Sweden: LIAMOO and John Lundvik are the two direct finalists of the Second Semi-Final of Melodifestivalen 2022!

Ninety minutes ago, the second show for the Second 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 LIAMOO with the song “Bluffin” and John Lundvik with the song “Änglavakt” 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 is 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.

The show started off with a recap of the First Semi-Final show, the happenings and the qualifiers. The night was then opened by a group of people dancing in latin rhythm, reminding us of a carnival parade whose leader was Eva Rydberg (5th act of second chance last year along with Ewa Roos). Eva joined Oscar as a co-host for the rest of the night and also there’s Farah Abadi, covering the backstage and interviewing the artists, also on their introduction videos.

But what about the performances?

The performances

• LIAMOO – “Bluffin” 

The Second Semi-Final first act was LIAMOO, who was all alone on stage. Purple, blue-ish, black and white are the colours in the colour palette of the staging. He played around with the background led screen that showed parts of his face and some graphics that connect with the lyrics. Lots of light-works, bold moves with his hands, but that’s the only thing that we got with regards to moves. The stage was somewhat empty. Nice light-works, but that’s all about it! He fixed most of his sound and vocal issues he’d encountered in some of his rehearsals.

photo:SVT/Annika Berglund

• Niello & Lisa Ajax – “Tror du att jag bryr mig”

The entire stage was a full hair-salon with colour-blocking walls, Niello started off on the left side of the stage. His voice seemed to be a bit off but as he proceeded within the song he got gradually better. Lisa Ajax appeared and joined him later on, in a girly outfit and a ponytail, who was amazing vocally and showed off higher energy compared to Niello. Two male and two female dancers joined them. Towards the end of the song, Niello started to step up the game a bit both vocally and in terms of stage presence. Their duet and interaction part was the best, in my honest opinion.

photo:SVT/Annika Berglund

• Samira Manners – “I Want To Be Loved” 

Well Samira’s parents are British and this was quite obvious, as you had probably noticed her clearly British accent. Her voice is ethereal, reminded me of a blend of Winona Oak and Olivera (who participates at UMK), but more British and more deep. Nice low-tempo song and even though it is about a sad situation, it still gives you a glimpse of hope. Was it Samira’s performance and cuteness? Was it the instrumental track? The lyrics? I simply couldn’t tell. She was on stage with four backing vocalists who also played some instruments. A few moments before the end of the song, she crossed the crowd and moved to the secondary stage and we got lots of close-ups there. The staging was simple, orange-ish, she was on matching colours and there were seemingly hundreds of light bulbs in the background, some of them part of the led screen if you’d paid closer attention. She got pretty emotional towards the end of the song, she almost cried, her eyes got wet and the crowd was literally hailing her!

photo:SVT/Annika Berglund

• Alvaro Estella - “Suave“ 

Alvaro Estrella was up next, with his song “Suave”. On stage with four dancers around him. Red colour conquered the screen and the entire stage was surrounded by fire. Typical Latin-sexy staging, intense choreography and Alvaro as we all know him: Quite different from the rest of the Melodifestivalen entries (maybe not this year, we had Omar Rudberg at Semi-Final 1) but quite similar to his own self (maybe also similar to Luca Hänni’s staging – Eurovision 2019, Switzerland). He fixed some vocal issues he’d encountered in one of his rehearsals. Obviously improved!

photo:SVT/Annika Berglund

• Browsing Collection - “Face in the Crowd” 

Browsing Collection, an utterly punk/rock/metal act. Their song seemed to be proving that Måneskin had done an amazing job influencing several artists worldwide, within the last year. And Browsing Collection seem to be one of those artists that got heavily influenced by the last year’s winners. Their sound was less dark and intense though, compared to “Zitti E Buoni“. The staging was implemented by fast camera changes, bold moves, eccentric appearances of all the singers, lots of hair (I mean lots but less than the rehearsals), lots of head-banging (the hair followed as a separate entity), strobe lights (there was no seizure warning), but I have to admit that their vocals were amazing!

photo:SVT/Annika Berglund

• John Lundvik – “Änglavakt” 

The Swedish representative of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest, John Lundvik, up next on stage with his song “Änglavakt”. An emotional ballad, entirely in Swedish, totally matching John’s vocal abilities and range. John was up there, pouring his heart out! All alone, on the secondary stage of Avicii Arena, the whole staging was definitely relaxing to the eye with lots of close-ups and lots of lighting in the background.

photo:SVT/Annika Berglund

• Tone Sekelius – “My Way” 

The Second Semi-Final closing act was Tone Sekelius, who is a YouTuber, first timer at Melodifestivalen and also it is worth noting that she was the first ever transgender person to compete in Melodifestivalen. Her song was quite interesting, she was up on stage with one male and one female dancers, the choreography was contemporary. I can understand though that it’s too hard to move wearing an enormous beige dress with a long tail. Curtain was hanging on the background, same colour as the dress. There was also a small orchestra on the secondary stage. Her vocals were fair, not her best feature though, but she’s pulled a high note! We also had the expected dress change on stage that gave way to an elegant black dress, didn’t work out well today, wasn’t pulled off properly. She managed to fix her performance issues with the mic stand that she’d encounter at one of her rehearsals though. She didn’t move a lot, apart from some bold hand moves, but gave out a nice energy and had put it all up on stage, greatly improved and was much more confident, compared to all her past rehearsals.

photo:SVT/Annika Berglund

The Intervals

Well Ewa Roos rushed on stage joining Oscar and her last year’s partner in crime Eva Rydberg (who was the co-host of the night) and we got a chance to enjoy them performing their last year’s Melodifestivalen entry “Rena rama ding dong“!

We also got to enjoy Oscar and Eva in a Swedish special version for this semi, of the song “All That Jazz“, with dancers, full choreography, hats and glitter!

The first voting round

The first direct qualifier, determined by the first voting round was LIAMOO with the song “Bluffin”!

The second voting round

• Age-band Winners

Winner of the age-band 3-9 years old is: Alvaro Estella - “Suave“

Winner of the age-band 10-15 years old is: John Lundvik – “Änglavakt”

Winner of the age-band 16-29 years old is: John Lundvik – “Änglavakt”

Winner of the age-band 30-44 years old is: John Lundvik – “Änglavakt”

Winner of the age-band 45-59 years old is: John Lundvik – “Änglavakt”

Winner of the age-band 60-74 years old is: John Lundvik – “Änglavakt”

Winner of the age-band 75+ years old is: John Lundvik – “Änglavakt”

Winner of the televoting is: John Lundvik – “Änglavakt”

Final Results

• Direct Finalists

First voting round winner: LIAMOO – “Bluffin”
Second voting round winner: John Lundvik – “Änglavakt”

• Qualifiers at the fifth semi-final

First qualifier: Alvaro Estella - “Suave“
Second qualifier: Tone Sekelius – “My Way”

The verdict

The two direct qualifiers are LIAMOO with the song “Bluffin” and John Lundvik with the song “Änglavakt” 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. Starting from 2022, there will not be a 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 Alvaro Estella  with the song “Suave” and Tone Sekelius with the song “My Way“.

Sadly Browsing Collection , Samira Manners and Niello & Lisa Ajax didn’t manage to qualify to either the fifth semi-final or the finals of Melodifestivalen.

See you next Saturday, after the third 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!