweden[10]
Points awarded to Sweden (Semi-Final 2)
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
Points awarded to Sweden (Final)
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

See also

References
  1. "Björn gör comeback" (in Swedish). Retrieved 2008-05-24.
  2. "Björn Gustafsson to announce SVT viewers' vote". oikotimes.com. Archived from the original on 2010-02-12. Retrieved 2008-05-24.
  3. Lex Agnes i Melodifestivalen 2008 Archived August 14, 2011, at the Wayback Machine (in Swedish). Aftonbladet (13 May 2007). Retrieved on 15 October 2007.
  4. ESCToday (18 April 2007) Kristian: I'm happy and honoured. Retrieved on 21 May 2007.
  5. Sveriges Television (May 2007) Melodifestivalen 2008 Tävlingsregler Archived August 19, 2007, at the Wayback Machine (in Swedish). Retrieved on 21 May 2007.
  6. ESCToday 3434 songs submitted for Melodifestivalen. Retrieved on 29 December 2007.
  7. ESCToday Melodifestivalen line-up complete. Retrieved on 29 December 2007. Archived December 15, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  8. ESCToday The full MF running order. Retrieved on 15 January 2008.
  9. Poplight.se (9 March 2008). Så här blev det när Björkman bestämde finalordningen. Retrieved on 9 March 2008.
  10. Eurovision Song Contest 2008
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