Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015

Background

Prior to the 2015 Contest, Sweden had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-four times since its first entry in 1958. Sweden had won the contest on five occasions: in 1974 with the song "Waterloo" performed by ABBA, in 1984 with the song "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" performed by Herreys, in 1991 with the song "Fångad av en stormvind" performed by Carola, in 1999 with the song "Take Me to Your Heaven" performed by Charlotte Nilsson, and in 2012 with the song "Euphoria" performed by Loreen. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Sweden had, to this point, only failed to qualify to the final on one occasion in 2010. In 2014, Sweden placed third in the contest with the song "Undo" performed by Sanna Nielsen.

The Swedish national broadcaster, Sveriges Television (SVT), broadcasts the event within Sweden and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. Since 1959, SVT has organised the annual competition Melodifestivalen in order to select the Swedish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest.

Before Eurovision

SVT confirmed that Sweden would participate in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest on 20 May 2014, at the same time announcing that the Swedish entry would be selected through the national final Melodifestivalen 2015.

Melodifestivalen 2015

Melodifestivalen 2015 was the Swedish music competition that selected Sweden's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2015. Hosted by 2014 Swedish Eurovision entrant Sanna Nielsen and comedian Robin Paulsson, 28 songs competed in a six-week-long process which consisted of four semi-finals on 7, 14, 21 and 28 February 2015, a second chance round on 7 March 2015, and a final on 15 March 2015. Seven songs competed in each semi-final - the top two qualified directly to the final, while the third and fourth placed songs qualified to the second chance round. An additional four songs qualified to the final from the second chance round. Among the competing artists were former Eurovision Song Contest contestants Eric Saade who represented Sweden in 2011, Jessica Andersson who represented Sweden in 2003 as part of the duo Fame and Marie Bergman who represented Sweden in 1971 and 1972 as part of the group Family Four as well as in 1994 performing in a duet with Roger Pontare.

Semi-finals and Second chance

Final

The final of Melodifestivalen 2015 was held on 14 March 2015 at the Friends Arena in Solna, Stockholm. The two winners from each semi-final and the four second chance winners qualified for the final, creating a twelve song lineup. A mix of televoting/SMS voting and international jury voting selected "Heroes" performed by Måns Zelmerlöw as the winner.

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. In the 2015 contest, Australia also competed directly in the final as an invited guest nation. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into five different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 26 January 2015, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Sweden was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 21 May 2015, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.

Once all the competing songs for the 2015 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Sweden was set to perform in position 13, following the entry from Iceland and before the entry from Switzerland. All three shows were televised on SVT1, with commentary by Sanna Nielsen and Edward af Sillén as well as broadcast via radio on SR P4 with commentary by Carolina Norén and Ronnie Ritterland. The Swedish spokesperson, who announced the Swedish votes during the final, was Mariette Hansson.

Semi-final

Zelmerlöw took part in technical rehearsals on 14 and 16 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 20 and 21 May. This included the jury final where professional juries of each country, responsible for 50 percent of each country's vote, watched and voted on the competing entries.

The stage show featured Zelmerlöw in a grey jumper and black leather trousers performing in front of a projection board. During the verses, the performance focused on Zelmerlöw in front of the projection board, interacting with choreographed graphics such as stick-man figures. The background LED screens were featured during the chorus displaying bursts of light and movement. On stage, Zelmerlöw was joined by five backing vocalists: Britta Bergström, Michael Blomqvist, Linnea Deb, Alexander Holmgren and Jeanette Olsson.

At the end of the show, the Sweden was announced as having finished in the top ten and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. It was later revealed that the Sweden won the semi-final, receiving a total of 217 points.

Final

Shortly after the second semi-final, a winner's press conference was held for the ten qualifying countries. As part of this press conference, the qualifying artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. This draw was done in the order the countries were announced during the semi-final. Sweden was drawn to compete in the first half. Following this draw, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final, as they had done for the semi-finals. Sweden was subsequently placed to perform in position 10, following the entry from Norway and before the entry from Cyprus. On the day of the grand final, Sweden was the top favourite to win the competition according to the bookmakers.

Zelmerlöw once again took part in dress rehearsals on 22 and 23 May before the final, including the jury final where the professional juries cast their final votes before the live show. Zelmerlöw performed a repeat of his semi-final performance during the final on 23 May. Sweden won the competition with 365 points, beating Russia and Italy into second and third places respectively. Sweden received 12 points, the maximum number of points a country can give to another country, from twelve countries. The broadcast was watched by an average 3.282 million people in Sweden with viewership peaking at 4.3 million.

Marcel Bezençon Awards

The Marcel Bezençon Awards, first awarded during the 2002 contest, are awards honouring the best competing songs in the final each year. Named after the creator of the annual contest, Marcel Bezençon, the awards are divided into 3 categories: the Press Award, given to the best entry as voted on by the accredited media and press during the event; the Artistic Award, presented to the best artist as voted on by the shows' commentators; and the Composer Award, given to the best and most original composition as voted by the participating composers. "Heroes" was awarded the Artistic Award, which was accepted at the awards ceremony by Måns Zelmerlöw.

Voting

Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member were released shortly after the grand final.

Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that the public televote and jury results were in disagreement in regards to the winner in the final. Sweden was the winner of the jury vote with 353 points, however, the nation only managed third place with 279 points in the public televote, finishing behind Italy and Russia respectively. In the second semi-final, Sweden placed first with the public televote receiving 195 points and first with thejury vote with 208 points.

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Sweden and awarded by Sweden in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Swedish jury: