The third semi-final of Melodifestivalen 2019 has taken place in the Tegera Arena in Leksand. Halfway through the six week marathon, we are one step closer to determining who will represent Sweden in Tel Aviv.
Jon Henrik Fjällgren with “Norrsken” and Lina Hedlund with “Victorious” will proceed direkt till final, while Martin Stenmarck with “Låt skiten brinna” and Rebecka Karlsson with “Who I Am” are moving through to Andra Chansen. They will have to fight another day for a spot in the grand final.
Melodifestivalen 2019: Semi-Final 3 qualifiers
Jon Henrik Fjällgren — “Norrsken”
Simple but never boring, Jon Henrik specialises in atmosphere and that’s what he brought today. Fire and ice collide on stage, leaving us with “Norrsken”. There was little doubt this was going direkt till final and Jon Henrik will be a huge contender on March 9. After all, the Eurovision lineup would be incomplete without a man singing to a reindeer, right?
Lina Hedlund — “Victorious”
Alcazar may not be in Melfest 2019 but Lina Hedlund ventured out on her own and slayed. Surrounded by a circle of light, Lina owned the stage and came out “Victorious”. Joined by four dancers over the bridge, this builds to an epic climax. Congratulations, Lina!
Andra Chansen
Martin Stenmarck — “Låt skiten brinna”
Martin Stenmarck brought a much needed dose of Swedish to Leksand. There were no big gimmicks on stage but the experienced singer brought flawless vocals and lots of charisma. “Låt skiten brinna” certainly resonated with Swedish fans and Martin lives on to fight another day in Andra Chansen.
Rebecka Karlsson — “Who I Am”
A ballerina, boxer and rhythmic gymnast walk into a bar… and out comes a Melodifestivalen entry. “Who I Am” combines some interesting characters around Rebecka Karlsson, who shines with a composed performance and excellent vocals. Rebecka showed maturity beyond her years and earned a spot in Andra Chansen.
Melodifestivalen 2019: Semi-Final 3 eliminated acts
5th place: Dolly Style — “Habibi”
Robbed, I say! Dolly Style brought epic choreography and Middle Eastern realness. You can’t listen to “Habibi” without having the tune stuck in your head and Dolly Style worked their signature brand and image on stage. Dolly Style made it through the first round of voting but were unable to secure a spot in Andra Chansen or beyond.
6th place: Omar — “Om om och om igen”
A perfect blend of Nordic and Latin realness, Omar served attitude for days. Staged with a clever use of green screens, there was plenty of energy on stage. Unfortunately, Sweden wasn’t quite feeling it in this strong semi-final. Omar suffered the same fate as the other O in FO&O. He won’t progress any further in this year’s Melfest.
7th place: The Lovers of Valdaro — “Somebody Wants”
The Lovers of Valdaro certainly had staging going for them. With the lead singer swathed in pink over a sea of whites, this really pops on screen. Unfortunately, they got lost in a sea of stronger upbeat numbers after opening the show. Nevertheless, this was a respectable effort.
Melodifestivalen 2019: Semi-Final 3 running order
- The Lovers of Valdaro — “Somebody Wants”
- Dolly Style — “Habibi”
- Martin Stenmarck —”Låt skiten brinna”
- Lina Hedlund — “Victorious”
- Omar — “Om om och om igen”
- Rebecka Karlsson — “Who I Am”
- Jon Henrik Fjällgren — “Norrsken”
What do you think of the results? Did your favourite advance direkt till final? Who was robbed? Let us know in the comments below.
Boring negative opinions as always about Australia ,Russia and Sweden. Still Australia have an awesome song, Russia will probably have to and Sweden will send Hanna/liamoo i think and do well. So once again the fans are WRONG. What a shocker haha. Not really. Fans are wrong 99,9 % of the times i feel.
While I agree with you on the negative opinions, I feel like Liamoo/Hanna wouldn’t be the best choice to do well with the popular vote… but that’s just my opinion.
I think that Jon Henrick is the best option for Sweden.As a person he will carry a great message.He was born Colombian and raised by swedes and he sings swedish sapmi traditional music.He respects the swedish culture so much.He integrated.This will show to immigrants and refugees that they should integrate to Europe and respect the culture of the land they will.It will also remind to all of us,the native europeans that we must not abandone our cultures and traditions but maintain them .This is a great and important messagw for all people who live in Europe native or not.Home isnt… Read more »
Lol, really?
Please tell us what a native European is and what traditions we have abandoned!
Sometimes in some countries people dont like traditional music because they think that it is only for older people.
Well yes, but traditional music isn’t strictly European. It’s not even the same in every European country. And the term traditional music is wide because it can incorporate many sounds And yes, strictly traditional music can be boring. Something your grandparents listen to. But if it’s mashed up with modern sound it can find a new audience. Look at Ed Sheeran. He mixed traditional Irish music with modern pop sounds ad got hits. Or Lady Gaga who mixed traditional American folk-sound with rock to create Shallow. That is what Jon Henrik is doing. Had he been strictly traditional no one… Read more »
Thats NOT a reason for me to vote for him.
I am from sweden. if I was adopted as a baby to a family in Iran, I would offcourse inregrated to their culture and religion. Same whith Jon- Hendrik. He is a swedish same. Not a Columbian. He was rsised as same in Sweden. I am not raised as a same and I as well as other swedes have not the same conection to therir traditions and way of live their lives.
My opinion after watching the semi final 3: Lovers of Valdaro – Terrible song, of course it was last. Dolly Style – Their safest song yet. No sexual allusions and “so bad it’s good” lyrics, just a plain dance song. They were decent and deserved to pass, but I am not that upset they didn’t. Martin – Not good, not bad, but quite boring. At least we have another song in Swedish going further. Lina – The song has really typical lyrics, but she dominated the stage. She is so beautiful. Omar – This was bad and all over the… Read more »
Lina Hedlund was so good 🙂 . Never expected a place in the final so very happy:) . My first time i liked a Dolly Style song. Melodifestivalen is good this year to. Im happy 🙂
Again, since Malou went DTF, the season went unpredictable. I was like WTF when reading Victorious went DTF and Dolly and Omar got left in the semi.
So happy that Jon Henrik completed the DTF hat trick, I hope he wins now! For those who do not know, the Melfest Twitter account has officially announced that Omar finished 6th in semifinal 3 and The Lovers of Valdaro finished 7th
The pre-recorded backing vocals have gone wild. Dolly Style were not singing their choruses live, I’m willing to bet. Also who was singing the chorus to Norrsken? There was nobody on stage, they could have at least pretended. At least it made me appreciate Lina all the more.
Finally, why were the 6th and 7th places not revealed on screen?
Backing vocals behind the stage.
Why would backing vocalists be behind the stage, though, when backing vocals don’t even have to be live?
N E ways,,,does anyone have recommendations for national finals to watch next year instead of this mess of a competition? Thanks…literally none of my favorites this year (except for Wiktoria) are still in the competition and I want death.
UwU
You should never forget the classics: Festivali i Kenges and San Remo. Aside of those, other good national finals are Australia Decides, Destination Eurovision, Festival da Cancao, Selectia Nationala and NMGP, in my opinion.
How arrogant.. Just because your favourites didn’t make it through this year. Does it mean it has to be like that next year?
Melodifestivalen is every year one of the worst competition in europe. So cringe, so false, just plagiat songs. The final is the only one worth to watch, even if it is very hard to watch.
Lol, so because your favourites didn’t make it it’s a mess?
Has your favourites in other selections made it through?
And you mean it will be like that next year too?
Just go with it and watch, that’s hos most Swedes do it
The only thing I would change in the results is Omar DTF instead of Jon Henrik.
That reindeer and that song… still wondering who voted for it
People did not vote for the song, they voted for him lol
JHF is so adorable. He performs his songs really beautifully, conveys emotion, and has a nice presence on stage. I really enjoy Jag ar fri, Daniel’s Joik, and En varld full av strider. Unfortunately, I think JHF’s song this year is his 3rd best entry in Melodifest. I’d happily see him on the Eurovision stage and I’d certainly vote for him if he is selected to represent Sweden this year, but this song is not his best nor Sweden’s best song/performance at this year’s Melo. Objectively, I don’t think he should go to ESC this year because, like Mariette, I… Read more »
I have a question @William Lee Adams, why don’t you talk about the chart performance of these songs? You did it for some countries after their semifinals (like France) and I found it interesting. For example after 3 weeks Anna’s Ashes to Ashes is still #2 on iTunes, which is a bit surprising.
I am not surprised about “Ashes to ashes” because that song slays in my head for two weeks now (even I don’t want it to).
I caught myself singing it a few times when I pee.
That song has a potential and I won’t be surprised if it will win at the end.
I tune in every week waiting for a song that is better than “Ashes to Ashes”. It hasn’t happened yet.
Is she the final destination?
Winning Melo after reaching the Final via AC has been done before. I think she has the potential to do it, though at this point it would be a big upset to Wiktoria and Mohombi.
I wish that Mariette was waiting in SF4 with a really good song.
I’m not sure the iTunes chart is very significant – in Sweden, Spotify is the important thing to watch. The numbers who actually buy from iTunes are so low.
Melodifestivalen’s songs doesn’t suit Wiwibloggs this year either. It takes ages to post news and to this third semifinal no links to the rehearsal clips were given as they usually do. Still people complain about the favouritism against Sweden. Incredible! When it’s pretty obvious that all people do is to complain how bad and unspiring it is. I don’t see any favouritism any more.
Weak semifinal tonight But I keep watching Melodifestivalen, since it brings me wonderful memories every year and makes me know new music which I can enjoy and add to my playlist. Jon Henrik’s song was the best, by far. I also enjoyed Dolly Style catchy song, although their best try was “Hello Hi”. The songs in Swedish did nothing for me. Lina’s song is this year’s Party Voice, I like her. The song is nothing to write home about, though Rebecka sang quite out of tune tonight and the song slightly reminds me of “Love me like you do” My… Read more »
So happy with the qualifiers! Jon Henrik Fjallgren touched me in a way. Would love to see him going to Eurovision!
Lina was good as well and as said before; the Party Voice of 2019, haha!
I don’t care about the other acts. I am surprised that Rebecka qualified to AC. Her song was a bit meh and her vocals were off at times…
Okey, this was just unexpected. I totally failedin my prediction. Anyway, any of these sings is getting far.
I’m shocked that Omar and Dolly Style didn’t at least gonto Andra Chanssen. Their vocals were brilliant! not too surprised with the direct qualifiers, they are comeback artists with good records at Melfest. Looks like Malou Prtyz is the only debutant who directly qualified.
Well. I’m glad for Jon Henrik, the staging was so pretty. But the song is… Well, a song of Kempe. Unfortunately.
Still the best though, the other are more uninspired.
The Raindeer was hillarious.
Even more so after watching Estonia that had a bonking Raindeer.
not to forget, the estonian raindeers were smoking too after they had sex
victorious is the party voice of 2019…. the dated bop we all secretly love
Hahah indeed, i kind of missed it alot! Actually liked the song to be honest lol
Speak for yourself.
He (she) does. Huh?
I do have a problem in that I LOVE it.
Last week Margaret, today Dolly, what’s going on?!
Swedes finaly realised that fake, copy-cats, and untalented odd acts are not that interesting for Europe.
Even if those girls from DollyStyle really hit a few good harmonies….
“.. Isabella, Gabriella
Everyone’s a fella…” 🙂
Really? 🙂
is it me or melfest this year is totally….meh? The songs so far are not something great,the stagings are not as creative as before, hosts dont have chemistry…. idk something feels off again
So true
they need to start focusing on the songs rather than on staging. the selection lacks substance.
totally…. too much radio pop and lack of quality music. Last year they flopped on televoting but i dont think they tried to change anything….
Well Negative Nelly, if you dont like it then don’t watch it!
This a comment section. i made a polite comment/observation. You pretend to be sassy. You are just bitter. Guess who is the idiot and who is not. BB
The song release isn’t attractive. They had the same thing as Slovenia (releasing snippets), yet they released it per semifinal which would kill the vibe–especially if the anticipation is high and we end up having okay songs. After the semifinal, the DTF can’t have their performances uploaded or their songs released. It’s a mess.
I can’t understand how Jon Henrik hasn’t been qisqualified yet as the song has completely taken the melody from “Sun Is Shining” by Axwell & Ingrosso. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbXgHAzUWB0)
Also, according to Wikipedia, Lovers Of Valdaro finished 6th and Omar 7th.
Its not the same song. Its only the same genre.
I tried to watch two national finals at the same time tonight, namely melfest and ema, but i got kinda bored by melfest as there wasn’t a lot of diversity and every song started to blend together into a blob of pop music, so I switched to ema?
It’s normal.
Tonight’s semi was one of the most boring I can recall
Rebecka should be in the final.. oh well, at least she is through
If singing out of tune is worth going to the final…
Yeah, like every finalist of #Mello sings perfectly* 🙂
The song deserved to qualify.
*Benjamin Ingroso (aka ghost, sing for me)
*Armyoflovers
*Mendes (my favourite last year)
*Sean Banan
*Samir&Victor
*Yohio
…and many other “singers” singing “in tune” 😉
Rebeca Karlsson became my favourite.. (I mean her song, but she could be a Sweden’s sweetheart like Anna B. in 2010) … ofc she is not the frontrunner and not that popular so she will not win…
All day I was singing or humming to myself one song – Habibi. So you can imagine how sad I am that Dolly Style were eliminated. From the other qualifiers I’m most ok with Jon Henrik Fjällgren. I still don’t love his song, but I like it a little bit more after hearing it live. Rebecka and Lina didn’t impress me at all.
It was very catchy indeed
Habiiiiibi habiiiiibi
How dare dolly style copy a bollywood song!!! Like we would not notice! It is a copy of “maahi ve” from the movie kal hoo na hoo!
I don’t think it’s a copy, and Habibi is nothing compared to Maahi Ve. Ah, imagine if India had been a special guest and entered with “It’s The Time To Disco” and brought some real Bollywood to ESC 🙂
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=M03GOY5eINg
Although, I think Salaam Namaste would’ve done better 😉
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nFKteKPVU5E
‘Des Rangila’ from the film Fanaa would probably be a great ESC entry for India (in this Bollywood Fantasy we can imagine). So beautifully performed with the choreography and lighting, and it sounds lovely (even if the song lyrics and the film are quite nationalistic). Wiwibloggers, if you’re vaguely interested in Bollywood, YouTube “Des Rangila Fanaa”, it’s very nice 🙂 Also, I still and will probably always think Kajol is one of the most beautiful women/humans I have ever seen! I think the same whenever I watch Ukraine’s ‘Gravity’ (from ESC 2013) and see Zlata Ognevich. In this moment she… Read more »
What a disappointment.
Lovers of Valdaro’s two previous singles blew me away. I kept listening to “Lost forever” and “Walk along” on and on…. and I was thrilled for their apperance in Melodifestivalen… untill I heard the song. Other style, other feelings (no feelings at all)… Why? Why that style of music? yh.
I liked their song but OMG those outfits…!!!!!!
They were chosen by their enemies
Only Replay can save us now…
The performance and staging did it for Jon Henrik, not the song. So he shouldn’t win Melodifestivalen with that. Omar should have gone DF and Lina could have stayed at home during the final instead. Talk about dated crap! Dolly Style is out, thank you! Martin Stenmark deserved AC. So Fredrik Kempe invited Eric Saade to work with him again and “win Mello”? I don’t mind 😀 We’ll see the outcome of that invitation. So, one semifinal left. Have they saved the best for last.. or the worst? I can’t say that I’m over-excited by the artists. But I’m curious… Read more »
Of all the AC qualifiers thus far, I think Anna Bergendahl is most likely to make to the finals and do decently.
Swedish plastic and joking hosts are wearing out. What a boring show. JHF sold his soul for soulless schlager. Sweden is so underwhelming this year.
I totally agree
They downvote you because you say the truth?
Best from Spain
Don’t watch!
Childish comment
Why watch something if you don’t like it? Like a movie that dissapoints you. But still people watch it, hoping for a eurovision winner every year! Am I right? Sweden have done enough this decade. Tonight a swede have won in Estonia and John Lundvik has written UK’s entry and so on and so on.. We are somehow entitled to have a few bad years and come back strong I think.
Don’t watch then!
We can watch whatever we want and give our opinion here, whatever we have.
Get over it
Don’t read my comment if you don’t like it then, LOL, bye!
The Schlager will prevail!
I thought all 4 of the last entries were worthy finalists, I liked all of them. I think its a sign of a strong selection when all songs are Good . I dont think a winner is to be found here but I enjoyed all.
For Me it was Rebecca Karlsson who stole the show.
Sad she only placed 3rd or 4th
what stole the show? the non existent staging or the fact she was off key?
I liked or song as well but I think 3rd or 4th was fitting.
Jon Henrik Fjällgren and Lina Hedlund direct to final, expected that after watching all the songs. Rebecka Karlsson to AC is deserved, Martin Stenmarck was the surprise of the results, had him at fifth to sixth place (battling with Omar) but well. Dolly Style deserved AC, but Habibi, as good as it was performed, is nothing special, but as I said, would switch them with Martin and it would’ve been the result I predicted after I watched all of them. Omar well, Nothing that hurts, but it is not a song, I’d ever would listen to (only if it is… Read more »
I completely agree with you. I also had Martin 6th (Omar for me was 5th). I would have switched Dolly Style with Martin.
Still waiting for a good song in this year’s Melodifestivalen….
I agree
Everything feels very bland
I really liked mohombi with hello i must say.
Mohombi wasn’t that good live… even if the song was kinda ok
While Lina was my AC pick, I’m glad she went straight to finals. And Jon Henrik? he’s been my favorite all along and i really hope he wins this year and he finally gets to represent us!
Omar not even qualifying for AC was the shock of the night. Really thought he’d make it to finals. I guess we don’t rate the O’s of FO&O
The finals is gonna be between Jon Henrik and hanna & LIAMOO
Of all the direct finalists there are, I think I prefer all of them over Hanna and LIAMOO’s song (which isn’t bad, but just wouldn’t be my personal favourite to go to eurovision at least).
After all, the Eurovision lineup would be incomplete without a man singing to a reindeer, right? – I totally agree Antranig! No deer = a flop entry from Sweden.
There’s always room for cervines at Eurovision!
Apparently Voting Swedes don’t have ears since they voted the off key Rebecca Karlson to AC. It was very hard to listen to. Congrats to Martin for making it to AC. I hope you make it to the Finale.
She sings way better normally like she did on swedish idol 2016 but yeah i agree with you
She had the only good song of the night though..
Her diction was brilliant though. Being on Swedish Idol gave her a boost too.
Who thought those three unicorns would stand a chance…srsly
There were no good songs tonight. This was the first time I didn’t stay for the results because nothing caught my interest. Waiting for semi 4.
Habibi was well performed. But my concern is that the stage felt empty and they should’ve included backing dancers to somehow save the performance.
I said Lina’s song is the typical song on the melodifestivalen final , last year was party voice that sounds similar…
My guilty pleasure was Habibi xD, they deserves Andra chansen at least
Party Voice was wayyy better than this
Agree, chocked at how Lina made it to the final…
Though I am happy to see Lina in the final, I was hoping to see Dolly Style at LEAST in AC. I think the new voting system hurt them 🙁
i dont think sweden will dare to send john henrik, international juries aka uncle bjorkmans friends will not place them high
It’s not even that good of a song. His previous entries were stronger and he couldnt win then. He shouldn’t win with a weak entry
lets wait the next semi but i am afraid that we wont see a winner there
Nah, he wont win with that song
Typical long Lolek post incoming (with my thoughts on the results): DF: Jon Henrik – No surprise here. I realize there are elements of his song that resemble some other hit songs out there (namely one by Axwell Ingrosso). Nevertheless I think his DF is deserved. Always enjoyable and unique in contrast to many other entries and I quite like his selection. Lena – I realize many are surprised by her qualification (and perhaps would have preferred another song instead). She was my other choice qualifier based on the early previews and her performance truly wowed me. Yes, it’s kind… Read more »
Sorry but Rebecka’s singing was very out of tune and the performance was boring as hell