Sweden’s six-week national final is off and running. The first heat of Melodifestivalen 2022 has taken place in Stockholm’s Avicii Arena. Seven acts gave their all on stage, battling it out for two spots direkt till final.
The two artists to book those coveted spots were Cornelia Jakobs and Robin Bengtsson. We will see them at the Friends Arena on 12 March 2022 for the final.
Additionally, two artists will perform again in the semi-final on 5 March. The artists given a second chance are Danne Stråhed and Theoz.
Melodifestivalen 2022: Heat 1 winners
Cornelia Jakobs with “Hold Me Closer”
She says that she found the right one at the wrong time but tonight was her night. Cornelia Jakobs won the first round of voting and was the first artist to book their spot in the Melfest 2022 final. The “Hold Me Closer” songstress was our readers’ favourite to win based on the snippets released during the week.
Robin Bengtsson with “Innocent Love”
Melfest 2017 winner Robin Bengtsson moves into the final yet again, with his captivating performance of “Innocent Love”. The Eurovision veteran created an atmospheric performance and will compete in the final.
Melodifestivalen 2022: Heat 1 results
The voting format of the Melodifestivalen 2022 semi-finals has changed this year. The winner of the first round of voting was Cornelia Jakobs, who booked the first ticket to the final.
A second round of voting followed, which led to Robin Bengtsson also advancing to the final.
Danne Stråhed and Theoz live to fight another day, progressing to Semi-final 5 on 5 March 2022. This replaces the Andra Chansen round but will similarly offer these two acts another opportunity to reach the final.
This meant that Malou Prytz, Shirley Clamp and Omar Rudberg failed to qualify, after dazzling us with some fantastic performances of their own.
What do you think of the results? Are you happy with the qualifiers? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
anyone else still heartbroken for omar rudberg? )): i get more disappointed every passing day..! omar really deserved to be in the finals. </3
And we have a winner. Cornelia and Sweden. 10/10
ok the fact that the app crashed is unnaceptable
last year around 7 or 6 million votes were cast
last night only around 200 votes were cast
why are you downvoting me?
im not complaining im just wondering
give me a reason
You literally weren’t wondering but complaining tho in that comment ?
how the f do you know whats going in my mind or what am i thinking?
and anyway i was doing both
like why the f downvote me? did i swear?
did i insult anyone?
i really wanna know
The app crashed and votes in the millions were not counted, therefore only the mere two hundred thousands of televotes were counted…So we can’t really tell what results would have been if the app actually did work…
Well but we sure know the to would have been different (I’m the same person)
No wiwiblogg analysis about the entries/show on YouTube as it use to be? 🙂
Not surpriced Wiwi ones started the negative attitude against Sweden that has been spreed.
I just watched all performances and Cornelia was amazing.
Song is good but she really elevates it.
Had a similar feeling like with Clara last year. There’s just something very honest.
I loved that it really looked and felt like a live performance. Very simple and effective. You don’t need anything else. Same with Robin in a very different entry. Live is what make people connect, feel and enjoy
Eric Saade and Cornelia Jakobs saved the worst melfest ever
That was in 2000’
This year’s is on par
You have got to be kidding me
Malou it’s 7th
That made my weekend even worse than it previously was
She’s too good for melfest
She just hasn’t found herself yet. She is where Molly Sandén was a few years ago, when struggling to find her niche. It will come in a year or so, she just have to be patient and try to find it
Actually yes she doesn’t have much experience but why 7th
It’s svts fault
The app crashed so mainly old people voted
Actually the app has crashed so bad I can’t type my phone number and can’t create an account or log in 🙂
Did you watch the performance? It was a mess, from start to finish. Not sure if it was Malou herself or a team member who approved but someone needs to get fired. Besides that, the song wasn’t all that. It was decent and nothing more. The performance din’t elevate the song, quite the opposite..
well it had a unique staging (and propably the best)
unlike the others
theoz had simply 4 dancers
shirley was there by herself
omar was kicking the air with 2 dancers behind him
danne was playing instrumets
cornelia was in front of a circle ( she nailed it tho queen)
and robin i dont wanna talk abt him
however malou’s lack of experience contributed a bit to this fail but 7th is too much
it was energetic it ahd happy vibes and was alot more unique than others
I mean i will give her 5-6 years and she will be back better than ever…if she even want to compete in Mello by then…usually when artists establish a stable career the usually don’t want to compete in Mello anymore.
well true she needs time but 5-6 years is too much
id say 2-4 at maximum
Cornelia was so good! It will be really refreshing for Sweden to send someone like her.
Ok people are downvoting me because I’m sad for Malou Someone even mentioned that she had terrible staging Ok let’s think about the other stagings theoz was just him and his dancers Shirley was by herself Omar had just some cool graphics and two dancers while he was kicking in the air, halabaloo was just some old people playing instruments Cornelia was in front of a big circle (which was actually good) and robin had pink and blue graphics on a screen while he was running around and singing (his worse attempt and staging in years while it’s not bad… Read more »
I believe it to be a connection problem. She did well and had a fun staging idea. But it was produced a bit messy. It also focused more on the “cool” dancing and so on more than on Malou, so from a viewers standpoint she became a bit lost in all of it, so the connection to her didn’t land. Not her fault, she did great.
What’s so special about som du vill? About innocent love ?
They were not unique at all
Or how the f did Shirley clamp score better than this
Actually only old people voted (propably) BC the app crashed
Not saying those are more special, just that the performances were more clean. Therefore there was more focus on the singer, which help the viewers connect to the song. Malou’s performance, to me, seemed overstuffed.
I was really happy and surprised for Cornelia – and she was sooo sweet and overwhelmed when she made it to the final. Robin was…well…a cold and routine performance to a mediocre Song. It was a good show, but no real stand out Songs – Except for Cornelia, who really stole the show with some real emotions
But whoever thought that Oscar Zia would be a good host was wrong. He clutched to his cards, stumbled from one Act to another and when the app didn’t work he was very clueless on what to say…
Robin was very stoic. His general mannerisms and singing style does not fit with the happy song.
In contrast, Cornelia was captivating. Most engaging and Emotional swedish perfirmance in a decade.
I thought that Omar Rudberg was really good. Sometimes the way Swedish audience votes really confuses me.
That is the thing, people were underwhelmed by Omar….I mean he has so much potential and he should really use his new celebrity status ,yet now it looked like he just had pulled the song out of a hat and went with it without even making it his own. The song was bland and boring to be honest and he just felt out of place…even his newley released song Mi casa Su casa is much better than the Mello one…
Bland? Both Omar and Malou had good songs
If moving like that and Bananas are bland then what about som du vill and innocent love? The only qualifier who actually deserved to qualify is Cornelia Robin had nothing unique neither did som du vill (halabaloo was a bit special but whyyyy)
Robin sold the performance, we believed it was his song even if he didn’t write it. As for Malou and Omar anybody could have done those songs, they failed to convince the viewers it was their song. Omar had potential and he chose a generic boy band song most Swedes stopped listening to years ago..
This kind of music Omar presented did not exist ten years ago
It’s reggaeton and it’s been existing since the early 90s
well oars song is not that kind of raggaeton
And also
The people understanding and being convinced is not the criteria for this contest
The app crashed so mainly old people voted
I think Swedes moved on from this kind of songs and performance some time ago. I feel don’t click well with them
i don’t care about any of these songs, so it was refreshing to see unpredictable results from sweden once in a while. i personally prefer the televoting, it’s paid (even if for a low price) and this means people have to be selective on who they’ll spend their coins for. the free app voting allowing 5 votes per artist for free is just a way to inflate the number of votes inorganically.
That Cornelia went through was no surprise. I was actually more surprised about Robin going through, that being said…The song of Cornelia, Hold me closer, is yet again a typical song of which hundreds have already passed by Melodifestivalen. I don’t say it’s a bad song, cause that would be a lie. But it doesn’t surprise me anymore. And to say that this song is winning material is way premature. Sorry,guys!!!
Indeed Stephanie, Sweden can send an Alien singing something totally off the charts and you’ve probably heard it already…
Hmm need to make a hashtag for Cornelia similar to Dotterdam past years haha suggestions?
#Tornelia
#Corino
#Cornelino
Turinelia 2023
Hmm need to make a hashtag for Cornelia similar to Dotterdam past years haha suggestions?
#Tornelia
#Corino
#Cornelino
Cornelia was BULLETPROF!
Great Results. Definitely some clunky moments in the show. Oscar was struggling as a host. Cornelia was a deserved winner. I was embarrassed for Omar. Was his look an homage to Michael Jackson’s “rock with you “? Why did his backup dancers have purple dishwashing gloves on? Hilariously bad. And poor Malou looked terrible with a song that was part Gwen Stefani and part Jem’s the Misfits.
Oscar struggled mostly because of the voting problems. Blame svt.
Malou had by far the best staging
I would explain why she deserved to qualify but I have made more than 20 comments already
it’s so amusing to see the polls in retrospective to see how different are the criteria from outsiders and swedes, and how far off were your selections. Whereas most swedes enjoyed Som Du Vill, most people seem to put if low as a non qualifier, and TBH only he and Cornelia gave great and dynamic performances. Most people thought Robin was soo mainstream and watered down. Also we all seem to convene he doesn’t fit the song as he’s trying so hard to covince the young that he’s trendy and hip. Don’t get me wrong I have nothing against him… Read more »
Omar and Malou not even in AC? I didnt like the first heat…. i hope that the followings will be stronger!
It’s not called AC any longer.
Here are my thoughts 1) Malou Prytz – The song was weak, she was great, styling was REALLY bad, she looked 15 years older. I feel like the sound mixing in the song was bad too, like there was to little music, made it fall flat idk. Also for me it sounded like they spelled out B A N A S BANANAS! not B A N A nas BANANAS! so for me it sounded like she was just bad at spelling hahaha 2) Axel Schylström, oh no wait I mean Theoz…… Oh written by Schylström, makes sense. – But for… Read more »
I agree with cornelia but I also enjoyed Theoz’s song, that will become a bop during summer, FOR SURE.
Ok, it wasn’t a strong heat. Cornelia had the best entry of the night but I didn’t expect this outcome. How come neither Omar nor Malou didn’t even advance to SF5? I’m in awe!
I love how barely anyone cares about Melfest anymore lol
Why are you here then?
I am asking the same question
Yaay, my girl Cornelia made it through. She was ny favourite on snippets but didnt think she could pull it through. But she did:)
Could she win? To early but she has the momentum now. Robin was also a worthy finalist. If yiu think the results would be different if the app worked you are wrong Omar is not that big of a name
When I watched Cornelia I felt like when I watched Sanna’s Undo for the first time, and Undo is still one of my favourite eurovision ballads.
I’m glad that Cornelia went direct to the final, it was by far my highlight in this semi. From the uptempo songs, I actually preffered “Bananas”, I was expecting that Malou would have at least a second chance, since we all knew Robin would qualify. Shocked about Omar being already out of the race, but that song wasn’t doing his charm any favors.
I agree about Cornelia; I picked her for direct-to-final. But I don’t understand the problem with Omar’s song. It was more entertaining that Robin’s, in my opinion. P.S. It feels weird having different opinions to you this year. Maybe COVID affected my ears, ahaha
We agreed in the important thing, thar Cornelia ruled this semi. 🙂 Not a big fan of Robin’s soing either, to be honest. I would send both to Andra Chansen. I wonder if Omar concentrated his fanbase in the younger groups and that’s why he hasn’t qualified.
it feels like i’m on another planet. if you compare the swedish songs to what italy is bringing this year so far, it’s quite a big difference. I always enjoy melfest, but this episode was not engaging and felt irrelevant. no idea what happened.
Italy is on planet music. Nobody in Italy deserves to place last. Literally nobody.
Indeed! I’m feeling bad for Tananai being placed dead last this year with such a fantastic song! 🙁
Still don’t understand why you’re pretending to be me.
Also Melodifestivalen is loosing it’s quality soo much… sad
Go listen selection in Malta, Romania, Denmark, Slovenia, Moldova or Albania lol
I have to eat all of my words said after the snippet, because Hold Me Closer is just… Eurovision winner material!
I can’t believe people are calling Cornelia’s song a Eurovision winner in Turin, I mean the song is great and a qualifier for the Grand Final for sure but a winner? No.
Downvote as much you want it’s the truth.
Just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean others don’t feel its power! Obviously, folks aren’t saying it’s a guaranteed winner, but it’s a definite moment. Every winner has people who dislike it.
Overhyping. That’s all. It can’t hold a candle to the Italian songs.
stop embarrassing us
Haha please. tHe TrOuTH
Difference of opinions! You might not feel her strength but others do. No one is saying she will win but she has the moment right now. It might change but right now its her moment
I agree that it might not be a Eurovision winner but it’s very different and better to what we’re used to hear from Sweden
You didn’t say anything offensive so why would I downvote you for expressing an opinion about a song? I’m not a child.
im so sad for malou i dont even enjoy it any more
It looked like a ESC winning performance and still has a ton of room to grow. This is the first song in ages that I’ve been just totally blown away by… very happy for Cornelia and that we get to see her singing this!
You know that Melfest’s voting system has been complicated recent years when returning to phone calls becomes complicated.
hahahaha
Last year they stopped showing numbers on screen during the acts “because those who vote by phone votes during the quick rerun”. They chose to show the “voting has ended”-sign in the app, so you couldn’t see the phone numbers there either.
Knowing where to call got VERY complicated!!!!!
Yep. Embarrassed Swede here
Lol why are you embarrassed? Dont listen to everyones whinning, it was a fine heat. Cornelia could make an excellent entry.
Embarresed over what? Not sending another latino dance song voted for by 15 year old girls? Don’t worry, Cornelia could be a worthy winner all together and Robin is good too..
I was embarrassed over the show. It lacked a lot of quality. Bad camera angles. Loosing tempo. App constantly crashing. Host not staying cool, but being nervous, not being professional about it. The overall tempo was slow paced. Production was a complete failure. I started turning my head because I got so embarrassed while watching. How can I? Because something I’ve loved for decades goes this terrible. The songs were fine. The show was not. Who am I embarrassed for? SVT for letting such a lousy team work for their normally professional and sleek show. Christer Björkman has spoken about… Read more »
Relax, no need for drama. Seeing how chaotic it was during the week it was fine. They had to reschudele many things which wasnt part of the script. There was also lack of staff due to covid which isnt SVT’ s fault. They also had no arena until days before broadcast which affected rehersals. By next heat they have learned more and can work smoothly
I don’t understand what happened tonight. I enjoyed Omar’s song the most. He made no mistakes. He deserved to qualify somewhere.
Anyhow, at least he has ‘Young Royals’ to back to. Here’s a thought: Maybe they could cast Theoz in a ‘Young Royals’ cameo role? 😀
He made no mistakes? You heard his below avarage vocals?
That’s a weakness, not a mistake. 🙂
Cornelias song should have been in the scene between Wilhelm and Simon talking about how to continue their relationship in the last episode…it would really fit there
I love love Cornelia’s song!! Truly think it would have incredible potential to do well in Turin. Quite a few of the other songs were pretty good as well but hers was milesss ahead of them.
Cornelia’s song is great. It’s like they wanted to do another Clara song but in English since the Swedes have an aversion to giving the win to Swedish-language songs—although I didn’t understand lots of what she was mumbling. If Cornelia wins then second half of Semi 2 will have lots of ballads.
It’s not too much of a ballad though, since it also has bits of rock here and there.
Not sure if that really counts as a ballad. It is more mid-tempo than slow for me but ok..
I think this new voting is a bit crappy. Get better next year, sweden. I love so many of our songs but we need to vote better.
As a Swede I apologise. This was the worst melfest to date
Amen to that. I feel so embarrassed after tonight. What Björkman made now suddenly vanished. I apologise for everything and go to bed
Y’all are so dramatic lmao
Because it did not deliver. The show entertained for the first maybe 20 minutes. Then it just fell down the rabbit hole. They were supposed to present the votes by age group, but the age groups comes from app voting. But the app crashed so much. They put in too much features in the app this year. The gaming feature where you collect cards was expanded and the video/livestream function added. I tried to watch the livestreams on the Thursday, but guess what? It didn’t work!!! Even though the ambitions are great they really must ditch some of those features.… Read more »
Well the app is in such a bad condition I can’t even create an account 🙂
svt went bananas
Don’t you mean B-A-N-A-AS hahah
That’s banas not Bananas xD
If u or ur system can’t handle counting votes, it might be time to go back to basics. Ur artists must feel so wronged.
Both Cornelia and Robin were amazing! Deserved.
Surprised and sad that Omar is out, he had so mach charisma 🙁
I blame the Anton Ewald choreography rip off.
ok oliver mentioned that the app crashed tonight I cannot believe that songs that ACTUALLY deserved AT LEAST semi5 got eliminated, just bc SVT is acting irresponsibly Looks like they picked the qualifiers themselves i dont mind with the finalists Cornelia really deserved it and Robin went through because of his name of course But why should svt pick Danne? ( i dont mind theoz) SVT knew almost no one was going to vote for him but they decied to kick out some good songsfor no reason at all I thought rigged national finals would come to an end after… Read more »
correction it wasnt rigged at all m sorry for writting wrong information
But still i cant believe what happened
I apologise
People have been voting in one of swedens biggest news papers and there cornelia got 42 %, Robin 20% and Danne was third. So… I think these are the most popular in Sweden even with the technical difficultes
we don know whether danny was 3rd or 4th
No but he is saying that these songs qualifying weren’t as surprising since a poll put them in top 3
Halaballo over Omar and Malou? C’mon!!!
Melfest really flopped this evening, I hope it doesn’t happen again. SVT Play didn’t work at 8pm, the app malfunctioned so only telephone votes was counted and the production felt low-budget.
Sweden should pick their eurovision act another way, or step up the game!
Well to be fair the app did not work, most swedes don’t even know what a phone call is today
I think that song has to be compared whith Ding, dong whith Eva and Ewa last year.,I guessed this would happen,
Cornelia is the MOMENT! Her voice and performance gave me goosebumps and I am really glad Swedes loved her! She would be a refreshing choice for Sweden, but there are still so many songs to come so lets wait and see what happens!
Just catching up and I really enjoyed Cornelia Jakobs, she had the most engaging performance of the night for me.
Cornelia deserved 1st, but I really wanted Omar to go through. I also liked Malou
Omar out? Really? I’m speechless, I was so sure he was going to be there
The voting format had me so confused… I miss the old voting format they even have the placements on the screen! It was just a very weird first Melo night! I was expecting Malou or Omar to do AC but hey who knows what the Swedish public wanted.
What are you confused about? The new voting system did not even work haha tonight it was all about old school voting, by calling the number of the song you wanted to go through…
So much to discuss but I think the only thing to say is: “come back Christer!!! All is forgiven!!!” What a mess. The app. The change in voting procedure. The song order. The bad camera angles. The clunky host. The non-creative postcards. The video playback revealingly that Robin was the next qualifier before it was announced. The hot mess styling of Malou. The hot mess staging of Malou’s song. Poor Omar—he’s too big of a star to be doing this show and be crammed in the middle of this line-up. Robin looked like he was gonna cry. Someone is going… Read more »
I must have missed the playback…
SVT has always been like that. This is what we pay so much tax for
Apart from the app, what was messy? Malou only had herself to blame. Omar had a very generic boyband dance pop song not helped by the usual 15 year old girls who vote for that.
Large part of the show had to be improvised due to corona and staff shortcomings which really isn’t anyone’s fault. Cornelia had a fine song, the overall heat was nice.
Cornelia is a winner