Swedish composers Ylva & Linda ready for Eurovision 2016!

The Eurovision 2016 season has started and the Swedish twins are back in the game!

As we previously reported, Ylva and Linda Persson are identical twin sisters – Song writers, producers, singers and show artists from Stockholm. These Swedish composers are doing their best to reach their dream of having a song competing at (Junior) Eurovision.

It’s been almost a year since we posted about them and their list of achievements has become bigger since then! Their last attempt is their participation at the on-line competition of the Swiss national selection for Eurovision 2016, where they are taking part as composers and singers:

Take a look at their achievements until the date:

Eurovision 2013:

• Eurovision Moldova – Inaya – I need you now (semi finalist)

Eurovision 2014:

• Eurovision Malta – Addictive – Romina Mamo (semi finalist)
• Eurovision Belarus – You will be here – Janet (3rd place)
• Eurovision Ukraine – Natalia Valevskaya – Love makes you beautiful (5th place)
• Eurovision Lithuania – Silent Tears and Breakaway (semi finalists)

Eurovision 2015:

• Hold Your Colours – Solju – Finland (4th place in final)
• Still Alive – Anton Ovidiu – Romania (3rd place in final)
• Giving Up Your Love – Tasha Odi – Belarus (finalist)
• Supernova – Janet – Belarus (finalist)
• Sublime – Carolina Gorun – Moldova (semi finalist)
• Unicorn – Anastasia Liberos – Cyprus (Eurovision Song Project)

Junior Eurovision 2015:

• Я выбираю свет (We will shine) – Katya Maneshina – Russia – (finalist)
• Síocháin – Ruby – Ireland (semi finalist)

Eurovision 2016:

• Closer to my heart – Ylva & Linda – Switzerland (online selection)

We recently caught-up with the Swedish twins to know more about their work:

E+: When did you start composing songs? Which is the thing you most like about composing?

We started composing at 15 years old on the piano and synthesizer, and the ESC has always been a great inspiration to us. As we got into computers, we also started producing and recording our own songs and entered some contests. We love everything about composing, but probably melodies the most as they come most naturally to us.

E+: Which are your favourite songs of the history of Eurovision?

We have many favourites over the years since we discovered the ESC in 1983 when Carola competed for Sweden, such as Un jour, un enfant, Pas pour moi, Sti Fotia, Once in a lifetime, Era stupendo, Tornero, Shady Lady, La La love…, to name a few. We love songs with a good melody line and beat and our interest in this contest has always been in the songs themselves even before the contest became big and famous.

E+: What are your plans for the upcoming Eurovision season?

We are working on some more Eurovision projects to close before the end of the year and we are also planning to submit to at least 10 countries for 2016 with different artists. We have worked non-stop since the last selections ended and really hope the hard work will pay off!

We are really happy to have entered the Swiss selection with our song “Closer to my heart” and so will be really grateful for your help with votes! http://esc.srf.ch/de/ylva-linda

E+: Which is your highest achievement until the date?

In “Eurovision terms” it must be scoring third place in the national selections for Eurovision 2015 in Romania with our song “Still Alive” and for Eurovision 2014 in Belarus with the song “You will be here”. We also won the National musical prize “Lira” as composers for best music video clip of the year in Belarus 2015 and scored 3rd place in the Baltic Song Contest 2015 in Sweden.

E+: What would it mean for you to have a song competing at Eurovision? What would you tell SVT to convince them you are perfect composers for Melodifestivalen?

Our goal has always been to reach a winning position for Eurovision and also Melodifestivalen. We keep working hard every evening after our regular jobs and weekends to reach this goal. We feel that it’s a combination of the right song and the right artist that will be successful to convince juries and people.

E+: Can you explain our readers how you work in the studio?

We work daily in our home studio with vocal and instrument recordings and we use sequencer programs for producing and mixing the right sounds for our songs.

E+: How do you contact with European participants and producers?

We regularly look for the right artists and cooperations, and it is usually through Facebook where we get in touch with them for the first time. For Junior Eurovision, we had a great help from you Belén finding artists! 🙂

E+: Do you have any message for all the composers and producers who may be interested in your songs reading this article?

We are always open to new cooperation with talented artists and co-producers/mixers, so don’t hesitate to check out our released songs on our YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/thecoverbox or on Spotify: http://po.st/YlvaLindaSpotify . If you are interested, contact us directly on Facebook or by e-mail to [email protected]

E+: Good luck girls! We hope your Eurovision dream come true!

Remember, if you are a good singer and you are looking for a song to compete at Eurovision, Ylva and Linda are here to help you!