Sweden: Meet the artists of the third Melodifestivalen semi-final

Melodifestivalen 2017 continues its journey this Saturday in Växjö, where the third semi-final will take place. This semi-final features the oldest artist to ever participate in Melodifestivalen and a couple of comebacks. Let’s take a closer look.

Source: SVT

Robin Bengtsson – I Can’t Go On
Text & music: David Kreuger, Hamed «K-One» Pirouzpanah, Robin Stjernberg

Robin returns to Melodifestivalen one year after his debut with «Constellation Prize» with which he made it directly to the final and finished 5th. This year, his song is called «I can’t go on» which is, among others, written by Sweden’s ESC 2013 representative, Robin Stjernberg. The song is funky and up-tempo and Robin says that he won’t be just standing on the stage this year. In 2008, he participated in the Swedish Idol and finished 3rd. After that, he released a few singles but the success came after his 2016 Melodifestivalen debut.

Source: SVT

Krista Siegfrids – Snurra Min Jord
Text & music: Krista Siegfrids, Gustaf Svenungsson, Magnus Wallin, Gabriel Alares

Krista is back in Melodifestivalen after last year’s attempt with «Faller» with which she finished 5th in Malmö’s semi-final. She has also represented Finland in Eurovision 2013 with «Marry Me» and took the 24th place in the final. Her entry this year is called «Snurra min jord» and is a sentimental, hopeful and honest song. «The song is personal with sentimental text. It’s about how to get enough time for everything if you have been together with someone for a long time. One might begin to drift in different directions but decides to fight. The song has a lot of hope in it. It starts softly but then it gets a club vibe», says Krista Siegfrids.

Source: SVT

Anton Hagman – Kiss You Goodbye
Text & music: Christian Fast, Tim Schou, Henrik Nordenback

Anton makes his debut in Melodifestivalen with «Kiss you goodbye». He was discovered after uploading covers on YouTube. In 2014 he made a duo called «JA» and their acoustic covers became very popular. However, the duo decided to part ways and Anton joined «Royal Sunset» but not for too long. He now focuses on his solo career and Melodifestivalen. «It’s a pop song that has guitar and bass. It is about how to move on from someone and that it can be scary at times but you must dare to take that step», says Anton. 

Source: SVT

Jasmine Kara – Gravity
Text & music: Anderz Wrethov, Jasmine Kara

After years of rumors regarding her Melodifestivalen participation, Jasmine Kara is in the contest with «Gravity». The Swedish-Iranian singer and song writer currently resides in Los Angeles but now she’s back for Melodifestivalen. Jasmine had an abusive relationship in her late teens and music helped her during this period of her life. In 2010 she had her breakthrough when she performed in a concert for Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel’s wedding. «My song is called «Gravity» and is all about love. It’s a pretty positive song, easy to absorb. I wrote it considering everything that has happened in the world in recent years. We must continue to pour love on each other. This is why I wanted to enter Melodifestivalen. The music is a good tool to unite people and we now need the joy and music more than ever».

Source: SVT

Owe Thörnqvist – Boogieman Blues
Text & music: Owe Thörnqvist

Owe Thörnqvist makes his Melodifestivalen debut as a performer at the age of 87 (88 in March) with «Boogieman Blues». Owe is a well established musician and singer in Sweden with his career beginning in 1953 and still going strong. He participated in Melodifestivalen three times as a song writer (1962, 1963 and 1965) but now it’s time to get on the stage as an artist. His music style is rock, rockabilly, pop and his texts are characterized by word play and humor and this is what we should expect from his song in Melodifestivalen.

Source: SVT

Bella & Filippa – Crucified
Text & music: Peter Hägerås, Mats Frisell, Jakob Stadell, Filippa Frisell, Isabella Snihs

Bella & Filippa were best friends since they were toddlers and four years ago, they became step sisters. That’s when they started making music and uploading their songs on the internet. Bella holds the record of the first artist born in ’00s (2000) to enter Melodifestivalen. They both make their debut in the contest with «Crucified». Their music style is country-pop acoustic.

Source: SVT

Felix, Oscar & Omar / FO&O – Gotta Thing About You
Text & music:
Robert John ”Mutt” Lange, Tony Nilsson

The Fooo Conspiracy changed their name literally the last-minute and now they are called Felix, Oscar & Omar/FO&O. The reason? Oscar Molander left the group to spend more time in the studio writing music. The group got attention when started performing in the streets of Stockholm and then uploaded the videos on YouTube. They later made a few TV appearances but the breakthrough came when Justin Bieber’s management asked them to be the opening act to Bieber’s concert in Stockholm. Their Melodfestivalen debut is made with «Gotta Thing About You». «The song is about a «thing» you have for a person, in our case a girl.» they said and described it with the words love, hit and ’90s.

What do you think of this week’s line-up? Who is your favorite? Let us know in comments below.