Swedish broadcaster SVT held a press conference today in which the artists for the upcoming Melodifestivalen 2005 have been presented. Esctoday.com was present and interviewed Christer Björkman, responsible for the artists, and Thomas Hall, project leader of Melodifestivalen. Here's part one of our Melodifestivalen special…

“There are still possibilities for more international stars in Melodifestivalen 2005 since the wild cards have not been presented yet,” explains Christer Björkman to esctoday.com. More information about the so called jokers he however doesn't want to give. “You simply have to wait and see.”

Nevertheless we could catch up with the truth about the Kylie Minogue gossip. “The rumors about Kylie Minogue participating in Melodifestivalen are just rumors. We at SVT did not start these speculations. We have never tried to convince Kylie to participate in Melodifestivalen. We are not yet thát big,” Björkman says. “We have always been focussing on Swedish artists. International stars in Melodifestivalen are just fun and an opportunity to add some extra excitement to this great show. Melodifestivalen is a competition for Swedish artist in first place and it will stay like that.”

Björkman is very satisfied with the ethnic mix and variety of songs this year, a great representation of the cultural mix that Sweden is today. For all people in Europe who think that Sweden is always sending ABBA-hits to the Eurovision Song Contest, Björkman says that “the songs in Melodifestivalen 2005 represent a wider variety than ever before. The chances that a song with the typical Swedish sound will win this year is quite small, taking into consideration that these songs will face huge competition this year. Hopefully the Swedish viewers will take the opportunity this time and dare to vote for something new and less traditional.”

Thomas Hall revealed that SVT is negotiating with Finland, Latvia, and Ukraine (but down a little after the current development) about broadcasting Melodifestivalen 2005 on their national television.