Melodifestivalen 2011
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Melodifestivalen 2011 was a
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
song contest held between February and March 2011. It selected Sweden's 51st song to represent
Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest Sweden has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 61 times since making its debut in Eurovision Song Contest 1958, 1958, missing only three contests since then (Eurovision Song Contest 1964, 1964, Eurovision Song Contest 1970, 1970 and Euro ...
, and was the 50th edition of
Melodifestivalen Melodifestivalen (; literally "the Melody Festival") 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 ...
.
Eric Saade Eric Khaled Saade (; ar, إريك سعادة, ʾĪrik Saʿāda, ; born 29 October 1990), is a Swedish singer and songwriter. He spent two years with the boy band What's Up!, leaving the band in February 2009 to pursue a solo career. After winn ...
, with the song "
Popular Popularity or social status is the quality of being well liked, admired or well known to a particular group. Popular may also refer to: In sociology * Popular culture * Popular fiction * Popular music * Popular science * Populace, the total ...
", won the contest and thus was selected to represent Sweden in the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest.


Format

The 2011 edition of Melodifestivalen was similar to the previous year's arrangement, with four heats, a second-chance round and a grand final. The four heats were held in
Luleå Luleå ( , , locally ; smj, Luleju; fi, Luulaja) is a city on the coast of northern Sweden, and the capital of Norrbotten County, the northernmost county in Sweden. Luleå has 48,728 inhabitants in its urban core (2018) and is the seat of Lu ...
(5 February),
Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...
(12 February), Linköping (19 February) and
Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...
(26 February). The second chance round was held in Sundsvall on 5 March and the final in Stockholm was held on 12 March. SVT presented the competing songs during autumn 2010. As in 2010 and 2009, a maximum of eight people were allowed on stage, while only persons of 16 years or over would be eligible. (However, in accordance with Eurovision rules, only six people were allowed on stage for the Swedish entry at Eurovision.) The main singer(s) had to perform vocals live on stage, however other backing vocals could be pre-recorded along with the song's backing track. There was a large change in the way that the 32 songs were selected. In 2010, 27 songs were selected by a selection panel, 4 songs were then selected by SVT in order to diversify the musical quality of the contest and one song was then selected through a "Web wildcard" competition. Members of the public were allowed to submit songs onto the SVT website, with the public selecting one song through SMS voting. For 2011, this was changed: only 15 songs were selected by the selection panel. The remaining 15 songs were then selected by SVT, from remaining submissions made to the selection panel, or from specially invited artists and songs. The web wildcard competition was expanded; instead of just one song was chosen, the public selected two songs. The web wildcard competition began on 11 October, and ended with a live show on 8 November on
SVT24 SVT24, stylized as svt24, formerly known as SVT 24 (then stylized svt 24) or 24 is a Swedish language TV channel broadcast by Sveriges Television (SVT). It started broadcasting in 1999 as a dedicated news channel. In 2003 it extended its scope t ...
, held at the ''Golden Hits nightclub'' in Stockholm. Other changes introduced to Melodifestivalen 2011 were revealed by SVT. For the first time, non-Swedish
songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...
s were able to enter songs into the contest, as long as there is at least one Swedish songwriter also contributing. Solo singer-instrumentalists were now allowed to perform their instruments live during the TV broadcast. On 17 November, SVT announced
Marie Serneholt Marie Eleonor Serneholt (; born 11 July 1983) is a Swedish singer and model. She was a member of the Swedish pop band A*Teens from 1998 to 2004, and briefly pursued a solo recording career after the band dissolved. Career A*Teens (1998–200 ...
and
Rickard Olsson Rickard Olsson-Essé, (born 7 February 1967 in Gävle) is a Swedish television and radio presenter. He presented ''Bingolotto'' between 2005 and 2008 and since 2008 he presents the quiz show ''" Vem vet mest?" and " Vem vet mest junior?"'' broad ...
as the hosts for the heats, the second chance and the final, but there was also a guest host in each program.


Changes

Reference: * All entries were submitted via Melodifestivalen website instead of by post. * The selection panel and SVT chose fifteen entries each, instead of the selection panel choosing twenty-seven and SVT four. * Foreign songwriters could post entries, but only in combination with at least one Swedish author. * Artists were able to play at least one instrument live on stage. * In the regular selection process, it was the only established songwriters who could submit entries. The public were only allowed to submit entries to the web wildcard competition. * As in previous years, the songs may be up to three minutes on stage, but a new rule is that they must be at least two minutes long. * The whole voting in the final will be changed. The total value of the votes are 946 points, which means that tele-votes and jury-votes represent 50/50 each. If an entry is getting 10% of the tele-votes it will be equivalent to 47 points. The Swedish jury groups are replaced by 11 international groups. Each jury group gives their points according to the ESC-standard: 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 points. If two songs end up at the same position, the people's votes will overrule the jury-votes.


Schedule


Entries

32 songs competed in Melodifestivalen 2011. 15 of them were selected from a public call for songs, in which public songwriters and artists could send in songs to SVT, until 21 September 2010. The format for the contest remained the same from last year's, the same format that was introduced in 2002. The 32 songs were presented over 4 heats. A public televote was held to select two songs to progress directly to the final, with the 3rd and 4th placed songs progressing to a Second Chance (''Andra Chansen'') round. The eight songs in the Second Chance round battled in duels until two songs are left, which also progress to the final. In the final, the votes of the public constituted 50% of the total vote, with the remaining 50% coming from the juries. On 22 September, SVT announced that a record number of 3852 entries have been submitted. 424 of them were submitted to the web wildcard selection.


Web wildcards

From July to November 2010 SVT held the second Melodifestivalen web wildcard contest. From 9 July to 21 September musicians with no previous music contract could submit songs to the SVT Melodifestivalen website. From 11 October the 232 submissions could be voted on by SMS voting, with only five being left to progress to the web wildcard final on 8 November. Of the 424 entries entered into the contest, 232 were selected to compete after disqualifying those that did not meet the rules of the contest. * 11 October 2010 - all 232 entries were made available for voting * 18 October 2010 - 100 entries went on to the next round * 25 October 2010 - 50 entries went on to the next round * 27 October 2010 - 20 entries went on to the next round (the votes were now reset for the remaining songs) * 29 October 2010 - 15 entries went on to the next round * 31 October 2010 - 10 entries went on to the next round * 1–5 November 2010 - ten entries left, one song voted out every day * 8 November 2010 - five entries remained in the web wildcard final, where two songs were selected to compete in the Melodifestivalen heats On 31 October the top ten songs were announced by SVT. From 1 November one song was eliminated every day, leaving five songs on 5 November. The final two winners were announced on 8 November in a live TV final on
SVT24 SVT24, stylized as svt24, formerly known as SVT 24 (then stylized svt 24) or 24 is a Swedish language TV channel broadcast by Sveriges Television (SVT). It started broadcasting in 1999 as a dedicated news channel. In 2003 it extended its scope t ...
. The eliminated songs in the top 10 were:


Final

The two winners of the web wildcard contest were decided on 8 November at the ''Golden Hits'' nightclub in Stockholm, hosted by Henric von Zweibergk, floor manager of Melodifestivalen. Televoting and SMS voting decided the final winner, which was announced by executive producer Christer Björkman.


Heats

The four heats were, for this edition, held in
Luleå Luleå ( , , locally ; smj, Luleju; fi, Luulaja) is a city on the coast of northern Sweden, and the capital of Norrbotten County, the northernmost county in Sweden. Luleå has 48,728 inhabitants in its urban core (2018) and is the seat of Lu ...
,
Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...
,
Linköping Linköping () is a city in southern Sweden, with around 105,000 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Church ...
and
Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...
. The jury, which chose the fifteen songs of the over 3000 submissions, were selected at the end of September 2010. SVT's fifteen wild cards and the jury's choice has and will be revealed before the end of November 2010. The two web wildcards were chosen by viewers on 8 November 2010. SVT announced the first four songs on 7 October, which featured the return of three-time competitor
Linda Bengtzing Linda Birgitta Bengtzing (born 13 March 1974) is a Swedish pop singer famous for her participation in the fourth season of ''Fame Factory'' in Sweden and for her entries at Melodifestivalen 2005, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2014, 2016, 2020 and 2022. ...
. A further eight songs were announced on 19 October, with
Sanna Nielsen Sanna Viktoria Nielsen (born 27 November 1984) 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 Copenh ...
and
Danny Danny is a masculine given name. It is related to the male name Daniel. It may refer to: People * Danny Altmann, British immunologist *Danny Antonucci, Canadian animator, director, producer, and writer *Danny Baker (born 1957), English journal ...
returning. The 13th song in Melodifestivalen 2011 was revealed on 1 November: Lars-Åke Wilhelmsson, aka Babsan, will compete with "Ge mig en spanjor", and on 3 November SVT revealed that
Nicke Borg Niklas Roger "Nicke" Borg, born 3 April 1973, is a Swedish singer and guitarist in the band Backyard Babies. Career Nicke Borg was born in Nässjö. He was part of the Backyard Babies, a Swedish rock band, from 1989 onwards, as lead vocals and rh ...
will also compete in the contest with the song "Leaving Home". On 7 November it was revealed by
Expressen ''Expressen'' (''The Express'') is one of two nationwide evening newspapers in Sweden, the other being '' Aftonbladet''. ''Expressen'' was founded in 1944; its symbol is a wasp and its slogans are "it stings" or "''Expressen'' to your rescue". ...
that former Eurovision Song Contest winner
Elisabeth Andreassen Elisabeth Gunilla Andreassen (; born 28 March 1958), also known as just Bettan, is a Norwegian-Swedish singer who has finished both first and second in the Eurovision Song Contest. Career Her talent was discovered in 1979 by Swedish musician and ...
would make a return to Melodifestivalen in 2011. Andreassen won the 1985 Eurovision for
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
as part of
Bobbysocks! Bobbysocks is a Norwegian pop duo consisting of Norwegian Hanne Krogh and Swedish-Norwegian Elisabeth Andreassen. They won the Eurovision Song Contest 1985 with the song " La det swinge" ("Let it swing"). Elisabeth went by the surname Andreass ...
, and also took part in
1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
(with
Jan Werner Danielsen Jan Werner Danielsen, known professionally as Jan Werner, (10 April 1976 – 28 September 2006) was a Norwegian pop singer, also known for his interpretations of musical, classical, and rock standards. He was famous for his powerful voice which ...
). She also competed for Norway in 1996, and in 1982 for Sweden (as part of
Chips ''CHiPs'' is an American crime drama television series created by Rick Rosner and originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to May 1, 1983. It follows the lives of two motorcycle officers of the California Highway Patrol (CHP). The seri ...
). On 8 November SVT confirmed that Andreassen would make a comeback to Melodifestivalen, and will take part with the song "Vaken i en dröm". Also on 8 November the web wildcard contest ended with a live TV final on
SVT24 SVT24, stylized as svt24, formerly known as SVT 24 (then stylized svt 24) or 24 is a Swedish language TV channel broadcast by Sveriges Television (SVT). It started broadcasting in 1999 as a dedicated news channel. In 2003 it extended its scope t ...
. Julia Alvgard and
Jonas Matsson Jonas may refer to: Geography * Jonas, Netherlands, Netherlands * Jonas, Pennsylvania, United States * Jonas Ridge, North Carolina, United States People with the name * Jonas (name), people with the given name or surname Jonas * Jonas, one of t ...
won after the public televote with the songs "Better or Worse" and "On My Own". On 22 November, a further six entries were revealed by SVT. However, during this press conference SVT revealed the entries that would compete in the first two heats. The remaining entries were announced on a press conferences on 29 November, which featured the return of
Shirley Clamp Shirley Natasja Clamp (born 17 February 1973) is a British-Swedish pop singer.Shirley Clamp
posh24.se, accessed on May 7, 2010 ...
and
Eric Saade Eric Khaled Saade (; ar, إريك سعادة, ʾĪrik Saʿāda, ; born 29 October 1990), is a Swedish singer and songwriter. He spent two years with the boy band What's Up!, leaving the band in February 2009 to pursue a solo career. After winn ...
. However, on 27 November, Christer Björkman revealed the Swedish dance band
The Playtones The Playtones is a Swedish 1950s rock n roll band formed in 2008 in Kallinge. Their music is influenced by rockabilly. It was called Boppin' Steve & The Playtones before 2008. The Playtones won the dansband competition Dansbandskampen in 2009. 2 ...
would participate in Melodifestivalen 2011 with the song " The King". The song "Don't Stop" was disqualified because it has been published on Chasez MySpace. However, SVT told the songwriters and the artist
Andreas Fernette Andreas ( el, Ἀνδρέας) is a name usually given to males in Austria, Greece, Cyprus, Denmark, Armenia, Estonia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Finland, Flanders, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Romania, the Netherlands, and Indonesia. The name ...
to write a new song. On 10 December, SVT announced Fernette's new song "Run". On 5 January 2011, SVT revealed Love Generation's song "Dance Alone" and the running order for each heat. SVT announced that this years Melodifestivalen would have the same rules in the heats as there were in
Melodifestivalen 2010 Melodifestivalen 2010 was a Swedish song contest held between February and March 2010. It was the selection for the 50th song to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest, and was the 49th edition of Melodifestivalen. Five heats were held i ...
. This means that the song which receiving the most votes in the first round would automatically qualify to the final, skipping the second round. The remaining top four would battle again for a place in the final and ''Andra Chansen'' round - the 2nd placed song qualifying to the final, the 3rd and 4th placed songs progressing to Andra Chansen, and the song placed fifth will be eliminated from the competition. However, SVT will not announce the vote result for each song until the final has been broadcast.


Heat 1

The first heat was held on 5 February 2011 in
Coop Norrbotten Arena Coop Norrbotten Arena is an indoor sporting arena located in Luleå, Sweden. The seating capacity of the arena is 6,150, and it is the home arena of the Luleå HF ice hockey team. History It was opened on 13 September 1970, and was called ''Del ...
,
Luleå Luleå ( , , locally ; smj, Luleju; fi, Luulaja) is a city on the coast of northern Sweden, and the capital of Norrbotten County, the northernmost county in Sweden. Luleå has 48,728 inhabitants in its urban core (2018) and is the seat of Lu ...
. The songs are in running order.


Heat 2

The second heat was held on 12 February 2011 in
Scandinavium Scandinavium () is an indoor arena located in Gothenburg, Sweden. Construction on Scandinavium began in 1969 after decades of setbacks, and was inaugurated on 18 May 1971. Scandinavium has been selected as a championship arena at least fifty t ...
,
Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...
. The songs are in running order.


Heat 3

The third heat was held on 19 February 2011 in
Cloetta Center Saab Arena, formerly named Cloetta Center between 2004–2014, is an arena in Linköping, Sweden. It opened in September 2004 and holds 8,500 people during sport events and 11,500 during concerts. On its opening, it became the new home ice for th ...
,
Linköping Linköping () is a city in southern Sweden, with around 105,000 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Church ...
. The songs are in running order.


Heat 4

The fourth heat was held on 26 February 2011 in
Malmö Arena Malmö Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Malmö, Sweden, and the venue for home games of SHL ice hockey club Malmö Redhawks. It is the largest arena in the SHL, and the second-largest indoor arena in Sweden. Apart from hosting Redh ...
,
Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...
. The songs are in running order.


Second Chance

The Andra Chansen (''Second Chance'') round was held on 5 March in
Nordichallen Nordichallen is an indoor arena located in Sundsvall, Sweden. It opened in January 1992. Its dimensions are , area , seating capacity 9,300, ceiling height . It hosts Association football, football matches and concerts. References

{{reflis ...
, Sundsvall. Eight acts qualified for this round from the heats - the songs that placed 3rd and 4th. A duel format was used, with each song battling against another in order to remain in the contest and qualify for the final on 12 March. During the show, the on-screen graphics displayed the wrong phone numbers on the Radiohjälpen number during Duels 1, 2 and 3. SVT discounted all the votes to the Radiohjälpen number in these duels to declare the winning artist.


Final

The final of Melodifestivalen 2011 was held on 12 March 2011 at the Globe Arena in Stockholm. The two winners from each of the four heats and the two ''Second chance'' winners qualified for the final, A total of 10 songs. The winner was decided by a mix of televoting/SMS voting and jury voting. On 17 December 2010, Swedish newspaper ''
Expressen ''Expressen'' (''The Express'') is one of two nationwide evening newspapers in Sweden, the other being '' Aftonbladet''. ''Expressen'' was founded in 1944; its symbol is a wasp and its slogans are "it stings" or "''Expressen'' to your rescue". ...
'' announced that SVT planned to change the voting system in the Melodifestivalen Final. On 10 January 2011, SVT gave details about that. The value of the votes was 946 points, which meant that tele-votes and jury-votes represent 50/50 each. If an entry is getting 10% of the tele-votes, it would be equivalent to 47 points. The Swedish jury groups were replaced by eleven international groups. Each jury group gave their points as follows: 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 points. If two songs end up at the same position, the people's votes would overrule the jury votes. The running order for the Final was made immediately after the Second Chance round.


See also

*
Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest Sweden has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 61 times since making its debut in Eurovision Song Contest 1958, 1958, missing only three contests since then (Eurovision Song Contest 1964, 1964, Eurovision Song Contest 1970, 1970 and Euro ...
*
Eurovision Song Contest 2011 The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was the 56th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Düsseldorf, Germany, following the country's victory at the with the song "Satellite" by Lena. Organised by the European Broadcasting Uni ...


References


External links


Melodifestivalen Official Site

Melodifestivalen 2011 competition rules
'' SVT'' {{Melodifestivalen Eurovision
2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
Eurovision Song Contest 2011 2011 in Swedish music 2011 song contests February 2011 events in Europe March 2011 events in Europe 2010s in Stockholm 2010s in Gothenburg 2010s in Malmö Events in Stockholm Events in Gothenburg Events at Malmö Arena Events in Linköping Events in Luleå Events in Sundsvall