Hej från Sverige! The Scandinavian country is gearing up for yet another exciting Melodifestivalen season, on their way to the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest. Although it’s only the first day of July, the Swedes have already confirmed their participation at next year’s event, revealed the core team of their national selection and now they are all set to open the submission window!
Melodifestivalen, which will be celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2020, will be taking us to a beautiful journey around Sweden, where we will meet the country’s entry at Eurovision 2020 at its end. But who are the ones who will battle it out for the coveted Eurovision ticket?
Earlier today, the national broadcaster SVT unveiled the song submission dates for the upcoming event. All wishing-to-participate singers and composers are welcome to submit their compositions online from 26 August at 9:00 pm to 13 September at 23:59 am (both times in CEST). Here is the broadcaster’s official webpage for song submissions.
As with every year, at least 28 candidate songs will take part in the live shows of Melodifestivalen 2020. Half of them will be chosen by an expert jury panel, while the rest half will emerge from the vote of Melodifestivalen’s staff.
This year, Melodifestivalen seems to also aim at the reinforcement of female musicians, as 50% or higher of the selected songs will be written by female composers/lyricists, or by a team consisting of both male and female composers/lyricists.
Further details regarding Melodifestivalen 2020 are expected by SVT in the months to come. You may read all the rules and regulations of the event here.
Sweden at Eurovision 2019
Following his triumphant victory at Melodifestivalen 2019, John Lundvik flew to Tel Aviv and proudly represented Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, with his pop song Too late for love, penned by John himself, as well as Anderz Wrethov and Andreas “Stone” Johansson.
Sweden participated in the second semi-final of the contest, where they placed 3rd and they received one of the 10 tickets to the Grand Final. In the final, they ended up 5th with 334 points in total.
Sweden is the most successful Eurovision country of the current decade, with a Top 10 placing almost every year since 2011 (apart from 2013), including two victories (2012, 2015).
