All songs for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 have been selected. During the weeks between the national final season and the actual Eurovision Song Contest, we will introduce all 39 entries in random order. Part thirty-one of the series is dedicated to the Swedish entry.

Basic information

Performer:	Anna Bergendahl
Song:	This is my life
Language:	English
Music:	Bobby Ljunggren
Lyrics:	Kristian Lagerström
Draw:	6th in the second semi final

The song

This is my life is a mid-tempo guitar pop ballad. Through the lyrics, the singer tells how she seizes her life and does not try to be someone else:

Why are you here
With the autumn leaves?

Cause this is my life, my friend
And this is my time to stand

Now this is my life, my friend
And I can't be
No one else

The performer

Anna Bergendahl, who has Swedish and Irish roots, was born in Stockolm, but she grew up in Nyköping. She became famous when she competed in the 2008 season of the talent show Idol, where she managed to qualify for the life shows and eventually finished fifth. As a child, Anna had already performed in the TV show Super Troopers.

Soon after Idol, she signed her first record deal. She competed in Swedish national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, which she won with the song This is my life. Already the week before the final, the song had reached the top of the Swedish single charts. Anna's debut album Yours sincerely was relased a week ago.

The songwriters

The Swedish entry was written by Bobby Ljunggren (music) and Kristian Lagerström (lyrics). Bobby Ljunggren is one of the most busy Melodifestivalen songwriters. To date, 38 of his songs competed in the Swedish national final and and four of them (all co-written with other artists) represented the country in the the Eurovision Song Contest: In 1995, Se på mig finished third, in 1998 Kärleken är finished tenth, in 2006 Invincible finished fifth and in 2008, Hero finished 18th. Kristian Lagerström competed for the first timein Melodifestivalen in 2008 with the song Lullaby, which did not qualify from the semi finals. Furthermore, he has worked with acts like The Poodles, Jill Johnson, Sanna Nielsen, Shirley Clamp and Sonja Aldén. He also wrote the official Swedish song for the 2010 Winter Olypics.

The national selection

Once again, Melodifestivalen was to select the Swedish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. The format followed the same since 2002 featuring four semi finals, a second chance round and the grand final. Ten acts qualified for the final and the winner was chosen by a mixture of regional juries, international juries and televoting. Salem Al Fakir was the favourite of the juries but Anna Bergendahl won the televoting and the overall national final.

Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest

Sweden was the second Scandinavian country to enter the Eurovision Song Contest in 1958. Since then, theytookhome the victory four times in 1974, 1984, 1991 and 1999. The country finished in the top ten another 25 times and is one of the most successful participating countries. It is also the only country apart from the big four that has been in the final of every Eurovision Song Contest since relegation started in 1993. However, the last three years were not very successful and marked the first time Sweden finished outside the top ten three years in a row since the late 1970s.

Vi önskar Sverige och Anna Bergendahl lycka till och ett bra resultat i Oslo!

Videos

Performance in the national final/Preview video:

Anna Bergendahl performing the 1988 Swedish entry Stad i ljus (written by Py Bäckman) in Idol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5QvFaVRE7M

Performing Cher's/Bonnie Tyler's Save up all your tears (written by Diane Warren):

ABBA's Mamma mia:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0maeCODorQ

Tomorrow, we will take a look at the Israeli entry.

Previous parts of this series:

1. Ireland
2. Belarus
3. Albania
4. Denmark
5. Russia
6. Bulgaria
7. Switzerland
8. FYR Macedonia
9. Armenia
10. Spain
11. Poland
12. Croatia
13. Finland
14. Greece
15. Ukraine
16. Lithuania
17. Belgium
18. Norway
19. Portugal
20. Moldova
21. The Netherlands
22. The United Kingdom
23. Latvia
24. Serbia
25. France
26. Slovenia
27. Azerbaijan
28. Bosnia & Herzegovina
29. Georgia
30. Romania