Sweden Melodifestivalen 2023: Maria Sur and Panetoz to the Final

Tonight the second heat of Melodifestivalen 2023 was broadcast live from Linköping. It's the 7th time the contest has visited the city.

During tonight's show, a medley was performed by Magnus Carlsson and Linda Bengtzing with all their songs from Melodifestivalen. Another member of Melodifestivalen's Hall of Fame was also unveiled: Thomas G:son.

And now it was time for the results of the second heat:

Maria Sur won the second heat with "Never Give Up," and qualified directly for the Final on 11 March together with Panetoz ("On My Way"). Theoz and Tennessee Tears were voted to go on to the Semi-final on 4 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 (Maria Sur) 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 (Panetoz) 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.

Thomas G:son in Hall of Fame

Last Saturday, Thomas G:son was suddenly expelled from the Greenroom during the after-show in Gothenburg. The whole act was staged as he has now been elected into Melodifestivalen's Hall of Fame.

In tonight's show, Thomas G:son joined the star-heavy lineup that has grown in the years since the Hall of Fame was formed.

G:son has been involved in 69 songs for Melodifestivalen and 15 of his songs have competed in the Eurovision Song Contest for various countries.

The motivation for the award is:

– It is hardly bold to claim that every single Swede can hum at least one G:son song. Thomas G:son has been elected to Melodifestivalen's Hall of Fame for his multifaceted and incomparable 69 contributions that have enriched the Swedish song treasure for a quarter of a century. G:son moves limitlessly in the musical space and does not fear either genre, tonality or emotions.

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)!