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Adam Woods: “We called the lyrics note of the song ‘the winning song’!” | Exclusive Interview

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Andreas Papayiannakis and EurovisionFun is accredited by SVT to follow the Melodifestivalen tour for a third year in-a-row. Before visiting the city of Malmö, for the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 Semi-Final allocation draw, Andreas spent a week in Stockholm.

There he got the chance to meet a few people involved in this year’s Melodifestivalen. Among those was Adam Woods who had us over at LoudKult HQ in Stockholm on an extensive interview.

So, we’ve seen Adam last year with Arc North and Jon Henrik Fjällgren, and now he’s coming back solo. Adam feels amazing to be back and he goes on:

“Already, last year, I was thinking about it, I had done this thing, and it felt amazing, and I gave it my all, but ultimately, I was there, I was singing for Jon Henrik, and I was doing a performance which was ultimately not mine. But now I get the chance to be me, and to show who I am, and to show a song that I’ve made, and a performance that I’ve made. So, I’m super excited.”

On the song he literally amazed us by saying that they called the lyrics note of the song “the winning song”! He explains more about this:

“I wrote the song with a dear friend of mine, William Segerdahl, Calle Hellberg, who’s my A&R, actually, at this publishing. So, they jumped in a session with me and Jonna Hall who is also an old friend. I think we called the lyrics note “the winning song“! And it wasn’t because we had already written it. It was literally beforehand. But we just went into the studio, and we just had this vibe, this feeling that, okay, this is really going to be something special. We didn’t know why. I knew I had a story to tell. And William had brought up some chords. And I was like, yes, this is perfect. This is going to work.”

Is he aiming for the win this year? He responds:

“I want to make a mark. I want people to feel something truly special. I want everyone to feel what I felt when I wrote the song. And everything that I’ve done up to this point has been with the idea in mind that I’m going to make something truly special. And with that in mind, to win the contest as well.”

Danny Saucedo‘s songwriters are idols of Adam. He said he is very curious about what Danny‘s song is gonna sound like and he thinks it’s really good. He feels very honoured that SVT chose him to open the whole tour, as he will perform first in the first heat of the tour:

“It’s crazy. I honestly thought that Samira Victor was gonna open, just because they have that fan base and people know who they are. I’m like, nobody knows who I am, why should I open? But I’m super, I’m really just so honored. Because like you said, it’s a star-studded year, it’s full of huge names, and to be able to be the opening firing shot of that is so cool.”

About the staging, initially he didn’t wanna say much but then he let us into more details about it:

“I mentioned to you, I think last time we spoke, that I wanted it to feel immersive, and to make it feel truly immersive I have to be part of that environment, and I have to be part of the performance. I will say that it’s not about props, so I won’t be having any dancers, and the stage is going to be very simple because I want people to feel like this is just me, it’s just the song, and it’s raw, and it’s naked, even though it’s this big bombastic EDM banger, it’s still that close to your heart, you know?”

His big aim is an international career. So by winning the contest he hopes to be seen and loved around the world too:

“I’ve also been planning a lot about what comes next, because I think I’m only going to do this once and I want to make it amazing. And then I want to push it forward and be able to launch an international career. So, this is a stage one, in a long line.” 

He neither adjusted the song for Melfest nor for a workout playlist or a festival thing, that’s why Adam says it’s not pure EDM:

“I adjusted for the song. And the song needed to feel intimate. And it needed my voice to be there the entire time. So again, it’s about the song. And it’s about making that. But the instrumentation, the synths, and the drums, they’re all very, very EDM. And please do look at every detail of it. There’s nothing there that doesn’t have to be there. So if you see it, then you can read stuff into it. And I’m really, really excited to hear what you guys think. And let me know, because I’m just a DM away.”

You can watch our exclusive interview with Adam Woods at the video down below:

 

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Sweden: Insight into the Melodifestivalen 2024 1st heat songs! | SVT Pre-Listening Event

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Melodifestivalen 2024 first show is on the forthcoming Saturday, February the 3rd, which will take place at Malmö Arena in Malmö.

What to expect

Already in this competition, the first of five, there will be an interlude with a capital I when the hit group A-Teens reunites to celebrate their 25th anniversary. For the first time in eighteen years , Marie Serneholt, Sara Lumholdt, Dhani Lennevald and Amit Paul are now appearing together, and will offer a cracking medley with both their own songs and some of ABBA‘s songs.

The Pre-listening Process

This year, we are invited to the pre-listening event that SVT holds every Tuesday at 10am CET, before each of the five heats of Melodifestivalen 2024, or as it is called “Förhandslyssningen“. Approximately 50 people, carefully selected by SVT are invited to listen the entire songs of each heat in the pre-listening events. So, we had the chance to listen to the entire running order of this week’s heat twice.

But how do the songs of this heat sound like?

    • “Supernatural” – Adam Woods
      Writers: Jonna Hall, Calle Hellberg, William Segerdahl and Adam Woods.

    It’s an EDM pop, reminds me of Avicii bangers. Amazing vocals, great production, but everything is there for a reason. When it gets staged it will sure be an immersive experience. Feels like you’re drowning in love. Would love to see him as a DTF!

    • “Hela världen väntar” – Samir & Viktor
      Writers:David Kreuger, Fredrik Kempe, Niklas Carson Mattsson

    Typical Samir & Viktor song in Swedish, of course an “oj oj oj” part would be there. This song will surely involve the crowds a lot. I secretly danced to it while listening. Low-key reminds me of “Ay Mamá“ by Rigoberta Bandini, Benidorm 2022.

    • “Min melodi” – Melina Borglowe
      Writers:Andreas Mattsson, Melina Borglowe, Thomas G:son

    It’s a guitar-based pop song with obvious indie elements. I can hear Thomas G:Son contribution to the song. Melina‘s voice is ethereal. Would this qualify directly to the finals though? Not sure, but a pleasant song overall.

    • “Forever Yours” – Elisa Lindström
      Writers:Elisa Lindström, Erik Bernholm, Henric Axelsson, Henrik Sethsson, Thomas G:son

    Schlager party is the theme, if you know what I mean. I can picture it with lots of light. Elisa does what Sweden knows to do best. High notes and an ear-candy key change! Hope this works on stage too!

    • “Awful Liar” – Lisa Ajax
      Writers:David Lindgren Zacharias, Sebastian Atas, Victor Crone, Victor Sjöström

    A love power-ballad for Lisa this year. Reminds me of a Natalie Imbruglia ballad. Guitar and strings on the plate for a hapily sad song. Beautiful song.

    • “Heroes Are Calling” – Smash Into Pieces
      Writers:Andreas ”Giri” Lindbergh, Benjamin Jennebo, Chris Adam Hedman Sörbye, Jimmy “Joker” Thörnfeldt, Joy Deb, Linnea Deb, Per Bergquist

    Their distinctive sound is there, stronger than their entry last year in my opinion. Low BPM but amazing production to the last touch. Is this song a contender for the win? Let’s find out. I think it is.

Our thoughts

It is hard to decide, the victory of Loreen has stepped up the game and everyone has done a great job this year. After the second listen, I would expect Adam Woods or Elisa Lindström and Smash into Pieces to be the DTF acts and Adam Woods or Elisa Lindström along with Lisa Ajax to remain in the competition.

Their staging remains to be seen so that we can have a clear picture of the finalists of this Heat. We will have a clear view tomorrow morning, when their first rehearsals start on stage, at Malmö Arena.

The show

Carina Berg is the host of all the shows of the tour this year! With the next show of the contest on Saturday February the 3rd, Melodifestivalen will take place in Malmö, then Göteborg follows and finally the final show in Stockholm on the 9th of March.

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 the above artists do you think will be the direct qualifiers to the finals? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Christer Björkman: “We will be effective and we will be able to shorten the show!” | Exclusive Interview

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Andreas Papayiannakis and EurovisionFun was invited along with a limited number of media by SVT, to attend the official hand-over ceremony of the contest hosting, from the City of Liverpool to the City of Malmö and the Eurovision Allocation Draw which was broadcast live on eurovision.tv and Ertflix tonight.

There we had the chance to meet several of the people involved in the production of the contest, the Mayor of the City of Malmö Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh, the Program Executive of the City of Malmö Karin Karlsson, Eurovision Executive Producer Ebba Adielsson, and Show Producer Christer Björkman.

Christer Björkman spoke exclusively to us about his comeback and more. Christer has been a show producer for five times, now he’s coming back for the sixth time. But how does it feel to be back? Was he planning on his return? Christer said:

“No, I mean to me it was something that I have left behind me and I felt I was done with it. But then when they called and said, you know, we want you, we need you, it’s very hard to say no to Eurovision. You know that, we all know that, we’re fans, you know, in the back of our bones we’re fans. And I’m very proud to be back.”

SVT has always been a trendsetter throughout the years and now with the help of Christer, they are planning on cutting down on the show for up to one hour this year. Christer clarifies:

“Well, we’re trying to be effective. We set up a goal for ourselves to have a show that is 3.30, which is roughly what it was in Malmo last time. That’s sort of the national ego that makes us do that and having done this in Sweden quite recently, you know, in 2016 and we did 2013, so we don’t have to do all that over and over again. So we will be effective and we will be able to shorten it. Maybe not all the way to 3.30, but not far from it.”

Christer has done so many great shows in the past, so his opinion on competing songs and staging matters a lot. So we asked him what he thinks of the Cypriot entry “Liar” and Silia Kapsis! Christer admitted he has listened to the song of Cyprus and got really enthusiastic about telling us his opinion about it:

“Oh my God, I have. I think it’s a very good song. I have not seen Silia live, so I cannot judge the artist’s ability when it comes to a live performance. But the recording is great and I love the song. And it will definitely be one of the songs that I will be very keen on to work with because I think it can be a really good stage performance as well. So that one is good.”

The last time there has been a comment like this about a Greek or Cypriot entry, was back in 2018 with the participation of Cyprus with Eleni Foureira and the song “Fuego“.

You can watch our exclusive interview with Christer Björkman at the video down below:

Special thanks to SVT for inviting us and the City of Malmö for the great hosting at this lovely ceremony, but also many many more that are about to come.

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Sweden: These artists want Israel banned from Eurovision! | SVT’s response: “The EBU decides!”

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As you may have read in one of our previous articles, Expressen was able to reveal this weekend that more than 1.000 Swedish artists are demanding that Israel be banned from Eurovision. This is due to the ongoing Middle-Eastern conflict between Israel and Hamas, which has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of civilians in Gaza.

Today, the list of all the artists was published by Expressen, including Eric Saade, Marlena Ernman, Timbuktu, also Medina and Jacqline, who are competing in Melodifestivalen this year, have also signed. Also the global star Robyn joined the petition. You can have a look on the full list of artists who signed here!

“Serious war crimes”

There have been calls to ban Israel from Eurovision 2024, like 1000 Swedish musicians that signed today a petition to the EBU against Israel outside NRK right during the first two weeks of MGP. In Iceland, more than 500 artists signed a petition asking RÚV to withdraw from the contest, while Silvia Night signed an open letter to the EBU asking to ban Israel. In Finland, 1300 artists signed a petition asking for Israel to be removed. The British representative Olly Alexander has also shared in public his opinion against Israel. Also just recently Montaigne signed an open letter to the EBU asking the ban of Israel from the contest and Ben Dolic joined her by doing the same. Now 1000 Swedish artists are demanding that Israel be stopped from participating in the Eurovision Song Contest. The petition reads:

“For more than 100 days, we have witnessed the Israeli army committing what leading human rights organizations describe as grave war crimes. The Eurovision Song Contest began as a peace project with the ambition to unite countries and citizens through music. Allowing Israel to participate undermines not only the spirit of the contest but the entire public service mission. It also sends the signal that governments can commit war crimes without consequences. That is why we appeal to the EBU: Exclude Israel from the Eurovision Song Contest 2024.“

SVT’s answer: “The EBU decides!”

SVT has, through Åsa Barsness, HR and Communications Director, published a response to the demands directed at them, on a press release:

“It is the EBU that decides who participates in the competition and as the host country, SVT relates to what the EBU decides. The human suffering in this deeply complex conflict is horrific. No one can be unmoved by the conditions in Gaza right now, or by the Hamas attack in Israel. We are also concerned about developments. We understand and respect that groups make their voices heard.”

She further writes that SVT has a dialogue with the EBU and hopes to be able to carry out Eurovision in the “best way, with the vision of uniting in music.“

Eurovision will be held in Malmö in May this year and Karin Karlsson is responsible for the city’s initiative. She talked about how they view the artists’ petition, to Expressen:

“We can’t influence whether Israel is in or not, that’s the EBU’s responsibility. We have said all along that everyone is welcome in Malmö.”

Source: Expressen, SVT
Photo: Alex Ljungdahl / Expressen

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Luxembourg: TALI will represent the Dutchy at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 with the song “Fighter”!

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Luxembourg joined the Eurovision Song Contest again this year and they will have their representative perform in Malmö Arena in the hopes of winning the contest for the 6th time. Their national final, called Luxembourg Song Contest 2024, just finished and the public has chosen TALI with the song “Fighter” to represent the country at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 to be held in Malmö, Sweden!

The show

The Final show was hosted by Désirée Nosbusch, Melody Funck, Raoul Roos and Loïc Juchem and was broadcast live from Rockhal, Luxembourg.

Anne Marie David, French singer who has represented both Luxembourg and France at the Eurovision Song Contest, winning in 1973 and placing third in 1979, opened the show, followed by a “flag parade” style intro where all the contestants entered the stage.

It is worth mentioning that one of the most prominent Greek singers, Vicky Leandros, made an amazing guest appearance at Luxembourg Song Contest 2024, singing “Après toi“. This was the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 1972 performed in French by Vicky, when she represented Luxembourg.

All the contestants performed “Poupée de cire, poupée de son“, the winning entry of Luxembourg  at the Eurovision Song Contest 1965, held in Naples.

After the first voting round, all the contestants paid tribute to this year’s host country, Sweden, by singing one of the most iconic Swedish Eurovision entries, ABBA‘s “Waterloo“.

Many eurostars were there as guests, such as Charlotte Perelli, Ruslana, Katrina Leskanich of Katrina and the Waves and Alexander Rybak all performed their winning entries live!

Vicky Leandros also performed “L’amour Est Bleu” acompanied by Alexander Rybak who played his violin!

rybak leandros

The voting system

The winner will be decided through a 50-50 split, with 50% coming from the jury’s vote and the remaining 50% from the audience. Specifics include:

  • The jury, contributing 50% to the result, comprises representatives from eight countries, with five members from each country.
  • The audience voting is open not only to the local audience but also to the international audience, giving everyone a say in who will represent the Grand Duchy at Eurovision 2024.

The songs

The following eight contestants competed in the hopes of getting selected to represent Luxembourg in Malmö:

Our take on the eight competing songs

Our rating is on a Eurovision scale, 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3

Rating: 10

Joel has a great stage presence, amazing vocals and a song that personally reminds me of Melodifestivalen entries. I could definitely see him represent Luxembourg.

Rating: 3

The song of EDSUN is kinda funky, but for me it has nothing special. Maybe the choreo and the staging does something, especially when they were stacked on the ground. It is very intuitive, but no more than that. I have to admit that his voice was very good, he was never out of tune, even though he was heavily choreographed.

Rating: 8

Eight. For Naomi‘s voice and for the French lyrics. The song is okay. I could see this represent Luxembourg in Malmö this year.

Rating: 7

Love the vibe of the song! However since it is a televised show and the image plays an important role, I disagree with their styling. Angy and Rafa stack up their voices on an amazing duet! Nice duet!

Rating: 6

The only group act tonight, with a nice staging, but nothing special song-wise. Let’s see how they will do tonight!

Rating: 12

I see the winner here (wrote this before the announcement, so in case she wasn’t please bear with me). Amazing vocals, song, stage presence! I can see this doing good at this year’s contest. Would she win though? In my honest opinion, I don’t think so.

Rating: 5

CHAiLD might have been a bit stressed out. His vocals were not good, he kind of lost it at times. Loved his style though. The LED stage projections were great!

Rating: 4

Such a catchy song but TALI doesn’t seem to be doing much, the dancers carry the job. Four, only for the song.

The results

The eight contestants that competed in Luxembourg Song Contest were given the chance to be voted twice by the public, within two voting intervals during the show.

After the first interval, the below three artists were selected to take part in the second voting interval, as the hosts of the show called it, the Super Final of Luxembourg Song Contest:

But let’s have a look on how the jury voting went?

Jury voting 12 points

jury results

TALI grossed a total of 94 points from the international juries. After the public vote was added, these are the final results that determined the winner and this year’s representative of Luxembourg at the Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Malmö, Sweden.

 

The selection of the representative of Luxembourg adds up to the list of selected artists and songs that we will get the chance to watch being performed live later next May in Malmö, Sweden! At the video down below you can watch this year’s representative of Luxembourg, who will get the chance to perform on stage in Malmö this May:

Do you like the artist and song that is selected to represent Luxembourg at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest? Let us know in the comments section below!

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Norway: Palestinian activists protested outside NRK against Israel!

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Palestinian activists on Saturday used powerful measures in the fight against Israel‘s participation in Eurovision. 30 men sat bare-chested, blindfolded and hands stripped outside NRK. Activist and initiator Rami Samandar says to VG:

“We are here to highlight Israel’s violations of international law. What we see in Gaza is absolutely horrific.”

The protesters staged an incident on Saturday that occurred in Beit Lahiya in the Gaza Strip on December 7. Then over a hundred Palestinian men and boys were captured by Israeli soldiers. They were ordered to undress and kneel in the street and were accused of belonging to Hamas or being terrorists. Samandar continues:

“But it’s too cold for all 30 people to sit outside NRK at the same time, so we have divided them into groups of ten who each take a dare in front of NRK.”

It was around zero degrees outside NRK Saturday morning and Samandar says that there was great interest in taking part in this action.

“We received so many inquiries that in the end we had to say no.”

In groups of ten, a total of 30 men walked up and down between the parking lot below NRK and the main entrance.

There have been calls to ban Israel from Eurovision 2024, like 1000 Swedish musicians that signed today a petition to the EBU against Israel outside NRK right during the first two weeks of MGP. In Iceland, more than 500 artists signed a petition asking RÚV to withdraw from the contest, while Silvia Night signed an open letter to the EBU asking to ban Israel. In Finland, 1300 artists signed a petition asking for Israel to be removed. The British representative Olly Alexander has also shared in public his opinion against Israel. Also just recently Montaigne signed an open letter to the EBU asking the ban of Israel from the contest and Ben Dolic joined her by doing the same.

Source: VG
Photo: VG

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Sweden: Around 1000 artists want Israel banned from Eurovision!

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Around 1,000 Swedish artists are demanding that Israel be banned from the Eurovision Song Contest, according to a petition that Expressen has taken part of. The document, which is currently being prepared to be handed over to the EBU writes:

“Put down the double standards, exclude Israel from the Eurovision Song Contest. For more than 100 days, we have witnessed the Israeli army committing what leading human rights organizations describe as grave war crimes.”

Among the artists who seem to have signed are musicians well-known in Sweden such as Alba August, Hoffmaestro, Jonathan Johansson, Malena Ernman, Markus Krunegård and Titiyo.

The EBU has previously excluded Russia and Belarus

The European Broadcasting Union announced in connection with Iceland‘s and Finland‘s appeal that Israel will not be excluded. Their position is that the Eurovision Song Contest is a contest between public service broadcasters rather than states.

However, the EBU has previously excluded countries from competing. In 2022, Russia was excluded due to the war against Ukraine. In 2021, Belarus was not allowed to participate in the competition after the EBU expelled the Belarusian public broadcaster BTRC for violating the EBU‘s press freedom rules.

There have been calls to ban Israel from Eurovision 2024, like outside NRK right before the first and second semi-finals of MGP. In Iceland, more than 500 artists signed a petition asking RÚV to withdraw from the contest, while Silvia Night signed an open letter to the EBU asking to ban Israel. In Finland, 1300 artists signed a petition asking for Israel to be removed. The British representative Olly Alexander has also shared in public his opinion against Israel. Also just recently Montaigne signed an open letter to the EBU asking the ban of Israel from the contest and Ben Dolic joined her by doing the same.

Source: Expressen
Photo: Jessica Gow / TT News Agency

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Germany: MDR is to host the ESC preliminaries in 2025!

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Year after year, Germany fails at the Eurovision Song Contest – not least the fault of NDR, which is responsible for the German preliminary round of the Eurovision Song Contest. Now, apparently, consequences are being drawn: As reported by Rolling Stone, the MDR will host it from 2025.

Those responsible at NDR have to admit to themselves that even with new concepts, everything remained the same every year, the Eurovision Eurovision participants could hardly convince anyone of themselves on the Eurovision stages, because the Eurovision noticeably lacked courage and creativity. The ARD executives are now said to have made the decision to entrust the more music-oriented broadcaster MDR with the organization of the Eurovision preliminary decision. MDR‘s head of entertainment, Peter Dreckmann, also acts as ARD‘s music coordinator. The change was allegedly even received with relief at NDR.

The fact that NDR will continue to be responsible for hosting the Eurovision preliminary round in 2024 is said to be due to the fact that funding from the MDR was not initially secured. Although there are possibilities of special financing for certain broadcast formats, this would first have to be approved by the program directors of the MDR, which probably did not happen in time. Costs of two million euros are expected for the preliminary round and the MDR already has to pay attention to its expenses anyway. Florian Silbereisen has already felt this, the red pencil was also applied to his schlager shows.

Neither spokespersons for NDR nor MDR wanted to deny this at this time. Those responsible said:

“Statements about the future belong in the realm of speculation, this is currently not an issue for the MDR.”

This leaves it open on how and where the preliminary round of the Eurovision Song Contest will take place in the future, but it does not dispel the rumours either.

It is also unclear whether Barbara Schöneberger will continue to be booked as a presenter for the preliminary show in 2025. At MDR, Florian Silbereisen is considered the best, at least when it comes to the station’s music shows.

Unfortunately, Lord Of The Lost did not succeed in overturning the tables for Germany, a country that struggles a lot in its Eurovision course for the past ten editions. Indicatively, in the last ten editions, Germany has finished last four times and second-last three times.

Source: Rolling Stone

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Iceland: More than 500 musicians demand withdrawal of Iceland from Eurovision!

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A number of musicians showed up outside the radio house to present the petition to broadcaster Stefan Eiríksson. Confetti was shot over the broadcaster during the handing over of the list, as can be seen in a video footage taken by protesters that gave mbl.is permission to publish.

Pálmi Gunn­ars­son, Páll Óskar, Gréta Salóme, Bríet, Friðrik Dór, Svala Björg­vins­dótt­ir and Daní­el Ágúst Haraldsson are among more than 500 on a petition of musicians demanding that Iceland withdraw from Eurovision Song Contest, because Israel is participating in the contest.

Israel participates

Playwright Sal­vör Gull­brá Þór­ar­ins­dótt­ir told mbl.is:

“Musicians are encouraging RÚV to take a stand by withdrawing from Eurovision if Israel participates.”

Salvör also points out that Reykja­vík­ur­dæt­ur signed the list, as well as members of the band Celebs. The European Broadcasting Union has now announced that Israel will take part in this year’s contest. Salvör adds citing the results of a survey conducted by Prósent before Christmas:

“There’s really no other option for RÚV than to take a stand with Palestine. Because there is a strong will among the people to do so.”

According to the findings of this poll, about 60% of the population strongly or rather agree that Iceland should withdraw from the contest.

There have been calls to ban Israel from Eurovision 2024. In Finland, 1300 artists signed a petition asking for Israel to be removed. The British representative Olly Alexander has also shared in public his opinion against Israel. Also just recently Montaigne signed an open letter to the EBU asking the ban of Israel from the contest and Ben Dolic joined her by doing the same.

Source: mbl.is
Photo: Þórdís Reynis

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Sweden: Zara Larsson interested in being a Eurovision 2024 interval! | What about Melodifestivalen?

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Zara Larsson is one of the biggest representatives of Swedish pop worldwide.  She is turning 26 at the end of this year, but she already has a vast career, made her international breakthrough at the age of 18 and she has been involved with acting lately, making her debut at a Netflix film A part of You.

She has declared herself as a big fan of Melodifestivalen and Eurovision and has expressed her wish in the past to take part in Melodifestivalen as an interlude act. Now speaking at Sveriges Radio and Fredrik Hilmered, superstar Zara Larsson just expressed that she eagerly wants to go to Eurovision as one of the interval acts of this year’s contest to be held in Malmö, Sweden:

“I’m eager to do an interlude. Being on Eurovision would be really awesome. It’s by far the biggest program an artist can be a part of.”

But when asked about competing in Melodifestivalen, she sounds quite firm:

“I will never compete in Melodifestivalen. It’s more than just getting the chance to use the awesome stage. It’s the ultimate privilege for me as an artist.”

Has she been asked to do an interlude? She responds:

“I’ve told my management to hound them. We’ll see how it turns out. That would be super exciting.”

Her new album “Venus” gets released on the 9th of February and she sets off for her European tour on the 16th of the same month. No wonder why she’s left a big tour gap between the 16th of March and the 31st of May, if one takes a closer look to her tour dates. She seems to be really keen on participating at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest that is hosted by her home country, Sweden, after Loreen did a double and won last year in Liverpool with the song “Tattoo“.

zara larsson tour gap may

Zara Larsson Tour – Gap between March and May

Just yesterday, Zara Larsson released her new single from her upcoming album called “You Love Who You Love“. You can have a listen to the YouTube video down below:

In the next few months we will know more about this year’s contest, the hosts of the three shows and the participating artists as intervals. It remains to be seen if Zara Larsson will be involved in any way to the contest.

Source: Sveriges Radio
Photo: Jessica Gow/TT, Magnus Lejhall/TT

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