Melodifestivalen 2023: Artists and song titles leaked?

Melodifestivalen 2023 will be the national final used by Swedish broadcaster SVT to select who will represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023.

Melodifestivalen 2023 song titles: The leak

Prior to the official presentation of the songs and artists, and official image of the hosts was released on SVT official website as a cover image for the show. It is possible to see several names and song titles in the picture, noted down in stickers in a whiteboard, which would include a similar list of names to the ones published by Aftonbladet.

The leaked list goes as follows:

• Wiktoria – “All My Life”
• Eden – “Comfortable”
• Uje Brandelius – “Grytan”
• Theoz – “Mer Av Dig”
• Maria Sur – “Never Give Up”
• Tennessee Tears – “Now I Know”
• Panetoz – “On My Way”

When will the artists of Melodifestivalen 2023 be officially presented?

The list of Melodifestivalen performers in recent years is usually revealed at the end of November. In the last week of the month, the SVT reveals the artists selected for the most historic and best-known Eurovision shortlist. According to the according to the event’s own rules, the names will not be announced before Friday 25 November.

The newspaper Aftonbladet which reveals the names of the Swedish Melodifestivalen participants, has announced that the SVT plans to present the artists for Melodifestivalen 2023 at two press conferences on Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 November.

Who are the Aftonbladet ‘s names for Melodifestivalen 2023?

In total, and pending SVT’s confirmation at the official press conference, Aftonbladet has revealed a total of 23 possible names for Melodifestivalen 2023 Melodifestivalen 2023. This is the list of artists confirmed so far by Aftonbladet for Melodifestivalen:

In addition to the 23 names, Aftonbladet has revealed details of a 24th nomination. This entry would consist of a duo of sisters, granddaughters of a great Swedish artist, who would compete with aSwedish pop folk song.

Find out more about the possible Melodifestivalen 2023 contestants

Mariette Hansson

Mariette is not the first time she would participate in the Swedish Melodifestivalen. With 2023 it would be her fifth appearance at the event after 2005, 2017, 2018 and 2020. In her debut year, she achieved her best result of the whole series with a third place with the song “Don’t Stop Believing.

This time the singer, according to information from Aftonbladet, would participate with a song “in which Mariette is immediately recognisable, but which is very powerful” written by Thomas G:son and Sjimmy Jansson.

Loreen

Loreen is no stranger to Melodifestivalen, as it would be her fourth participation in the contest she won with “Euphoria” just 10 years ago in 2012. She also participated in – with “My Heart Is Refusing You”, a song that was a hit in Sweden and in 2017 with “Statements“, being eliminated on both occasions in the Andra Chansen.

For her fourth participation in the contest she will also be accompanied, as Aftonbladet reports, by the team with which she achieved success in 2012 with “Euphoria. The team consists of Peter Boström, Thomas G:son and Jimmy “Joker” Thörnfeldt.

Maria Sur

The 17-year-old singer was in the middle of filming the Ukrainian version of The Voice when the war broke out. Instead of taking her first steps in the world of music, Maria Sur was forced to flee the war with her mother, while her father remains in Ukraine defending his country after the Russian invasion.

In Sweden, she continues both her secondary school studies at a Swedish high school and the pursuit of her dream of a musical career. Under the guidance of Sarah Dawn Finer, she made her Swedish stage debut in April at the Hela Sverige skramlar för Ukraina gala, securing a record deal in the process. In June she released her first single “That’s the way

Ida-Lova

The 18-year-old Ida-Lova, whose surname is Lind after her father, could make her Melodifestivalen debut. Her mother, Christine Meltzer, is a regular at Melodifestivalen and also hosted the contest in 2010.

Her music debut was at the age of 13 at Aftonbladet’s Swedish Heroes Gala, the newspaper that reveals the Melodifestivalen artists, with a cover of Kent’s“Utan dina andetag”. In 2022, she released her debut EP Hallå världen kan du stanna?

Victor Crone

Singer Victor Crone, well known to Eurofans, and Estonia’s 2019 representative after winning Eesti Laul will be back to try his luck at Melodifestivalen with a 3rd appearance.

His Melodifestivalen debut was in 2015 with Behrang Miri, but he was eliminated in the Andra Chansen and since then it has been difficult for him to get another chance in the Swedish music world. But that changed when he won Eesti Laul 2019 in Estonia with “Storm” with which he finished 20th in the final but which became a big radio hit also in Sweden. In 2020, he went straight to the final in Mello with “Troubled waters” and now he will try again to reach the final of the contest.

Elov & Beny

The 2008 duo is made up of Örebro boys Mattias Elovsson and Oscar Kilenius. With songs like “Supa sleep sex & likes”, “Blowing up to grogg” and “Coming over you”, they have long been successful in a genre that is often called raggarpop, or epa-music, after the cars in which the music roars out of the speakers.

Tennessee Tears

The duo Tennessee Tears consists of Tilda Feuk and Jonas Hermansson. They haverecorded much of their music in Nashville, USA. However, earlier this year they signed with artist Jill Johnson’s record label, Jimajomo, which, according to Aftonbladet, which reveals the Melodifestivalen artists, will be the duo’s mentor. It remains to be seen whether they can repeat Jill Johnson’s success at Melodifestivalen, which they won with “Love Is” in 1998 and became a hit in 2003 “Crazy in Love became a hit in 2003.

Paul Rey

The singer Paul Rey, who is also known to the fans of the contest, is among those chosen for Melodifestivalen. In 2020, he succeeded in the contest with the song “Talking in my sleep”, reached the final and finished in sixth place. The following year, he made another attempt, with “The missing piece”, with which he made it to the final from the Andra Chansen.

Panetoz

The band Panetoz, consisting of Pa Moudou Badjie, Nebeyu Baheru, Johan Hirvi, Daniel Nzinga and Njol Ismail Badjie will try their luck again at Melodifestivalen. They already participated in both 2014 and 2016 and made it to the final with the songs “Efter solsken” and “Håll om mig hårt”. For the 2023 edition, their third in the contest, they hope to have the same success.

Smash Into Pieces

The rock band Smash Into Pieces , consisting of Chris Adam Hedman Sörbye, Isak Snow, Benjamin Jennebo, Viktor Vidlund and Per Bergquist, will take part for the first time. Although making their Melodifestivalen debut now, the band was formed in 2008 and has since released seven studio albums. Guitarist Benjamin Jennebo has been at Melodifestivalen before, but as a songwriter. In 2020 he co-wrote the song “Truobled waters”, which was performed by Victor Crone, who also sounds like a participant in 2023 and with which he went straight through to the final.

Melanie Wehbe

The 30-year-old singer Melanie Wehbe will make her debut as a performer at the Melodifestivalen. In 2020 she co-wrote “Move” by The Mamas, which won the contest that year but, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, never got the chance to compete at Eurovision. Melanie has already released several singles under her own name. Earlier this autumn, she released her first EP, “Bloom”, and since then she has appeared as a musical guest on several TV shows, including TV4’s Nyhetsmorgon and SVT’s Go’kväll.

Emil Henrohn

Emil Henrohn shot to fame earlier this year when one of his Tiktok clips went viral. The video, which includes “I’m Momthe video, which includes a song written by Emil himself, has more than four million views. He has also recently been named Tiktok’s most influential person in Sweden 2022.

Theoz

Theoz made his Melodifestivalen debut at the 2022 edition with the song “Som du vill”written by Axel Schylström and Jimmy “Joker” Thörnfeldt, among others. She finished seventh in the grand final after qualifying from the semi-final(formerly known as Andra Chansen). She has almost two million followers on Tiktok, which many believe contributed to her success in last year’s competition.

Marcus & Martinus

The duo consisting of twins Marcus Gunnarsen and Martinus Gunnarsen, have been high on the Melodifestival wish list since they cemented their success in Norway with hits such as “Hei”, “Elektrisk”, “Heartbeat” and “Girls“.

In 2018, they met SVT’s minimum age requirement of 16 to compete in Melodifestivalen but both have repeatedly turned down invitations to participate that have also come their way from NRK and Melodi Grand Prix officials.

This 2022, Marcus & Martinus have also started working with a Swedish management with extensive Melodifestivalen experience, which brought them closer to the event. On 27 May they released “When All The Lights Go Outa single with which they kicked off a new era, and which is the prelude to an EP they will release soon.

Nordman

Nordman is a band formed by musicians Håkan Hemlin and Mats Wester in the 1990s. The folk rock and ethno-rock veterans had a brief fall from the stage after drug problems, but returned in style in 2005 with their Melodifestivalen debut with the song “Ödet var min väg” (Fate was my path), which came ninth in the grand final. They repeated their participation 3 years later in 2008 with “I lågornas sken” (In the light of the flames), which improved their result to 6th place. The group has been missing for some years from the public scene, but after their appearance this summer on the popular cover show Så mycket bättre it seems that they want to return to the big stage with what has been described as “a great song”.

Loulou Lamotte

Loulou Lamotte (Malmö, 1981) is one of the members of The Mamas, the group that won Melodifestivalen 2020 with “Move” and should have represented Sweden that year in Rotterdam after it was cancelled. As a member of what was then a quartet, Loulou was John Lundvik ‘s backing vocalist at Eurovision 2019 in Tel Aviv. Now, the American-born singer-songwriter will attempt to repeat her solo win after a minor success with her debut single in Swedish this summer.

Wiktoria

Finally, Wiktoria Johansson (Brämhult, 1996) is a fan favourite born and bred at Melodifestivalen itself, unknown in Sweden until her debut at Melodifestivalen in 2016 with “Save Me”, a hit with which she came fourth, trying to repeat her luck the following year with “As I Lay Me Down” and achieving sixth place. Switching to a heartfelt ballad and making her third straight final, the Brämhult girl came sixth again with “Not With Me”. Now, she could try to enter the Swedish music party once again.

According to Aftonbladet, the newspaper that is revealing all these Melodifestivalen names, the contacts and decisions about which artists will take part in the Swedish contest are not yet finalised, so the participants themselves may not even know they are contestants yet.

When will Melodifestivalen 2023 take place?

After the cancellation of the Melodifestivalen 2022 tour due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was announced that the tour stops would be maintained in 2023. The first round will be in Gothenburg and the last one in Malmö. These are the dates of the Melodifestivalen 2023 tour:

• Round 1: Gothenburg (Saturday 4 February 2023)
• Round 2: Linköping (Saturday 11 February 2023)
• Play-off3: Lidköping (Saturday 18 February 2023)
• Play-off4: Malmö (Saturday 25 February 2023)
• Semi-final: Örnsköldsvik (Saturday 4 March 2023)
• Final: Stockholm (Saturday 11 March 2023)

MELODIFESTIVALEN, EUROPE’S BEST-KNOWN PRE-SELECTION SHOW

Melodifestivalen has been held every year since 1959, except for the 1964, 1970 and 1976 editions. Since the year 2000, it has been the most popular television programme in Sweden; it is also broadcast on radio and the Internet.