Although Europe is in the midst of a summer rush, there is always some space for Eurovision news. Preparations for Melodifestivalen 2020 are already underway up there in Sweden and in less than three weeks we will find out who its first participant is!

As with every year, the Swedish national radio station Sveriges Radio P4 is going to hold its P4 Nästa competition, a competing act of which has been receiving the first of the 28 tickets to the Melodifestivalen semi-finals since 2012. Initially, it was the actual winner of the competition who was granted a spot in the live shows. However, since 2015, the first Melodifestivalen entrant has been determined by an appointed jury panel.

A total of 8 revealed acts are going to battle it out in the event, but only one will keep chasing the Eurovision 2020 dream. Sveriges Radio P4 has now made public the names and songs of the contestants, which can be seen below.

P4 Nästa 2019: Participants

The event will be staged on 24 August at the Linköping Concert & Congress Hall and will air live on P4. The Swedish public can vote for their favourite songs until the day of the contest by SMS.

You may listen to all candidate songs by clicking at their respective links.

1. Faith Kakembo – Through fire and rain
2. Hildur Höglind – Further apart
3. Hugo Andersson – Lovenote
4. Amanda Aasa – Gå hem
5. Zulueta – King of the ocean
6. Tova Glyt – No ordinary girl
7. Tim Lööv – All I need is you
8. Browsing Collection – Oh no

However, it is worth noting that the winner of the P4 Nästa will take part with a currently unreleased song at Melodifestivalen 2020, as the EBU regulation stipulates that none of the competing Eurovision songs may have been commercially available before 1 September of the previous year.

Source: svt.se

Sweden in Eurovision 2019

By holding their annual selection event Melodifestivalen, the Swedes decided to send the acclaimed pop singer John Lundvik to Tel Aviv, who achieved a triuphant victory in their national final last March.

John Lundvik was the 5th consecutive solo male act for Sweden and performed the song Too late for love on the stage of Expo Tel Aviv. The Scandinavian country went through to the final, while their highly successful Eurovision race in the current decade continued, with Jοhn finishing 2nd with the juries and 5th overall, with a total score of 334 points.

Which is your favourite act from P4 Nästa 2019?
Could it be the Swedish entry to next year’s Eurovision?