Sweden: Robin Bengtsson wins Melodifestivalen 2017

Nu kör vi! The Final of Melodifestivalen 2017 was held tonight in Friends Arena in Stockholm. After six amazing shows all over Sweden with 28 contestants, the Swedish public and an international jury voted for Robin Bengtsson. He will represent Sweden with the song "I Can't Go On". After four Semi-finals and a Second Chance-show 12 songs were selected to compete in the Final of Melodifestivalen, the biggest television show in Sweden.

"I Can't Go On" is written by David Kreuger, Hamed "K-One" Pirouzpanah and Robin Stjernberg (Sweden 2013).

The show was broadcast live from Friends Arena in Stockholm and hosted by Hasse Andersson, Clara Henry & David Lindgren.

Melodifestivalen 2017 – Result

Vi har ett resultat!

1. Robin Bengtsson – "I Can't Go On" (146 points)
2. Nano – "Hold On" (133 points)
3. Jon Henrik Fjällgren feat. Aninia – "En värld full av strider" (105 points)
4. Mariette – "A Million Years" (99 points)
5. Benjamin Ingrosso – "Good Lovin'" (87 points)
6. Wiktoria – "As I Lay Me Down" (80 points)
7. Ace Wilder – "Wild Child" (67 points)
8. Boris René – "Her Kiss" (66 points)
9. Lisa Ajax – "I Don't Give A" (46 points)
10. Anton Hagman – "Kiss You Goodbye" (43 points)
11. FO&O – "Gotta Thing About You" (41 points)
12. Owe Thörnqvist – "Boogieman Blues" (33 points)

Robin's victory came mainly from the international jury who sent him in first place. The result of the Swedish public voting gave Nano the first place (12% of the public votes), Wiktoria second (10.9% of the public votes), and Robin Bengtsson third place (10.6% of the public votes).

Melodifestivalen 2017 – International Jury Result

1. Robin Bengtsson – "I Can't Go On" (96 points)
2. Nano – "Hold On" (76 points)
3. Mariette – "A Million Years" (62 points)
4. Jon Henrik Fjällgren feat. Aninia – "En värld full av strider" (56 points)
5. Benjamin Ingrosso – "Good Lovin'" (54 points)
6. Ace Wilder – "Wild Child" (35 points)
6. Boris René – "Her Kiss" (35 points)
8. Wiktoria – "As I Lay Me Down" (29 points)
9. Lisa Ajax – "I Don't Give A" (16 points)
10. FO&O – "Gotta Thing About You" (7 points)
11. Anton Hagman – "Kiss You Goodbye" (6 points)
12. Owe Thörnqvist – "Boogieman Blues" (1 point)

Melodifestivalen 2017 – Public Voting Result

1. Nano – "Hold On" (57 points / 12%)
2. Wiktoria – "As I Lay Me Down" (51 points / 10.9%)
3. Robin Bengtsson – "I Can't Go On" (50 points / 10.6%)
4. Jon Henrik Fjällgren feat. Aninia – "En värld full av strider" (49 points / 10.3%)
5. Mariette – "A Million Years" (37 points / 7.9%)
6. Anton Hagman – "Kiss You Goodbye" (37 points / 7.8%)
7. FO&O – "Gotta Thing About You" (34 points / 7.1%)
8. Benjamin Ingrosso – "Good Lovin'" (33 points / 7.1%)
9. Ace Wilder – "Wild Child" (32 points / 6.8%)
10. Owe Thörnqvist – "Boogieman Blues" (32 points / 6.7%)
11. Boris René – "Her Kiss" (31 points / 6.7%)
12. Lisa Ajax – "I Don't Give A" (30 points / 6.2%)

Robin Bengtsson

Robin Bengtsson (26) is from Svenljunga, Sweden. He rose to fame in Sweden when he participated in the Swedish Idol in 2008, where he finished third. He released his first single "Another Lover's Gone" in 2009, and in 2010 he was a part of the charity song "Wake Up World".

In 2016 he finished fifth in Melodifestivalen with the song "Constellation Prize", and this year won Melodifestivalen 2017 with "I Can't Go On".

After winning Melodifestivalen 2017 Robin was interviewed by Fredrik Ekelund from SVT:

I'll do whatever I can to win the whole shitRobin Bengtsson

– Wow, I've never been so excited in my whole life I think. I didn't have the scent of victory, but thought that Nano or Wiktoria would take it home, says Robin Bengtsson, the Swedish representative at Eurovision Song Contest 2017.

– I look forward to it so much. It will be fantastic to represent Sweden. I'll do whatever I can to win the whole shit, says Robin Bengtsson.

He describes his song "I Can't Go On" as funky, naughty and nice.

From fucking to freakin'

When Robin sang in the third heat (deltävling) in Växjö he was singing "fucking beautiful" 10 times in his song. But after qualifying to the final of Melodifestivalen he changed the word "fucking" to "freakin'" in his song, after negative reactions.

He explained his decision to SVT:

– I do not think it means so much with the word ... If I, for example, win the whole thing and go to Eurovision, then I can not sing it. Then I have to change the word. So I chose to do it now instead. Also radios in some other countries than Sweden does not play the word, so then you still have to have a radio edit.

Melodifestivalen 2017

• 4 February: Melodifestivalen Deltävling 1, Gothenburg (Scandinavium)
• 11 February: Melodifestivalen Deltävling 2, Malmö (Malmö Arena)
• 18 February: Melodifestivalen Deltävling 3, Växjö (Vida Arena)
• 25 February: Melodifestivalen Deltävling 4, Skellefteå (Skellefteå Kraft Arena)
• 4 March: Melodifestivalen Second Chance, Linköping (SAAB Arena)
• 11 March: Melodifestivalen Final, Stockholm (Friends Arena)

The format for Melodifestivalen 2017 was the same as last year:
Each of the 4 heats qualified 2 songs directly to the final
Each of the 4 heats qualified 2 songs to the "second chance"-show
In the "second chance" 4 songs were selected for the final

Final

Nu kör vi!

The final started with the opening act which was a song performed by the 3 hosts Hasse, David & Clara, and then the competition began. During the show we saw some funny parodies on the popular Norwegian TV series "SKAM".

After the 12 songs we had a short interview with Zara Larsson, and the host David Lindgren sang love songs to all the artists in the Green Room, and last year's winner Frans was interviewed by Clara.

Interval act 1: Damn! feat. Shirin El-Hage sang a funky version of last year's winning song "If I Were Sorry".

The International Jury presented their votes, and then the second interval act: "Din mamma jobbar inte här" ("Your mum doesn't work here"). Third interval act was Zara Larsson singing a medley with "Only You", "I Would Like" and "Ain't My Fault"

Vi har ett resultat!

International Jury

In the final of Melodifestivalen an international jury decided 50% of the outcome. The results from the international jury was presented first, and in the end the televoting results was presented.

The international jury included 11 countries: Armenia, Australia, Czech Republic, France, Israel, Italy, Malta, Norway, Poland, Ukraine and United Kingdom.

Sweden in Eurovision Song Contest

Since 1958 Sweden has participated 56 times in Eurovision Song Contest with great succes. 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 last two times ( 1963 and 1977), and since the introduction of the Semi-finals in 2004 Sweden managed to qualify for the Grand Final 12 out of 13 times! (only skipped the qualification in 2010).