Sweden: The general rehearsal of the Fifth Heat of Melodifestivalen 2024! (Live)

The general rehearsal of the 5th and last Heat of Melodifestivalen 2024 has just started. It is sad but true, this is the last heat of the year and takes place at Löfbergs Arena in Karlstad, Sweden. We will be covering this rehearsal from within the arena, describing in detail what is happening during the show, for you to follow the entire process.

This article is being updated in real-time, all you need to do is hit the refresh button on your browser and all the rest is on us!

We will keep you up to date with all the latest information and images off this semi-final rehearsal, allowing you to get a glimpse of what you will get to see tomorrow March 2nd, at 20:00 CET, when you watch the actual show of the heat, on SVT and SVT Play.

The experts

New in Melodifestivalen this year is the participation of a couple of really knowledgeable music and Mello-experts – radio and TV profile Tina Mehrafzoon and Mello-oracle Ronny Larsson. During both the races and the final, they analyze the evening’s line-up and give their opinion on how they are doing.

The show

• “Unforgettable” – Marcus & Martinus

Two side walls for the twins, giving me vibes of the Loreen Smörgåsgrillen (toaster) but in vertical mode. In the beginning it is narrow, then they are moved further apart. Our favourite twins, Marcus and Martinus, are always super professionals and great vocally, however they kept their voice for tomorrow evening and didn’t even sing the high note of the “so good it hurts” part. Does this give me winner vibes? Hell yeah!

• “Controlla” – Chelsea Muco

I am in the humid Karlstad at the moment, but this song gives me sunbed, cocktail, beach, swimming trunk vibes. I wanna dance to the beat. Palm trees and warm colours in the background, six completely new dancers one of which has a rather familiar surname (D’Mello). Chelsea is quite good for a debutant, good vocally, nice energy. However, I don’t this going anywhere. NQ for me, but let’s see what happens tomorrow.

• “Back To My Roots” – Jay Smith

Large prop with the title of the song twice, his band behind him faking playing on a live gig and then it’s Jay with his amazing voice. The song reminds me a bit of Nickelback, a bit of the 00s, but as people say here this is a very familiar sound to Swedish people and in combination with Jay‘s amazing voice, this might go somewhere. The crowd is clapping along. Maybe this one goes to the finalkvalet (final qualifier) round.

• “Banne maj” – Elecktra

She was at Drag Race Sverige and the people love her. She is fabulous, very much a Verka Serduchka style song, but not in the sense of giving me winning vibes. She just stands there, doing the bare minimum and then there are dancers that look how the best men on my wedding could look like. What I am seeing though, don’t understand, she is not a qualifier for me.

• “Light” – Annika Wickihalder

Her song and aura gives me Faith Kakembo vibes. She has an amazing voice but she seems like the stage swallows her. She has two big deformed mirror props that don’t seem to add up to the whole staging. Typical Melodifestivalen or Eurovision ballad.  FQ round most likely for Annika.

• “Que Sera” – Medina

Large speakers prop, bicycles, too many colours and too much going on, on stage, dancers are included. However they manage to make it somehow work. Their vocals are not the best in this run, but I am sure they will fix everything tomorrow. This is a football anthem, the crowd does move during their performance and they hum. Mission accomplished. Direct finalists for sure.

These were the six numbers of this week, a recap follows to show the voting numbers for the contestants of the heat.

The Intervals

When the fifth and final round of Melodifestivalen 2024 kicks off on Saturday, March 2, it will do so with a vengeance. It will be Värmland with an extra big V when Karlstad‘s son, actor and musician Johan Östling opens the broadcast with Sven-Ingvar‘s classic Torparrock. Carina is now at the arena and everything is ready to begin! It’s time to face the music!

Fredrik Kempe is also inducted into the Melodifestivalen Hall of Fame and since 2004 he has delivered 35 songs, including four winners: “Hero“, “La Voix“, “Popular” and “Undo“. The genre breadth of his song treasure is hard to beat.

From danceable pop via powerful ballads and rockabilly to opera, disco and dance bands. A song catalogue with Mello classics such as “Cara Mia“, “Manboy“, “Moving On” and “Bada Nakna” speaks for itself: Fredrik Kempe is one of Melodifestivalen‘s foremost hitmakers.

Actual Kristin Amparo performs “I See You” and Sanna Nielsen performs “Undo” and “Du och Jag mot Världen“, with Sanna Nielsen closing the interval.

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The final qualifiers

The entries that came 3rd and 4th in the five rounds compete in the final qualifiers. Two of the ten competing in the final qualifiers will advance to the final. All of the competing artists are on the show, but they will not be performing again. Instead, a quick replay of their previous performances is shown.

The viewing age groups that we recognise from the competitions are not included in the final qualifiers. It is therefore the count of the total number of votes that counts in the final qualifier. The contestants take with them the votes they received in their heats, and these are combined with the new number of votes they receive in the final qualifiers. The final qualifiers begin with the entries being awarded points that are calculated based on how many votes they received in their sub-competition, weighted according to how many actually voted in each sub-competition. In other words, the number of votes cast for the entries is divided by the total number of voters in the competition. This is to avoid that those who competed in competitions with more viewers are favored or that those who competed in competitions with superior winners will be disadvantaged.

Based on the calculations we go through above, the artists will receive points. A total of 1,000 points will be distributed among the entries and we will know the status before the new voting opens.  When the new voting in the final qualifier ends, 1000 new points will be distributed among the entries. Just like in the final, viewers will be told who got the lowest score first.

In the end, the two artists with the most points will clinch the last two final spots and each will perform their entry. The remaining eight artists are eliminated.

First Virtual Final Qualifier: “Supernatural” – Adam Woods

Second Virtual Final Qualifier: “Unga & Fria” – Fröken Snusk

 

First Final Qualifier: “Unga & Fria” – Fröken Snusk

Second Final Qualifier: “Back To My Roots” – Jay Smith

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The schedule for the six shows of the Melodifestivalen 2024 tour

• Heat 1: Saturday 3 February 2024, Malmö Arena, Malmö
• Heat 2: Saturday 10 February 2024, Scandinavium, Göteborg
• Heat 3: Saturday 17 February 2024, Vida Arena, Växjö
• Heat 4: Saturday 24 February 2024, Stiga Sports Arena, Eskilstuna
• Heat 5: Saturday 2 March 2024, Löfbergs Arena, Karlstad
• Final: Saturday 9 March 2024, Friends Arena, Stockholm – Solna

Which two of today’s competing artists do you think will be the direct qualifiers to the finals, on the 9th of March?

Stay tuned at Eurovisionfun, for all the latest developments regarding Melodifestivalen 2024 and the Swedish entry for Eurovision 2024!

Source: SVT
Photos: Andreas Papayiannakis/EurovisionFun

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