During last night’s SVT panel discussion for Eurovision 2015, Swedish music experts discussed ten more acts. The panel, which includes Kristin Amparo, Christer Björkman, Sarah Dawn Finer, Tess Merkel and Eric Saade, focused quite a bit on their home country of Sweden.

The panel was unanimous in believing that this year’s selection was filled with boring ballads (“And too many duets!,” according to SDF). But Eric Saade and Sarah Dawn Finer‘s comments about Måns Zelmerlöw and “Heroes” stood out the most.

Saade said that this year is one of the worst yet, mostly because of the quality of the setlist. He has high hopes for his compatriot:

“But it’s good in a way, because I think Måns will walk away with the victory now. Besides Australia, no one is even close to beating Måns.”

Finer also praised her fellow Swede:

The songs that stand out really make it, and it makes me think that Måns will have a great chance. It feels good for Sweden that we send something that is abnormally high class this year in terms of numbers, artist and song. He doesn’t have so many other modern pop songs to compete against.

Do you think Måns is a safe bet for the victory? Or are Eric Saade and Sarah Dawn Finer counting their chickens before they hatch?

Photo: Janne Danielsson (SVT)

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8 years ago

Eric Saade is a arrogant and stupid, he criticized offensively Leonor Andrade, couldn’t he have the slightest respect? Yes he is free to express an opinion, but he must respect especially someone from a different country.
His songs are horrible and he looks like a Justin Bieber 2.
I keep my respect to Sweden, but don’t let it represent your country.

barcelona
8 years ago

Grande juventus grande amore its all about Italy.Italy are in top shape .grande amore the best song ever 25 million views on you tube.go boys bring Europe to see the pope Rome 2016 can’t wait

George
8 years ago

@ Jasper

I don’t speak Swedish but I remember at the first show when they were reviewing Grrece among others Eric watched Maria Elena’s performance and made a joke about her saying ‘OUT OF BREATH’. That’s right Eric Saade judged someone for his vocal skills.ERIC SAADE!!!

Jasper
Jasper
8 years ago

I’ve seen all the panel discussions on SVT, and heard what Eric Saade and the rest said about other songs, and he is REALLY arrogant.. When Sweden have won, they have always held good shows, no doubt. But I am so sick of hearing them percieving themselves as the only ones who knows how to host, who knows how to send songs and singers. Just because other countries do something different, does not mean it is bad, it just Means it is different.. Eric Saade has a small career in Sweden and Norway, thats it.. He talks and behaves as… Read more »

R
R
8 years ago

1. This year actually has heaps of quality songs

2. Australia is not the only ‘serious’ competition

3. Sweden is possibly over-exposed at this point… Have we reached Swede-fatigue?

barcelona
8 years ago

Sweden has to send a better song than loreen s in order to win this isn’t so forget it.ital now is one generation above all.grande a more is the second best song ever to go to EU/sion ,the first is euthoria.come on guys we can’t vote for the ausies that’s sounds stupid .so Europe we’re going to Rome next year with a 25 million view on you tube.people wake up its just grande amore Rome 2016

Milla
Milla
8 years ago

Oh my.. But well said jasmine. Couldn’t agree more. They really are not getting the whole picture!

DavisUsa
DavisUsa
8 years ago

WHAT??? O.o

Alex
Alex
8 years ago

@WTF: I would love Ljubljana 2016 and I don’t see why such a thing should be out of the question. Lena won with a fresh, uptempo song a few years ago (then again, she had a whole bunch of precontest hype in surrounding countries, of course).

Bango
Bango
8 years ago

Sweden had my vote BUT I will not support this arrogant behavior and the insults towards Ann Sophie (GER) that were voiced in this show.

Criticca
Criticca
8 years ago

Australia really had a big advantage this year. The buzz and mention of their participation at Eurovision this year in many ads will definitely get people waiting for their song at the grand finals.It was the same for Conchita last year! I can definitely see Guy Sebastian winning.

George
8 years ago

@ Racal and @ Lia

I’m gonna needle all by my self a f*cking Italian flag watching all this Swedish arrogancy. I wouldn’t mind even Finland win.

Emilié
Emilié
8 years ago

To “G” maybe it’s because ur jealous… :p

G
G
8 years ago

Oh Eric, Eric, Eric… Never been a big fan of him, and I know these comments should be put into context and everything but they come across very vain, arrogant and ignorant seeing that this is actually one of the strongest years and there are at least 3 other songs that have a better chance at winning than Australia or even Sweden… it is his opinion but he’s a public figure, someone with past in Eurovision, of course he’d get attacked for saying these things… I can only say that I completely disagree with him. also is it just me… Read more »

G
G
8 years ago

@Mitchelvaneijk I’d like to correct that they’re not Opera, they’re Pop/Opera, a small but significant difference, and they’ve got stronger vocals than the Opera fails from the past, so I won’t be surprised if you were proven completely wrong on the big night if/when Italy takes it all

ct
ct
8 years ago

The swedes have become so smug and pretentious, it’s really offputting.

And this year is probably the most high quality line-up since 2009. And much more competitive than 2009 when we did know in advance who is going to win.

jasmine
jasmine
8 years ago

Wow, the majority of these comments really bugs me. Mainly because everyone is basing their opinions on cherry-picked quotes from the show. How many of you actually understood what they’ve been talking about for the past 4 weeks, not just judging from the numbers of the scoreboard? I can understand that people might be upset about Saade’s words, but in his defence, he is handpicked as a jury-member solely because 1. He has competed in the ESC himself. And 2. He is representing the younger viewers/pop-loving demographic. He didn’t hate on Italy or anything, he gave them 7/10 points for… Read more »

Adams
Adams
8 years ago

I agree with Eric Saade that this is one of the worst editions of the ESC, mostly because of the very low quality of the set list.

EscCroatia
EscCroatia
8 years ago

One of the main reasons why I don’t want Sweden to win is because the contest would be boring.I prefer thrillers from the 90s when you Actually had to watch ESC to find out the winner.Heroes is nice but again, too “not-so-special” for me.Undo was better.

Lisa
Lisa
8 years ago

No one can beat Italy

Aaron
Aaron
8 years ago

This whole time I did not care what they were saying in interviews etc but first Mans’ statement bout his love life ( come on the comments he made years ago contradict him despite the apology) and now this, I mean every country like to play up their act a bit but really Eric?, 2 times NF loser and when he does get to eurovision its with a cheesy as hell song screw him.

EscCroatia
EscCroatia
8 years ago

Heroes is catchy but imo it is not special at all.It will probs finish in top 5 but NOT win it.

And even if Mans marries a gay guy — at this point on, I can’t stand him sucking up to ESC fans.Sweden won a lot of times and a surpising country should win now.

Milla
Milla
8 years ago

Eric had an opinion like everyone else here. Can’t really tell the difference.. He likes it catchy, so what? Not many catchy songs this year.

Milla
Milla
8 years ago

They were humble about Sweden’s chances actually. They THINK and HOPE he will have a chance. I think it’s pretty fair with whole package Måns got. But the competition is high. Måns believes in Australia, Italy and also Azerbaijan when being asked about what he thinks. He can only do his best.

EF0912
EF0912
8 years ago

I can’t believe he said that the quality is low – this year is the strongest since 2009. Just because there is no clear winner doesn’t mean that the year is weak. Also I have a feeling that the winner will be a shock. After today’s rehearsal, I wouldn’t be surprised if Hungary or Georgia take it all.

mocosuburbian
mocosuburbian
8 years ago

(plot twist: it’s actually going to be Finland)

Dani
Dani
8 years ago

Eric, sorry for existing and travel a bit more

Daniel
Daniel
8 years ago

Sweden is a great country, inside and outside of the country but I will never be a fan of this song. I hate it, along with other favourites such as Italy, Spain and in especially this case Australia, but their entry is at least satisfactory. I dont want any of these to win but it won’t be the end of the world. I still want Latvia to win but I feel that Norway is this year’s winner.

George
8 years ago

Even if Swedes were competing this year with a song as good as Euphoria(don’t know if that’s possible) I would not want them to win. 2013 was boring, cheap and small. They wanted to make money and not to create something spectacular. Just no.

esc1234
esc1234
8 years ago

Im sorry but eurovision 2013 was a giant melodifestivalen. Small arena, lynda whateverhersernameis (but I love her), producers decide order of appearance and they promote good songs and denmark. I mean just NO. it was good, Sweden knows about this stuff BUT countries that havent won for a long ago,have to go for gold. Albania belgium Italy slovenia should go for it. And Estonia but i still remember the eurovision without a stage 2002. Hope they built a new indoor arena.

Mar
Mar
8 years ago

I love Heroes and think it has a strong chance of winning, so I can’t really say anything negative about it, but would it hurt the swedes to be a little bit more humble? With comments like these they’re being very counter productive.
I also agree this is a very competitive year, and only second in quality imo to 2009

Huh
Huh
8 years ago

Swedish entries can be tiring to watch and listen to. Not to mention Eric Saade himself as well.

His statement and Sara Dawn Finer’s make me want to like the boring ballads and duet entries even more.

Fatima
Fatima
8 years ago

A great way to alienate voters from every other country, Eric.

Adam
Adam
8 years ago

Anyways Erics song in 2011 was so annoying and cheesy with the most immature lyrics (just like “Sting” this year), how he got 3rd place ahead of songs like Greece, Denmark, Serbia, B&H, Slovenia, and Hungary is beyond me.

opu
opu
8 years ago

Oh god. Don’t pay attention to them, “inför esc” is an incredibly biased show. They are never allowed to say anything negative about the Swedish entry, ever. Every year they say that Sweden will win. And I really don’t know what’s up with them this year, because they have basically given every other country incredibly low points. Like, if a country gets over 5p (out of 10p) it’s a miracle. They have just been very bitter this year (especially Saade and Amparo. And Merkel). Which is odd, because I think the overall standard is pretty high this year (also this… Read more »

Adam
Adam
8 years ago

This year is one of the best in sng quality with Sweden, Estonia, Belgium, Norway, Albania, Russia, Italy, Australia, Spain, Slovenia, Germany, Latvia, etc I can go on and on but the point is it’s typical of someone like Eric to think that Mans has no competition, because his head is probably so far up his ass anyway he can’t see the good in any of the other songs. Maybe the Swedish have become a little too arrogant because of Loreen (who is the queen of everything music, dont get me wrong), but they have this false sense of “We’re… Read more »

anonymous
anonymous
8 years ago

I completely disagree with Eric. This is one of the strongest years of Eurovision ever. We have a complete variety of songs this year. We have the soulful songs like Estonia, Italy and Norway, the radio-friendly songs like Sweden, Australia and Slovenia, the avant-garde songs like Belgium, Georgia and Latvia, the fun songs like Iceland and Israel, the powerful songs like Russia and Albania, the list goes on… Also coming from Eric that is big considering that ‘Popular’ is one of the most cheesiest songs in Eurovision in recent years….

Leon
Leon
8 years ago

I actually think this year is ONE OF THE BEST with class acts. Are you kidding me? Italy has the best act and I think Italy will walk away with the trophy.

davve
davve
8 years ago

Sweden will win.

Lia
Lia
8 years ago

I never liked that guy…Sweden and Australia are both strong contenders but so are Italy, Estonia, Norway, Slovenia, just to name a few. Maybe he thinks it’s a weak year because this year isn’t full of boring, cheesy, average pop songs with non-sensical lyrics like “Popular” was? 😛

Between this and the “I would date a guy” statement, I’m going to follow Racal’s lead and buy an Italian flag as well xD

WTF
WTF
8 years ago

Ljubljana 2016. You heard it here first.

Giorgos
Giorgos
8 years ago

Sweden has an amazing song this year and is one of my favorites, but Måns will not win. He will for sure be in the top 5 though with Estonia.. I am sure that Italy will be the winner of 2015! (from Greece)

Yaay
Yaay
8 years ago

Just for the sake of it..
Italy will NOT win, neither will Australia. I think it will be a fight between Sweden, Norway, Estonia and Azerbaijan.

This is my opinion (TIMO)
This is my opinion (TIMO)
8 years ago

This loser is getting on my nerves. SERIOUSLY. cant stand this eric whatever his name is..he is so full of himself chatting out of his arse..how can you be so blind and say about Mans victory when you haven’t even seen all songs performed and not everyone will have same taste as you are your taste doesn’t make song winner because you dont even vote and all votes doesn’t come from you surely winner is not decided by you.. SO shut your mouth and go home and get some sleep loser eric

Chris
Chris
8 years ago

It is ironic that such a statement has been made by a singer who had one of the cheesiest songs in 2011. I completely disagree. This year’s edition is one of the greatest in terms of the songs’ quality, if not the best in the history. And I would be very reserved saying that Mans has only one rival. Such an opinion from the Swedish side is just vain and doesn’t help their entry.

Aleksi
Aleksi
8 years ago

Italy must win

Olya
Olya
8 years ago

Italy is much better than Sweden.

Leo
Leo
8 years ago

If Måns Zelmerlöw really wants to win it he and his team should stop with further statements and would rather do better to concentrate on the rehearsals.
Don’t be surprised when Måns starts holding gay babies in Austria *rolls eyes*.
AND IF HE CONTINUES IN THIS WAY THEN HE IS GOING TO LOOSE IT AS LAST YEARS ARAM MP3 LOST IT.

JK Hawaii
8 years ago

I agree with D, practically every country either matched or stepped up their game from last year—I’m only disliking a couple either because (a) their entry last year was stronger or (b) it doesn’t stand out enough. I’m honestly hoping this year can relive other nail-biting Contests because I think it’s totally possible for that to happen.

Oostenrijk
Oostenrijk
8 years ago

It’s interesting how the Swedes are so stuck up and contrived and the opera singers from Italy so natural and fun.