Sweden: The general rehearsal of the Fourth Melodifestivalen 2022 Semi-Final! (Live)

The general rehearsal of the Fourth Melodifestivalen 2022 Semi-Final has just started. We are happy to be watching it live, at the SVT online press centre. We will be covering this rehearsal, 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 February 26th, at 20:00 CET, when you watch the actual semi-final show on SVT and SVT Play.

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 take place exclusively in Stockholm and as already announced, semi-finals one to three took place at the Avicii Arena, while semi-finals four and five as well as the grand final are held at Friends Arena.

Oscar is at the arena and everything is ready to begin! It’s time to face the music!

The performances

• Anna Bergendahl – “Higher Power“

First up on stage, Anna Bergendahl singing to us about some “Higher Power“. She appears on stage with a camel-brown dress and a cowboy hat, of the same colour. Her moves are subtle and elegant, as she always does. She is on a circular platform, which is her prop for the night, apart from the hat. The platform has its own lights and they light in such a way that look like Anna is surrounded by light beams. In the first chorus of the song, Anna throws the cowboy hat away. The song is a pop song with some country vibes too, that add up to the whole track. However, it is not a song that can easily impress somebody. But Anna manages to pull her best vocals and her amazing stage presence and put them all to the rescue. Hopefully she can qualify, even though she might not live up to the expectations of most of the fans, song-wise.

photo:SVT/Annika Berglund

• Lillasyster – “Till Our Days Are Over“

A pure Melodifestivalen rock entry by Lillasyster, called “Till Our Days Are Over“! The vocals of the lead singer are nice and the backing vocals are matching the lead vocals and the entire energy of the song. Which I have to admit that, although one can say it is dark, in the end it’s not too dark. There’s a glimpse of light in it, maybe it is because of the chorus part that is melodic. There is a road in the background led screen which fits nicely with the long panoramic camera shots. Admittedly, it is a nice try, but I don’t believe this is enough for them to qualify, in either the fifth semi-final or the finals.

photo:SVT/Annika Berglund

• Malin Christin  – “Synd om dig“

An extremely sentimental ballad, entirely in Swedish, an explosion of feelings that will touch you even if you can’t understand a thing, Malin Christin comes up next with her song “Synd om dig“. Her vocals are nice, in most of her previous rehearsals though she was much better, maybe she is a bit stressed out at the moment. She starts off by playing the piano, on stage, while singing, reminding me a bit of the Arcade performance of the 2019 winner Duncan Laurence, but more like its female variant. Then at about the middle of the song, she gets up and gives a captivating performance, with bold body moves. Even though this Melodifestivalen entry is one of my favourites of this semi, I am unsure if it will qualify tomorrow. Only time will tell, fingers crossed!

photo:SVT/Annika Berglund

• Tenori – “La Stella“

Now, here is a pop and classical music crossover, “La Stella“, by a duo called Tenori. There’s not much to say about this entry. The staging is simple, both of them in total black suits with some glittery-glam on them, also on their white trainers there are some pearls that shine bright! The background LED screen shows the moon and the stars. The song is a mix of English and Italian sounding amazingly perfect thanks to their perfectly in-tune vocals. This is quite innovative for a Swedish entry, but it’s something that we’ve already seen in the contest in the past. Towards the end of the song, there are sparks dropping off the roof of the stage. Could that be a shocking qualifier of tomorrow’s semi? We’ll see!

photo:SVT/Annika Berglund

• MEDINA – “In i dimman“

Okay. This is certainly a dance anthem, but does this remind me of anything? Of course it does! It is quite similar to “Bella Ciao” remix by HUGEL. Apart from the obvious resemblance, MEDINA appear on stage and while they don’t move that much throughout the song, there are dancers around them that do all the “dirty job” for them. The song is entirely in Swedish and gives massive party vibes and the duo in the secondary stage along with the dancers in the main stage keep the crowd engaged throughout their performance. There are six dancers, so I guess that if MEDINA get selected, then they will have to reduce the number of dancers that will travel with them to Turin. I think this entry stands a high chance of getting qualified directly to the finals. Let’s see!

photo:SVT/Annika Berglund

• Angelino  – “The End“

Now Angelino with his song “The End“. This song gives me the chills, the combination of pitch-perfect vocals and the falsetto parts of the song, makes it hit you right to the soul. Angelino is solo, up on stage, sitting on a stool to a part of a stage which seems like a smaller constrained area with light-walls, throughout his performance. Vocally he is quite improved compared to his previous rehearsals. After the first chorus he gets up from the stool and goes on with the rest of his performance making minimal moves, the camera rotating around him and the lights changing colour from ice white to red, along with the LED screen at the background. The song peaks towards the end and this leaves us with a nice and pleasurable feeling. Is Angelino a qualifier? Possibly, if you ask me! This song is my favourite of the bunch!

photo:SVT/Annika Berglund

• Klara Hammarström – “Run To The Hills“

Last in the running order, our female superhero, Klara Hammarström with her song “Run To The Hills“. A totally 2022 pop song, which is really demanding in vocals, even if it doesn’t seem so and Klara seems to be doing pretty well both vocally and in terms of stage presence. That was a sure thing after all. Now regarding the outfit, it seems like Klara is dressed as Wonder Woman, as we can understand by her introduction video. During her stage performance, a dancer, supposedly a Klara-double villain in the same Wonder Woman outfit, but in green, appears on stage, sometimes mirroring Klara’s moves, sometimes following her own choreography. At the bridge part of the song, Klara exterminates her in one move and the Klara villain is knocked out! The song synthesised backing vocals and Klara’s lead vocals blend quite nicely I have to admit. Klara looks like she commands the lighting of the stage, as her moves and the stage lights and LED screen are all in perfect sync. Looks like Klara will have to run to The Friends Arena, instead of running to the hills, as she will most likely qualify to the finals.

photo:SVT/Annika Berglund

The first voting round

We remind you that all the results that will be announced in this general rehearsal are virtual, so as to emulate the whole televised show.

Now it’s the time that the winner of the first voting round will be announced! Oscar keeps us thrilled, typical voting music theme plays at the background!

The first virtual direct qualifier, determined by the first voting round is Angelino  with the song “The End”!

The second voting round

All artists apart from the first voting round winner move on to the second voting round.

The viewers will get more votes for this round in order to vote for their favourite artists. At the second voting round, the votes received during the first voting round also count against the total of votes received. Within this voting round, SVT announces the winners and the distribution of the votes within the different viewer age-bands, which practically keeps the viewers engaged throughout the show and up until the final results are announced.

Following the announcement, we’ve got a second recap of all the six remaining songs.

Now it is the time Oscar announces the second voting results per viewing age-band.

• Virtual winners of viewer age-bands

Virtual winner of the age-band 3-9 years old is: Klara Hammarström – “Run To The Hills”

Virtual winner of the age-band 10-15 years old is: MEDINA – “In i dimman”

Virtual winner of the age-band 16-29 years old is: Malin Christin  – “Synd om dig”

Virtual winner of the age-band 30-44 years old is: MEDINA – “In i dimman”

Virtual winner of the age-band 45-59 years old is: Lillasyster – “Till Our Days Are Over”

Virtual winner of the age-band 60-74 years old is: Anna Bergendahl – “Higher Power”

Virtual winner of the age-band 75+ years old is: Tenori – “La Stella”

Virtual winner of the televoting is: Klara Hammarström – “Run To The Hills”

Final Results

• Virtual direct qualifiers

First voting round winner: Angelino  – “The End”
Second voting round winner: Malin Christin  – “Synd om dig”

• Virtual qualifiers at the fifth semi-final

First qualifier: Anna Bergendahl – “Higher Power”
Second qualifier: Tenori – “La Stella”

A prediction

My prediction is that we will get to see Klara Hammarström and Angelino  to the finals. Anna Bergendahl and MEDINA are also strong contenders of this semi final. All the acts I’ve mentioned stand high chances of qualifying to either the semi-final or the finals. I would like to see Malin Christin qualifying too, however, the odds currently don’t foresee her qualification sadly.

Let’s see what is going to happen, tomorrow 20:00 CET we will get to watch the actual semi final live, on SVT or SVT Play and of course EurovisionFun, where you will have the chance to be informed about the results, as soon as they are announced on TV!

Which two of today’s competing artists do you think will be the direct qualifiers to the finals, on the 26th of March?

Stay tuned at Eurovisionfun, for all the latest developments regarding Melodifestivalen 2022 and the Swedish entry for Eurovision 2022!

Source: SVT
Photos: Annika Berglund/SVT