Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009

ESC National Year
Year = 2009
Country = SWE
Preselection = Melodifestivalen 2009
Preselection date = Semi-finals:
7 February 2009
14 February 2009
21 February 2009
28 February 2009
Second chance:
7 March 2009
Final:
14 March 2009
Entrant =
Song =
SF result =
Final result =

Sweden will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. Sveriges Television (SVT) will use the traditional festival Melodifestivalen format to choose the Swedish participant in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. [cite web |url=http://www.svt.se/content/1/c8/01/05/68/94/Inbjudan%20till%20Melodifestivalen%202009.pdf |title=Inbjudan till Melodifestivalen 2009 |publisher="SVT" |language=Swedish |accessdate=2008-05-27 |author=Björkman, Christer] cite web |url=http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/12027 |title=Sweden: Melodifestivalen 2009 call for songs |publisher="ESCToday" |author=Floras, Stella |date=2008-05-29 |accessdate=2008-05-29] .

Melodifestivalen 2009

Melodifestivalen, the Swedish national final, will choose who Sweden's entrant in the Eurovision Song Contest will be. SVT set a deadline of 23 September 2008 for interested singers to send in their songs and when all songs have been received, a jury will pick 28 to proceed to Melodifestivalen 2009. The 28 songs and their composers will be revealed in late October or early November. [cite web|url=http://www.oikotimes.com/v2/index.php?file=articles&id=3969|title=One month left for Melodifestivalen Entries|last=Fisher|first=Luke|date=2008-08-25|publisher="Oikotimes"|accessdate=2008-08-25] When the deadline for songs approached, a record number of 3440 songs were submitted, six more than in 2007. [cite web|url=http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/12324|title=Recordbreaker for Melodifestivalen entries|last=Viniker|first=Barry|date=2008-09-26|publisher="ESCToday"|accessdate=2008-09-26]

There will be a few rule changes implemented in Melodifestivalen 2009. Instead of the top two songs qualifying to the final with the third and fourth placed songs fighting in the second chance round, a "knock-out" system will be implemented. The top four songs will compete against each other, with the 1st place song competing against the 4th place song and the 2nd place song competing against the 3rd placed song. The winners of these rounds will qualify for the final, with the remaining two songs being sent to the second chance round.cite web|url=http://www.eurovision.tv/page/news/?id=1240|title=Swedish national final to change!|publisher="Eurovision.tv"|author=Schacht, Andreas|date=2008-08-26|accessdate=2008-08-26] cite web|url=http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/12226|title=Sweden: Major changes for Melodifestivalen'09|publisher="ESCToday"|author=Hondal, Víctor|date=2008-08-26|accessdate=2008-08-26]

A further change to the format is the introduction of an international jury. Not only will this jury have a vote in the final alongside the 11 regional juries and the televote, but it will also be charged with the task of selecting one song from the 22 songs which did not qualify for the Grand Final to join the 10 finalists as a wildcard, thus bringing the total number of songs in the Final to 11.

The number of participants on-stage will also be raised to 8, two more above the EBU limit for Eurovision. Pre-recorded backing vocals will also be permitted.

The four semi-finals will take place on 7 February 2009, 14 February 2009, 21 February 2009, and 28 February 2009 with the second chance being held on 7 March 2009 and the final on 14 March 2009. [cite web|url=http://esctoday.com/news/read/12274|title=Sweden: Melodifestivalen on March 14th|last=Viniker|first=Barry|date=2008-09-11|publisher="ESCToday"|accessdate=2008-09-11] [cite web|url=http://www.oikotimes.com/v2/index.php?file=articles&id=4069|title= SVT announces dates and cities for 2009 Melodifestivalen|last=Konstantopoulos|first=Fotis|date=2008-09-11|publisher="Oikotimes"|accessdate=2008-09-11]

Melodifestivalen 2009 schedule

Source [http://svt.se/svt/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?d=79613&a=1243763&lid=puff_1243793&lpos=lasMer]

At Eurovision

Since Sweden is not one of the "Big Four" and is not the host of the 2009 contest, it will have to compete in one of the two semi-finals.

See also

* Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest
* Eurovision Song Contest 2009

References

External links

* [http://www.svt.se/melodifestivalen SVT's Melodifestivalen Website]