It’s almost time to crown a winner in Sweden. The Melodifestivalen 2022 final will see 12 acts fight it out for the chance to fly the Swedish flag in Turin. Amongst the stars hoping to represent Sweden at Eurovision is Faith Kakembo with her song “Freedom”.
Scroll down for “Freedom” lyrics.
Melodifestivalen 2022: Faith Kakembo — “Freedom”
Faith Kakembo, 36, is a nurse anaesthetist from Jönköping. She caught the attention of the Swedish music industry in 2019 when she participated in the P4 Nästa radio competition, which opened the door to new exciting career opportunities.
Faith made her Melodifestivalen debut in 2020 with “Crying Rivers”, which placed fifth in semi-final three.
“Freedom” was written by Faith Kakembo, Laurell Barker, Anderz Wrethov and Palle Hammarlund.
Laurell Barker has quickly become a big name in the Eurovision world. Alongside “Freedom”, she’s written six other Melfest entries, including Hanna Ferm’s “Brave”, which placed fourth at the Melodifestivalen 2020 final. Elsewhere, she had three songs compete at the Eurovision 2019 grand final — Michael Rice’s “Bigger Than Us” (United Kingdom), S!sters “Sister” (Germany) and Luca Hänni’s “She Got Me” (Switzerland).
Anders Wrethov is best known for writing two Melfest-winning tracks. In 2019, he co-penned John Lundvik’s “Too Late For Love”, and in 2021, he lent his skills to Tusse’s “Voices”.
Meanwhile, Palle Hammarlund is one of the songwriters behind Melfest legend Tess Merkel’s 2021 entry “Good Life”.
What do the “Freedom” lyrics mean?
“Freedom” is about resilience and fighting for a better future, even when all hope seems lost. Faith sings about the pain of humanity, lamenting how humans cause suffering and “make each other bleed”.
But she knows there is hope: with lyrics like “know my heart’s gonna keep me breathing” and “keep moving it forward”, Faith promises to find her freedom and fight for a better future.
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“Freedom” lyrics — Faith Kakembo (Melfest 2022)
Songwriters: Faith Kakembo, Laurell Barker, Anderz Wrethov and Palle Hammarlund
I don’t see the love
I just see the wounds
I just feel the struggle here in me
Can’t it be enough
Just being a human
I hate the way we make each other bleed
I won’t give up
I’m not afraid
No my hope don’t stop believing
I can trust
Won’t suffocate
Know my heart’s gonna keep me breathing
Till I find my freedom
Oh until I find my freedom
I can see the life
Where everybody’s healed
Tell me how much trouble would that be?
‘Cause I know you and I
We could write the sequel
Wе could turn nightmares into dreams
I won’t give up
I’m not afraid
No my hopе don’t stop believing I can trust
Won’t suffocate
Know my heart’s gonna keep me breathing
Till I find my freedom
Oh until I find my freedom
I’m caught in a notion
I’m getting no peace
Proposing a motion
This world’s gotta see
Keep moving it forward
Until you and me
Find
Find
Freedom
I won’t give up
I’m not afraid
No my hope don’t stop believing
I can trust
Won’t suffocate
Yeah my heart’s gonna keep me breathing
I won’t give up
I’m not afraid
No my hope don’t stop believing
I can trust
Won’t suffocate
Yeah my heart’s gonna keep me breathing
Till I find my freedom
Freedom
Oh until I find my freedom
What do you think of “Freedom”? Could Faith Kakembo win Melodifestivalen 2022? Sound off in the comments below.
I am surprised to see this song in the final. It’s simply not good enough
Been there done that. Very ordinary and contrived lyric. NO
this is feeling like Voices 2.0–the real gem was Crying Rivers…and I am Crying that it was left behind in the semis and this went through to the final
I was a staunch supporter of Faith making it DTF with Crying Rivers, so of course I’m glad that she made it through this time around. Also, aside from maybe Lisa, it’s not like there was a stronger entry knocked out because of it. Then again, I find this quite nice, but it doesn’t have ”a moment” worthy of Faith’s vocals. It has a nice message and in times like these, this might resonate even more. Melfest writers, hear me out – In 2023 give Faith something like Lisa Ajax’s Torn or Cornelia Jakobs’ Hold Me Closer and you actually… Read more »
I love her vocals and charisma but as others have said she deserves a better song 100%.
Parts of this sound like last years entry and it’s been written by jumbling previous Swedish MF songs in a computer and churning out yet another competent but unremarkable song.
Same sentiment really. This is probably the weakest song still standing in the competition for me and Faith deserves better.
Despite result it is nice having someone you know a bit, competing. She comes from same town as I, Jönköping and we even shared same workplace briefly. Though not in the same building:)
Everyone here is so happy for her. Being in final is a win on its own..