We have now heard three quarters of the Eurovision hopefuls in Sweden. The third heat took place in Stockholm, with seven more artists vying to win Melodifestivalen 2022 and represent Sweden in Turin.
In the end, Anders Bagge and Faith Kakembo booked a spot direkt till final. The final will take place at the Friends Arena in Stockholm on 12 March.
Furthermore, Lisa Miskovsky and Cazzi Opeia will have a second chance to reach the final, booking a spot in the second chance semi-final, due to take place on 5 March.
Melodifestivalen 2022: Heat 3 winners
Anders Bagge with “Bigger Than the Universe”
With a song called “Bigger Than the Universe” and a voice to match, Anders Bagge won the hearts of Sweden and won the first round of voting. Featuring staging which took us around the world in three minutes, Anders earned his place in the final on 12 March.
Faith Kakembo with “Freedom”
Swedish-Ugandan songstress Faith Kakembo joined Anders Bagge in the final, following a second round of voting. Unlike last week, the second round of voting was close, with Faith Kakembo and Lisa Miskovsky taking the lion’s share of points. In the end, Faith Kakembo edged out her competition to secure her place in the final.
Lisa Miskovsky narrowly missed out on a spot in the final but will have a second chance to make it there. She will be joined by Cazzi Opeia in the semi-final show, which will take place on 5 March.
Unfortunately, the Melodifestivalen 2022 journey ends here for Linda Bengtzing, Lancelot and Tribe Friday, all of whom were eliminated in tonight’s show.
What did you think of this week’s songs? Did the right songs go through to the final? Have we heard the winner of Melodifestivalen 2022 yet? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Which scenario is more impressive–Cornelia winning Mello and then making top 3 (or even winning) at the ESC, or Anders winning Mello and gaining Sweden their second NQ?
Bigger than the Universe was sooooooo cheesy especially with the background videos. I can totally see it winning mello, but I doubt that it will do well at eurovision…
Italy, Spain and many song this year are cheesy, but that song, people loves Italy. You dont hate his song,you hate Sweden.
I’ve heard it 3 times and forgot about the title and song in about 15 minutes. I watched “I can’t get enough” 3 times and I’ve been singing it whole afternoon. So yeah it’s song, not the country imo
No – I love sweden and I am not one of the “I hate it because it’s sweden” types. I just don’t like this particular song because it feels far too kitschy and cheesy and almost religious for my taste. There is a differene between soft ballads (like italy), standard pop bangers (like spain) and over-the-top let’s all hold hands and dance around the forest-kitsch. But each to their own. And as Saturday has shown, a lot of people seem to like the song, which is fine – it’s all in good fun and I just wanted to state my… Read more »
Anders has more views on YouTube in 1 day than Cornelia in 3 weeks. I’m really scared right now…
Welll the official videos aren’t out yet. I suspect they will be taken down soon. Wait until they get official release by SVT,,
True, but this is usually a good indicator for televoting in the final.
True but not always the winner of televote. In 2020 Hanna Ferm had the most views but didn’t win it. And in 2018 Samir & Viktor had the most views..So it isn’t necessarily a sign of winning..
Hanna had the most votes in Semi tho – bc of international jury she floped
I think he will win and i do not like the song …. it all depends on which juries SVT will invate … If they will invate Malta, UK or Portugal they will vote him … (12 points i am pretty sure)
How do you know how they gonna vote?
Know the taste and if u look at previous Melo these jurie always voted for Voice and not song …
The number of views does not determine the winner. As Denis says, the artists who have not won Melfest received more views than the winner. For example: Clara Klingenström, Samir & Viktor, Dotter, Nano, Ace Wilder and more.
My two daughters (24 and 21 years old) laughed when Bagge was on stage. “He’s old.” Then he began to sing. One started crying and the other took even my phone to vote. Cornelia who? Forget it. Sweden sends Bagge.
Please. Be prepared to NQ or even better, get ZERO points in the final. Swedes are so delusional thinking Anders Bagge will do well. He will flop hard because it’s so bad. Cornelia Jakobs could win Eurovision. I can’t believe Swedes can be so delusional.
Fine let them vote.But also let them take cosequence of that vote in May when noone in Europe understand why Sweden sends an old bald guy with funny staging to represent them..
You haven’t raised your daughters right then! Shame on you!
I used to be a huge fan of Melodifestivalen, but lately it’s a festival of bland generic songs. No soul. And when they have something unique – like Cazzi Opeia – it still doesn’t get voted. This would be a HIT if Katy Perry sang it!
Almost all songs have been generic. Also Loreen and Måns. Why you realise that now?
Tribe Friday and Cazzi Opeia deserved to go DTF.
If Estonia or Slovenia sends something like bigger than the universe it would be a non qualifier automatically. Now because Anders Bagge is a big name in Sweden, people think he will do very well. If he wins it will be 2010 scenario all over again.
Well if we send him I hope it will be another 2010 for Sweden to be honest
I don’t hope, I suspect that will be the case. But I do actually think it would be good for us, It would be the wake up clock we need. Sort of how they shook things up after 2010..
“Cause this is my life, my friend, and this is my time to stand
Cause this is my life, my friend, and I cant be no one else”
Anders Bagge sang a cheap generic Swedish crap song. Faith was much more interesting and actually the only one who catched my ear but still not a very good song. Melodifestivalen has been a trainwreck so far.
The intro to Faiths song was a total ripoff Lady gagas ”Always remember us this way”, it was cringing. Yesterday was the weakest week ever, had no favorite at all. For me its Liamoo or Cornelia for the victory.
I have now listened to “Freedom” several times but I find no similarities at all with it and the Gaga song?
Can Thomas G:son stop writing the most basic lyrics over and over again every year… Sweden should understand that Eurovision is emphasizes lyrical content and authentic feels more and more
In fact, only 3 songs have been written by him this year (Anders, Linda and Anna Bergendahl). So it almost feels like he will soon end up with Melfest as well
He wrote “Euphoria”. So you wanna rethink?
Euphoria’s lyrics are nothing special at all.
What made Euphoria special was the beat and Loreen’s voice, not its lyrics
Ok Anders song is good it has something anthemic, his voice is great, moreover swedish people love that, the melody is pretty cool too, nothing original, it’s pleasant to listen, but those lyrics are so generic for my taste, and it’s the kind of songs already seen so many times from Sweden. So far the victory could be between Cornelia, Liamoo, and Anders, but for me it would be Cornelia even if her song does nothing for me at least I feel something more authentic listening and looking at her, less calculated, maybe it’s her way to perform I don’t… Read more »
Jag vet en sak som vi inte hörde vinnaren av Melodifestivalen igår heller. Det kommer att förbli en duell mellan Cornelia och Liamoo tills vidare, med Cornelia som trolig vinnare. Förutsatt att låtarna inte är bättre nästa vecka.
Tror du inte Anders Bagge kan vinna tack vare tittar röster?
Kanske. Jag tror att mycket kommer att bero på själva kvällen. Men just nu tror jag inte det.
Jag tror det.
Jag absolut älskar Cornelias sång och tror den har bättre chans i esc, men jag tror det blir som ifjol. Tusse har fantastik röst och personlighet, precis som Bagge. Dessutom väcker Bagge sympati pga av hans scenskräck. Tror även att många svenskar tänker att låtar som Tusses och Anders skulle funka i ESC, tyvärr före tex Dotter och Cornelia. Ser stor risk att Bagge vinner. Internationella juryn hjälpte inte ifjol.
Problemet är ju att övriga Europa inte ser det vi ser. De kände inte till Tusses historia uran såg bara en vanlig poplåt. På samma sätt har de ingen relation till Bagge utan ser bara en flintskallig medelålders gubbe sjunga en konstig text. Jag hoppas ju att vi inser vår läxa från förra året då de insåg att det inte funkar att skicka svenska låtar till ESC. Tyvärr tror jag folk inte har gjort det utan kommer tro att detta sådant som vinner ESC och Expressens läsare kommer utse det till vår bästa låt på länge. Och när vi sedan… Read more »
Men Tusses låt var inte på svenska. Och även om den hade varit det så hade dom översatt den precis som förra gångerna en svensk låt vann.
Tusses låt var inte på svenska men den var så typiskt svensk som det är möjligt. Europa har tröttnat på att Sverige i princip skickar samma låt år efter år.
Har också tröttnat på det
Hoppas innerligt att det kommer stå mellan Cornelia och LIAMOO och de andra bra låtarna från deltävling 4. Tyvärr tror jag svenska folket redan har sin vinnare i Anders. Det enda som kan hindra honom är väl juryn och jag tror de kommer rösta väldigt olika i år
Juryn valde ju Tusse förra året så man vet aldrig där heller..
Jag trodde flera av texterna här var maskinöversatta. Internet har gjort att talspråket tagit över. Det ser heltokigt ut x-)
Congrats to Anders and Faith! Not my favourite songs, but sympathetic artists. Hope there are better songs in Semifinale 4!
I feel like every single song at Mello this year is lacking the most important thing, a soul. I mean, Sweden’s entries have been the very definition of generic pop songs for god knows how long now but at least before they had some taste as what the audience would like or not continent-wise but now I feel like it’s all turned to s-word lol
I think there are too many songs, that is the problem. They need to scale it down to 2 semi finals and one second chance and then have the big final, all in all a month. 8-10 songs in each semi where 4 goes through to final and then 4 from second chance and they have their final with 12 acts.
Also kick out the old sing writers! Been the same dudes for like 20+ years now! We want fresh blood!
Someone should tell the swedish broadcaster that ‘Voices’ only worked (and I use that term loosely) because Tusse really does have the x-factor and managed to sell what is otherwise another nothing pop idol ballad, and that its a bad idea to keep trying to replicate that with songs like ‘Freedom’ and ‘Bigger than us-I mean Bigger than the Universe’
Whether it’s Carolina or Anders for Turin I’ll be as hype as Linda was during her performance tonight. Hoping for another astonishing song from Lillasyster next week.
Cornelia*
Oh s*** I thought someting was off when I wrote that.
Sweden didn’t like Tribe Friday? Hmm okay.
Roll on Week 4.
Really happy for Anders and Faith … I think they had very good songs. I think Sweden has gotten the results right so far … the first direct to final qualifiers – Cornelia, LIAMOO and Anders – are the strongest songs. I would be happy with any three to Eurovision. Looking forward to Klara and Anna next week. It is my dream for the latter to win Melo and qualify at Eurovision and get her revenge.
the two most generic songs ever made… sweden being sweden lol
Oh no, not you, the person that thinks everything is generic lol. A fart from out of space is generic in your ears
As much i love Melodifestivalen – i think Sweden has 2 options – Have Melo and internally select artist and song (similar to San Remo before) or Have “Melodifestivalen Returning or Artist” and invite 28 artist which are popular and already been in Melo 4266261 times with bland song and stupid cheesy lyrics ….
I really think this ESC will be the worst regarding the songs … Prague/Verona/Talin 2023 so far
Faith I wanna like and there are definitely some good parts but the 3 minutes of the song felt like 10. No winner.
Did anyone else find Linda’s performance manic? I mean I get it, her song sucks, she tries everything but why can’t they give her a chance to sing a decent song? It was cringe.
I was hooked every second of Linda’s song… . I skipped most of the songs once they got to the half way point, but couldn’t take my eyes off Linda,… and my jaw dropped! She was quite something….
Bad – worse – worst. There is no “worser”
I just watched Anders perform and call me crazy but I kinda love it. At first I was like WTF is this cheesy background and the song itself is like parody. It really is a dumpsterfire but I wanna hear and see it again. No kidding, it would be Sweden’s most likeable entry since forever.
How did Lancelot lose to mainly average songs (I think only Anders and Faith had good songs other than him)? I’m getting more tired every year with Melodifestivalen becoming more and more about pop, generic, blunt songs and when an artist goes for something original and beautiful like this, it gets eliminated? Sweden, I hope you won’t do well at ESC and realise that you’re doing something wrong.
I think it should be mentioned that Anders Bagge is first and foremost a songwriter (turned Idol judge). He has written songs for Madonna, Robyn, J-Lo, Celine Dion, Janet Jackson, Ronan Keating, Girls Aloud and a few others…
Yes, having a name gets you into final..
Yet he doesn’t have a better song than this?
Also, I know they wrote Euphoria, but that song wouldn’t have been anything if not for the production by “Jack & Coke” who worked with artists like Rita Ora, Charli XCX, Nick Jonas etc.
Lanceloooot 🙁
I just watched the results and Bagge reaction was very touching.
I’ll be happy if he wins the whole thing. There’s just something very appealing and warm. And It would be such a different entry for Sweden. Far from trying to be perfect.
And he gave me Olsen brothers vibes. Impossible to not love
Win? Pls we dont need next NON qualification … Tack
How exactly is this a different entry? And Swedes might feel the hype but do you think Europeans wont see more than a bald middle-aged man having fun? Swedes voted for Tusse thinking Europe would find him warm and appealing..Lets hope we have learned a lesson
As a Swede I do like Bagge but not for ESC. The performance is that kind of songs Swedes usually laugh at and now they think it will win? Like I still remember how Swedes laughed at Croatia 2017 and now we have similar?
I fear he will win. And reach 18th place or so and then Swedes again will say “why bother sending”. I do still find Cornelia best because it is not ESC song. But sadly I think she wont shine
What do Swedes think?
Difficult when we haven’t heard the last heat yet, but for now Cornelia is on my top at least. Sure her song might not be a ESC winner BUT it will do best in the competition of the Melfest songs so far. Even Liamoo would succeed better than Anders in ESC that i am sure of. I am happy for Anders singing success of course but just don’t think his song is right for ESC.
one semi left to go though. I hope it’s not a Molly Sanden 2016 disappointment but a good song waiting at the end.
Klara is not Molly – she do not need nobody but herself … and she is hot
I woted for Bagge. I regret it now because the Sweads might vote for him because we have a relationship whith him and love that he face his feers and finally sing on a stage whith an audience. I am afraid he will threat Cornelia. Then a hope the international jury save Sweden and vote Cornelia to ESC.
Yes but if Bagge gets most votes from tele voters which I think then he might win the whole thing. And I also think juries will like him. Not be jury winner but I do see him get top 5 with juries. It is a jury friendly song. Basically it’s either him or Cornelia..
Liamoo too
I just watched. And absolutely loved Anders
Question for the Swedes: why does Sweden love Anders Bagge so much? He’s only famous to the public for that idol judge thing, right? Is that a big deal in Sweden or are there other reasons?
Yes, but also his love for dogs which in Sweden is huge. Plus he is a loveable bear.
But outside Sweden he is just a middleaged bold man..
He’s just very likeable.
As Denis mentioned, he is a huge teddybear that loves dogs and doesn’t have a single evil bone in him more or less…That is why Swedes loves him so much
Thx guys. It’s understandable then. Nice personality goes a long way.
Well, hes primarily a songwriter, having written songs for Madonna, Robyn, J-Lo, Celine Dion, Janet Jackson, Ronan Keating, Girls Aloud and a few others…
Oh. It seems like everyone here loves Cornelia—but the Melfest final is starting to be filled with ballad-type songs and less with what we usually see from Sweden—modern pop. Even semi 5 has lots of ballad-y songs. It could be that a faster modern song in the final might stand out.
Or it could be that everyone just votes for Anders Bagge..
Yassss Liamooo – civediamo a Torino andiamo
Anders does seem to have Sweden behind him and his emotional moment when he was declared the winner of Semi 1 felt honest and won me over. I really think the international jury will probably sink his chances. I can’t see them thinking Sweden should be represented by a middle age man singing a peace-peace-love-love type of song. They won’t have the context of who he is. I can actually see LIAMOO winning the jury—as these slick pop songs tend to get over scored by international juries at Mello. I felt bad for Linda—she had such buzz that I’m sure… Read more »
OK anyways now that i have gotten my frustrations out we still have next week left, lets see if Anna and Klara can live up to the hype, lets hope 🙂
I’m happy to see this result. I really appreciate how Sweden is taking more risks this year with the songs they are sending direkt till final! I thought Faith deserved at least Andra Chansen in 2020 so I’m happy to see her redemption here. I’m still in the Cornelia Jakobs camp for the final, but I’m encouraged to see what results in the next two weeks.
i was soooooo suprised to see lisa doing so well
i was a bit sad for linda i liked it but
i dont mind downvote me BUT i will say it
this was my fav semi so far
cazzi and faith <3
To all the negatives: What is the problem. What do you want Sweden to send to the ESC? I KNOW that you can have your opinion, but why can you not be a little positive for once. I also hope that Cornelia wins and I do not want Anders to win for his name. BUT we do not know how it will be the final. Wait and see
A very sensible comment. Well put, Erik. 🙂
A good singer and a good song maybe? Not someone winning because his name. Have you even read people’s comments on Anders? It’s ridiculous.
As a swede I hate swedes right now.
Jag är också svensk. Jag gillar Anders låt men Cornelia är min favorit än så länge
The thing is that negative Swedes as myself in here are just frustrated by the way people vote. I was in the Aftonbladet live chat and people were like “WOW he can sing”, “His voice is so good”, “This is the winner of ESC because he sang better than i thought”. Not a single comment was about the song itself, that is what infuriates me! People are willing to vote without even considering if the song is good or not.
Jag är också svensk. Anders hade en bra låt men inte min favorit. Cornelia hoppas jag vinner.
Hoppas också Cornelia vinner men är rädd att Bagge vinner tittarnas röster. Stort. Och därmed hela tävlingen. Och då hamnar vi på typ 18 plats och så kommer alla klaga på att det inte är lönt att skicka någon
Dina andra kommentarer tolkar jag som att du ogillar Cornelias låt
Nä, varit tydlig med att hon är min favorit. Det skrev jag redan efter första tävlingen Glömde bort att det var Mello när jag såg henne. Och jag vill ju att vi ska skicka henne. Tyvärr verkar det rätt svårt att övertyga Expressens läsare om det:)
Varför skrev du ”Cornelia Who” i en annan kommentar här då?
För att just nu så är hypen runt Cornelia borta och hamnat hos Bagge istället. Alla har glömt bort henne. Ska mycket till för att Bagge inte ska vinna
Du tror alltså ALLA har bokstavligt talat glömt henne. Du har inte, jag har inte det och dom som röstade på henne har inte glömt henne heller. Så det du säger stämmer inte
Jag hoppas också på Cornelia
Vi får väl rösta på henne och hoppas att alla andra också gör det..
Something different to the “heart-winning,” dated, formulaic and generic entries that Swedes seem to love :/
Something authentic with soul, something with emotions, something not too much calculated and not predictable, we don’t ask for nothing more from Sweden and I know they can do this.
Sweden will make a mistake if they choose Anders instead of Cornelia
It does not matter who wins. Everyone who comments hear will be mad anyway.
But the amount of madness will differ depending on the winner
If Sweden goes with Anders wouldn’t be a mistake. Just go with heart. It would be something very different for Sweden. If they love it, there’s no mistake
I swear, if Cornelia doesn’t win, Sweden is so done
Agree. Sweden already made a mistake last year when they send Tusse instead of Eric to Eurovision. Wouldnt be surprised if sweden does same thing again with sending Anders.
Noooo I loved Tribe Friday and Linda Bengtzing! Hmm, atleast Cazzi qualified (as someone who actually understands what her first name means it feels very weird to type it ‘) But I was completely sure that Anders was going to qualify purely because of the popularity factor. I don’t know what to think about Faith’s song, it was just fine.
I was sure Friday Tribe deserved the final, but once again the Swedes have probe to go for the cheesiest and/r most artificial and pretentious acts. Don’t really know what have happened there tbh.
Different opinions. Thats what happened
I think Lisa had the best staging, and the song was good too. I’m happy for her. Just five points off the final.
i was soooooo suprised to see lisa doing so well
i was a bit sad for linda i liked it but
i dont mind downvote me BUT i will say it
this was my fav semi so far
Tribe Friday and Lancelot were great! Sad to see that the Swedes didn’t like them as much as me.
Bagge is so so loved in Sweden and he has a very great voice, I can tell you, as a Swede, he will most definitely win the televote in the final. And because of his voice, he is a big contender for victory for the jurors aswell. To conclude this I will say that Bagge is most likely the winner.
The song itself is just so bad, though, the juries won’t ignore that.
Yeah fair point, but we’ve seen in the past that jurors have voted for songs that aren’t anything special just because of their voice or such. He might not win the jury vote, but I strongly believe that he will win the televote by a landslide which will likely be enough for victory. Like it or not, this is the most likely outcome. You basically have to be a swede to get the hype he has atm.
I just realised that the current point system basically forbids “landslide victories” since its all 12 points from 8 different age groups, so then I will say that it’s probably going to be close between Cornelia and Anders, but in the end, I think Anders will take it.
Robin Bengtsson only came fourth in the televote and still won, so I’m still confident for Cornelia.
he came THIRD in the televote. Not fourth
I’ll try again. Robin Bengtsson only came third in the televote and still won, so I’m still confident for Cornelia.
Yeah, for Swedens sake we should send Cornelia all days of the week. If we send Anders and he doesn’t change his performance, we will likely flop since Anders of course haven’t got the hype around Europe as he has in Sweden
He came third but won jury vote so that was enough. Anders Bagge I suspect will win all age groups and televoting so it doesnt matter if he gets low jury support.
Lisa only got 1 point from the 16-29 age group, harsh, a 5 point and she would have gone through. Oh well! Congrats Faith!
Haha the grandmas and grandpas loved Lisa and the youngsters loved Faith
As a Swede I can tell you Bagge is the winner this year. Cornelia who?
The hype Cornelia had is from now on all on Bagge
I think he won it as soon as he got emotional, people can not resist that.
I don’t know if the international juries will agree..
I hope they give him low scores (yes i am a Swede myself and I really did not understand the hype around Anders)
Agree. I think Anders song is quite good but it’s not for Eurovision. He can have his moment in Sweden only. My vote goes to Cornelia.
I almost forgot about them. Yeah, they will probably stop him.
You really think the international jury will give Bagge high scores? Don’t fortet their high power on the score board.
Doesnt matter low jury score if the audience gives him massive support which I suspect they will. And I doubt he will be low jury ranked
Swedes are going crazy for Anders song, I really hate it but probably the winner this year sigh, f**king Swedes!
(he is definetly getting votes because of his name and that he is “the nice” judge on Swedish Idol rather than his song)
It is true that the staging was rather simple and the song itself isn’t particularly revolutionary, however Anders is a truly amazing performer. Halfway through his performance I could see how it would be first in this semi. That said, I would still be somewhat surprised if he ends up winning Melo.
No. Cornelia will be at least second in the peoples votes but the jury will score her higher and that is why she will win.
Self I’m Swedish, and I am for Cornelia Jakobs. I wouldn’t be suprised if Anders Bagge won the final. You know how my country is 🙁
As a Swede I say it would be a miracle if anyone but Bagge wins. You have to be Swedish to get it..
Indeed, he is a jury member in one of the biggest shows (besides Mello) in Sweden, he is an animal lover and has a dog show on tv….i mean hard to beat that 🙁
I do appreciate that he is very very well liked and famous in Sweden. I guess the big question is whether the international jury will put him first or not. I get the impression that the outcome might be a little mixed, but of course I guess we will see come the finals. All that aside, I really did enjoy his performance. Its not my place to decide for Sweden but there could be worst choices than him (albeit I do hope they do something a little more about than the staging we saw today).
I can see him doing well with juries actually. Not win it but top 5 for sure. It is a very jury friendly song. And if that happens well then he will win
international juries will never allow it to win lol
Well earned DtF for Faith!! While Lisa has a lovely song, I am somewhat surprised at how popular it was with the older demographic. I would have preferred Linda or Lancelot in the Semi Final, personally.
Still, good job all contestants.
No offence but Lisa had an old people song..
I guess it is a little more “old school”, though I wouldn’t necessarily think she would grab the older demographics as a first place choice across the board (especially with Lancelot, Faith, and even Linda in the mix).
Tribe Friday the best tonight in my opinion, though perhaps that’s my Brit pop bias!
Absolutely! i don’t understand what have happened.
I know, right? They could’ve atleast qualified for semifinal 5.
Tribe Friday getting robbed. God, I swear the Swedes always go for the most cheesy and/or artificial songs. Literally one of the most enjoyable songs in this year’s Melodifestivalen…
Oscar Zia is just amazing