The Fifth Semi-final of Melodifestivalen 2022, took place in Saturday and the final contestants for the Grand Final taking place in Friends Arena in Stockholm, on March 12, were decided.
Eurovision Fun was there in the center of the Swedish selection, followed every rehearsal and the contest itself from inside the arena.
The hosts for every show this year were, Oscar Zia and Farah Abadi, welcomed us in Friends Arena:
Of course we could not but speak to the contestants of the show! Below you can watch their exclusive interviews:
Anna Bergendahl
As Anna said, “Higher Power” (Melodifestivalen 2022) and “Kingdom Come” (Melodifestivalen 2020), are parts of a snog trilogy, like a thread that goes on
She says that “Higher Power” as darker, deeper song and maybe a little mysterious, which she has written herself with the same team of composers as the ones behind this year’s staging. A song, as she says, that will seem familiar but at the same time different!
Lillasyster
Lillasyster, the rock band of the night, aim on doing as many lives as never before, regardless of the results. That’s what they are best at and that’s what they will do after their performance.
Firstly, they told us that they consider all the participants of Melodifestivalen worthy this year and that they do not have anyone they prefer more than the others.
Upon listening their answer, Lisa Miskovsky interrupted and she humourously insisted in them saying her song “Best to Come” is their favorite this year.
Theoz
Theoz, the youngest contestant this year, other than a popular influencer n Sweden, says that he loved the process of his selection in Melodifestivalen. He admires all the artists taking part this year and feels blessed for having the chance to participate in the contest this year.
As for a possible return in the future? He is positive, but of course it is already too late. He will thinnk about it and we maybe see him in the future again.
Lisa Miskovsky
Lisa speaks very nicely of Melodifestivalen and all its contestants and considers the selection process of Sweden a great happening, and an important platform for artists, from different music genres, to compete against each other, resembling it with a billiard game.
Her next step is to publish an EP with 5 songs inSwedish, as until now she only published songs mainly in English. She also wants to do a big tour in the summer and she wants to visit our country for a concert!
Cazzi Opeia
She started with Idol in 2009, then had a full career firstly with her solo career but also as a composer of K-Pop songs in which she was very successful. It is worth mentioning that he has also composed “We Are Bulletproof: The Eternal” for BTS.
For this year’s participation, she reveals that she had originally written a completely different song with the band, which they thought would not go proceed in the contest and dedicated themselves to a new song, and in a few hours, “I Can’t Get Enough” was born.
As for the choreography, she told us that she asked to include small movements that she could do so that she could accompany the dancers on stage.
Her favorite Swedish participation is Loreen, and from the contest in general she says that Helena Paparizou and “My Number One” was her’s and her older sister’s favorite song for years.
Alvaro Estrella
Alvaro Estrella from 2014 and “Bedroom“, a pop song, who in the last years publishes Latin songs, that reminds us his identity due to his Chilean origin
Alvaro has collaborated with Alex P and the Dream Team, in the vocals of “Hold Me” (Azerbaijan 2013) and “You Are The Only One” (Russia 2016),he misses them a lot and admires them as they were very professional in everything, as he mentions.
“Suave” was originally intended to be released as his third single, nevertheless they decided to submit it to SVT and everything else is history, we have him with us this year!
Her favorite Swedish participation is of course Loreen, as he has seen it live as a dancer of Danny Saucedo that year, while from the contest in general she says that Helena Paparizou and Sergey Lazarev (Russia 2016 & 2019) and from this year he likes Chanel (Spain).
Tone Sekelius
Tone, as she tells us, wants to pass messages and combine lyrics with deeper meaning into more uptempo music, so she wrote “My Way” and is influenced by Lady Gaga, Adele and Jasmine Sullivan.
For “My Way” she reveals that she submitted it to SVT five years ago, but also the following year, but without being selected by the channel. And while she had come to terms with the fact that they might just not like her song, she finally received a phone call-invitation last year to take part in this year’s competition
She feels incredibly grateful that as the first trans woman to ever participate in Melodifestivalen, she has the opportunity to appear on stage and be completely herself and hopes to inspire more trans people to find the courage to come-out and live the life they really want to live.
Her favorite from this year’s Melodifestivalen 2022 is Cornelia Jakobs and she loves that “Hold Me Closer” as a whole is a great song with meaning and depth and doesn’t feel old at all, as some ballads usually do.
From Swedish participations she loves ABBA and Loreen while from the contest in general she loves “Shady Lady” (Ukraine 2008), “Fuego” (Cyprus 2018), “Arcade” (the Netherlands 2019) and “Molitva” (Serbia 2007).
Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Swedish participation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy!
