Sweden: These are the 14 first contestants of Melodifestivalen 2023!
As promised by the national Swedish broadcaster SVT, the time has come for the 14 first contestants of the Swedish national selection of 2023 to be revealed!
The first 14 contestants competing at Melodifestivalen 2023 are the following:
Heat 1: Gothenburg, Saturday 4 February
Victor Crone – Diamonds
From Österåker, just outside of Stockholm, Victor Crone is a name that will be familiar to many Eurovision Song Contest fans. The singer competed for Estonia at the 2019 Contest in Tel Aviv, with the song Storm. As a songwriter, Victor found himself competing in two Eurovision Song Contest pre-selections in 2022: the Melodifestivalen final (as co-writer of Robin Bengtsson’sInnocent Love) and the Eesti Laul final in Estonia (as one of the writers behind Stig Rästa’s Interstellar). This will be Victor’s third time competing in Melodifestivalen as an artist.
Rejhan – Haunted
Written by: Albin Johnsén, Mattias Andréasson, Pontus Söderman, Tilde RONIA Wrigsell
16 year old Rejhan Bellani made a name for himself in the 2021 series of Talang (Sweden’s Got Talent). Since then, he’s been honing his craft in the studio throughout 2022 and makes his debut as an artist in 2023. The young music talent has been singing, playing piano and playing guitar since he was just four years old. With roots in Kosovo, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, he can sing in Albanian, Bosnian, English and Swedish. When Rejhan is not creating music or playing football, he is studying economics at high school.
Loulou LaMotte – Inga Sorger
Written by: Jonas Thander, Loulou LaMotte
A member of The Mamas, Loulou has also found time in 2022 to restart her career as a solo artist, having released three singles over the past few months. Now, her solo career begins a new chapter: Melodifestivalen 2023! As a member of The Mamas, Loulou has already won Melodifestivalen, in 2020 with the song Move. One year earlier in 2019, the singer and songwriter got to perform on the Eurovision Song Contest stage when The Mamas sang backing vocals for John Lundvik, representing Sweden with Too Late For Love and finishing in the top five.
Eva Rydberg & Ewa Roos – Länge Leve Livet
Written by: Emil Vaker, Henric Pierroff, Kalle Rydberg
Eva Rydberg and Ewa Roos are two of Sweden’s most beloved actors and artists, with over 60 years in theatre, revue, film and music to their names. They have shared the stage many times before, most notably in recent years when they participated in Melodifestivalen 2021 with the song Rena Rama Ding Dong. With their comic talent, timing and great chemistry, the song became a big favourite amongst fans. And no doubt to the delight of many, the duo are back in 2023 to do it all over again.
Elov & Beny – Raggen Går
Written by: Johan Werner, Kristian Wejshag, Mattias Elovsson, Oscar Kilenius, Tim Larsson
With hits such as Bubbel På Balkongen and Kommer Över Dig, Elov & Beny have been a staple at house parties all over Sweden in recent years. The duo was founded in 2008 and is made up of Mattias ‘Elov’ Elovsson and Oscar ‘Beny’ Kilenius. In 2022, Elov & Beny have become one of the most streamed acts in Sweden. With the summer hit Bubbel På Balkongen, they reached number two in the charts in both Sweden and in neighbouring Norway. A party, a high tempo and a smile are all promised when Elov & Beny make their debut at Melodifestivalen.
Tone Sekelius – Rhythm Of My Show
Written by: Anderz Wrethov, Dino Medanhodzic, Jimmy “Joker” Thörnfeldt, Tone Sekelius
Tone Sekelius achieved huge success at Melodifestivalen 2022, when she finished in 5th place with the song My Way. The first trans person to compete at Melodifestivalen in the contest’s history, Tone has since gone on to become one of Sweden’s biggest influencers on TikTok and YouTube. Her star has also risen on TV too, where she’s performed on many of Sweden’s biggest shows, and become the new host of the popular reality TV dating format Paradise.
Jon Henrik Fjällgren, Arc North feat. Adam Woods – Where You Are (Sávečan)
Written by: Arc North, Calle Hellberg, Jon Henrik Fjällgren, Joy Deb, Oliver Belvelin, Richard Lästh, Tobias Lundgren, William Segerdahl
The connection between Jon Henrik Fjällgren, Arc North and Adam Woods might seem unexpected to some at first, but if you dive deeper into their musical journey, it quickly becomes clear why their collaboration has worked so well. With a great longing for the mysterious and epic, these three artists create a unique sense of sonic grandeur. A tribute to indescribably beautiful mountain peaks and deep forests permeates their works and cross-border collaborations. Jon Henrik Fjällgren will be familiar to Melodifestivalen viewers, with him having participated three times before, most recently in 2019.
HEAT 2: Linköping, Saturday 11 February
Wiktoria – All My Life (Where Have You Been)
Written by: Herman Gardarfve, Melanie Wehbe, Patrik Jean, Wiktoria Johansson
It’s been 16 years since the then 10 year old from Borås participated in Lilla Melodifestivalen (Melodifestivalen Junior) with the self-written contribution Jag Behöver Dig. Today, Wiktoria is a well-known face to Melodifestivalen fans. Through her previous three times participating at the contest, she has reached the final every time, and had two of those songs reach number one on the Spotify charts: As I Lay Me Down and Save Me. Wiktoria’s music has now been streamed over 100 million times. In 2016, the artist provided the Swedish voice for Disney’s Vaiana – the Swedish-language release of Moana.
Eden – Comfortable
Written by: Benjamin Rosenbohm, Eden Alm, Emil Adler Lei, Julie Aagaard
22 year old artist Eden (Eden Alm) from Hässleholm has been forging a huge success of her music over on TikTok, and is now making her Melodifestivalen debut in 2023. On TikTok, Eden shares her own personal songs about events that have shaped her life in recent years. Eden alternates the songs with clips from her relationship with fellow social-media star Sara Songbird, and their life in Stockholm. Eden has gone from relative anonymity to a respected songwriter and artist in a short time, and looks forward to opening the next chapter of her music career in Linköping!
Uje Brandelius – Grytan
Written by: Uje Brandelius
On Uje Brandelius’ CV, he can proudly list singer, pianist, songwriter, theatre actor, radio reporter, author, film star and even TV quiz winner! Well, now he can also add Melodifestivalen artist to all of the above. Uje started his music career as a songwriter and singer in the ‘90s band Doktor Kosmos, who have made a triumphant comeback across Swedish stages in the past year. In 2015, Uje released his solo album Spring, Uje, Spring, which then became the basis for a stage performance of the same name at the Royal Dramatic Theatre, followed by an acclaimed radio-theatre drama and finally a feature film directed by Henrik Schyffert. Uje Brandelius competes with his self-penned song Grytan. He describes the song as “a story about cooking, mood swings and conflict management. But mostly it’s ‘a song about love’.
THEOZ – Mer Av Dig
Written by: Axel Schylström, Jakob Redtzer, Peter Boström, Thomas G:son
17 year old THEOZ will be performing on home territory in the second heat, as he hails from Linköping. The artist made a big splash at Melodifestivalen 2022, when he went to the final and had a hit with the song Som Du Vill. The track remained in the top ten on Spotify for quite some time and its success was followed by his own summer tour, his participation in the hugely popular annual Diggiloo tour, and the release of a brand new EP. THEOZ is one of Sweden’s biggest influencers, with over two million followers across his channels. He debuted with the single Het at just 12 years old, and its music video became the most viewed Swedish music video on YouTube that year.
Maria Sur – Never Give Up
Written by: Anderz Wrethov, Laurell Barker
Soon-to-be 18 year old Maria was born and raised in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. When the war against her country broke out in February 2022, she was one of the contestants competing in Ukraine’s edition of The Voice. Maria and her mother fled the country for safety in Sweden, while her father was forced to stay behind. Once in Sweden, and determined not to let the war take away her dreams, she sought out a number of people involved in music. Former Melodifestivalen host Sarah Dawn Finer answered, and recommended Maria to the gala Hela Sverige Skramlar; a televised fundraiser that would go on to raise about 80 million SEK for aid work in Ukraine. Following her performance at the gala, Maria was signed to a Swedish record label and released her debut single That’s The Way. Maria currently attends the music school Lilla Akademien in Stockholm, and studies at a school in Ukraine by distance learning.
Tennessee Tears – Now I Know
Written by: Anderz Wrethov, Jonas Hermansson, Thomas Stengaard, Tilda Feuk
Tennessee Tears, made up of Tilda Feuk and Jonas Hermansson, is a country music duo from Sweden that has been making music together for eight years now. It all started with a songwriting collaboration with Billy Burnette (Fleetwood Mac) in Nashville, and they have since travelled back there several times to both write and record music of their own. Tennessee Tears has a number of well-received singles in their repertoire by now, and has collaborated with musicians such as Dave Roe (Johnny Cash), Michael Rhodes (Emmylou Harris, Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum) and Ben Sesar (Brad Paisley).
Panetoz – On My Way
Written by: Anders Wigelius, Daniel Nzinga, Jimmy Jansson, Nebeyu Baheru, Njol Badjie, Pa Modou Badjie, Robert Norberg
The Stockholm band Panetoz, who had their big breakthrough with the summer hit Dansa Pausa in 2012, makes what is sure to be a very welcome return to Melodifestivalen. Their debut in the competition came in 2014 with the song Efter Solsken, which went directly to the final, and they then participated again in 2016 with the song Håll Om Mig Hård, which also took them to the final. Much like Melodifestivalen royalty ABBA before them, the name Panetoz comes from the first letters of the names of the three founders: Pa Modou, Nebeyu and Tobias (who is no longer a member). The band’s current line-up is Pa Modou Badjie, Nebeyu Baheru, Johan Hirvi, Njol Ismail Badjie and Daniel Nzinga.
The dates of Melodifestivalen 2023
- Heat 1: Gothenburg – Saturday 4 February 2023 (Scandinavium)
- Heat 2: Linköping – Saturday 11 February 2023 (Saab Arena)
- Heat 3: Lidköping – Saturday 18 February 2023 (Sparbanken Arena)
- Heat 4: Malmö – Saturday 25 February 2023 (Malmö Arena)
- Semi-final: Örnsköldsvik – Saturday 4 March 2023 (Hägglunds Arena)
- Final: Stockholm – Satuday 11 March 2023 (Friends Arena)
We remind you that Melodifestivalen 2023 is scheduled to take place between February 4th to March 11th and will be hosted by Jesper Rönndahl and Farah Abadi.
Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the developments related to the Swedish national selection for Eurovision 2023!
