Yesterday we learned the names of the first nine acts that will compete in Sweden’s Melodifestivalen 2021. Today it’s time for the next nine. Throughout the day, SVT will announce the next group of competing artist in this year’s competition. The final lot of names will be revealed tomorrow.
SVT is announcing the artists on its social media accounts and on the Melodifestivalen app. We’ll be updating this page as today’s artists are revealed. One artist will be announced every hour from 7:00 to 16:00 CET.
Melodifestivalen 2021 – Final ten confirmed acts
The Mamas
Song title: “In The Middle”
Songwriters: Emily Falvey, Robin Stjernberg, Jimmy Jansson
2021 is The Mamas’ third Melodifestivalen appearance in a row. They won in 2019 as John Lundvik’s backing singers, then again last year with their own song “Move”. The group is made up of Ashley Haynes, Loulou Lamotte and Dinah Yonas Manna.
Jessica Andersson
Song title: “Horizon”
Songwriters: David Kreuger, Fredrik Kempe, Marcus Lindén, Christian Holmström
Jessica Andersson represented Sweden at Eurovision 2003 as part of Fame. This is her eighth Melfest appearance. Most recently she competed in 2018 with “Party Voice”.
Sannex
Song title: “All Inclusive”
Songwriters: Greta Svensson, Hans Thorstensson
Dansband Sannex won the 2017 Swedish Grammis award for Dansband of the Year. They have released over a dozen albums and recent releases include “Låtsas som att det regnar”.
Clara Klingenström
Song title: “Behöver inte dig idag”
Songwriters: Clara Klingenström, Bobby Ljunggren, David Lindgren Zacharias
Clara makes her Melodifestivalen debut. She released her first single last year and has released a number of other singles over the last year. Clara’s song is co-written by Melodifestivalen veteran songwriter Bobby Ljunggren.
Efraim Leo
Song title: “Best of Me”
Songwriters: Efraim Leo, Cornelia Jakobsdotter, Amanda Björkegren, Herman Gardarfve
Efraim Leo makes his Melodifestivalen debut. The up-and-coming singer had released a number of singles, including “When I Wanted You”.
Tusse
Song title: “Voices”
Songwriters: Joy Deb, Linnea Deb, Jimmy “Joker” Thörnfeldt, Anderz Wrethov
Tusse Chiza is best known to Swedish audiences from having won last year’s series of Swedish Idol. He has released a number of singles, including the Idol winner’s single “Rain”.
Julia Alfrida
Song title: Rich
Songwriters: Julia Alfrida, Jimmy Jansson, Melanie Wehbe
Julia is this year’s P4 Nästa wildcard entry. Julia represented the Stockholm region in the radio contest with her song “Dark Doom”.
Alvaro Estrella
Song title: Baila Baila
Songwriters: Anderz Wrethov, Linnea Deb, Jimmy “Joker” Thörnfeldt
Alvaro Estrello competed solo at Melfest 2014 and last year with Méndez. He has also sung backing vocals at Eurovision for Eric Saade, Sergey Lazarev and Robin Bengtsson.
Klara Hammarström
Song title: Beat Of Broken Hearts
Songwriters: David Kreuger, Fredrik Kempe, Niklas Carson Mattson, Andreas Wijk
Klara debuted at Melfest 2020 with the song “Nobody”. She has released a number of other singles including “Oh My Oh My”. Klara is also known as the star of a reality TV series following her family.
Eric Saade
Song title: Every Minute
Songwriters: Eric Saade, Linnea Deb, Joy Deb, Jimmy “Joker” Thörnfeldt
This is Eric’s fourth Melfest appearance. He previously represented Sweden at Eurovision 2011 with “Popular” and last competed at Mello 2015 with “Sting”.
Melodifestivalen 2021 – Previously confirmed acts
- Anton Ewald – “New Religion”
- Arvingarna – “Tänker inte alls gå hem”
- Charlotte Perrelli – “Still Young”
- Danny Saucedo – “Dandi Dansa
- Dotter – “Little Tot”
- Elisa – “Den du är”
- Emil Assergård – “Om allting skiter sig”
- Eva Rydberg & Ewa Roos – “Rena rama ding dong”
- Frida Green – “The Silence”
- Kadiatou – “One Touch”
- Lillasyster – “Pretender”
- Lovad – “Allting är precis likadant”
- Nathalie Brydolf – “Fingerprints”
- Patrik Jean – “Tears Run Dry”
- Paul Rey – “The Missing Piece”
- Mustasch – “Contagious”
- Tess Merkel – “Good life”
- WAHL feat. SAMI – “90-talet”
The semi-final groupings have not been revealed yet but are expected to be announced soon. The competing songs for Melodifestivalen 2021 are not expected to be released until the week of their performance.
What do you think of the names revealed so far? Can any of these artists give Sweden a Eurovision win? Tell us your thoughts below!
Additionally, for those following OGAE Second Chance (I know *I* am! lol), the lineup might look like this: Albania Croatia Denmark Estonia Finland France Israel Italy Lithuania Norway Portugal Sweden That would for sure mean a return for France and withdrawals for Australia, Iceland, Latvia, and Ukraine. For everyone else (Second Chance-wise), either the artist is selected and we don’t know the selection method yet (Czech Republic, Moldova, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, and Slovenia) or we know neither and there’s an equal likelihood of them going completely internal or doing a public selection (Armenia, Belarus, Ireland, Poland, and the United… Read more »
I thought Ukraine was considering a national final?
with no Vidbir this season I’m very excited for Melfest (and FIK) even more, so many returned artists, really looking forward to their songs
If I had to nominate one act just with this information, it would be a tie between “Fingerprints” and “Beat Of Broken Hearts”. I’m so ready for great modern English ballads by young women. Also Nathalie’s blue outfit from one of her Idol clips was absolutely gorgeous and how cool sounds “Beat Of Broken Hearts” as a title?! 😀
Also, 9 songs in Swedish and 19 in English is a completely fine relation for me 🙂
Without any songs being released, I’d say that the acts most likely to get enough hype for the win are The Mamas, Dotter, Eric Saade and Danny Saucedo. The first two being huge fan-favorites of the last year and the second two having big pre-established fan-bases and ESC backing. Eric’s Popular is probably the launching rocket from which Loreen won in 2012 and Sweden managed to establish themselves as the big league. Dark horses include Charlotte and Jessica, if their songs hit the right spot. I’d actually love to see an act over 40 to win Melfest, if the song… Read more »
It’s very possible that Danny might get an overdue win, like Sanna in 2014. He was very unlucky in 2012 to be up against Euphoria, where he came second – if Amazing had won, he could have gone on to win in Baku instead.
I think Danny has far more cred than Eric, Dotter or any other artists outside of Melfest here in Sweden. Of course that might not translate into success in the competition, and as Danny said himself his song might not be able to win because it’s in Swedish and the international jury rarely gives points to Swedish songs. I’m personally definitely most interested in his song though!
So, to update the “2020 artists” tally:
Has Diodato been reported for Sanremo 2021? I missed that! All will be revealed in two weeks…
I think that I have read somewhere that Diodato is not going to enter San Remo 2021, but I am not 100% sure, maybe it’s false memory. I think he deserves a spot in the 2021 contest tbh. As for the others I think Uku Suviste can make it, I don’t know why but I have a feeling that he is going to win Eesti Laul again (of course we don’t have the songs yet so it’s just pure speculation/imagination). I also think that Alicja will be back for Poland and Athena Manoukian for Armenia (or maybe wishful thinking for… Read more »
I think all 5 will return, though I feel that Athena’s hasn’t been confirmed yet because of the difficulty of travel From greece (or Germany, as She sometimes performs in Hannover) to Armenia, particularly with Agean Airlines flights unlikely to Be available until the weekend of the taping deadline at the end of march. She consistently likes and reposts kind comments or stories on her insta (I have witnessed that myself) and this includes several asking her to represent the country in 2021 – she clearly wants to, the relevant delegates have long wanted her to, and she would walk… Read more »
*would. I don’t see why Alicija or Vasil shouldn’t get first refusal. I feel that If Athena was a native yerevani or spent lockdown in Armenia, or travel there was easier than it is, she would already have been given it, her fans are sure she will and she clearly wants it, and It is hard to tell if the silence is good for our James and for Lesley.
Furthermore, I expect Uku to win because of the margin What Love Is won by, but let’s see.
I know it’s probably not a popular opinion but I’m more impressed and excited about FiK than I am with Melodifestivalen. Looking forward to seeing Dotter though, but so exited to see about 8 of the FiK acts.
Keith was the impostor…
(0) impostors remains
Edin, leave him Alene… (JK)
@Joe: #MadeMyDay!
Without songs, I’m totally supporting The Mamas & Éric. :’)
As we saw in recent years , songs are more importants than names.. (felix sandman from last year for example).
And about Eric saade, I hope his song will have better lyrics than sting(“oh sting it’s gonna sting so bad”) and popular.
I don’t know…i never really liked Erics vocals to be honest…then I rather see Danny go to ESC if i have to choose between the two.
Eric vocals were not good back then I agree(watch his mic only version from 2015), but maybe he got improved (plus he can use the pre recorded backing vocals:))
I would love to see Eric Saade win Melfest again and return to Eurovision! To do so exactly ten years after Popular would be perfect in my opinion! Previously I was excited for Dotter but Little Tot sounds like a terrible song title. I didn’t like The Mamas last year but I imagine they’ll probably get a lot of sympathy votes and that might help them win Melfest again.
Judging a whole entry on its name…. lol
Who do you think will perform at number 28? I think The Mamas because last year they started Melfest and then sadly ESC was cancelled. It feels like The Mamas
It’s highly possible that The Mamas will indeed perform last in the 4th Heat of Melfest 2021. However I wonder who is gonna perform first in the 1st Heat
A party song. Could be Danny i think
I am sure that most among The Mamas, Dotter, Eric Saade, Charlotte Perrelli, Jessica Andersson, Danny Saucedo and Arvingarna will have either starting or finishing spots in their respective heats.
Arvingarna since they are kinda like party starters?
I think the Mamas won’t get the 28th position because I think people involved want something else to win this year. My bet is on Danny, Eric or Dotter.
Maybe:). i would be happy if Charlotte, Jessica, Dotter have super songs and just shock everyone:)
The Mamas didn’t perform first in Grand final. They permored third.
But your point is valid nevertheless, because historically position No. 3 didn’t bring much success in previous Melfest finals !
Can i ask you a thing: is it not okey in here to be political? VAL was denied by the regime to compete because they dont like the regime in Belarus. All my comments was deleted. So cant i say that in here that i support VAL? it was in the Kazakstan post.
I’ve watched Mello since the middle 80’s and never missed one show since the semi finals were introduced. I know the game. I just have the feeling that the Mamas won’t get the 28th spot. They usually save that spot for someone that hold high expectations. Björkman’s words.. but we’ll see.
I’m pretty sure it will be Eric Saade
When Eric announced the points for Sweden in 2019 he said “I really wish I was there, but I’m not. Maybe next year. Who knows.” This was reportedly a subtle nod to the fact that he, due to his heritage, formally isn’t allowed to travel to Israel. In any case, would be amusing if the prediction came true.
There’s some irony for you: Israel was one of the two countries that gave “Popular” 12 points back in 2011! (And I suppose there’s no hard feelings, given him being a part of the extended salute to Israel’s winners at Melfest).
Definitely no hard feelings. He was being sincere, not passive-aggressive.
Is that true? He is Swedish, with a Swedish passport.
Yes, special restrictions apply for people of Palestinian origin. But if he’d want to go there he could probably do so via the Allenby Bridge. It’s not that he’s not allowed in the country, it’s just that the ports of entry are regulated as far as I understand.
Thanks. I wonder how they would even know what his origins are, though…they probably need for him to fill in forms and tell them himself, or else be hauled aside at the airport under suspicion because of his last name.
That’s sad. One good thing about the contest going to Rotterdam is that The Netherlands generally has good relations with other countries
Thank you. That article says his father was born in Lebanon, so it seems to go down the generations. I still think it might be Aftonbladet reading too much into his comments for the sake of a good story, though – but yes, the other could easily be true too.
So as I had said they made the announcement like it’s Melfest 2011. Danny Saucedo first, Eric Saade last. Of course we don’t know the line up of each semi, so this is not a running order. As I can see Saade’s song title is not in swedish, so for now he can’t be ruled out as a winner for 2021 (for me at least). I have a feeling that his song will be a ballad, the first song of him that comes in my mind is “Someone New”. Of course I have no idea who’s gonna be the winner,… Read more »
I don’t think you can totally rule out swedish songs nowadays though. When you look at the swedish Spotify top 50 for example, the only English song in the top 5 is Mariah carey with all I want for Christmas.
Completely unrelated, but related to your profile pic: I’ve gotten super into Liet International lately and Frisian music slaps. I’m even friends with Bruno Rummler on Facebook!
Haha nice, I must admit I don’t listen to much frisian music myself since it’s such an extremely small market. But that’s cool!
That’s kind of a surprise, since your prof pic seems to really celebrate Friesland!
Yes I’m from friesland and I speak frisian with my family etc. But it’s not like you have a large array of songs you could listen to on Spotify for example 😉 Most frisian songs are like party songs you’d listen to in the pub or big folk fests or you have like these traditional folk singers which is just not for me and mostly old people listen to . You kinda miss the fresh modern pop , hiphop market you do have in the Dutch music scene nowadays, which is sad.
That is a shame. Everything I’ve heard has mostly been folky and alternative, but occasionally I’ll hear a group like Sequens that’s more funky. Same issue with Celtic languages like Welsh and Irish – you mostly hear folk and alternative songs in those languages, not pop songs.
Look up Seo Linn for some Irish-language stuff…
I’ve always dreamt of the Netherlands sending a modern song in Frisian though xD
If they aren’t even sending songs in Dutch, though…
Nothing can be ruled out. It’s 2020! But I personally I believe that Sweden won’t send a song in swedish, even though I love their language
(Well it won’t be 2020 then, but let’s call it 2020 effects)
This almost seems like a Melodifestivalen: All Stars! I’m excited most for Dotter, Eric Saade, Paul Rey and The Mamas. On paper, it’s a strong looking contest, roll on February!
By my count (judging by names alone), 21 out of 28 songs have at least one female songwriter, even if it’s evident that male ones still outnumber them. I believe that only 2 songs have more female songwriters than men, but there are several ones with an equal number (either 1:1 or 2:2).
A step towards equality is there, but I am glad that the proposed quota rule was rejected. What should be done is encouraging more women to apply in the first place and then just picking the best songs.
A long wait…
Ok so Clara is the unnamed mystery female singer
Anxious for the shows hehehehehe
The Aftonbladet only fails one name Mustasch
Spectacular!!!!
Eric Saade takes the last spot. So, how much did Aftonbladet get right?
27 out of 28. Only Mustasch wasn’t reported by them
And since they reported only 27 acts, with a ”mysterious” 28th one, it actually makes them completely right, no?
Holy crap. Who knew the one thing Aftonbladet is reliably, damn near on-the-money about is Melfest?
Yep. A tabloid you shouldn’t trust other than in this specific area. And I don’t mean random gossip, but just when it comes to who will participate
It’s official: The last spot is for Eric Saade ! Good!
And he is one of the composers of his entry ‘Every Minute’
I guess it’s a good Mello this year!
Eric Saade should be the last one!
They open with Danny and close with Eric, how fitting for the reunion Melo of those two.
Great news for The Mamas – also thrilled to see a song penned by Cornelia Jakobs, discovered her music recently, she’s great. And quite funny that Melanie Wehbe wrote another song called ‘Rich’, she released one herself with the same title about 5 years ago.
Klara hammarström and no Eric saade? Interesting! They must like her song if she’s announced as last.
There are 10 announced today, Eric Saade could be last.
one more artist is yet to be announced
Erik will probably be the last artist to be presented
Ooh I thought this was it because they announced only until 15:00 the last few days.
they present 10 artists today compared to 9 the first two days
Mariette? I would love her coming back again!
It is expected to be Eric Saade and Klara Hammarstrom, but we’ll see.
Yup, as expected, Klara is here. Eric is likely the last to be announced (it’s 10 songs today).
I’m happy that there seems to be more Swedish than usual and many of the artists seem promising. I’m just worried that it’s going to be Dotter vs The Mamas part 2 regardless of the songs
Check out Tusse, the winner of Swedish idol 2019, when he sang “Rise like a phoenix” during the melfest theme night! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAvyBzyeFDM&ab_channel=IdolSverigeiTV4
Well that is the clip they have displayed here on the page under his presentation.
sksjjsjs never mind you guys, didnt see the clip they posted under his name on the article
So now we are waiting just for Eric Saade, Julia Alfrida, Alvaro Estrella and Klara 😀 Aftonbladet was right this year almost in 100%
Well, you got Alvaro so far 🙂
The Mamas with a song by Robin Stjernberg? Hmm, his writing is hit or miss. Either really good or nothing special.
Also I sort of want to see who wins the schlager fight between Perrelli and Andersson..
And Tess Merkel!
Yeah The Mamas are back, they will bring that positivity we need just like last year, so cool 🙂
If the Mamas win again with an average song I’m out lol. 3 years of the same act for Sweden… it’s a bit tiring. But good for them, and for all the selected artists of the cancelled 2020 contest.
I do really like the mamas but I do sort of agree, I would like to see a different artist win this year (for variety’s sake).
I don’t mind them winning if they have a great gospel track but not if they have a generic, albeit good, pop song with a mere hint of gospel, which Move was.
The national selection process would be pointless if they would win. I think they could be in the finals. But I don’t think they will win again. Remember they were only the tele votes 4th place
The Mamas won the televote.
By what I read and what I know, I can tell that in many aspects Melfest is a sort of a mirror image to FiK. While both festivals have tradition and respect as standalone competitions, FiK mostly has more vintage sounding songs, traditional orchestra and slower tempo songs usually outnumber fast ones. In Melfest, the songs are usually modern, more often uptempo and there is a pre-recorded backing track. Also, apparently the name recognition is the key in FiK, sometimes even moreso than the song itself, while in Melfest, a fame can help, but not much if the song isn’t… Read more »
YESSS!!!!! I am so glad they’re back. “Move” has been such a ray of light to help me get through this year and I’m looking forward to their entry next year.
if there’s any swedish readers/correspondents, i wonder are sympathy votes a common practice when it comes to television shows? if it’s the case then the chances of the mamas winning (for the third time) could be automatically higher.
No, we dont vote on on old merits or sympathy. The Mammas doesnt have a higher chance than others
True, we vote for the best performance and song, nothing else.
We don’t care if the person in question is a previous winner or a worldwide international star already. If you don’t have something that please the whole audiuence and viewers then you are out.
Wow, that’s really fair then.
Much more fair than other formats
I love this sentiment
I think the early eviction of Loreen with Statement can testify that Swedes are not into sympathy votes lol
loreen had won, though. i don’t think you could vote more sympathetically for someone who had won… but i might be proven wrong
Sympathy votes usually mean that someone would advance in some way because of a sad thing, winning eurovision isn’t really sad to be honest. Anna bergendahl sitting quietly in the green room 2010 was sad.
That’s because there were many years between Eurovision 2012 and her next Melodifestivalen participation. But the Mamas won this year, their situation is more fresh.
That’s good news, it could ensure a fairer contest on that basis.
There have been some winners who have benefited from sympathy votes, people who have watched Melodifestivalen might already know about Jon Henrik Fjällgren who won Talang, thought he had a really heartwarming story behind his songs that really were winning worthy
Jon Henrik Fjällgren never won Melodifestivalen though.
I believe that acts do benefit from previous merits in terms of reaching the final or Andra Chansen in MF but not more than that. But I would say that the International Jury actually helps a lot in preventing artists winning based on previous merits, that is nothing that the Swedish televoters can take credit for. Also the age group thing helps a lot in balancing out the unfairness of popular votes among specific groups of people.
She has a point, he did win Talang back in 2014 and he was close the year after in 2015 to win Melodifestivalen
In my book, giving good placement because of merits is not the same as sympathy vote. For example Sana Nilsen in 2013 had competed a lot of times. It was also “her time” to win. Because of how many times she had competed. Another aspect is that mainly names already known to the public ends up in our national final. An unknown name needs really to step up to get good placement. The merits thing is only possible for a few years time. Veterans coming back usually goes directly out of the contest if they are a bit old etc.… Read more »
I don’t think we’ll sympathy vote for them at all, they’ll definitely be in the finale though. i think we’ll watch melfest with a clean slate this year
For example, Loreen who might be the greatest eurovision winner together with ABBA. She came back with a banger only to lose to the most average teenager in the AC. swedes truly don’t care about old merits
But no one has ever been in the same situation like the Mamas. A virus stopping them from competing when they fair and square won to represent their country..
The Mamas already got sympathy votes in 2020 because they had a lot of fame in Eurovision 2019. “Move” wasn’t a better song than “Bulletproof” but the public preferred the Mamas so..
Of course they’ll get sympathy votes in March and even more than they got this year, I think.
Mamas won because they had the better song, thats why. They might get some sympathy votes but not enough to win. If they win it will be because the song is much better than Move. But never sympathy. If you know anything about MF you would never we take old merits or sympathy card
That makes Carola’s three wins all the more impressive…
Im excited for Melodifestivalen but thats a pity we already know all artists because of Aftonbladet revealing … There are no surprises this year .
Agree. Worst kept secret. That’s why announcing every hour was a bit pointless. And svt should do better if they actually wants it to be a secret. The tabloids reveal it every year
Really hope that The Mamas and Dotter only do well if they have good songs…
For those keeping track, the actual Eurovision veterans in the mix are:
Call it a hunch, but I feel like there’ll be more. I was just rewatching the particularly good 1992 edition (save for the winner…wonder what he’s up to these days?) and I’d be happy to see any of them come back for another go.
Yaaasss they are back 🙂
Yes! I hope The Mamas have a song as good as Move.
Me too! Absolutely can’t wait and I’m so happy they’re back.