One of the biggest events in the Eurovision calendar returns. Tonight in Gothenburg, Melodifestivalen 2023 kicked off as seven acts competed for a spot in the grand final and a chance to represent Sweden at Eurovision 2023 in Liverpool.
Jon Henrik Fjällgren, Arc North feat. Adam Woods won the heat, securing a spot in the final. Tone Sekelius placed runner-up, also going through to the final.
Eurovision 2019 star Victor Crone will sing again at the second chance semi-final round, as will fan favourites Elov & Beny. Rejhan, Eva & Ewa, and The Mamas star Loulou Lamotte were eliminated.
Melodifestivalen 2023 heat 1 results and qualifiers
Seven acts competed in Melodifestivalen 2023 heat 1.
Jon Henrik Fjällgren, Art North and Adam Woods won the first round of voting. They’re through direct to the Mello grand final.
Tone Sekelius won the second round of voting, going direct to final. Victor Crone and Elov & Beny secured a spot in the second chance semi-final.
?? Jon Henrik, Arc North feat. Adam Woods have won #Melodifestivalen heat 1 in Gothenburg! The rest of tonight's acts will go through another round of voting.
— wiwibloggs (@wiwibloggs) February 4, 2023
Voting round one
- Jon Henrik Fjällgren, Arc North feat. Adam Woods — “Where You Are (Sávežan)”
Voting round two
- Tone Sekelius — “Rhythm Of My Show” — 94 points (Finalist)
- Victor Crone — “Diamonds” — 80 points (Semi-finalist)
- Elov & Beny — “Raggen går” — 43 points (Semi-finalist)
- Rejhan — “Haunted” — 32 points (Eliminated)
- Eva Rydberg & Ewa Roos — “Länge leve livet” — 32 points (Eliminated)
- Loulou Lamotte — “Inga sorger” — 31 points (Eliminated)
How do I watch Melodifestivalen 2023?
You can watch Melodifestivalen online via SVT Play. The next heat airs on Saturday 11 February at 20:00 CET (GMT + 1).
Did the right act win? Will Jon Henrik Fjällgren, Arc North feat. Adam Woods win the Mello grand final? Let us know in the comments below.
Very weak start to Mello
Sadly, I have to agree. Let’s hope the next 21 songs are stronger.
I’ve got some bad news. This heat is the least watched opening heat for Sweden in over a decade. That is not a great start. I hope things pick up and we get better songs for the remaining heats.
Jon Henrik for the win! Its time for some swedish sami!!!
Why do Sweden do well every year at Eurovision and it’s not because they songs are we not we all know why
it’s cute that people have so high exepectations about melodifestivalen that they bash it every year. Tbh if any of tonights songs were in other nfs you would be extatic. Some countries are always praised, some are always bashed. Thats eurofans for you
Well seems like a sport and tradition to hate anything Sweden sends or present. First it is complained about that Sweden is overexposed here on Wiwi, now when hardly none of the articles are about Sweden the last few months they still get bashing. The ESC “fans” are at the same level as the Drag Race fans, they are equally vicious and evil.
Normally, I would agree with you that Sweden gets bashed too much, but last night’s first heat was really underwhelming. Perhaps the prestige of melfest played a role in my feelings of disappointment, but I was judging the songs by their merits, and they just felt short for me. I do think the two direct to final qualifiers for the right choices, but there really wasn’t much to pick from. Sweden usually has one of the best national finals, but this was a very weak start by their standards. I hope the remaining 21 songs are stronger than the set… Read more »
People should simply stop judging selections after only hearing 7 songs.Like why bother? That is not telling of how other heats will sound like..
Only after all 4 heats can well tell if it is a weak selection. The first heat has never been an indication of anything. Other than that they save the best songs for later. Only last year was the first heat strong but usually it is the weakest
You make good points, and I’m not disputing them, but like I have written many times, I’m hoping for stronger songs in the upcoming heats. there have been many times where a selection starts off with the weak batch of songs in their first heat, or semi, and then the subsequent week has stronger songs in the competition. I’ve seen this with Lithuania this year. Most of the songs in their first heat weren’t worth writing home about, but the second heat had a higher number of better songs relatively speaking. It’s true you can’t judge an entire selection by… Read more »
Sweden dont need to have all 28 songs great every single year … And 1 heat doesnt need to be always strong …
Jon Henrik’s song is good enough and I wouldn’t mind having it in Liverpool. Let’s see what the rest of the semi-finals have to show.
this semifinal was even worse than the snippets made it out to be…. all of Norways semifinals were better than this one… are we seeing the beginning of the downfall of Melodifestivalen now?
I really wanted to love the Jon Henrik Fjällgren song, but i cant see it win MF this year at all.
Usually the Gothenburg semi is quite good, so this doesnt look promising for the rest of the contest. Loreen better pull this off now!
Let’s hope the finish is better than the start. I’m not going to write off this year‘s melfest until all the songs are out and I can make a proper judgment.
Relax..we are just getting started 😉
I loved Tone so much last year but her effort this time not clicking me at all tbh. Feels very cold and that was last thing I expected from Tone who is very warm.
I’m not sure this song is a good fit for Tone. It feels like it’s trying to capitalize off Chanel’s Slo-mo last year. Her voice is too soft when it needs a loud and powerful voice.
When the interval acts and comedic sketches are more enjoyable than the artists performing…
The two finalists are well deserved. Out of the semi-finalists I think only Raggen går is worth it, and not because its an exceptional song but it was just so fun on the stage, you can’t not like it. I’m sad for the old women duo, their performance was really fun too :((
the amount of swedo*pho*bes in the comments is beyond me! calm down yall.
Normally, I would roll my eyes at the sweden bashing that happens every year, but I have to say the criticism is actually well warranted for this heat. I do think it’s a pretty weak heat for Melfest, probably the weakest I’ve ever seen out of sweden. I am hoping that there are stronger songs in the rest of the heats because I really dread the notion of Sweden being really bad this year.
You don´t have watched Melodifestivalen for very long time I see, it´s not possible to get a weaker heat than the 1st heat in 2007
That is a fair point. I’ve only really start to pay attention to melfest in the last few years. I guess I should’ve clarified that this was the weakest melfest heat that I have ever EXPERIENCED in my life not the weakest of all time.
Mah nothing to write home about. ?
Only Tone Sekelius’ song had something!
My 2 favourites came bottom I’ve got such a unique taste I guess
I liked jon henriks previous mel fest attempts a lot,but this just isnt doing it for me. dont like it
It kind of feels like a sellout song.
I am crazy, turned it off before it ended ? need subtitles lol voting wasn’t over lmaoo
Call me crazy but I swear I saw Rejhan went into the semi and not the other two dudes. Anyone?
SO LOW QUALITY.I am going for Slovenia.
Ofc Tone and Jon will straight into final. Hmn but the granny should at least made into SF :/
Yeah overall no winner in this heat.
I agree. The winner is not coming from heat one unless everything else is just this weak. I hope for Sweden that’s it’s a case of it’s not how you start, but how you finish.
How do u know? Jon might win! Like people needs to move on
Granny were terrible
I just watched this all back. Well done SVT and everybody involved. I loved the magic show tricks all going wrong, I thought that was great! The “climbing inside a balloon” gag was really funny too. 😀 And Cornelia’s extended performance too with the band; fantastic! Sadly, my favourite song tonight (“Haunted”) got knocked out; it was such a simple song and was very touching sung by ‘Sweden’s Got Talent’ schoolboy Rejhan. I hope he is proud of what he did tonight; he still has a long way to go in his career and I wish him all the best.… Read more »
I was trying to realize whats wrong with the first semi-final and apart from the music quality is the set design. there is literally no depth, its a led screen and a stage, totally different than what we got used to melodifestivalen. Maybe that can be an opportunity to choose a good song and not a performance
All women eliminated. Typical Sweden. Let’s hope Loreen makes it to the final this time around.
Sweden doesn’t always eliminate all the women like Saudi Arabia habibi
Tone is a trans person
Tone qualified but okay. Also LouLou and Eva and Ewa were deserved non qualifiers
Tone went straight to the final…so what are you saying? Hate so say it, but Loulou’s voice really didn’t work for the song, so I see why she didn’t make it (I was really rooting for her, but when I heard the song I was really disappointed). Eva & Ewa – I love them dearly, but again, the song was fun but no serious contender for the final
Tone Sekelius? More like Tone Deaf.
That song doesn’t suit her voice.
So, my fellow Swedish Eurovision fans, what did you think of heat one tonight? Where are you entertained or disappointed? I want to hear your thoughts.
Really weak first heat of Melodifestivalen. Im dissapointed and hope next 3 heats gonna have better songs…
I was very excited for Jon Henrik Fjällgren but this song is so boring, his worst in mello…
Tone was the best tonight.
Tone was excellent.
I say this as a self-confessed Melodifestivalen superfan of 15 years – for the first time ever, there was not a single song I enjoyed tonight. Cornelia’s interval act put them all to shame.
I have to agree, this is a very weak start. I really hope that the next three heats have stronger songs. Otherwise, I dread the notion that this could be truly the worst Melfest in years, maybe bad enough that Sweden could fail to qualify.
Lol, we have that every year:)
People should stop judging after only hearing one heat. The first one is almost always the weakest heat anyways. There is always only one good song in the first heat..
And the vinnare is usually coming from Heat 1 😉
Actually only four times has the winner come from heat 1. in 2015 the very last song was the winner. 2016 the third heat. 2011 last heat
The best to come…
De var de två bästa låtarna , så välförtjänta.
Ett bra underhållande program med bra låtar igår! Däremot saknade jag något som kändes riktigt äkta och genuint. Bra show absolut och snygga framträdanden men om jag ser på finalbidragen så känns de kalkylerade och hopsnickrade utifrån ett recept för vad som skulle fungera i eurovision. Jon-Hendriks genuina jojk om sin dotter skulle kunna blivit ett mästerverk. Men man försöker plocka in lager på lager vad man tänker ska få låten att fungera och inte minst tror jag man tittat på Keino. De vann publikrösterna i eurovision 2019 och det känns som att man har förstört Jon-Hendriks jojk och över producerat… Read more »
only KEiiNO can be KEiiNO. Love!
Cornelia Jakobs truly gives Eurovision-winner vibes. What a star!
eh she rather gave a “should-have-rather-performed-like-Måneskin”-vibe… even less originality this year than in 2022….
Tone was best, that’s it. Although all songs were nice nothing really stood out that much. For all that hype Jon Henrik came back with his worst entry. I like the idea of mixing jojk with dance music but I expected more oomph.
Ooh well, on to Linköping next!
It was not His worst entry – maybe for u! It was different. Every time he is bringing something new! He is slaying
It was his weakest. It felt less like him, like a sell out. He was more authentic when he was pure Sami jojk. This felt as if someone looked at KeeiNo and thought hey that might work for us! More jojk, less dance track!
Like I said the idea was interesting but not the execution. The jojk just looked like a gimmick..
Totally unrelated question, but why did security guys pushed Thomas G:son out of the Green Room ?
Because he was not supposed to be there? He did not have any songs competing
well he’s famously a bit of a dickhead, let’s just say that
we finally made the right decision! I rarely agree with results but tonight I’m glad my folks voted correctly
Nothing with oomph here.
Jon Henrik was truly the best here
Sweden bashing for change haha ^^ that was a very good and fun SF ! Nothing groundbreaking but very good stuff 😀
A rather uneventful bunch. I checked Victor who was fine for his bland brand and Jon Henrik and company, the latter being the only act I’m interested in here. It’s nice, I’d like it playing in the background but even that one really doesn’t go anywhere.
Cornelia won Melodifestivalen Heat 1 for the second year in a row!
Cornelia was the best tonight!
My winner tonight was Cornelia
They really have run out of ideas for interval acts
They run out of any ideas in general haha
YAAAAAY Arc North and Jon Henrik!!!!!!!!!!!
I could get into Where You Are if they scratch the staging and change literally everything. Well Jon Henrik’s outfit could maybe stay if someone took the silver strips off it but those cheap looking aluminium foil jackets need to go. Lose the platform and the light tubes as well.
Who did their staging?! Cause that person should be banned from touching another song for at least 2 years. I have a feeling it’s the same one who did Run to the Hills….
I am so annoyed by Jon Henrik’s song. Eurovision has a trend of traditional sound and non-english lyrics and you go the exact opposite way and go for a second tier Avicii? This could have been so great… Tone ate tho
if Keino had written and entered MGP with this song, everyone would be raving. Sweden gets help to an unnecessarily higher standard for some reason.
Eva, Ewa. The best. Their years of experience shine through. That’s something that should be appreciated.
I’m getting tired of Melodifestivalen, same music same sound, recycled lyrics every year but in different arrangements. Zzz.
You think all the other countries are so inventive?
The hell is this guy with giant inflated condom on his head doing?
Eva & Ewa! The rest can go home as far as I’m concerned.
I wrote that before seeing the last act. Jon Henrik’s song is the best, but he needs to stop coming back with worse and cheasier songs every time.
Its a great song maybe people are jealous
Same songs all the time, super boring
Shut up Tom! Watch another national selection then
Watch another National selection then! Don’t come here and bring in all negative energy to people that actually want to watch. We don’t want your opinions.
I actually want Ewa and Eva to win this heat
Was Victor’s voice always this nasal? I remember him sounding better…