Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014

Eurovision Song Contest 2014
Country	Sweden
National selection
Selection process	Melodifestivalen 2014
Selection date(s)	Semi-finals: 1 February 2014 8 February 2014 15 February 2014 22 February 2014 Second Chance: 1 March 2014 Final: 8 March 2014
Selected entrant	Sanna Nielsen
Selected song	"Undo"
Selected songwriter(s)	Fredrik Kempe David Kreuger Hamed "K-One" Pirouzpanah
Finals performance
Semi-final result	Qualified (2nd, 131 points)
Final result	3rd, 218 points
Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2013 • 2014 • 2015►

Sweden participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Swedish entry was selected through Melodifestivalen 2014, a national final format that consisted of four semi-finals, a second chance round and a final, organised by Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT). Sanna Nielsen represented Sweden with the song "Undo", which qualified from the first semi-final and placed 3rd in the final, scoring 218 points.

Melodifestivalen 2014

Melodifestivalen 2014 was the Swedish music competition that selected Sweden's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. Hosted by Nour El-Refai and Anders Jansson, 32 songs competed in a six-week-long process that consisted of four semifinals on 1, 8, 15 and 22 February 2014, a second chance round on 1 March 2014, and a final on 8 March 2014.^[1][2] Eight songs competed in each semifinal – the top two qualified directly to the final, while the third and fourth placed songs qualified to the second chance round. An additional two songs qualified to the final from the second chance round. Among the competing artists were Helena Paparizou who represented Greece in 2001 as part of the duo Antique and won the Eurovision Song Contest for Greece in 2005, Martin Stenmarck who represented Sweden in 2005, Andreas Lundstedt (participating as a member of Alcazar) who represented Switzerland in 2006 as part of the group six4one and Sylvester Schlegel who represented Sweden in 2007 as part of the group The Ark.

Semi-finals and second chance

• The first semi-final took place on 1 February 2014 at the Malmö Arena in Malmö. "To the End" performed by Yohio and "Songbird" performed by Ellen Benediktson qualified directly to the final, while "Bröder" performed by Linus Svenning and "Survivor" performed by Helena Paparizou qualified to the second chance round.^[3]
• The second semi-final took place on 8 February 2014 at the Cloetta Center in Linköping. "Undo" performed by Sanna Nielsen and "Efter solsken" performed by Panetoz qualified directly to the final, while "Love Trigger" performed by J.E.M and "När änglarna går hem" performed by Martin Stenmarck qualified to the second chance round.^[4]
• The third semi-final took place on 15 February 2014 at the Scandinavium in Göteborg. "Yes We Can" performed by Oscar Zia and "Busy Doin' Nothin'" performed by Ace Wilder qualified directly to the final, while "Echo" performed by Outtrigger and "All We Are" performed by State of Drama qualified to the second chance round.^[5]
• The fourth semi-final took place on 22 February 2014 at the Fjällräven Center in Örnsköldsvik. "Natural" performed by Anton Ewald and "Blame It On the Disco" performed by Alcazar qualified directly to the final, while "Raise Your Hands" performed by Ammotrack and "En himmelsk sång" performed by Ellinore Holmer qualified to the second chance round.^[6]
• The second chance round took place on 1 March 2014 at the Sparbanken Lidköping Arena in Lidköping. "Bröder" performed by Linus Svenning and "Survivor" performed by Helena Paparizou were the two qualifiers for the final.^[7]

Final

The final of Melodifestivalen 2014 was held on 8 March 2014 at the Friends Arena in Solna, Stockholm. The two winners from each of the four semi-finals and the two second chance winners qualified for the final, creating a ten song lineup. A mix of televoting/SMS voting and international jury voting selected "Undo" performed by Sanna Nielsen as the winner.^[8]

Draw	Artist	Song (English Translation)	Composer(s)	Juries	Viewers	Total	Place
1	Anton Ewald	"Natural"	John Lundvik	4	14	18	10
2	Ellen Benediktson	"Songbird"	Sharon Vaughn, Johan Fransson, Tim Larsson, Tobias Lundgren	31	30	61	7
3	Alcazar	"Blame It on the Disco"	Fredrik Kempe, David Kreuger, Hamid "K-One" Pirouzpanah	62	48	110	3
4	Oscar Zia	"Yes We Can"	Fredrik Kempe, David Kreuger, Hamid "K-One" Pirouzpanah	32	21	53	8
5	Linus Svenning	"Bröder" (Brothers)	Fredrik Kempe	46	37	83	5
6	Helena Paparizou	"Survivor"	Bobby Ljunggren, Henrik Wikström, Karl-Ola Kjellholm, Sharon Vaughn	57	27	84	4
7	Yohio	"To the End"	Andreas Johnson, Johan Lyander, Peter Kvint, Yohio	39	43	82	6
8	Sanna Nielsen	"Undo"	Fredrik Kempe, David Kreuger, Hamed "K-One" Pirouzpanah	90	122	212	1
9	Panetoz	"Efter solsken" (After sunshine)	Johan Hirvi, Mats Lie Skåre, Nebeyu Baheru, Njol Badjie, Pa Modou Badjie	15	18	33	9
10	Ace Wilder	"Busy Doin' Nothin'"	Ace Wilder, Joy Deb, Linnéa Deb	97	113	210	2

At Eurovision

Sanna Nielsen at the first semi-final dress rehearsal

To ensure fair ticket distribution in the Nordic region for the semi-finals, the Eurovision Reference Group, at the request by the host broadcaster for the 2014 contest DR, held a draw at the European Broadcasting Union headquarters in Geneva in November 2013 where Sweden was drawn to compete in the first semi-final on 6 May 2014.^[9] During the semi-final allocation draw on 20 January 2014 at the Copenhagen City Hall, Sweden was drawn to compete in the first half of the first semi-final.^[10] In the first semi-final, the producers of the show decided that Sweden would perform 4th, following Estonia and preceding Iceland.^[11] Sweden qualified from first semi-final and competed in the final on 10 May 2014. During the winner's press conference for the first semi-final qualifiers, Sweden was allocated to compete in the first half of the final.^[12] In the final, the producers of the show decided that Sweden would perform 13th, following Germany and preceding France.^[13] Sweden placed 3rd in the final, scoring 218 points.

On stage, Sanna Nielsen was joined by five backing vocalists: Britta Bergström, Jeanette Ohlsson, Thérèse Löf Amberg, Dea Norberg and Jessica Marberger.^[14] The Swedish performance focused on Sanna alone on stage surrounded by lights which eventually shone on a large glitter ball on the ceiling.^[15]

In Sweden, both the semi-finals and the final were broadcast on SVT1 with commentary by Malin Olsson and Edward af Sillén.^[16] The shows were also broadcast via radio on Sveriges Radio P4 with commentary by Carolina Norén and Ronnie Ritterland.^[17] The Swedish spokespersons revealing the result of the Swedish vote in the final was Alcazar.^[18]

Points awarded to Sweden

Points awarded to Sweden (Semi-Final 1)

12 points	10 points	8 points	7 points	6 points
Spain	Denmark  Hungary  Iceland  Moldova  Ukraine	Belgium  Latvia  Netherlands  Portugal	Estonia	Albania  France  Russia
5 points	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point
Montenegro	Armenia	San Marino

Points awarded to Sweden (Final)

12 points	10 points	8 points	7 points	6 points
Denmark  Romania  Ukraine	Belgium  Estonia  Finland  Israel  San Marino  Spain	Hungary  Latvia  Netherlands  Norway  Portugal  Slovenia	Albania  Iceland  Lithuania  Malta  United Kingdom	Austria  Moldova   Switzerland
5 points	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point
	France  Ireland  Poland	Montenegro	Georgia  Greece  Russia

Points awarded by Sweden

Semi-final 1 Points awarded in first semi-final: 12 points  Netherlands 10 points  Hungary 8 points  Armenia 7 points  Iceland 6 points  Ukraine 5 points  Estonia 4 points  Portugal 3 points  Montenegro 2 points  Russia 1 point  Latvia

Final Points awarded in the final: 12 points  Austria 10 points  Netherlands 8 points  Denmark 7 points  Hungary 6 points  Finland 5 points  Armenia 4 points  Iceland 3 points  Norway 2 points  Poland 1 point  France

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Swedish jury:^[19]

• Michael Cederberg – Chairperson – playlist manager P3 radio, radio host
• Robert Sehlberg – music director at RIX FM radio
• Oscar Zia – singer
• Sacha Jean-Baptiste – dancer, choreographer, creative director
• Elli Flemström – artist, member of J.E.M

Semi-final 1

The Swedish votes in the first semi-final were based on 50% jury voting and 50% televoting results.^[20]

Semi-final 1 – Swedish Results
Draw	Country	M. Cederberg	R. Sehlberg	O. Zia	S. Jean-Baptiste	E. Flemström	Average Jury Rank	Televote Rank	Combined Rank	Scoreboard (Points)
01	Armenia	11	4	5	6	2	4	2	3	8
02	Latvia	12	15	10	13	15	15	7	10	1
03	Estonia	4	6	6	4	3	3	11	6	5
04	Sweden
05	Iceland	6	7	4	3	12	6	4	4	7
06	Albania	13	11	15	11	4	13	10	13
07	Russia	8	2	11	12	13	8	12	9	2
08	Azerbaijan	15	10	7	10	5	9	13	11
09	Ukraine	5	5	3	7	11	5	5	5	6
10	Belgium	3	9	14	14	8	10	14	14
11	Moldova	7	13	13	9	6	11	15	15
12	San Marino	14	14	12	5	14	14	9	12
13	Portugal	10	12	8	8	7	7	8	7	4
14	Netherlands	2	3	1	2	9	2	1	1	12
15	Montenegro	9	8	9	15	10	12	6	8	3
16	Hungary	1	1	2	1	1	1	3	2	10

Final

The Swedish votes in the final were based on 50% jury voting and 50% televoting results.^[21]

Final – Swedish Results
Draw	Country	M. Cederberg	R. Sehlberg	O. Zia	S. Jean-Baptiste	E. Flemström	Average Jury Rank	Televote Rank	Combined Rank	Scoreboard (Points)
01	Ukraine	11	16	11	18	17	13	11	12
02	Belarus	16	19	21	21	18	22	22	23
03	Azerbaijan	24	10	17	20	16	20	25	24
04	Iceland	6	6	13	6	15	8	7	7	4
05	Norway	17	8	5	2	6	5	10	8	3
06	Romania	18	12	24	12	14	16	12	14
07	Armenia	20	9	9	10	5	9	6	6	5
08	Montenegro	14	13	18	23	22	21	21	20
09	Poland	4	25	22	22	7	17	3	9	2
10	Greece	9	23	16	14	11	12	13	13
11	Austria	2	2	2	4	1	1	1	1	12
12	Germany	3	20	12	7	13	10	19	16
13	Sweden
14	France	7	5	8	17	8	7	14	10	1
15	Russia	13	7	19	15	24	14	16	17
16	Italy	15	24	7	19	21	19	24	21
17	Slovenia	10	18	23	25	19	23	23	25
18	Finland	12	17	3	3	10	6	5	5	6
19	Spain	19	14	15	13	23	18	18	18
20	Switzerland	21	21	20	24	25	25	15	19
21	Hungary	1	3	1	5	3	2	8	4	7
22	Malta	25	11	14	16	12	15	9	11
23	Denmark	8	4	10	8	2	4	4	3	8
24	Netherlands	5	1	4	1	4	3	2	2	10
25	San Marino	23	22	25	11	20	24	20	22
26	United Kingdom	22	15	6	9	9	11	17	15

See also

• Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest
• Eurovision Song Contest 2014

References

1. Dahlander, Gustav (10 September 2013). "Städerna klara: Hit kommer Melodifestivalen 2014" (in Swedish). SVT. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
2. Fisher, Luke (13 November 2013). "Sweden: Nour El Refai and Anders Jansson announced as hosts". escXtra.com. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
3. Vranis, Michalis (1 February 2014). "Result: Melodifestivalen semi-final 1 concluded". ESCToday.com. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
4. Escudero, Victor M. (8 February 2014). "Two more finalists chosen in Sweden". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
5. Vranis, Michalis (15 February 2014). "Result: the Melodifestivalen semi-final 3 concluded". ESCToday.com. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
6. Escudero, Victor M. (22 February 2014). "Last semi-final complete in Sweden". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
7. Escudero, Victor M. (1 March 2014). "Melodifestivalen final line-up complete in Sweden". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
8. Escudero, Victor M. (8 March 2014). "Sweden: Sanna Nielsen wins Melodifestivalen!". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
9. Siim, Jarmo (24 November 2013). "Sweden and Norway drawn into Semi-Finals". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
10. Escudero, Victor M. (20 January 2014). "Allocation Draw results: Who's in which Semi-Final?". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
11. Siim, Jarmo (24 March 2014). "Running order for Eurovision Semi-Finals decided". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
12. Brey, Marco (7 May 2014). "First Semi-Final: Meet the winners at the press conference!". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
13. Storvik-Green, Simon (9 May 2014). "Running order for the Grand Final revealed!". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
14. "ESCKAZ – Eurovision 2014 – Sanna Nielsen (Sweden)". ESCKaz. 18 April 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
15. Roxburgh, Gordon (28 April 2014). "Hear the voice of Sanna Nielsen". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
16. Albinsson, Mathilde (2 April 2014). "Malin Olsson och Edward af Sillén kommenterar Eurovision Song Contest" (in Swedish). SVT. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
17. "Följ med bakom kulisserna i Eurovision Song Contest – Melodifestivalen och ESC" (in Swedish). SR. 5 May 2014. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
18. "Eurovision Song Contest 2014: ecco l'elenco degli spokesperson" (in Italian). Eurofestival News. 8 May 2014. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
19. Brey, Marco (1 May 2014). "Who will be in the expert juries?". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
20. "Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 First Semi-Final". Eurovision.tv. 11 May 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
21. "Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 Grand Final". Eurovision.tv. 11 May 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2014.