It’s one of the most anticipated national finals on the Eurovision calendar. And now things are well underway for the production of Sweden’s Melodifestivalen 2018. Broadcaster SVT has revealed that 2771 entries have been received for the 2018 edition.

The entry period opened on 1 September and ran until yesterday afternoon. The total of 2771 includes 2324 entries submitted via the open competition, and 447 entries submitted internally via the music industry.

With Sweden taking home a top five finish in Kyiv, it seems interest in Eurovision is still high in Sweden. The number of Melfest entries is the highest since 2012.

Schlagermaster general Christer Björkman is raring to go. He told SVT, “We are very keen to start working with the selection process and are delighted that the interest of both the public and the music industry is still high.”

The next step is for the songs to be assessed, under the leadership of jury chair Karin Gunnarsson. Her team is tasked with whittling down the 2771 to just 28 songs — 14 from the songs submitted in the open call, 13 from invited artists, and one being the winner of P4 NästaStiko Per Larsson.

The names of the 28 lucky semi-finalists and their songs will be announced by SVT some time later in autumn.

We’re also still waiting to hear which cities will be hosting the six shows of the 2018 Melodifestivalen tour. Based on previous years, the tour is extremely likely to end at Friends Arena in Stockholm, and it should also feature one show each in Gothenburg and Malmö. But the three others locations are still unknown. Last year the locations were announced in early September, before entries closed.

Don’t stop believing

The hosts of Melodifestivalen 2018 are also still to be confirmed. Last year SVT revealed in late September that the trio of Clara Henry, David Lindgren and Hasse Andersson would host the show.

But until all this is confirmed, fans will just have to speculate. We’ve already seen a number of Swedish stars who have been suspiciously busy in the recording studio lately. Will the new-look trim, toothy and tanned Anna Book finally get her big Melfest comeback after being let down last year? Will Norway’s teen sensations Marcus & Martinus make their Melfest debut?

One act who won’t be returning to Melodifestivalen is FO&O. Despite making the final with their classic boy anthem “Gotta Thing About You”, the group has today announced they are all going their separate ways and will focus on their solo careers. But does this mean we could expect to see Felix, Oscar and/or Omar as a solo act in the Melfest 2018 lineup?

What do you think? Who would you like to see in the Melodifestivalen 2018 lineup? Share your thoughts below!

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Purple Mask
Purple Mask
6 years ago

Even listening to 100 songs per day, that’s like 27 days of song analysis!
Does know if SVT are employing extra song critics/analysts? 😀

CookyMonzta
CookyMonzta
6 years ago

It would be enormously interesting if Jon Henrik hooked up with Maxida Märak for a song at MF2018.

Zebb
Zebb
6 years ago

Given fact how praised Bjorkman last songs’ selection, I may skip watching it again. And that predictability they’ve got with hearts just makes it fake and unfair for older entries…
As of songs – well, I do expect some bangers or accurate mid-tempos and that’s enough for Sweden. Yet to drag in Bella & Philippa once more should be good 5 years later. They were desperately trying look older for unknown reason and failed.

Licia
Licia
6 years ago

Imagine if an arab represents sweden, that’d be amaziiiing

AngieP
AngieP
6 years ago

I’ll say sth similar to what I said about Norway I think: 2771 songs? How can you narrow down 2771 songs to 28? Hope for some good songs right there!

Charli Cheer Up
Charli Cheer Up
6 years ago

I have a strong feeling that Bjorkman wants a third win for Sweden before he leaves SVT on 2021. As for comebacks, I’m really looking forward to seeing Molly PH and Alice battle it out if they return!

Colin
Colin
6 years ago

I am wondering what happens to over 2000 songs that end-up passed in the line-up. Are they returned to their respective owners to be released in a different way or are they forever locked in a Melfest vault never to be heard unless someone decides in following years to use them, which, by the numbers of new entries, seems unlikely.

Denis
Denis
6 years ago
Reply to  Colin

Some of them gets released as singles. Some wait and send in their entry again until it gets accepted. Some send them to other countries selection(most of Swedish songs representing other countries are MF rejects).

So they aren’t locked up:)

Michael
Michael
6 years ago

I hope it’s an improvement over last year. Most songs last year were relatively generic and it culminated in the safest possible entry being sent to Kiev. I also would really like to see some new faces, it kind of gets old seeing the same few artists come to Melfest. Especially when the final is mostly made up of returning artists.

Aria
Aria
6 years ago

They need to get rid of 60 app votes in the final. Either it should be restricted to 5 votes in total or vote for only one person or App votes should count as only 10% of televote points.

The app voting has made televote points so diluted that The Jury by itself can decide the winner even if they place last in televotes

Martin
Martin
6 years ago

I love both Ace and Wiktoria but I think skipping one Melfest cycle would serve both of them well. I second an Isa return, I would also go absolutely nuts if Molly Petersson Hammar came to slay with something like Malta 2016. From the boys, I think Danny Saucedo could pull a Mans (two top placings in Melfest and a return a few years later to win the whole thing). What are Carola and Lena Philippson up to these days? My 15 year old self would die if either of them returned to Mello. Can’t wait for SVT to drop… Read more »

Marc
Marc
6 years ago
Reply to  Martin

Malta 2016 was a big big flop. + it came bottom 3 in the Swedish televote (along with Azerbaijan and Czech Rep.. all 3 boring Swedish products that Swedes couldn’t care less about.. gotta love them 🙂
Also Molly has zero charisma, I don’t see Swedes being passionate on her like with Frans, Nano or Wiktoria. They love cool and Molly is just not that.

Charli Cheer Up
Charli Cheer Up
6 years ago
Reply to  Martin

As much as I LOVE Ace & Wiktoria I don’t think they’ll be allowed to return again next year because they already competed twice in two years. I know Mans tried twice(with Cara Mia and Hope & Glory) and didn’t return with Heroes until many years later.

Iwillwait
Iwillwait
6 years ago

Hope to see ISA back at Melodifestivalen. I Will Wait was sooo underrated; it should’ve been at least top 5. I think if ISA came back with a very strong pop song, she could do very well.

Mattias Sollerman
Mattias Sollerman
6 years ago

This reminded me of how controversial Melodifestivalen and ABBA was back in the ’70s. To quote a Swedish newspaper: “The darkest years in Melodifestivalen’s history must be 1975 and 1976, a time when the progressive movement had a strong position in the Swedish cultural life. The speculative schlager music was seen as an opium for the people and was fought tooth and nail through protests and ‘alternative festivals’. The pressure eventually became so intense that SVT canceled the 1976 competition.” ABBA suffered the same resistance. From Swedish Wikipedia: “The group’s prime years coincided with the Swedish progressive music movement and… Read more »

bella
bella
6 years ago

Eric Saade or Jon Henrick please!!!

Grace
Grace
6 years ago
Reply to  bella

Agreed, every entry by the both of them has been fantastic so far

Marc
Marc
6 years ago
Reply to  bella

Both great! And televote appealing (instead of juries) which is something Sweden needs.

Charli Cheer Up
Charli Cheer Up
6 years ago
Reply to  bella

Why Eric again? Bring back Danny Saucedo. He deserves to finally return!

Denis
Denis
6 years ago

It took you that many sentences without any structure to say you’re indeed still bitter about Sweden for no reason?
I’m impressed..

NickC
NickC
6 years ago

I find the malicious attacks against Melfest hillarious. It just proves that they are industry leaders- it is the most anticipated, best produced national final of the season, with a very large number of quality entries. Just the fact that even ESC started to take bits and pieces of them (i.e. voting) shows that SVT is a pioneer.

FANNY
FANNY
6 years ago

I hope we’ll see Zara Larsson there. 🙂

LSUduck
LSUduck
6 years ago

All I want is Wiktoria and Ace Wilder to return. Love them to bits!! This HAS to be the year for one of them.

NickC
NickC
6 years ago
Reply to  LSUduck

Hello fellow tiger!

Marcus (Day One)
Marcus (Day One)
6 years ago

I wish they’d get rid off or change the app voting. It’s nice seeing the heart glowing at certain parts of the performance but the televotes aren’t varied enough. It used to be the last place song in a semi get around 8000 and the winner around 70000. Now last place gets like 250000 and the winner 800000. And in the Final it used to be last place gets 6-10 points and the winner around 120 whereas now last place gets 20 and the winner 50. It just makes the televote less specific because people will vote for anything if… Read more »

Aria
Aria
6 years ago

Said the exact same thing

Mattias Sollerman
Mattias Sollerman
6 years ago

Slight correction:
2324 songs were submitted via the Regular contest, for which both lyrics and music must have been written by at least one composer/songwriter who has already been signed by a record company or publisher.
447 songs were submitted via the Open contest which only accepts songs by
composer(s)/songwriter(s) whom NOT already have been signed by a record company or publisher.