The season is upon us! The kick-off of Melodifestivalen 2023 is a mere two months away. And the time has arrived to find out just who will be competing for that trophy – and for the glory of representing Sweden at the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool.
In 2023, for the first time since 2020, Melodifestivalen will be going on its beloved tour around Sverige, with the six shows stopping off at six cities. The first two heats will take place in Göteborg and Linköping respectively. And this morning, Swedish broadcaster SVT announced the names of the 14 artists and songs that will be competing in those first two heats.
The names of the artists and songs competing in heats 3 and 4 will be revealed by SVT tomorrow morning.
HEAT 1: Gothenburg, February 4th
Victor Crone – Diamonds
(David Lindgren Zacharias, Peter Kvint, Victor Crone)
At this point he’s a dear old friend to both Melodifestivalen and the Eurovision Song Contest, and it’s a pleasure to start the 2023 line-up with a familiar face. Plus, let’s face it – when it comes to music competitions, whether as a singer or songwriter, he’s yet to let us down. He comes quality assured.
Rejhan – Haunted
(Albin Johnsén, Mattias Andréasson, Pontus Söderman, Tilde RONIA Wrigsell)
A graduate of Sweden’s Got Talent, Rejhan has previously made it to the final of said show in 2021, and is now no doubt all geared up to do the same at Melodifestivalen in 2023. ‘Haunted’ will also serve as his debut single.
Loulou LaMotte – Inga Sorger
(Jonas Thander, Loulou LaMotte)
It was going to happen eventually – the question was only really which of The Mamas would be the first to return to Melodifestivalen and compete as a solo artist. That honour goes to Loulou, who has recently released a few Swedish-language songs of her own, to little fanfare but moderate success. Loulou finds herself one of the few competitors who has won Melodifestivalen and performed on stage at the Eurovision Song Contest. Though, bizarrely, these were in two different years. Such times we’ve just lived through…
Eva Rydberg & Ewa Roos – Länge Leve Livet
(Emil Vaker, Henric Pierroff, Kalle Rydberg)
Brought in to tempt the older demographic at Melodifestivalen 2021, their song ‘Rena Rama Ding Dong’ ended up being a firm favourite amongst families and kids, and delighting international viewers with the sheer depth of its bags of charm. It’s something of a surprise to see them back so soon, given how perfectly they did the job last time. But evidently they had such a good time in 2021, they’re game for more. And who out there isn’t going to be along for the ride with them?
Elov & Beny – Raggen Går
(Johan Werner, Kristian Wejshag, Mattias Elovsson, Oscar Kilenius, Tim Larsson)
Quite the coup for SVT, to get these two chaps in on the show in 2023. Just last week, before all the Christmas songs had invaded the Spotify dailies, Elov & Beny had two hits occupying the Top 20. One would think that Melodifestivalen couldn’t get any higher in viewership, but these two will be bringing new eyes and ears to the contest that first week in February.
Tone Sekelius – Rhythm Of My Show
(Anderz Wrethov, Dino Medanhodzic, Jimmy “Joker” Thörnfeldt, Tone Sekelius)
A breakout star from Melodifestivalen 2022, it’s excellent news to have Tone back in 2023, and with such a strong songwriting team behind her. Expectation will be high, such is the bar that she has set for herself, but we have a sneaking suspicion that said bar will be raised even further with ‘Rhythm Of My Show’. She’s described it as “clubby”. OPEN THE CLUBS!
Jon Henrik Fjällgren, Arc North feat. Adam Woods – Where You Are (Sáve?an)
(Arc North, Calle Hellberg, Jon Henrik Fjällgren, Joy Deb, Oliver Belvelin, Richard Lästh, Tobias Lundgren, William Segerdahl)
Given the frequency with which he competed in the latter half of the last decade, it’s actually a surprise that it’s taken Jon Henrik Fjällgren so long to return since his last participation in 2019. The fact that he’s back now implies that he’s got something special up his sleeve. And the fact that he’s back as part of a collaboration implies that he’s got something different this time, too. We’re all ears.
HEAT 2: Linköping, February 11th
Wiktoria – All My Life (Where Have You Been)
(Herman Gardarfve, Melanie Wehbe, Patrik Jean, Wiktoria Johansson)
Arguably the darling of Melodifestvalen during the 2010s, despite never having won. She has, however, qualified directly to the final on all three occasions she’s competed previously. This is her first time participating since 2019, and her return is significant enough that these top-tier songwriters will have been more than happy to contribute some of their best work in their collaboration with her.
Eden – Comfortable
(Benjamin Rosenbohm, Eden Alm, Emil Adler Lei, Julie Aagaard)
What would Melodifestivalen 2023 be without an artist who has made a name for themselves on TikTok? Enter Eden – who has used the platform to share her own songs, and to great effect too. She now makes the move to the nowadays slightly less popular medium of television. But in the grandest way possible, of course – what a show to debut on!
Uje Brandelius – Grytan
(Uje Brandelius)
A singer with the band Doktor Kosmos, and a soloist who has seen an album of his go on to become a theatre production, a radio play and eventually an award-winning feature film. This will actually be his first musical release since that very album, so who knows how the fate of ‘Grytan’ will top that early next year…
THEOZ – Mer Av Dig
(Axel Schylström, Jakob Redtzer, Peter Boström, Thomas G:son)
Another of Melodifestivalen 2022’s big hitters, we know we’re in safe hands with THEOZ – he can be relied upon to bring us the bops, as his EP from this summer proved.
Maria Sur – Never Give Up
(Anderz Wrethov, Laurell Barker)
A recent refugee to Sweden, Maria was actually competing on The Voice Ukraine at the time when Russia invaded her country. Since fleeing to Sweden, she’s performed at a gala on Swedish TV to raise funds for aid in her home country, been signed by a record label, and released a single. The narrative of her competing at Melodifestivalen in a year when Ukraine are having to have another country host the Eurovision Song Contest will have a lot of poignancy on this night in February.
Tennessee Tears – Now I Know
(Anderz Wrethov, Jonas Hermansson, Thomas Stengaard, Tilda Feuk)
A country-pop duo, the pair have teamed up with two of Melodifestivalen’s most relied-upon songwriters to hopefully bring us a big ol’, toe-tapping smash hit. It’s what we need. It’s what we crave. It’s what we expect.
Panetoz – On My Way
(Anders Wigelius, Daniel Nzinga, Jimmy Jansson, Nebeyu Baheru, Njol Badjie, Pa Modou Badjie, Robert Norberg)
Has it really been seven years since these adorable chaps last competed? Yes it has, and we’re happy to have them back – not least because we can confidently place them in the ‘not a ballad’ territory. Marvellous stuff.
