Sweden Melodifestivalen 2023: Sekelius and Fjällgren/Woods/Arc North to the Final

Nu kör vi!

The first deltävling (heat) of Melodifestivalen 2023 took place tonight. The two winners were Jon Henrik Fjällgren, Arc North feat. Adam Woods, and Tone Sekelius, who go straight through to the Final, with Victor Crone and Elov & Beny qualifying for the Semi-final in four weeks’ time.

The first deltävling was held in the Scandinavium arena in Gothenburg. It's the 27th time Melodifestivalen has visited Gothenburg, mainly in Scandinavium but also in Lisebergshallen and even in the Göteborg Opera.

Melodifestivalen’s traditional tour of Sweden for its six live shows has resumed this year, after COVID-19 fears meant the 2022 contest took place entirely in the capital, Stockholm. After tonight’s first heat in Gothenburg, the show will visit cities such as Lidköping and Malmö, before heading to Stockholm for the Final on 11 March.

Melodifestivalen 2023

• 4 February: Deltävling 1 (Göteborg)
• 11 February: Deltävling 2 (Linköping)
• 18 February: Deltävling 3 (Lidköping)
• 25 February: Deltävling 4 (Malmö)
• 4 March: Semi-final (Örnsköldsvik)
• 11 March: Final (Stockholm)

All shows are presented by Farah Abadi and Jesper Rönndahl.

In each of the four heats, two songs qualify directly for the Final, and two songs progress to the Semi-final. In the Semi-final, eight songs will compete, and the top four songs will qualify for the Final.

The heats and Semi-final are 100% public vote, while the Final will be decided by 50% public vote and 50% jury vote.

As introduced during last year’s Melodifestivalen, proceeds from voting will continue to be donated to aid relief efforts for the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Voting system

In all four heats of Melodifestivalen 2023 there are two rounds of voting:

First round of voting:

Viewers could vote on all seven participants via app/telephone. The song that received most votes (Jon Henrik Fjällgren, Arc North feat. Adam Woods) qualified directly for the Final of Melodifestivalen.

Second round of voting:

Viewers could vote on the remaining six participants via app/telephone. The votes from the first round were added. All the app votes were divided into seven voting groups determined by age, and in addition an eighth voting group consisting of votes from telephone. Each of the voting groups' votes were converted into points (12-10-8-5-3-1) for the remaining six artists.

The artist with most points (Tone Sekelius) qualified for the Final, while the artists with the 2nd and 3rd most points qualified for the Semi-final (previously known as "Second Chance") of Melodifestivalen.

Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest

Since 1958, Sweden has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 61 times, and with great success. They have won the contest 6 times:

• 1974: ABBA – Waterloo
• 1984: Herreys – Diggi-loo Diggy-ley
• 1991: Carola – Fångad Av En Stormvind
• 1999: Charlotte Nilsson – Take Me To Your Heaven
• 2012: Loreen – Euphoria
• 2015: Måns Zelmerlöw – Heroes

They came in last two times (1963 and 1977), and since the introduction of the Semi-finals in 2004 Sweden has managed to qualify for the Grand Final 17 out of 18 times (only failing to qualify in 2010)!