Last April she performed the Destiny’s Child song “Survivor” to a packed Avicii Arena in Stockholm to help raise money for Ukrainians impacted by Russia’s war. The night was poignant for all of the artists, including heavyweights like Ola Salo, Malena Ernman and Cornelia Jakobs, but most especially for Maria Sur. Just months earlier, she and her mother fled their home in Zaporizhzhia before traveling to Poland and on to Sweden.
Nearly a year on, the 17-year-old is now one of the favourites to win Melodifestivalen 2023 — Sweden’s most popular TV show and its Eurovision selection. She’ll sing her song “Never Give Up” this weekend during Heat Two in Linköping.
Her burgeoning music career — along with attending a Swedish school and taking Ukrainian university courses remotely — are keeping her busy. Melodifestivalen has made the balancing act even more difficult, but she’s grateful for it.
“I’m really happy that I have all these opportunities to live — to continue living my life,” she told me via Zoom recently. “Even if I’m tired, it makes me alive. I’m not just sitting and thinking about something bad.”
She’ll sing “Never Give Up,” which was written by songwriter and fellow Melodifestivalen 2023 act Laurell Barker (“She Got Me”, “Habit”, and “Sober”) and songwriter Anderz Wrethrov (“Cool Me Down,” “Too Late For Love,” and “Fade to Black”).
“I called Laurell and told her the whole story about me and she felt it so, so much, and she wrote these lyrics for my song. Incredible lyrics, incredible music. Anderz and Laurell, they felt me so right. They did these feelings right.”
While themes of perseverance and overcoming are common at Eurovision, Maria’s recent travails give her song added resonance and power. “Baby, I’m not gonna break,” she sings. “I won’t fall under the weight, always gonna hold my ground. When I’m standing in the rain, no one’s going to save me from the pain, I will never, never give up.”
“I’m so happy that I have this chance to share with people my story and this song about my dreams, about fighting for my dreams, about struggles with all of this. This is gonna be a message for people. Move on, keep working, never give up and follow your dreams. If you will do this nothing is impossible.”
Maria Sur: From Ukraine to Melodifestivalen
Opportunities in Sweden, however, don’t dampen the pain she feels for family who remain in Ukraine.
“When you lost something, only after this you understand how you appreciate and love it,” she says of Zaporizhzhia. “I really miss my home and my family because my father is still there and my grandmother is still there. It’s hard to tell about this all the time when people ask me how it feels. I’m so really close to my family — to my dad and my mom. I’m here with my mom, but Dad is still in Ukraine. It was a hard decision to move for us because we are really so close to each other.”
During January and February, Maria was filming The Voice of Ukraine. It was a time of great hope and optimism. “I had this feeling, ‘Yeah, it’s exactly the right time — my career starts.’ I thought and believed that now my music career starts.”
Russia invaded on February 24.
“Who could think that this situation can happen? Everything dramatically changed. My mind has been changed dramatically because of this situation. I can’t plan for the future. Yes, I’m still dreaming, but I don’t know what will be tomorrow after this situation.”
Maria and her mother left Ukraine for Poland. They, like so many others, thought the war would end within a few weeks. But it soon became obvious that this was not the case and that a protracted conflict was on the horizon.
“We were in the small countryside in Poland with nothing to do there. When we realized the war would not stop, we made the decision to go to Sweden because my aunt lives here.”
Maria started reaching out to famous Swedish singers for advice about how to break into the music industry. Only one artist wrote back: former Melodifestivalen contestant and host Sarah Dawn Finer.
“She asked me how I am, how is my mom, how is my life. And I asked her what shows she has here, where can I go, and what can I do. After this I also saw there was going to be a charity concert for Ukraine at Avicii Arena [the Hela Sverige skramlar för Ukraina (HELA)]. I saw that she was going to participate in this concert and I asked if it was possible for me to perform there as well.”
Sarah put her in touch with organisers, who met with Maria to assess if she was a real singer.
“They needed to be sure that I was ready for that because it’s quite a big stage with a lot of audience and people. But I did it. I performed at Avicii Arena. It was amazing.”
Maria pays close attention to Eurovision, and remembers well Ukraine’s journey from Vidbir 2022 to winning Eurovision in Turin.
“This song ‘Stefania’ — it’s the main song of Ukraine now. It was before Eurovision and after it spread everywhere. Every young person knows this song. I know that the Kalush Orchestra — it was supposed to be a girl at Eurovision [Alina Pash]. I love Kalush Orchestra, but to be honest Alina Pash was my favourite participant in the national final of Ukraine. I loved her song and I voted for her!”
Maria is making the most of life in Sweden, but Ukraine is always on her mind — especially as she feels the lovewave coming from her compatriots.
“I’m so really happy that because Ukraine now supports me so much with the Mello. They’re so proud. I even didn’t expect this because I was worried that maybe Ukraine gonna be angry to me…but the situation happened with me. I’m here and I’m lucky with everything that I got here, all of these opportunities. If I got these opportunities I have to take it, because I want to continue my life. I’m really, really happy that Ukraine supports me with Mello.”
This weekend, as all of Sweden watches, she promises to sing for her homeland: “I will stand at the stage like a Ukrainian Maria Sur.”
Are you excited about the show this weekend? Do you think that Maria could take it all? Let us know in the comments down below!
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undeserved advantage over other contestants, a little sick of listening to these teary stories
She is second in odds for melodifestivalena and i dont know how, cuz this song is so bad.
From what I saw of the rehearsal clip, this song is pretty dire.
This isn’t legitimately one of the favourites to represent Sweden, is it? That’s someone’s idea of a joke.
I must agree that the rehearsal clip wasn’t all that promising. I guess we’ll see how it goes when performed in its entirety tmr.
kinda boring now with all the sob stories ….
You suck
Barker, Wrethov, Debs, “Dream” Team and so on, hasn’t ESC already suffered enough from this conveyor belt of painfully generic songwriting straight from the factory? Some serious measures should be taken, if somehow possible, to try and put an end to this.
Europe just needs to continue not voting for their terrible songs and eventually, broadcasters will catch on, that despite the names attached, the songs are simply not any good.
It happened with Ralph Siegel. It just takes time.
Another bland set of songs, unfortunately.
I love her drive and perseverance, but this song just doesn’t make her any justice 🙁
No finalticket to her plz
she has a stunning voice and perseverance and i’m sorry for what happened to her, from ukraine to singing the worst laurell barker song that could ever be written…
People said Heat 1 was weak but I loved all the songs from Heat 1 (apart from Grannies)
Heat 2 is a dissapoitment 🙁
Jon Henrik has the best song and staging sooo faar and I love Elov&Beny/Tone too
From Heat 2 – Tennessee Tears impressed me the most.
But we dont need to have strong Melo every year, sometimes break is good.
Sometimes you have a weak year. But we are only half-way through with Melfest. I’ll wait until every song is out to make my judgment. I can only judge week by week. I think once all 28 songs are out that we will get the full picture.
As long as we choose a nice winner in the end it will be just fine. But in the long run why waste time on below average songs when we could have only one show with a few songs that are great? And no one really puts any money on the performances any more. It’s really boring. No risks. Well, still Melodifestivalen is the most viewed show in Sweden and a camp fire on Saturdays, but I feel it’s time for a reformation. We need fresh air!
I do think this heat is much stronger though. Less average songs
Yes, I agree it’s stronger. It feels more fun and party. But I don’t hear a winner. Maybe Maria Sur will become another Tusse with people though? That’s my fear..
I doubt it. Tusse was at least famous before Idol. She is unknown.. Plus would Swedes let some non-Swede represent us?
Plus there is also voting groups. I doubt children will love this.
Tusse was popular with children
I think this is much better heat than the first one..
Oh Wow – look I have Swedish roots but I dont feel any swedish song in this heat even …. Panetoz a Theoz + Wiktoria was a let down for me …
I hope Tennessee Tears will go to the final 😀 but Again I havent heard all 3 min but just 1.
Eurovision still hasn’t confirmed the Czech Republic’s entry. This is beyond fooked up.
It could just be something as simple as somebody forgetting to update or it’s going to update later with the new entries on Saturday.
Sorry but this song is simply horrible
Did you mean to type “Maria”? I’m confused. As far as I know, this post is about Sweden’s national finals, not Malta’s, and not San Marino’s. 😀
El Diablo would’ve won Melfest 2023 if it was a song competing this year’s mello
This sounds like a very generic ballad. It’s quite weak IMO.
The bookies are high on her because of her story, that’s it.
I find it difficult to assess which songs I will enjoy based on these snippets. They did leave me hoping for a little more, but I guess we’ll see what deltävling 2 brings the day of.
They may be only snippets, but they feel like a step up to last week’s entries. I think Wiktoria is clearly the strongest of the lot. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was placed in the final first in the first round of voting.
I think this is her weakest song yet. Generally the first two heats are weak and I highly doubt the MF winner will come from them.
Cornelia, Benjamin Ingrosso,The Mamas, Sanna Nielsen and Loreen have been winners that performed in the first two heats. That’s 5/10 winners from 2022 – 2012.
While I think we haven’t heard the winner yet… it’s not true that the first heats are usually this weak.
She stands 0% chances of being a contender to win melfest, bookies should get real for once. She will either go to the final and end 7-12th, or end her journey in Andra chansen which should be a happy result for her.
I wonder why she is ranked so high with the bookies? Is it in part the context of the war? While I don’t think the song is bad, I truly don’t find it particularly unique or interesting tbh.
It is because of her story. The story might work to final but doubt ful she will win knowing what Swedes usually vote for
She might be Tusse/Anders Wannabe
I hope not – She would never won Vidbir even
No because there are voting groups. I doubt children will vote for this. I can not see the appeal with it for children. She can not even speak Swedish
Yeah but she is bringing a STORY same like Anders and Tusse did – i agree with u but Swedish might be sentimental …
The thing is Swedes are suffering from war fatigue. It does not occupy our news any more. So the story would not work..Tusse was beloved by children and got high scores from that group. I doubt Maria will have the same effect..
And Anders was already beloved by all. People knew who he was, his background.
No one knows about refugee girl.Plus she has said she is singing for Ukraine, not Sweden. You think Swedes would let a winner say something like that?
This will stand out in a sea of Swedish disaster bops. She’s got a good story and I like how she comments about Alina Pash and how she should have won!
And that matters to Swedes how much?
Your story can only get you so far. And there are better songs in the mix…
They voted for Tusse because of his backstory and he got them Sweden’s worst result in almost a decade (14th). I don’t think that will happen again.
Tusse also was a very good singer and performer who managed to elevate a basic song,
His story? He already won Idol, this only made him more famous..
And lastly, 2021 was a weak year for Mello. It is not like any other song would have done better in ESC. It was the best option..
Little Tot would have been a top tenner most likely…
Tusse song was 10393x better than this .
This is Wrethov’s and Barker’s story.
Ooo, this comment appears blank here, as in, it literally displays as space. Not even a punctuation mark. That’s a “first time” for me. It might be a technical error, of course. Do let me know if anyone can see text here.
It’s written in digital, invisible ink.
“Never give up” is a very classical ballad, as I expected. So no surprises what so ever. I wish the lyrics were not so cliche, I’m sorry, even if they tell her story. I guess it’s the use of words that’s been done so many times before. I feel terrible in bashing this. But it’s still a beautiful song and it depends on what she will do on stage if she’s going to get a final ticket and become a winner contender. But right now I can’t see it.
She will qualify, I think. But winner?
I doubt. Not only because it is a classic ballad which rarely works in Sweden and is not exciting enough but also because will Swedes let someone who is not Swedish represent them? She has not citizenship here, she will sing for Ukraine and is only here temporarily she has said. I mean it is all OK of course and fine but she needs more than just sympathy to make it..