Live: Fourth semi final in Sweden

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The fourth and last semi final of Melodifestivalen 2010, Sweden's pre-selection to determine their representative at this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo, is about to be held. Eight acts will compete for two spots in the national final. Two more acts will qualify to the second chance round, to be held next week.

How to watch?

A webcast will be made available for international viewers on the official website here. The link will appear shortly before the show starts.

Participants

Composer/Lyricist in brackets.

  • Sibel Stop
    (Mikaela Stenström, Dimitri Stassos)
  • Py BäckmanMagisk stjärna
    (Py Bäckman, Micke Wennborn/Py Bäckman)
  • NEO Human frontier
    (Tobias Jonsson, Anneli Axelsson)
  • Lovestoned Thursdays
    (Thomas G:son, Peter Boström/Sharon Vaughn)
  • Anna Bergendahl This is my life
    (Bobby Ljuggren/Kristian Lagerström)
  • Pernilla WahlgrenJag vill om du vågar
    (Pontus Assarsson, Jörgen Ringqvist/Daniel Barkman, Pontus Assarsson, Jörgen Ringqvist)
  • Noll disciplinIdiot
    (Niklas Jarl, Per Aldeheim)
  • Peter Jöback Hollow
    (Anders Hansson, Fredrik Kempe)

Your opinion

  • You can vote for your favourite song in our poll here.

LIVE

The show has just started.

Tonight's hosts Christine Meltzer and Måns Zelmerlöw welcome the audience and elaborate on tonight's procedure.

1. Sibel Stop

Current estoday.com poll result: 1st (34.4%)

Sibel, a Macedonian born Swedish pop singer of Turkish decent, is known for her participation in Idol 2005, where she came third. In Melodifestivalen, she is participating for the second time. In 2008, she made the finals with an impressive performance of the ballad That is where I'll go. She is back with Stop, composed by Dimitri Stassos, who also responsible for last year's Spanish Eurovision entry La noche es para mi, which came second from last in the final. Sibel is wearing a purple dress featuring lots of bows and is being accompanied by six dancers. All in all, Sibel left a much bigger impact in 2008 with her ballad than she is now with this disco pop song.

2. Py BäckmanMagisk stjärna

Current esctoday.com poll result: 8th (1.3%)

Py Bäckman wrote Stad i ljus, the Swedish Eurovision Song Contest entry of 1988, performed by Tommy Körberg. This time, she is on stage herself, singing Magisk stjärna, a very slow song with some country elements. Somehow, she resemebles Ozzy Osbourne with those sunglasses. This might not be the strongest contender for a good placing tonight.

3. NEO Human frontier

Current esctoday.com poll result: 6th (7.0%)

NEO is debuting at Melodifestivalen with the song Human frontier. He is supported by four female dancers. The rhythm of his song is quite typical of Melodifestivalen but probably not catchy enough to be one of tonight's qualifiers.

4. Lovestoned Thursdays

Current esctoday.com poll result: 2nd (18.1%)

Lovestoned are performing the Thomas G:Son composed song Thursdays. In 2009, they were recording the Reggae song Rising girl, originally from an Austrian band, also called Rising girl. Lovestoned achieved some chart success in Germany with that song. Thursdays might not be G:Son's most typical song as it also contains some folksy elements, but his influence can be noticed as well. Lovestoned are giving a rather cheerful performance, looking quite confident on stage.

5. Anna Bergendahl This is my life

Current esctoday.com poll result: 4th (10.1%)

Anna Bergendahl is another former Idol participant. She took 5th place in the 2008 edition and has been noticed as having one of the most distinctive and outstanding voices to ever compete in Swedish casting shows. Anna is wearing a white dress with black trousers for her Melodifestivalen debut. Her song This is my life is composed by Bobby Ljunggren. It's a rather old-fashioned "I-am-who-I-am-ballad", lacking some drive and real emotions. A little bit sad to see such an outstanding voice debuting with that kind of song.

6. Pernilla WahlgrenJag vill om du vågar

Current esctoday.com poll result: 3rd (16.3%)

Pernilla's last participation in Melodifestivalen was in 2003 with Let your spirit fly, a duet with Jan Johansen, resulting in 2nd place. Tonight, she is wearing a glittery silver dress and her song is, without a doubt, the most typical Meldifestivalen song of the whole 2010 line-up. The kind of Schlager that doesn't stand a chance at the Eurovision Song Contest anymore. However, she might do welltonight.

7. Noll disciplinIdiot

Current esctoday.com poll result: 7th (3.1%)

The young group Noll disciplin are making their Melodifestivalen debut with the pop/rock- song Idiot. Their song is probably aimed at pseudo-rebellious teenagers in puberty and might get some votes from the younger audience. The lead singers' vocals are solid throughout the entire song but the song is missing something. It manages to stand out due to the typical Melodifestivalen entries performed before and after them.

8. Peter Jöback Hollow

Current esctoday.com poll result: 5th (9.7%)

Another entry co-written by Mr Melodifestivalen Fredrik Kempe. Peter Jöback's participation in the Swedish pre-selection managed to gain quite some media interest. Besides the hopelessly uninspired lyrics, which seems to be obligatory for Kempe's songs, the ballad is way too predicatble and banal thus lacking in real emotions and might have to struggle if it were to represent Sweden at this year's Eurovision Song Contest. As expected, Jöback's vocals are faultless and he seems to be a certain qualifier.

Our poll is closed for voting now. You can find the updated results above.

The bottom three have now been removed from the line-up: Sibel, Py Bäckman and Lovestoned.

Anna Bergendahl has won the first round and directly qualifies for the national final.

Noll disciplin are eliminated.

Peter Jöback qualified for the final.

Neo and Pernilla Wahlgren qualified for the second chance round.