Photo: Collage SVT

We’re inching closer to national finals season. And on Tuesday morning Sweden’s SVT turned up the volume by revealing the names of 14 of the 28 artists that will compete in Melodifestivalen 2023.

The 14 remaining entries will be revealed on Wednesday morning at 08:00 Sweden time. 

HEAT 1 — Gothenburg

“Diamonds”
Victor Crone
Songwriters: David Lindgren Zacharias, Peter Kvint, Victor Crone

“Haunted”
Rejhan

Songwriters: Albin Johnsén, Mattias Andréasson, Pontus Söderman, Tilde RONIA Wrigsell

“Inga sorger” (No Sorrows)
Loulou LaMotte

Songwriters: Jonas Thander, Loulou LaMotte

“Länge leve livet” (Long Live Life)
Eva Rydberg & Ewa Roos
Songwriters: Emil Vaker, Henric Pierroff, Kalle Rydberg

“Raggen går”
Elov & Beny

Songwriters: Johan Werner, Kristian Wejshag, Mattias Elovsson, Oscar Kilenius, Tim Larsson 


“Rythm Of My Show”
Tone Sekelius
Songwriters: Anderz Wrethov, Dino Medanhodzic, Jimmy “Joker” Thörnfeldt, Tone Sekelius 

“Where You Are (Sávečan)”
Jon Henrik Fjällgren, Arc North feat. Adam Woods
Songwriters: Arc North, Calle Hellberg, Jon Henrik Fjällgren, Joy Deb, Oliver Belvelin, Richard Lästh, Tobias Lundgren, William Segerdahl

HEAT 2 — LINKÖPING


“All My Life (Where Have You Been)”
Wiktoria

Songwriters: Herman Gardarfve, Melanie Wehbe, Patrik Jean, Wiktoria Johansson

“Comfortable”
Eden
Songwriters: Benjamin Rosenbohm, Eden Alm, Emil Adler Lei, Julie Aagaard

“Grytan”
Uje Brandelius

Songwriters: Uje Brandelius

“Mer av dig” (More of You)
THEOZ
Songwriters: Axel Schylström, Jakob Redtzer, Peter Boström, Thomas G:son

“Never Give Up”
Maria Sur
Songwriters: Anderz Wrethov, Laurell Barker

“Now I Know”
Tennessee Tears
Songwriters: Anderz Wrethov, Jonas Hermansson, Thomas Stengaard, Tilda Feuk 

“On My Way”
Panetoz
Songwriters: Anders Wigelius, Daniel Nzinga, Jimmy Jansson, Nebeyu Baheru, Njol Badjie, Pa Modou Badjie, Robert Norberg

Melodifestivalen 2023 tour dates


February 4: Heat 1 – Göteborg
February 11: Heat 2 – Linköping
February 18: Heat 3 – Lidköping
February 25: Heat 4 – Malmö
March 4: Semi-final – Örnsköldsvik
March 11: Final – Stockholm

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Colin
Colin
2 years ago

Second part of the participants is revealed, and it includes Loreen, Paul Rey, Axel Schylstrom, and Laurell Barker. I’m gonna *love* this ywar’s Melfest, aren’t I? 🙂

Jessica Folcker
Jessica Folcker
2 years ago

Heat 4 seems like a bloodbath.

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
2 years ago

Time for Sweden to pick Jon Henrik!

Jessica Folcker
Jessica Folcker
2 years ago

Looking forward to hearing Jon Henrik’s entry. Sounds like something epic.

Plus, excited to see Ewa and Eva again. They were fun this year. 🙂

Åsa S
Åsa S
2 years ago

SVT misspelled the Sami word in Jon Henrik’s song.
The correct word is “Sávežan” not “Sáve?an”.
Sáve is his daughter. “Sávežan” means “Little Sáve”.

Héctor
Héctor
2 years ago

John Henrik is the one I’m most looking forward to. Don’t care too mucho about the other names revealed. Hope Loreen is in.

Mark
Mark
2 years ago

Looks like they might be keeping Loreen for the 4th heat, in which case it might be true that she’ll be tipped to win it all. Well, if she does appear in the final lineup, I believe her qualification for the final will translate into secured international jury victory at least

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
2 years ago
Reply to  Mark

The last time, Lauren competed in melfest, she was placed in the fourth heap in the last slot, but she didn’t make it straight to the final. She only got to Andrea’s chansen, where she was eliminated so that’s not always a guarantee. It’s gonna be a tall order to have a song that can rival euphoria.

Vamoss
Vamoss
2 years ago
Reply to  Mark

yeah she is always tipped to win and gets nothing

Denis
Denis
2 years ago
Reply to  Mark

You assume she will qualify for final…
Unless it is better than Euphoria she might not.

Frisian esc
Frisian esc
2 years ago

The rumor goes Laurell Barker will compete in melodifestivalen this year and im really excited for that!

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
2 years ago
Reply to  Frisian esc

We will find out tomorrow.

Jonas
Jonas
2 years ago
Reply to  BadWoolfGirl

She’s already there as a songwriter. She drops the “Barker” as performer.

Jofty
Jofty
2 years ago
Reply to  Frisian esc

Well if she doesn’t win, she can sell it on to Malta or San Marino

Tom
Tom
2 years ago

In my view it is super concerning that out of over 2500 entries they are still selecting 5 Jimmy Joker/Thomas Gson songs, I bet they don’t event listen to these songs but just select writers instead. This is very bad especially that Sweden has so many talented songwriters they can benefit from. I know it’s a TV show so it has to be a balance but this years seems to be all about generic blandness…

Moonstar
Moonstar
2 years ago
Reply to  Tom

We have not heard the songs yet, so it is a bit unfair to talk about “generic blandness”… but I do agree with you, we usually have several entries by the same author out of hundreds… it’s hard to believe there are not other good songs from other writers to choose from.

Midnight Gold
Midnight Gold
2 years ago

Good to see that Melfest is always big on recycling…

Andre
2 years ago
Reply to  Midnight Gold

The artists in Melfest are usually people without a “real” carrier. Swedish succesfull artist dont need Melfest. Thats why we have to deal with this kind of recycling / A Swede

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
2 years ago
Reply to  Midnight Gold

As if Sweden is the only nation that reuses artists in their national final year after year. A lot of countries do this, especially if they have a small population to begin with, but somehow Sweden always gets the heat for it.

Midnight Gold
Midnight Gold
2 years ago
Reply to  BadWoolfGirl

That’s because Sweden could be doing much better, nobody expects anything from a country like Malta, for example. Estonia is much smaller and they’ve had plenty of entries that put Melfest to shame over the past decade, they just almost never pick them.

Polly
Polly
2 years ago
Reply to  Midnight Gold

curious to hear what entries of Estonia have been putting Sweden to shame the past decade lmfao

Midnight Gold
Midnight Gold
2 years ago
Reply to  Polly

Sure, this is mostly based on the studio versions:

2012 – Tenfold Rabbit, Ott Lepland
2014 – Sandra Nurmsalu, Super Hot Cosmos Blues
2015 – Elina and Stig, Elephants from Neptune
2016 – Mick Pedaja, Wurffel, Go Away Bird, I Wear* Experiment
2018 – Frankie Animal, Iiris
2019 – Lumevarv
2021 – Uku Haasma, Juri Pootsmann again
2022 – Ott Lepland again, Maian

Think that might be enough.

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
2 years ago
Reply to  Midnight Gold

Bla bla bla parole parole

Denis
Denis
2 years ago
Reply to  Midnight Gold

Blah blah blah. Same thing every year. We get it. ” Sweden always the same”. Always generic/ bland/ pop. ” Every country is always more original/ fresh. ” No other country has the same artists every year”
Dont you get tired of recycling every year?

Midnight Gold
Midnight Gold
2 years ago
Reply to  Denis

You were good this year so I’m not ruling you out completely. Your public still wanted to send Bagge tho.

Denis
Denis
2 years ago
Reply to  Midnight Gold

bla bla bla who cares? We all know what your opinion about Sweden is.You repeat it every year, like a parrot

Jonas
Jonas
2 years ago

Ari, how come all of your comments keep disappearing? Do you do it yourself?

Jonas
Jonas
2 years ago
Reply to  Jonas

Just wondering, because I don’t even know how to do that here.

Denis
Denis
2 years ago

I actually am most excited for Tennessee Tears! They have no chance making it through but they will get exposure which is more than enough. Plus we need more country/ folk in the contest, seeing how huge of a genre it is..
They played at my local pub once and I loved every minute of it!

Erik
Erik
2 years ago
Reply to  Denis

No chance???? We havent heard the song yet

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
2 years ago
Reply to  Erik

It’s easy to speculate at the stage, but I’m gonna wait until the songs are released to really assess if this is a great crop or a poor crop. I know there are some names that are exciting people, but that’s mainly because of their past entries, not their current ones. I am keeping things close to the chest because the last thing I want is to anticipate something that turns out to be disappointing.

Denis
Denis
2 years ago
Reply to  Erik

No but do they have a fanbase? Are they well-known? Have they taken part previously?
Knowing newcomers rarely do well I do not hope for much..

Erik
Erik
2 years ago
Reply to  Denis

Cornelia Jakobs wasnt well-known either

Tomas
Tomas
2 years ago
Reply to  Denis

They played in Smögen and Marstrand too i think – it was rly nice

Jonas
Jonas
2 years ago

I think releasing only half the names means Loreen still hasn’t decided.

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
2 years ago
Reply to  Jonas

Or she Is in the other half but we’ll see tomorrow

Jonas
Jonas
2 years ago
Reply to  BadWoolfGirl

I suppose it would be unfair to leave it this late, it would mean somebody else waiting to know if they’re in or out. Okay, she’s probably decided. She’s in.

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
2 years ago
Reply to  Jonas

That was Loreen’s position the last time she participated in 2017, but that didn’t help her to get her to the final. In fact, she never even made it out of andra chansen Where she got sent last time.

Tomas
Tomas
2 years ago

First heat seems like a tuff competition lol I did some research and in last 10 years: From position 1 – 27songs Q and 13DNQ Position 2 – 7 songs Q and 33 DNQ Position 3- 20Q and 20 DNQ Position 4 – same like position 3 Position 5 – 23Q and 16 DNQ Position 6 – 24Q and 16 DNQ Position 7 – 34Q and 6 DNQ I am pretty sure that John Henrik Victor Crone Tone Eva’s will qualify in some way Maybe Loulou could challenge ? Second heat – Wiltoria, Panetoz, Theoz and maybe Uje actually (Maria… Read more »

Tomas
Tomas
2 years ago
Reply to  Tomas

Thanks for dislikes, lol – idk why 😀

Jake
Jake
2 years ago

The first semi seems a little stacked with familiar names compared to the second. It’ll be interesting. I thought Maria Sur would have a Sarah Dawn Finer song but instead will have a typical “I shall overcome” anthem from two songwriters who churn out many many songs every Eurovision season across countries. It’ll be Eurovision by numbers and I’m sure Swedish public will eat it up like they did Tone last year—who had same songwriter and a song that was reworked after being entered year after year into Melfest.

Addie
Addie
2 years ago

Wow… how time flies! It feels like it was just yesterday that Cornelia won Melfest. Anyway, so excited to see Wiktoria, Tone, Jon Henrik and Panetoz back. And the new names seem very interesting too. Must do some research on them.

Vivian
Vivian
2 years ago

I’m happy to see Wiktoria back again! She was robbed of a Melfest victory three times in the past. Maybe this time she’ll finally get the result she should’ve gotten several times before. (How “If I Were Sorry” beat “Save Me” in 2016 is still beyond me)

Also fun to see the two Rena Rama Ding Dong grannies again!

Colin
Colin
2 years ago

I’m thinking that maybe Sweden is getting an inspiration from the fact that their most recent entry is easily their best in years, and Cornelia actually fully deserved her very high placement. Maybe this route of blending creative with mainstream is what they are going for, and if so, I’m all for it.

Nicomro
2 years ago

Yessss tone, panetoz, wiktoria, Jon Henrik !! I’m so looking for that !!

Alfie28
Alfie28
2 years ago

Jon Henrik Fjällgren!!!!

Sir Stevia
Sir Stevia
2 years ago

I’m happy Tone is back!

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
2 years ago
Reply to  Sir Stevia

I hope she has a greater song than last year.

Polly
Polly
2 years ago
Reply to  BadWoolfGirl

he*

Catriona
Catriona
2 years ago
Reply to  Polly

Bigot.

RoroKing31
RoroKing31
2 years ago

Yeahhhhh ! John Henrik Fjallgren, Wictoria and Theoz are back !

I’m so excited about Tennessee Tears and Loulou Lamotte also !

Let’s go !!!!

Polegend Godnova
2 years ago

excited for tone sekelius, victor crone, wiktoria and eva&ewa, since i liked their previous entries, as well as the newcomers.

Poju90
Poju90
2 years ago

Same 🙂

Go_A Stan
Go_A Stan
2 years ago

Did not expect Uje Brandelius to be here. for those of you who don’t know, he’s a member of the socialist pop band Doktor Kosmos. The band is very political with lyrics like “You don’t need a dollar smile to be a bourgeois swine”. Will be interesting to see him make nonpolitical lyrics.

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
2 years ago

So far, 11 of the names featured here have been correctly predicted by the Swedish tabloid (Sorry, I can’t remember how it spelled but I think You know what I’m talking about). The only names that weren’t put up were Jon Henrik Fjällgren, Arc North feat. Adam Woods, Eden and Uje Brandelius.

Tomas
Tomas
2 years ago
Reply to  BadWoolfGirl

Yeah Uje and Eden was not predicted but Aftonbladed – the name of the swedish tabloid were thinking that JHFjallgreen will take a part in Melo (but they had 6 tips) but they were thinking he will be solo and not in trio, anyway they predicted as a MAYBE artists – the winner of mask singer, the TEN label artists – Ingrosso/Enestad/ Felix, also Anton Hagman was there and Cazzi Opeia tooo

Since there is probably 1 more name as a surprise, it might be one of those names that i have mentioned 🙂

Yeah
Yeah
2 years ago

Out of these 14 acts over half of them have songs made by people who’ve been involved in previous years songs as well, no surprises as this line up is the usual. SVT should stop those announcements about the so called 2,8k entries received.

Tomas
Tomas
2 years ago
Reply to  Yeah

Maybe not all of them (songs) are good 😉 It doesnt mean that all 2880 songs are amazing and winners – Italy doing the same so stop being jealous – if u dont like it, dont watch it and MOVE on 😉

Thanos
Thanos
2 years ago

Looking forward to hearing Jon Henrik’s song!

Colin
Colin
2 years ago
Reply to  Thanos

I totally missed that Jon Henrik is in the mix too. Another name I am REALLY looking forward to!

Thanos
Thanos
2 years ago
Reply to  Colin

? loved all his past Melfest entries! I am a great fan of the Sami elements he incorporates to his songs. If the song is as powerful as his 2019 entry he will certainly have my support!

Colin
Colin
2 years ago
Reply to  Thanos

I *really* liked his MF entries 2015-onwards (those I’ve heard). Preliminary, this year’s MF has several artists whose music I generally really like. It gives me hopes for a great show!

Ani
Ani
2 years ago
Reply to  Thanos

Well it will probably sound ooooheeyaoooheyaaouououe or something like that

Tomas
Tomas
2 years ago
Reply to  Ani

Still better and narural that all songs from Ukraine at Eurovision 😉

Yeah
Yeah
2 years ago

Deltävling 1 qualifiers: Victor Crone – Diamonds Rejhan – Haunted Tone Sekelius – Rhythm of My Show Jon Henrik Fjällgren, Arc North feat. Adam Woods – Where You Are (Sáve?an) One act being possibly knocked out by Eva & Ewa Deltävling 2 qualifiers: Wiktoria – All My Life (Where Have You Been) Maria Sur – Never Give Up Tennessee Tears – Now I Know Panetoz – On My Way One (most likely Maria) being knocked out by THEOZ or Eden This is all written and decided so there’s not “too many” good song for one night, two good ones, three… Read more »

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
2 years ago
Reply to  Yeah

I say it’s hard to make predictions of who go forward or not when the songs are not out yet. The four artists you predict per heat might have weaker songs and could be surprisingly knocked out but we don’t know at this point.

Yeah
Yeah
2 years ago
Reply to  BadWoolfGirl

It’s pretty clear if you know how the system goes here, I’ll be commenting here anyway as the Deltävlings have been done and dusted so we’ll be able to talk about these then, as we have the results to confirm all of this.

Sabrina
Sabrina
2 years ago

Jon Henrik with a EDM banger? Panetoz back? Wictoria back as well? Wow what a great Lineup!
Hopefully a swedish song wins, I want us to have at least one swedish song in eurovision in my lifetime lol. Hopefully 2023 is the year 🙂

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
2 years ago
Reply to  Sabrina

I take it you mean you hope for a song in Swedish to win.

Yeah
Yeah
2 years ago
Reply to  Sabrina

Last time we heard Swedish in Eurovision was in 2012, and that came from Finland where it’s an official language alongside Finnish.

Sweden’s last Swedish entry is from 1998, all the songs after that year have been sung in English – even the songs that were originally sung in Swedish at Melodifestivalen.

Denis
Denis
2 years ago
Reply to  Sabrina

I would not bet money on that

Colin
Colin
2 years ago

Victor Crone, Wiktoria, and Panetoz have all been in my top 2 Melfest entries at least once, Eva & Ewa brought be so much joy last time they were competing, and I consider Tone and Theoz to be talented emerging artists. This line-up certainly looks promsing, and I hope that Melfest can be amazing this year. Good luck, Sweden!

Jack
Jack
2 years ago

Damn, if the Ukrainian girl wins the diaspora votes will be split in the Eurovision final, Sweden doing everything possible to get another victory lmao

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
2 years ago
Reply to  Jack

So you predict another Tusse situation?

Denis
Denis
2 years ago
Reply to  Jack

She won’t. She is not Swedish citizen so she will not win..

Jack
Jack
2 years ago
Reply to  Denis

This sounds very racist. Just cause she is not a citizen she can’t win??

Denis
Denis
2 years ago
Reply to  Jack

Well yes. Why would Swedes want to be represented by someone who technically is not Swedish?
And before you start, let me remind you that Sweden three years in a row let black artist win Melodifestivalen. With that honour, might I add…
Also not forget Sweden back in 2002 let three women of colour represent them. Also with a great song..

Vivian
Vivian
2 years ago
Reply to  Denis

Weren’t the Mamas originally from the USA?

Denis
Denis
2 years ago
Reply to  Vivian

Only one of them. Loulou is from Malmö. Ashley s from Washington D.C. The other one is also from Sweden

Jonas
Jonas
2 years ago
Reply to  Denis

Dinah. Paris was also American, but she left after Tel Aviv.

Ani
Ani
2 years ago
Reply to  Jack

If you have not missed it, Swedes are very racist, she will have advantage though that she is white and from ukraine rather than a syrian refugee…

Åsa S
Åsa S
2 years ago
Reply to  Ani

A Syrian refugee (Bishara Morad) came 2nd in Melodifestivalen 2019, though. The international juries gave him a lot lower score than the Swedish televoters.

Denis
Denis
2 years ago
Reply to  Ani

lol funny you..
Did you forgot Tusse?