SVT once again announced that Melodifestivalen will be Sweden’s pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest and some changes have been introduced for the upcoming edition.
Last year, SVT made some serious changes by eliminating the “second chance” show and replacing it with a fifth heat raising the total amount of the competing songs from 28 to 30. This change will remain for 2025.
The 2025 format
Melodifestivalen 2025 will consist of 5 heats with 6 competing acts in each heat. The two acts with the highest points from each heat will advance directly to the final. But, who will get the last two tickets for the final will differ compared to last year’s competition.
In 2024, the acts that got the 3rd and 4th places in the heat, advanced to the “finalkvalet” round (second chance). Next year, only the 3rd-placed act will qualify for this round and thus have a chance to complete the 12-song line up of the final. This means that “finalkvalet” will only have 5 competing songs instead of 10 and a different voting system.
This round will once again take place right after the 5th heat is over. There will be a voting round where the highest scoring act of the five will qualify for the final. A second voting round will begin where the viewers will be able to vote for the remaining four acts and the one with the highest points will take the last ticket for the big final in Stockholm.
Another change that will be introduced in the next year’s edition is something the fans were asking for! The release dates of the competing songs! All these years, SVT were very strict about the release of the songs prior to the contest. The viewers were only getting a few seconds of rehearsals and snippets and the finalists were not allowed to be streamed before the last heat was over. This will change for the 2025 edition. All six songs from each heat will be released to all platforms on Friday, one day before their competing heat and will be available throughout the entire competition.
Song submissions for Melodifestivalen 2025are done by uploading the audio file of the entry via www.melodifestivalen.se during the period 23rd August at 09.00 – 14th September at 11.59 CET.
Marcus & Martinus represented Sweden with “Unforgettable” and brought the 9th place to Sweden in 2024. Who will be crowned the next Swedish representative?