Swedish Press May 2022 Vol 93-03 Sample

[

]

Swedish Press N Y A

S V E N S K A

P R E S S E N

www.SwedishPress.com

Swedish Eurovision

E S T . 1 9 2 9

May 2022 Vol 93:03 $9.95

03 2022

Swedes Love Their Schlager | We Have a Winner | From Dawn to Dusk

Swedes Love Their Schlager

Dancing Russian grandmothers, Finnish heavy metal, and Israel’s feminist “chicken song” – over the years, the Eurovision Song Contest has certainly featured many memorable acts. And no nation loves the campy competition more than Sweden.

By Kajsa Norman

W

ABBA, Swedish winner 1974. Photo: EBU

ith hundreds of millions of viewers around the world, the annual Eurovision Song Contest ranks among the world's most-watched non-sporting events.

The first Eurovision Song Contest took place in Lugano, Switzerland in May 1956 and featured exclusively Schlager music – a style of European popular music involving a simple, catchy melody paired with cheerful or sentimental lyrics (the German word Schlager literally means “[musical] hit”). The style originated in the late 1800s but gained traction as the Eurovision Song Contest became increasingly popular. In the United Kingdom, Schlager is often categorized simply as pop. In a North American context, most Schlager music would fall someSwedish Press | May 2022 | 10

Loreen, Swedish winner 2012. Photo: Gulustan

where in between country music and traditional pop.

Over time, other music styles, such as folk, jazz, rock, R&B, and even heavy metal, have made their way into the competition. These days pretty much any style of music goes, as when Finnish heavy metal band Lordi famously won the contest in 2006 with their song “Hard Rock Hallelujah”, becoming the first metal act, and the first Finnish band, to win.

Sweden participated in the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time in 1958 (Denmark in 1957, Norway in 1960, Finland in 1961 and Iceland in 1986). Back then, the public didn’t get a say as to who would represent their country. Instead, Swedish Radio selected Alice Babs with the song “Samma stjärna lyser för oss två”. She

finished fourth.

It would take until 1974 for Sweden to secure its first win. In 1973, ABBA entered the competition with their song “Ring Ring”. While they didn’t win the European competition, their exposure fueled their breakthrough the following year, when they tried again with “Waterloo” (in its original Swedish form). They not only won the now public vote for the Swedish selection, they went on to win the entire Eurovision Song Contest. To this day, they remain the winners that have achieved the greatest commercial success.

Eurovision Song Contest veteran Christer Björkman believes there are many reasons why the contest has become so incredibly popular in Sweden.

“First of all, we’ve kept the compe-

Scandi Eurovision Stats Swedish Wins 1974 Waterloo, ABBA 1984 Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley, Herreys 1991 Fångad av en stormvind Carola Häggkvist 1999 Tusen och en natt Charlotte Nilsson (Perelli) 2012 Euphoria, Loreen 2015 Heroes, Måns Zelmerlöw Norwegian Wins 1985 La det swinge, Bobbysocks 1995 Nocturne, Secret Garden 2009 Fairytale, Alexander Rybak Bobbysocks. Photo: EBU

form in English and the contest lost some of its cultural uniqueness. Since the rule change, every Swedish entry has been in English.

That said, recently there has been a shift. Nations opting to send artists performing in their native language have been rewarded with greater frequency. In 2021, Italian rock band Måneskin won, performing in their native tongue. France and Switzerland, the two runners-up, both competed with French songs. And in 2017, Portugal won with the beautiful Portuguese song “Amar Pelos Dois” performed by Salvador Sobral.

Since 2004, the Eurovision Song Contest has consisted of two semifinals and a final. The winner is selected through a combination of votes from the public (voting by phone, SMS, or app) and juries consisting of music professionals from each country. The jury votes come in first.

A representative from each country is telecast into the event to present their scores live. They dramatically read out their top two picks, which score 10 and 12 points, after displaying their 1-8 point selections on the screen. Once the results of the juries are in, the host reveals the results of the public’s votes for each country, which usually shifts the standing drastically. The winning nation hosts the contest the following year.

The contest was cancelled for the first time in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, it returned but with stringent COVID-19 protocols in place. The 2022 Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Turin, Italy from May 11-14. In North America, it will be shown on Peacock, the streaming service from NBCUniversal. The final is due to take place on 14 May, 2022 at 21:00 (EST).

Danish Wins 1963 Dansevise Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann 2000 Fly on the Wings of Love Jørgen and Niels Olsen 2013 Only Teardrops Emmelie de Forest Finnish Win 2006 Hard Rock Hallelujah Lordi

Lordi. Photo: nagi.ee

tition alive ever since our first participation in 1958. Our viewers know that even though the show has gone through some occasional dips, it has always bounced back with full force,” he tells Swedish Press.

“Swedish Television has also done a great job engaging good songwriters and artists which has replenished the Swedish treasure trove of songs each year.”

As a result, Sweden has the second highest number of wins for a country at Eurovision (only Ireland has won the contest more times) and ABBA’s 1974 hit “Waterloo” was voted the most popular Eurovision song of the contest’s first fifty years.

The next Swedish win came in 1984 when the Herreys brothers won with the song “Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley”.

In the 1990s, Sweden won the contest twice: first in 1991 with Carola Häggqvist’s “Fångad av en stormvind” (Captured by a Love Storm), and then again in 1999 with Charlotte Perelli’s “Tusen och en natt” (“Take Me to Your Heaven”).

In 2012, Swedish singer Loreen won the Eurovision Song Contest in Baku with “Euphoria”. Just three years later, Sweden won again with Måns Zelmerlöv and the song “Heroes.”

“Both of these victories are incredible memories for me,” comments Christer Björkman who was in charge of Sweden’s televised Eurovision selection show, Melodifestivalen, at the time.

Starting in 1966, countries were required to perform in one of their official languages (following criticism over the 1965 Swedish entry being performed in English). But in 1999, this requirement was lifted. Henceforth, most artists have opted to per-

Norway and Finland share the dubious distinction of finishing last in the Eurovision final more times than any other country (11 times each).

Iceland is the only Nordic country that is yet to win the contest.

Swedish Press | May 2022 | 11

Sweden, We Have a Winner!

On Saturday March 12th, Sweden’s annual song competition Melodifestivalen finally crowned its winner. What had begun 6 months prior with 2,500 songs, finished this night in a thrilling showdown between the top 12. Cornelia Jakobs emerged victorious and will now represent Sweden in Eurovision 2022.

By Noelle Norman

I

n Sweden, the Eurovision excitement starts with Melodifestivalen (literally “the Melody Festival”), during which the Swedish public selects the artist and song to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest. And tonight, for the first time in my life, I would attend the final live at Friend’s Arena in Stockholm.

Melodifestivalen has been my favorite show since before I can remember, and the atmosphere was nothing short of magical. I and the other 26,000 attendees gazed down from our stadium seats over the colorful stage and the distant “Green Room” that houses the contestants.

The spectators, dressed in their most audacious schlager-wear, held placards with their favorite contestant’s name, whilst sporting an abundance of sparkly accessories. Drones carrying cameras whizzed around and suspense filled the air. Melodifestivalen is the most popular TV show in Sweden. It is broadcast annually, and it is estimated that nearly half of the

Swedish Press | May 2022 | 12

Noelle in Friends Arena. Photo: Private

Swedish population watches the final.

But it wasn’t just Swedes who were eager to watch it live – around me I heard Spanish, English, and German.

People had travelled from around the world to be here.

Before the show started we were warned about the intense pyrotechnics, spraying confetti, and loud noises that would occur throughout the

evening. We were also asked to turn on the flashlights on our phones during sentimental moments. Then the hosts Oscar Zia and Farah Abadi welcomed us, and the famous intro music began to play. The air was electric with the anticipation of the moment.

Every year Melodifestivalen produces a wide variety of performances, mixing different genres, tastes, styles, and languages. All twelve performances that made it to the final this year were polished and praiseworthy.

Given the challenging times we live in – the war in Ukraine, the aftermath of the pandemic, and persistent forms of bias and divisiveness, many of the tops songs evoked the theme of resilience. Faith Kakembo performed the song “Freedom” about collective humanity and giving each other hope.

Tone Sekelius, the first transgender artist to ever compete in Melodifestivalen, performed “My Way” about living an authentic life and being true to yourself.

One of Sweden’s past Melodifestivalen winners, the brilliant John

Lundvik, performed “Änglavakt” (“Guardian Angel”). A slow song, nothing short of stunning, it was made especially memorable as the lights came down and 26,000 people turned on their flashlights to sway to the beautiful melody.

The international jury favored different songs than the Swedish televoters, which is not entirely unusual.

The voter’s favorite song was “Bigger Than The Universe” by Anders Bagge, who received 90 points. However, this proved to be not enough.

Cornelia Jakobs received the second highest televoting score (70 popularity points) but, with significantly more points from the international jury, her total points were higher, and her song “Hold Me Close” was declared the winner.

An emotional and riveting song, she performed barefoot, without any

T

he first Melodifestivalen took place on 29 January 1959 at Cirkus in Stockholm. Four “expert” juries in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, and Luleå selected a winner among the eight songs performed. The competition was won by Siw Malmkvist performing “Augustin”, but the Swedish public broadcaster decided that the winning song, irrespective of its original performer, would be performed by Brita Borg at Eurovision. This practice of changing the performer was stopped in 1961.

The competition became a standalone television programme in 1960 when the average Swedish family had their own television set. In the 1980s, the contest was broadcast live.

And in the 1990s, the Swedish public went from being mere spectators of the contest to being able to call in and vote (televote) for their favorite.

I The winner, Cornelia Jakobs. Photo: Annika Berglund/SVT

dancing, backup singers or dancers, special effects, or advanced staging.

Her simple, down-to-Earth approach hit home. How Sweden will rank in the final competition in May in Turin, Italy, is anyone’s guess. As Cornelia herself put it in an interview with Svenska Dagbladet: “The only thing I know is that you never have a clue about how anything is going to go in this competition.”

Brief History

From One Night to a Full Season

n 2002, Melodifestivalen became an even bigger event as a series of televised competitive build-up events were introduced. Instead of just a single, livestreamed competition, held over the course of an evening, there would now be six live shows, spread out over the course of six Saturdays starting in early February. Each of the first four shows features seven songs, where the top two songs move on. Then follows a Second Chance (Andra Chansen) show, featuring the third and fourth runners up in each of the first four shows. Lastly, there is the grand finale, comprising twelve songs – the top two songs from each of the

first four shows and the top four songs from the Second Chance round.

Who Can Compete?

T

ens of thousands of songs and performers have entered Melodifestivalen since its debut. At first, songwriters living outside Sweden were not allowed to submit entries to Melodifestivalen. However, this changed in 2012 and foreign songwriters can now participate if they collaborate with a Swedish songwriter. To be eligible, songwriters and performers must be at least sixteen years of age on the day of the first Eurovision semifinal.

The submission process is overseen by members of the Swedish Music Publishers Association (SMFF), whose task is to reduce the thousands of songs submitted to around 1,200.

The SMFF's choices are then given to a sixteen-person jury of music professionals, SVT staff and other members of the public.

The deadline for submission is in September every year and songs can be in any language.

Launch-Pad for New Artists

M

elodifestivalen has been the launch-pad for the success of popular Swedish artists, such as ABBA, Tommy Körberg, and Lisa Nilsson. However, it doesn’t take a win in the festival to advance one’s music sales. For example, the song which finished last at Melodifestivalen 1990, “Symfonin” by Loa Falkman, topped the Swedish singles chart. In 2008, songs from Melodifestivalen made up the entire top-fifteen-list on the Swedish singles chart.

Swedish Press | May 2022 | 13

Sweden Brings Eurovision to North America Finally, a North American adaptation of the Eurovision Song Contest has made it across the Atlantic. American Song Contest, airing on NBC, is hosted by Kelly Clarkson and Snoop Dogg, but behind the scenes is Christer Björkman, the longtime producer of Melodifestivalen.

By Kajsa Norman

I

Christer Björkman. Photo: Private

n 1992, Christer Björkman won Sweden’s Eurovision selection contest, Melodifestivalen, with the song “I morgon är en annan dag”. His real claim to fame, however, is his work behind the scenes as a producer of Melodifestivalen and the Eurovision Song Contest. For the past 20 years, Björkman has dominated the song contest scene in Europe. Now, he is in LA producing the “American Song Contest”, realizing his dream of bringing Eurovision to American audiences.

Swedish Press | May 2022 | 14

“I pinch myself in the arm every day as I enter Universal City. It feels so surreal that I’ve ended up here.

This journey is a true highlight of my career,” Björkman tells Swedish Press.

While Björkman makes it sound easy, it took many years of effort – and a Netflix hit – to get to this point.

Between 2016 and 2018, U.S. cable network, Logo TV, broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest finals, but audience numbers were low, ranging from 52,000 viewers in 2016 to 74,000 viewers in 2018. The concept simply

didn’t seem to appeal to North American audiences. However, in 2020, that all changed with the Netflix movie, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, which introduced North American audiences to this strange and colorful European contest.

The romantic comedy, produced, acted-in, and co-written by Will Ferrell, follows the Icelandic singers Lars Erickssong and Sigrit Ericksdóttir as they are given the chance to represent their country at the Eurovision Song Contest. Will Ferrell stars as Lars Erickssong, while Rachel McAdams plays Sigrit Ericksdóttir, Lars' bandmate and long-time best friend.

The film became the moststreamed content on Netflix in the U.S. on its first weekend. Eurovision fans loved it of course (probably in part due to the many former Eurovision contestants who made cameos in the film), but it also sparked the curiosity of the wider North American audience. A song from the film, “Husavik”, was nominated for Best Original Song at the 93rd Academy Awards, fueling even more Eurovision fever.

Viewers of the movie who are not familiar with the original contest would be forgiven for believing that the absurd musical acts portrayed in

the film are way too outrageous to reflect the real contest. Not so! They actually provide a fairly accurate picture of what audiences of the Eurovision Song Contest can expect.

In fact, Will Ferrell was introduced to the Eurovision Song Contest in 1999 by his Swedish wife, actress Viveca Paulin. Sweden won that year with Charlotte Perelli’s “Take Me to Your Heaven” and just like that, Ferrell was as hooked on the competition as any Swede.

past Eurovision competitions. And they had an important announcement to make: They had acquired the rights to produce an adaptation of Eurovision for the U.S. market.

“In 2017, I produced the Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv with Anders Lenhoff. When we had finished that assignment Anders started nagging that we should do ESC [Eurovision Song Contest] in the U.S. I was hesitant at first, but he persuaded me.

Now, four years later, here we are.

Pretty unreal!” says Björkman.

American Song Contest premiered on March 21 and is currently airing on NBC. The contest will be broadcast on Mondays for eight weeks, during which time entries from all 50 U.S. states, five territories, and Washington D.C. will compete for the title of Best Original Song.

Molly Sandén is the voice behind "Husavik".

Rachel McAdams and Will Ferrell in Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. Photo: Netflix

In May 2018, in preparation for the film, Ferrell attended the final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon, Portugal, to research possible characters and scenarios for the film.

Both he and McAdams also attended dress rehearsals of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Also present in Tel Aviv were Christer Björkman and Ola Melzig, known for their roles as producers of

Snoop Dogg and Kelly Clarkson. Photo: NBC

Rapper Snoop Dogg and pop singer Kelly Clarkson are the show's presenters.

“I have been a fan and love the concept of Eurovision and am thrilled to bring the musical phenomenon to America. I’m so excited to work with Snoop and can’t wait to see every state and territory represented by artists singing their own songs,” said Clarkson, who has previously performed “Arcade”, the winning song from the

Eurovision Song Contest 2019, on her talk show.

The media, however, have remained doubtful that the kitschy competition will translate well to an American context. Ahead of the launch, Andy Kryza of Time Out wrote that the American Song Contest's biggest challenge is “the relative homogeneity of the American musical landscape,” while Justin Kirkland of Esquire speculated that the contest would be “a colossal nightmare,” as Americans “lack the self-deprecation, campiness, and selfless energy to pull this off.”

However, Adam Gabbatt of The Guardian expressed his excitement about “the mouth-watering prospect of seeing how politically and culturally opposed states rate the musical output of their rivals.”

Just like the Ukraine and Russia tend to give each other awful scores regardless of the quality of the music, conservative viewers in Texas and liberal audiences in New York can express their mutual contempt for one another through the televote.

However, executive producer Ben Silverman hopes for the opposite effect: “When America is more factionalized than ever and we are dealing with so many issues that divide us, the one [thing] that truly unites us is our culture,” said Silverman in an interview with NME.com.

Christer Björkman shares this aspiration: “The greatest magic involved in producing the American Song Contest is that we get the chance to remind the American viewers how incredibly beautiful and vast their country really is, how much musical talent it contains, and the extent to which innovative music can unite people,” he says.

Swedish Press | May 2022 | 15

Hope you enjoyed this sample of Swedish Press.

To read more, please click the link

https://swedishpress.com/ subscription to subscribe.