"Invincible" is a song recorded by Swedish singer Carola Häggkvist, with music composed by Thomas G:son, Bobby Ljunggren, and Henrik Wikström and lyrics written by G:son and Häggkvist. It in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2006 The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was the 51st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Athens, Greece, following the country's victory at the with the song "My Number One" by Helena Paparizou. Organised by the European Broadcas ...

, held in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, placing fifth. The Swedish language version of the song, under the name "Evighet" ("Eternity") and performed by Carola, won the Melodifestivalen 2006. It scored second place by the judges, but was a runaway winner by public votes, therefore winning the festival.

Background

Conception

"Invincible"/"Evighet" was composed by Thomas G:son, Bobby Ljunggren, and Henrik Wikström with lyrics by G:son and Häggkvist.

National selection

"Evighet" performed by Carola competed in the fourth heat of the 46th edition of

Melodifestivalen 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 almo ...

which was held on 11 March 2006 at the

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 ...

indoor arena in

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

. The song was the last of the eight competing entries to perform and directly qualified to the festival final as one of the two songs song which received the most telephone votes. On 18 March, during the final held at the Globe Arena in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, Carola were the seventh of the ten competing acts to perform, and "Evighet" won the festival with 234 points, receiving the second highest number of votes from the regional juries and the highest number of public votes. As this Melodifestivalen was organised by

Sveriges Television Sveriges Television AB ("Sweden's Television aktiebolag, Stock Company"), shortened to SVT (), is the Sweden, Swedish national public broadcasting, public television broadcaster, funded by a public service tax on personal income set by the Riksd ...

(SVT) to select its song and performer for the of the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

, the song became the , and Carola the performer, for Eurovision.

Eurovision

On 18 May 2006, the Eurovision Song Contest semi-final was held at the Nikos Galis Olympic Indoor Hall in

, hosted by the

Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation The Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly shortened to ERT (), is the state-owned public radio and television broadcaster of Greece. History Overview ERT began broadcasting in 1938 as the Radio Broadcasting Service or YRE (). Followin ...

(ERT), and broadcast live throughout the continent. Due to Sweden not placing in the top-10 in the –where it placed 19th– the song required to compete in the semi-final. Carola performed the song in English as "Invincible", the twentieth of the evening out of the twenty-three participants, and was subsequently announced at the end of the broadcast as one of the ten songs to have qualified for the final. The full breakdown of results published after the final revealed that in the semi-final it had finished in fourth place with 214 points, including receiving the maximum 12 points from , , and . On 20 May, Carola performed again "Invincible" in the grand final as the twenty-second song on stage, and subsequently finished in fifth place, receiving 170 points in total.

Track listing and formats

;International download edition #Invincible — 3:02 #Invincible (SoundFactory Supreme Anthem) #Invincible (SoundFactory One Love Dub) #Invincible (SoundFactory Radio Edit) ;International CD single #Invincible — 3:02 #Invincible (Instrumental Version) — 2:59 ;Swedish CD single #Evighet — 3:01 #Evighet (instrumental version) — 2:59

Charts

In the singles chart, the Swedish-language version peaked at #1 in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

and #8 in Norway, and the English-language version peaked at #29 in Sweden. The Swedish-language version also entered

Svensktoppen ''Svensktoppen'' () is a weekly record chart airing on Sveriges Radio. Until January 2003, the songs had to be in the Swedish language. Svensktoppen has aired since 1962, except for the years 1982–1985. In the years leading up to the January 20 ...

on 30 April 2006 and reached 5th place, where it stayed for the two following weeks. After that it fell, being at Svensktoppen for five weeks in total. Nonetheless, the song became a huge hit in Scandinavia, and was performed at many of the Swedish top shows that year.

Weekly charts

;"Invincible" ;"Evighet"

Legacy

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

by Tomas Andersson Wij in 2007 was in the Swedish Trackslistan. It has also been covered in

afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

, as " 'n Ewigheid" by both Juanita du Plessis and Hi-5. The

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

used an instrumental version of the song for their coverage of the

2006 European Athletics Championships The 19th European Athletics Championships were held in Gothenburg, Sweden, between 7 August and 13 August 2006. The competition arena was the Ullevi Stadium and the official motto "Catch the Spirit". Gothenburg also hosted the 1995 World Champions ...

, held in

, Sweden.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Invincible (Carola Häggkvist Song) Eurovision songs of Sweden Eurovision songs of 2006 Melodifestivalen songs of 2006 Songs written by Thomas G:son Songs written by Bobby Ljunggren Songs written by Henrik Wikström Carola Häggkvist songs Songs written by Carola Häggkvist 2006 songs 2006 singles Number-one singles in Sweden Universal Music Group singles Tomas Andersson Wij songs