Sweden: Anders Bagge and Faith Kakembo are the two direct finalists of the Third Semi-Final of Melodifestivalen 2022!

Ninety minutes ago, the second show for the Third Semi-Final of Melodifestivalen 2022, started off on SVT and SVT Play. And we are here to share the results of the night with you!

The two direct qualifiers are Anders Bagge with the song “Bigger Than The Universe” and Faith Kakembo with the song “Freedom” and we will get to see them perform their songs live, on the 12th of March, when the finals will take place at Friends Arena.

But how things developed during the night?

The show

Oscar Zia was the host of the night and as previously reported, all the shows for the national selection procedure of the Swedish representative for this year’s contest in Turin will take place exclusively in Stockholm and as already announced, semi-finals one to three will take place at the Avicii Arena, while semi-finals four and five as well as the grand final will be held at Friends Arena. This was actually the last semi-final that we will get to watch being aired from Avicii Arena, this year.

Johanna Nordström, who is a famous Swedish influencer and stand-up comedian, joined Oscar on stage as a co-host and also there was Farah Abadi, covering the backstage and interviewing the artists, also on their introduction videos.

photo:SVT/Annika Berglund

But what about the performances?

The performances

• Cazzi Opeia – “I Can’t Get Enough“

Cazzi Opeia opened the show, in her debut performance ever in Melodifestivalen, with her song “I Can’t Get Enough“. This act is literally a rainbow itself! Lots of colours, in the outfits, in the lighting, in the LED backdrop, in the clothing. Cazzi somewhat eccentric wearing tutu shoulders and an overall girly outfit but the whole package was something that sounded really nice and familiar. She was accompanied by four dancers in a party atmosphere, she didn’t make intense moves herself but she did follow the choreography of the group of dancers on stage. Her vocals were okay, but she probably encountered some technical issues with her in-ear monitor, as she was not as stable vocally as in her rehearsals, the song is upbeat, fun and it kinda makes you happy even if you’re moody or on your blues. It makes all the clouds go away, even from the LED screen behind her (where there are clouds at some point)!

photo:SVT/Annika Berglund

• Lancelot  – “Lyckligt slut“

Up next another first-timer, Lancelot, with the song “Lyckigt Slut“. His vocals were pretty good, definitely improved compared to his previous rehearsal runs. The whole package, staging, song genre, yellow backlights, reminded me of one of the Second Semi-Final contenders, Samira Manners, who sadly got disqualified, but in a male and full Swedish version of a song, the two tunes don’t resemble at all, it’s just the whole vibe that is similar. The staging was simple, he was making minimal moves and a group were playing with their instruments in the background.

photo:SVT/Annika Berglund

• Lisa Miskovsky  – “Best to Come“

Next was Lisa Miskovsky, her second Melodifestivalen attempt with the song “Best To Come“. Thank got she got rid of the Hannah Montana look, that she had in her Friday rehearsal. The vibes of the song were nostalgic, both music and staging wise, we would see on the background LED screen a subway scene throughout her performance. Her vocals were fair, certainly improved compared to the rehearsals. The song is a nice mid-tempo pop song. There were one backing vocalist, dancers and someone playing the drums on stage.

photo:SVT/Annika Berglund

• Tribe Friday – “Shut Me Up“

Next up we got, Noah, Isak and Robin a.k.a Tribe Friday on stage, on their debut attempt in the hopes of representing Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, with their song “Shut Me Up“. Punk rock, maybe a bit of a British rock song too. An eccentric group, but their staging was very well implemented, their vocals were to the point, their show was nicely televised, they appear in boxes on your TV set. TV sets (old school) and tower speakers painted purple in the background, totally matching the colours of the staging. The energy they ooze is high, crazy and nice.

photo:SVT/Annika Berglund

• Faith Kakembo – “Freedom“

Fifth on stage, it is Faith Kakembo, the nurse anesthetist of the bunch. We’ve also seen her compete again back in 2020 with the song “Crying Rivers“, again in the 3rd semi-final, when she failed to make it to the finals. Her song, “Freedom” is a ballad, that can show the power of Faith’s vocals in their entirety. I must have to admit that I was a bit let down by her rehearsals, but her vocals were improved this time, but not yet perfect. Seemed to be less stressed out more comfortable and confident on stage at this actual show. At first, she was all alone on stage, with nice lightworks and beautiful colours on the LED screen behind her, that went on throughout her peformance. Even after six backing vocalists joined her on stage, making the song sound a bit more gospel.

photo:SVT/Annika Berglund

• Linda Bengtzing – “Fyrfaldigt hurra!”

Sixth on stage, the Melodifestivalen legend, Linda Bengtzing. She’s run in the hopes of representing Sweden seven times already at Melodifestivalen since 2005 and this year it is her eighth! “Fyrfaldigt hurra!“, which is her song this year is a high-energy and uptempo song. She started off lying on her big orange tutu dress. She was accompanied by four dancers on stage and she also was pitch-perfect, no intonation at all, even though she had to follow a choreography. The mood was pretty much a full party with friends, but on stage! Hence, the fireworks in the LED screen in the background! The song is a major mood-boost, but I guess more if you’re a Swedish native speaker, as the song is entirely in Swedish.

photo:SVT/Annika Berglund

• Anders Bagge – “Bigger Than The Universe“

Last but not least, Anders Bagge. His first participation in Melodifestivalen as a singer, with a feel-good song called “Bigger Than The Universe“. Anders is a massive star in his country (Idol judge and also participated at Masked Singer). The song is strong, speaks directly to your soul and your heart. Thankfully, he managed to fix all the technical issues he’d encountered in his general rehearsal and obviously his vocals sounded improved. On the LED screen in the background we see various landscape videos. The staging was very minimal, just nature videos and he was all by himself on stage pulling high notes back to back.

Winner of the first voting round, qualified directly to the finals, and got totally moved by the voting results!

photo:SVT/Annika Berglund

The intervals

Within the first interval, Joahnna sings a song, along with dancers who also do backing vocals, in an overall funny and totally clumsy performance, she almost throws things down, the backing vocalists bump on her, she fell off a workout treadmill. After she got lifted upwards by a platform, she got interrupted by the Swedish pop-folk band Sarek, who sang the song “Genom Eld & Vatten“, a Melodifestivalen 2003 entry that placed 6th, which still gets played at Swedish clubs and bars till now! Johanna joined Sarek along with Oscar who played an instrument on stage!

photo:SVT/Annika Berglund

Right before calling the beginning of the second voting round, Frans (Sweden 2016) appears on stage and joins Johanna and Oscar and all together pull the trigger for the second voting round to begin!

In the second interval, we enjoyed Oscar Zia singing his 2016 Melodifestivalen entry, “Human“. In quite an emotional performance with impeccable vocals, proving once more that he’d been robbed back then.

photo:SVT/Annika Berglund

The first voting round

• First Direct Finalist: Anders Bagge with the song “Bigger Than The Universe“

The second voting round

• Second Direct Finalist: Faith Kakembo with the song “Freedom“
• First Qualifier at the Fifth Semi-Final: Lisa Miskovsky  with the song “Best to Come“
• Second Qualifier at the Fifth Semi-Final: Cazzi Opeia with the song “I Can’t Get Enough“

Detailed second voting round results

• 3-9 years old age-band winner: Cazzi Opeia with the song “I Can’t Get Enough“
• 10-15 years old age-band winner: Faith Kakembo with the song “Freedom“
• 16-29 years old age-band winner: Faith Kakembo with the song “Freedom“
• 30-44 years old age-band winner: Faith Kakembo with the song “Freedom“
• 45-59 years old age-band winner: Lisa Miskovsky  with the song “Best to Come“
• 60-74 years old age-band winner: Lisa Miskovsky  with the song “Best to Come“
• 75+ years old age-band winner: Lisa Miskovsky  with the song “Best to Come“
• Televoting age-band winner: Lisa Miskovsky  with the song “Best to Come“

The verdict

The two direct qualifiers are Anders Bagge with the song “Bigger Than The Universe” and Faith Kakembo with the song “Freedom” and we will get to see them join the rest of the finalists at Friends Arena, on the 12th of March! Starting from 2022, there is no winning performance of the two finalists anymore, as the TV time now fills up with the announcement of the results.

Those that qualified to the fifth semi-final, that replaced the second chance show in the new format of Melodifestivalen, were Lisa Miskovsky  with the song “Best to Come” and Cazzi Opeia with the song “I Can’t Get Enough“.

Sadly Lancelot, Tribe Friday and Linda Bengtzing didn’t make it to either the fifth semi-final or the finals of Melodifestivalen.

See you next Saturday, from Friends Arena, after the fourth semi-final, when you will have the chance to be informed in detail about the results, as soon as they are announced on TV!

Stay tuned at EurovisionFun, for all the latest developments regarding Sweden’s entry for Eurovision 2022!