A-side Hero Released February 2008 Genre Europop
disco | B-side Hero (Instrumental) Recorded 2007 | |
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Format Digital download, CD-single | ||
"Hero" is a 2008 pop song performed by the Swedish singer Charlotte Perrelli written by Fredrik Kempe and Bobby Ljunggren. It was rumoured the song was going to be sung by Måns Zelmerlöw, but Charlotte was first choice and finally Charlotte was chosen for the SVT. It won the Melodifestivalen 2008 on 15 March 2008 at the Globen. Due to this, it represented Sweden at the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade, Serbia.
Contents
The single "Hero" was released on 12 March 2008. It topped the Swedish Singles chart, and was certified Gold, in recognition of 10,000 copies sold. After the contest, it was certified Platinum, as 40,000 copies sold. The song entered the 3rd place at Svensktoppen on 13 April 2008, and it stayed on the chart for eight weeks until 1 June 2008 peaking at #3. The Swedish single top 100, she peaked at #1 for 5 weeks, and left the charts after 19 weeks. Her position in the 'best of all time' is #503 with 769 points.
Eurovision
During the month of April and part of May, Perrelli went on a promotional tour through Europe. She visited Germany, Belgium, Albania, Montenegro, Serbia and the Netherlands. The single was released to radio stations in those countries to which she competed in the semifinal. She originally planned to visit Russia as well, but she didn't receive a visa in time and her tour there was cancelled.
Perrelli made it through the semifinal on 22 May in 2008 Eurovision Song Contest due to the jury and competed in the final. She competed as number 15, the same that she had in 1999, when she won with Take Me to Your Heaven. However, she only managed to finish 18th out of 25 with 47 points compared to the winners 272.
Later, it was published that she hadn't made it to the top ten in the semifinal after all, but at place 12. But because of new rules in the contest, the "Jury's Choice" had been introduced and they had chosen Perrelli instead of Macedonian's entry.
Music video
The Music video was shot in Stockholm on 14 April 2008, and the filming went on for two days. Among other shooting spots some of the scenes were filmed in the room of Globen Arena. During the shoot Charlotte was assisted by a personal make-up artist and stylist, ten cameramen, and her sister, Kina Björk.
The music video was officially released on 7 May 2008
Track listing
- Hero
- Hero (instrumental version)