Sweden | Records Broken As The First Semi Final Melodifestivalen Begins
Last night saw Sweden begin Europe's favourite national final. Melodifestivalen began in style, and what a spectacular show it was. The show which was held in the Scandinavium Stadium in Gothenburg saw seven artists compete for the two places in the final, and the Andra Chanen (Second Chance) round. Since then, the national broadcaster SVT have released details on the votes for those who finished 7th, 6th, and 5th were cast.
SVT have also released details of how many votes were cant in yesterday's first semi-final one. They have revealed that a record breaking 7,158,333 votes were cast. This included details of how the bottom three artist faired. The results are as follows:
5th – Zeana feat. Anis don Demina – Mina bränder – 980, 354 votes
6th – High15 – No Drama – 814,839 votes
7th – Arja Saijonmaa – Mina fyra årstider – 507,727
Wiktoria with "Not With Me" and Mohombi with the song, "Hello" were the first songs that went direct to the final. Nano with "Chasing Rivers", whilst Anna Bergendahal with the song, "Ashes to Ashes" made it to the second chance round.
Even for those in the bottom three, it is impressive that even they received such a high number of votes, which reflect how well this national final is doing, in drawing in the viewers, and votes.
Eurovoxx reacted to last night's show:
Eurovoxx reported recently that those in charge of the Melodifestivalen had opted to change the voting system. Texts had been abolished, while viewers at home in Sweden were split into 8 different colour categories, that saw the demography of the voters split into each coloured section. During the performance there was a heart that appeared at the bottom of the page that beat, and changed colour to reflect which age group was voting most for the particular song being performed.
This year will see the Melodifestivalen be hosted by four hosts. They are: Eric Saade, Sarah- Dawn Finer, Kodojo Akolor and Marika Carlsson.
The first semi final is over. The remaining shows will be:
Semi-Final 2 – Malmö – February 9
Semi-Final 3 – Leksand – February 16
Semi-Final 4 – Lidköping – February 23
Andra Chansen/Second Chance – Nyköping- March 2
Final – Stockholm – March 9th.
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