Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016

Sweden participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "If I Were Sorry" written by Oscar Fogelström, Michael Saxell, Fredrik Andersson and Frans Jeppsson-Wall. The song was performed by Frans. In addition to participating in the contest, the Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT) also hosted the Eurovision Song Contest after winning the competition in 2015 with the song "Heroes" performed by Måns Zelmerlöw. SVT organised the national final Melodifestivalen 2016 in order to select the Swedish entry for the 2016 contest in Stockholm. After a six-week-long competition consisting of four semi-finals, a Second Chance round and a final, "If I Were Sorry" performed by Frans emerged as the winner after achieving the highest score following the combination of votes from eleven international jury groups and a public vote.

Eurovision Song Contest 2016
Country	Sweden
National selection
Selection process	Melodifestivalen 2016
Selection date(s)	Semi-finals: 6 February 2016 13 February 2016 20 February 2016 27 February 2016 Second Chance: 5 March 2016 Final: 12 March 2016
Selected entrant	Frans
Selected song	"If I Were Sorry"
Selected songwriter(s)	Oscar Fogelström Michael Saxell Fredrik Andersson Frans Jeppsson Wall
Finals performance
Final result	5th, 261 points
Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2015 • 2016 • 2017►

As the host country, Sweden qualified to compete directly in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Sweden's running order position was determined by draw. Performing in position 9 during the final, Sweden placed fifth out of the 26 participating countries with 261 points.

Background

Prior to the 2016 contest, Sweden had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-five times since its first entry in 1958.[1] Sweden had won the contest on six occasions: in 1974 with the song "Waterloo" performed by ABBA, in 1984 with the song "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" performed by Herreys, in 1991 with the song "Fångad av en stormvind" performed by Carola, in 1999 with the song "Take Me to Your Heaven" performed by Charlotte Nilsson, in 2012 with the song "Euphoria" performed by Loreen, and in 2015 with the song "Heroes" performed by Måns Zelmerlöw. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004, Sweden's entries, to this point, have featured in every final except for 2010 when the nation failed to qualify.

The Swedish national broadcaster, Sveriges Television (SVT), broadcasts the event within Sweden and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. Since 1959, SVT has organised the annual competition Melodifestivalen in order to select the Swedish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest.

Before Eurovision

Melodifestivalen 2016

Melodifestivalen 2016 was the Swedish music competition that selected Sweden's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. 28 songs were initially selected to compete, however, after a disqualification, 27 ultimately competed in a six-week-long process which consisted of four semi-finals on 6, 13, 20 and 27 February 2016, a second chance round on 5 March 2016, and a final on 12 March 2016.[2] The six shows were hosted by Gina Dirawi, who was joined by guest hosts during each show: Petra Mede (Semi-final 1), Henrik Schyffert (Semi-final 3), Sarah Dawn Finer (Semi-final 4), Peter Jöback (Second chance round), Ola Salo (Second chance round) and William Spetz (final); Charlotte Perrelli was originally supposed to host the second semi-final, however, due to a conflict of interest concerning her endorsement deal with Swedish mobile brand Comviq, she was demoted to a guest performer.[3] Seven songs competed in each semi-final—the top two qualified directly to the final, while the third and fourth placed songs qualified to the second chance round. The bottom three songs in each semifinal were eliminated from the competition. An additional four songs qualified to the final from the second chance round. The results in the semi-finals and second chance round were determined exclusively by public televote and app voting, while the overall winner of the competition was selected in the final through the combination of a public vote and the votes from eleven international jury groups. Among the competing artists were former Eurovision Song Contest contestants Tommy Nilsson who represented Sweden in 1989, Martin Stenmarck who represented Sweden in 2005 and Krista Siegfrids who represented Finland in 2013. Molly Sandén represented Sweden in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2006.[4]

Semi-finals and Second chance

• The first semi-final took place on 6 February 2016 at the Scandinavium in Gothenburg. "Don't Worry" performed by Ace Wilder and "Constellation Prize" performed by Robin Bengtsson qualified directly to the final, while "Bada nakna" performed by Samir and Viktor and "Rik" performed by Albin and Mattias advanced to the Second Chance round. "Mitt guld" performed by Pernilla Andersson and "Ain't No Good" performed by Mimi Werner were both eliminated from the contest.[5] Two days prior to the semi-final on 4 February, "Himmel för två", performed by Anna Book, was disqualified after it was discovered that the song had previously been entered and performed in the audition round of the 2014 Moldovan Eurovision Song Contest national selection.[6]
• The second semi-final took place on 13 February 2016 at the Malmö Arena in Malmö. "We Are Your Tomorrow" performed by David Lindgren and "Save Me" performed by Wiktoria qualified directly to the final, while "Hunger" performed by Molly Pettersson Hammar and "I Will Wait" performed by Isa advanced to the Second Chance round. "Faller" performed by Krista Siegfrids, "100%" performed by Victor och Natten and "Håll mitt hjärta hårt" performed by Patrik Isaksson, Tommy Nilsson and Uno Svenningsson were eliminated.[7]
• The third semi-final took place on 20 February 2016 at the Himmelstalundshallen in Norrköping. "Human" performed by Oscar Zia and "My Heart Wants Me Dead" performed by Lisa Ajax qualified directly to the final, while "Kizunguzungu" performed by SaRaha and "Put Your Love on Me" performed by Boris René advanced to the Second Chance round. "Weight of the World" performed by Smilo, "You Carved Your Name" performed by Swingfly featuring Helena Gutarra and "Kom ut som en stjärna" performed by After Dark were eliminated.[8]
• The fourth semi-final took place on 27 February 2016 at the Gavlerinken Arena in Gävle. "Youniverse" performed by Molly Sandén and "If I Were Sorry" performed by Frans qualified directly to the final, while "Håll om mig hårt" performed by Panetoz and "Rollercoaster" performed by Dolly Style advanced to the Second Chance round. "Runaways" performed by Eclipse, "Du tar mig tillbaks" performed by Martin Stenmarck and "Killer Girl" performed by Linda Bengtzing were eliminated.[9]
• The second chance round took place on 5 March 2016 at the Halmstad Arena in Halmstad. "Håll om mig hårt" performed by Panetoz, "Put Your Love on Me" performed by Boris René, "Kizunguzungu" performed by SaRaha and "Bada nakna" performed by Samir and Viktor qualified to the final.[10]

Final

The final was held on 12 March 2016 at the Friends Arena in Stockholm. Twelve songs competed—two qualifiers from each of the four preceding semi-finals and four qualifiers from the Second Chance round. The combination of points from a viewer vote and eleven international jury groups determined the winner. The viewers and the juries each had a total of 473 points to award. The nations that comprised the international jury were Australia, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, Estonia, France, Israel, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia.[11] "If I Were Sorry" performed by Frans was selected as the winner with 156 points.[12]

Draw	Artist	Song	Juries	Televote/SMS/App[13]			Total	Place
				Votes	Percentage	Points
1	Panetoz	"Håll om mig hårt"	14	1,033,326	8.2%	39	53	8
2	Lisa Ajax	"My Heart Wants Me Dead"	23	876,209	6.9%	33	56	7
3	David Lindgren	"We Are Your Tomorrow"	11	739,125	5.9%	28	39	11
4	SaRaha	"Kizunguzungu"	11	971,097	7.7%	36	47	9
5	Oscar Zia	"Human"	89	1,150,943	9.1%	43	132	2
6	Ace Wilder	"Don't Worry"	83	933,756	7.4%	35	118	3
7	Robin Bengtsson	"Constellation Prize"	40	1,142,783	9.0%	43	83	5
8	Molly Sandén	"Youniverse"	39	988,640	7.8%	37	76	6
9	Boris René	"Put Your Love on Me"	6	931,166	7.4%	35	41	10
10	Frans	"If I Were Sorry"	88	1,815,697	14.4%	68	156	1
11	Wiktoria	"Save Me"	69	1,206,130	9.5%	45	114	4
12	Samir & Viktor	"Bada nakna"	0	845,605	6.7%	31	31	12

Promotion

Prior to the 2016 contest, Frans performed "If I Were Sorry" during the London Eurovision Party on 17 April 2016, which was held at the Café de Paris venue in London, United Kingdom and hosted by Nicki French and Paddy O'Connell.[14]

At Eurovision

Frans during a press meet and greet

All countries except the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) and the host country, are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. As the host country, Sweden automatically qualified to compete in the final on 14 May 2016.[15] In addition to their participation in the final, Sweden is also required to broadcast and vote in one of the two semi-finals. This would have been regularly decided via a draw held during the semi-final allocation draw on 25 January 2016, however, prior to the draw, SVT requested of the European Broadcasting Union that Sweden be allowed to broadcast and vote in the first semi-final on 10 May 2016, which was approved by the contest's Reference Group.[16]

The two semi-finals and the final were televised in Sweden on SVT1 with commentary by Lotta Bromé.[17] The three shows were also broadcast via radio on SR P4 with commentary by Carolina Norén and Björn Kjellman.[18] SVT24 also broadcast the three shows interpreted in International Sign for the deaf and sign language users.[19] The Swedish spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the Swedish jury during the final, was Gina Dirawi.[20]

Final

Frans during a rehearsal before the final

Frans took part in technical rehearsals on 3 and 8 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 9, 13 and 14 May.[21] This included the semi-final jury show on 9 May where an extended clip of the Swedish performance was filmed for broadcast during the live show on 10 May and the jury final on 13 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.[22] As the host nation, Sweden's running order position in the final was decided through a random draw that took place during the Heads of Delegation meeting in Stockholm on 14 March 2016. Sweden was drawn to perform in position 9.[23] Following the second semi-final, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. While Sweden had already been drawn to perform in position 9, it was determined that Sweden would perform following Bulgaria and before the entry from Germany.[24]

The Swedish performance featured Frans alone on stage performing in front of a screen of lights, which displayed various patterns and spelled words from the song lyrics.[25][26][27] During the performance, Frans moved from the main stage to the satellite stage where he finished the song. Frans was joined by one off-stage backing vocalist: Jonathan Jaarnek Norén.[28] Sweden placed fifth in the final, scoring 261 points: 139 points from the televoting and 122 points from the juries.[29]

Voting

Voting during the three shows was conducted under a new system that involved each country now awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act.[30] In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.[31]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Sweden and awarded by Sweden in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:[32][33][34][35]

Points awarded to Sweden

Points awarded to Sweden (final)
Televote
12 points	10 points	8 points	7 points	6 points
Denmark  Iceland	Estonia  Finland  Poland	Germany	Austria  Croatia  Hungary  Latvia  Lithuania  Norway
5 points	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point
Slovenia	San Marino	Albania  Bulgaria	Armenia  Belarus  Czech Republic  France  Ireland  Netherlands  Russia	Belgium  Cyprus  Serbia  Spain  Ukraine  United Kingdom
Jury
12 points	10 points	8 points	7 points	6 points
Czech Republic  Estonia  Finland	Germany  Netherlands	Austria  Belarus  Latvia		Georgia  Iceland  Moldova
5 points	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point
France  Ireland	Denmark  Hungary  Ukraine		Italy

Points awarded by Sweden

Semi-final 1 Score Televote Jury 12 points  Bosnia and Herzegovina  Russia 10 points  Netherlands  Malta 8 points  Russia  Azerbaijan 7 points  Austria  Czech Republic 6 points  Finland  Netherlands 5 points  Iceland  Armenia 4 points  Hungary  Finland 3 points  Armenia  Croatia 2 points  Cyprus  Austria 1 point  Croatia  Cyprus

Final Score Televote Jury 12 points  Australia  Australia 10 points  Poland  Azerbaijan 8 points  Russia  France 7 points  Ukraine  Malta 6 points  Lithuania  Russia 5 points  Austria  Netherlands 4 points  Bulgaria  Armenia 3 points  France  Czech Republic 2 points  Netherlands  Lithuania 1 point  Spain  Spain

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Swedish jury:[30]

• Karin Gunnarsson – Chairperson – radio DJ
• Lisa Ajax – artist
• Anton Ewald – artist
• Rickard Kellor – Program Director NRJ Sweden SBS Discovery Radio
• Anderz Wrethov – songwriter, artist, producer

Wiktoria Johansson was originally announced as one of the Swedish jurors. On 4 May, Johansson was replaced by Lisa Ajax due to her participation as a panelist in the SVT1 programme Inför Eurovision Song Contest, where she evaluated and distributed points to the competing entries prior to the contest.[36]

Split voting results from Sweden (Semi-final 1)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		K. Gunnarsson	L. Ajax	A. Ewald	R. Kellor	A. Wrethov	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Finland	10	9	1	7	9	7	4	5	6
02	Greece	15	15	18	9	18	16		15
03	Moldova	18	14	9	15	12	14		17
04	Hungary	6	10	17	11	11	13		7	4
05	Croatia	4	8	16	6	7	8	3	10	1
06	Netherlands	5	7	15	3	1	5	6	2	10
07	Armenia	1	3	6	13	10	6	5	8	3
08	San Marino	17	18	10	14	17	18		11
09	Russia	2	2	3	2	2	1	12	3	8
10	Czech Republic	3	5	5	8	8	4	7	13
11	Cyprus	14	13	7	12	5	10	1	9	2
12	Austria	9	17	14	4	6	9	2	4	7
13	Estonia	12	6	4	16	16	12		14
14	Azerbaijan	11	1	8	1	3	3	8	16
15	Montenegro	16	16	13	17	14	17		18
16	Iceland	8	11	11	10	13	11		6	5
17	Bosnia and Herzegovina	13	12	12	18	15	15		1	12
18	Malta	7	4	2	5	4	2	10	12

Split voting results from Sweden (final)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		K. Gunnarsson	L. Ajax	A. Ewald	R. Kellor	A. Wrethov	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Belgium	9	13	9	10	16	11		13
02	Czech Republic	6	8	11	7	18	8	3	25
03	Netherlands	5	10	12	6	3	6	5	9	2
04	Azerbaijan	12	1	4	2	6	2	10	24
05	Hungary	18	14	17	18	19	18		17
06	Italy	17	23	24	13	15	20		16
07	Israel	21	16	10	19	5	15		15
08	Bulgaria	19	7	14	17	4	13		7	4
09	Sweden
10	Germany	20	25	23	16	20	23		21
11	France	2	9	5	3	10	3	8	8	3
12	Poland	25	24	25	20	21	25		2	10
13	Australia	1	5	1	1	1	1	12	1	12
14	Cyprus	24	22	13	23	12	21		14
15	Serbia	16	20	19	22	22	22		18
16	Lithuania	13	18	7	12	2	9	2	5	6
17	Croatia	8	15	18	11	7	12		22
18	Russia	7	6	8	4	8	5	6	3	8
19	Spain	15	2	2	14	23	10	1	10	1
20	Latvia	14	12	16	25	17	17		11
21	Ukraine	3	19	20	21	13	16		4	7
22	Malta	4	4	3	8	14	4	7	23
23	Georgia	23	17	22	24	24	24		20
24	Austria	10	21	21	5	9	14		6	5
25	United Kingdom	22	11	15	15	25	19		19
26	Armenia	11	3	6	9	11	7	4	12

References

1. "Sweden Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
2. Escudero, Victor M. (15 September 2015). "Sweden: Melodifestivalen 2016 tour announced". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
3. Fahl, Hanna (17 November 2015). "Gina Dirawi leder Melodifestivalen 2016". dn.se (in Swedish). Dagens Nyheter. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
4. Escudero, Victor M. (30 November 2015). "Sweden: Who will compete in Melodifestivalen 2016?". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
5. Escudero, Victor M. (6 February 2016). "Melodifestivalen gets underway in Sweden". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
6. "Anna Books bidrag "Himmel för två" diskvalificeras från Melodifestivalen 2016". svt.se (in Swedish). Sveriges Television. 4 February 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
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8. Escudero, Victor M. (20 February 2016). "Sweden: third semi-final results". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
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10. Petersson, Emma (5 March 2016). "Panetoz, SaRaha, Boris René och Samir & Viktor är i final i Melodifestivalen 2016". svt.se (in Swedish). Sveriges Television. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
11. Escudero, Victor M. (12 March 2016). "Tonight: Melodifestivalen final in Sweden". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
12. Escudero, Victor M. (12 March 2016). "Frans wins Melodifestivalen in Sweden". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
13. "Alla röstningssiffror Melodifestivalen 2016" (PDF). svt.se (in Swedish). Sveriges Television. 16 March 2016. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
14. Roxburgh, Gordon (18 April 2016). "Review of the London Eurovision Party". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
15. "Stockholm to host 2016 Eurovision Song Contest". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 8 July 2015. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
16. Jordan, Paul (25 January 2016). "Allocation Draw: The results!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
17. Petersson, Emma (13 April 2016). "Lotta Bromé kommenterar Eurovision Song Contest 2016: "Det är lite av en dröm"". svt.se (in Swedish). Sveriges Television. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
18. "Eurovisionfesten kan börja – här är Sveriges Radios bevakning". sverigesradio.se (in Swedish). Sveriges Radio. 20 April 2016. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
19. Martinsson, Niclas (6 May 2016). "Dansande händer i Eurovision". dovastidning.se (in Swedish). Dövas Tidning. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
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21. "Media Activities" (PDF). eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 May 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
22. Roxburgh, Gordon (13 May 2016). "Juries voting tonight for the 2016 Grand Final". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
23. Brey, Marco (14 March 2016). "Sweden to perform 9th in the Grand Final". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
24. Brey, Marco (13 May 2016). "Running order for the 2016 Grand Final revealed". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
25. Nilsson, Helena (3 May 2016). "Second day of rehearsals at the Globe Arena". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
26. Halpin, Chris (3 May 2016). "Sweden: Frans stays true to his Melodifestivalen performance during first rehearsal". wiwibloggs.com. Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
27. Nilsson, Helena (8 May 2016). "Day 7 of rehearsals at the Globe Arena". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 8 May 2016. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
28. "Frans: If I were sorry". eurovisionartists.nl (in Dutch). Eurovision Artists. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
29. Roxburgh, Gordon (14 May 2016). "Ukraine wins 2016 Eurovision Song Contest". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
30. "Here are the judges for Eurovision 2016!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 29 April 2016. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
31. Jordan, Paul (18 February 2016). "Biggest change to Eurovision Song Contest voting since 1975". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
32. "Eurovision Song Contest 2016 First Semi-Final". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
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36. "Lisa Ajax ersätter Wiktoria som jurymedlem i den svenska juryn i Eurovision". svt.se (in Swedish). Sveriges Television. 4 May 2016. Retrieved 6 May 2016.

External links

• Official SVT Eurovision website