Ace Wilder

Today, the first heat of the Swedish Melodifestivalen was held in the Scandinavium Arena in Göteborg with Nano and Ace Wilder voted directly to the final. Another two acts will also be in for the second chance in order to represent Sweden in this year Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev.

Seven acts competed in the first of five Melodifestivalen heats. As well as the finalists, Boris Rene and De Vet Du proceeded to the fifth heat, also known as Second Chance.

The songs

Boris René – Her Kiss

Boris is the first to take to the stage. After being a finalist in last year’s edition with the song Put your love on me, this year’s entry seems like an upgrade of his previous one. Boris is dressed in red and black and he has with him four dancers, two male and two female. Boris has the right moves and the stage looks perfect especially on the last part of his song. His performance is up tempo and also a good way to have this party started.

Adrijana – Amare

Adrijana comes to stage with a hip-hop sound with a dark edge. She sings a well produced track in Swedish and she is joined by two ballet dancers at the back. She is fresh and comfortable in the stage and she’s definitely brings something new to the contest. However, the stage looks a little bit empty and her performance is just so simple.

Dinah Nah – One More Night

After making the final in 2015, she comes back with slightly different sound. This year’s entry is a typical pop song but not so dynamic as her previous entry. She is accompanied by six female dancers dressed the same( even the hair color is the same). In the middle of the song, she mix it up with strong rap part while she is lying down on stage.The stage looks amazing and she delivers a good performance.

De Vet Du – Road Trip

This is definitely an entertaining act. The performance is happy but also crazy and you can easily see Samir and Viktor’s influence. The stage is colorful and they are all dressed in black and yellow. They also sing parts of the song in a car in the center of the stage.This is a typical Melodifestivalen performance that got the audience up on their chairs.

Charlotte Perrelli – Mitt Liv

She was the Eurovision winner back in 1999, and this year she comes back with a different sound. Mitt Liv has no similarities to her previous entries, such as Hero or The Girl. She performs alone on the stage, playing a guitar which suits perfectly her outfit and delivering a simple yet beautiful performance.

Ace Wilder – Wild Child

Ace is back! After two successful performances in 2014 and 2016 she comes back with a different type of song. Her song and the stage have a strong tropical vibe and her performance is full of energy. She is accompanied by four male dancers and they deliver beautiful choreography. In the last part of the song, the stage become more colorful and Ace uses the front part of the stage, where she finishes her performance along with her dancers. After her performance the reaction from the audience was loud.

Nano – Hold On

Last but not least, Nano takes the stage to perform his encouraging song. His performance is very well directed and the use of lighting is great. The stage is dark and simple but his voice sounds very good live. The song is modern with a strong message and his performance is quite remarkable. He has with him some backing vocalists and also a female dancer. No doubt this is a strong performance and the fact that he performs last will certainly prove helpful.

The Show

Tonight’s first heat of Melodifestivalen took place in the Scandinavium Arena in Göteborg. The show kicked off at 20:00 CET and it was hosted by Hasse Andersson, David Lindgren and Clara Henry.Hasse Andersson came fourth in the 2015 edition of the contest, David Lindgren reached the final in 2016, and while Clara Henry has never entered the contest, she did host the green room in 2014.

Between song 3 and 4 there is a pre-recorded video with two of the hosts, Hasse Andersson and Clara Henry, who perfome a sketch in an entertaining way.

After all 7 performances there is a pre-recorded video about one of this year hosts, Hasse Andersson. After that, Hasse Andersson performed his own hit ‘Änglahund’ along with Melodifestivalen 2013 entrant Ralf Gyllenhammar.

As the second round of voting, an international dance group from the host city,Göteborg, delivered a dance routine in an excellent way.

Extremelly interesting is the fact that this semi final has earned a voting record for a preliminary heat.

The Results

Five acts went through from the first round of voting:

Dinah Nah, Boris Rene, De Vet Du, Nano, Ace Wilder.

Andrijana: 6th place

Charlotte Perrelli: 7th place

After the second round of voting the results were announced:

Directly to the final: Nano and Ace Wilder

To the Second Chance: Boris Rene and De Vet Du

Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest

Sweden joined the contest in 1958 and missed only three contests in 1964, 1970 and 1976. With 6 wins, Sweden is only behind Ireland as the most successful country in the contest.Their first win was Abba with Waterloo back in 1974 and thanks to this win, Abba became one of the world’s most successful bands of all time.

Since the introduction of the semi finals in 2004, Sweden has missed the final only one time in 2010 when Anna Bergendahl failed to make it to the final, finishing 11th in the semi final. Since then, Sweden has won the contest twice and earned two third places. Last year, Sweden hosted the 61st edition of the contest in Stockholm after the victory of Måns Zelmerlöw in 2015.

Below you can watch Sweden’s entry from last year, Frans with If I Were Sorry.