While we wait for the host city of the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest to be announced, the national selections season will mark its start today with the final of Sveriges Radio’s talent competition, Svensktoppen nästa. One of the finalists will be announced today as one of the 28 artists that will participate in Melodifestivalen 2017, the Swedish national selection for Eurovision 2017.
During the summer, regional competitions were held by the 25 local P4 radio stations around Sweden. The winner of each district went on to a semifinal, where a jury picked the top eight which have qualified to today’s final that will be held in Kungsträdgården in the city of Linköping.
“We believe in the eight acts that we have picked. The lineup is young this year and presents a mix of new good music from the country’s artists and songwriters”, says Maths Broborg, the project leader of Svensktoppen Nästa. One of the jury members is Christer Björkman, who is the Executive Producer of Melodifestivalen.
Participants (In brackets: the represented district)
- Jimmy Ottosson – Rising rivers (Halland)
- Small Town Girls – Do your thing (Dalarna)
- Mackan n’ Matthew – Allt som vi va’ (Sjuhärad)
- SaVe – 2 wrongs don’t make 1 right (Norrbotten)
- Vindstyrka 12 – Sluta gömma dig (Göteborg)
- LiRic – Bullshit affair (Uppland)
- Les Gordons – Need to feel (Örebro)
- Noomi – Intoxicated (Jönköping)
How To Listen?
The final will be broadcasted live on P4 Radio at 14:03 CET, hosted by Carolina Norén and Henrik Olsson. The broadcast will end at 16:00 CET. Meanwhile, it is possible to listen to the eight finalists on Svensktoppen Nästa’s website.
Melodifestivalen 2017
Since last year, the winner, chosen by sms and jury voting, does not automatically get a ticket to Melodifestivalen, and one of the other finalists might get the ticket instead. The chosen artist will participate in Melodifestivalen 2017 with a new song, as the current entries have been published widely prior to 1 September 2016, which conflicts with the rules of the Eurovision Song Contest, and also with Melodifestivalen’s rules which does not allow to previously published songs to participate.
Stay tuned to ESCToday for more updates from Sweden regarding Svensktoppen Nästa and Melodifestivalen 2017!
