2003 was the 43rd edition of the Swedish music competition , which was organised by (SVT) and took place over a five-week period between 15 February and 15 March 2003. The winner of the competition was Fame with the song "Give Me Your Love", who represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003, where they came fifth with 107 points.

Format The heats for Melodifestivalen 2003 began on 15 February 2003. Ten songs from these heats qualified for the final on March 15, 2003. This was the second year that a heat format had been used for the competition. "När löven faller" composed by Carola Häggkvist and Ingemar Åberg was disqualified prior to the competition due to Carola's refusal to participate as an artist with no replacement singer found, while "Someone, Somewhere, Someday" composed by Peter Ågrenwill and Mattias Holmlund to be performed by Nathalie Family was disqualified due to the singer being under the required age of 16 years old at the time the Eurovision Song Contest would be held.

+Competition Schedule Show Date City Venue Heat 1 15 February 2003 Jönköping Tipshallen Heat 2 22 February 2003 Gothenburg Scandinavium Heat 3 1 March 2003 Luleå Arcushallen Heat 4 8 March 2003 Sundsvall Nordichallen Viewers' Choice 9 March 2003 Stockholm SVT Broadcasting House Final 15 March 2003 Stockholm Globe Arena

The Winners' Choice round was replaced by the Viewers' Choice round where the public could now vote for the top two songs among the third- and fourth- placed ones from the heats.

Competing entries Artist Song Songwriter(s)Afro-dite"Aqua Playa"Alcazar"Not a Sinner nor a Saint"Aleena"Better Believe It" feat. Jesse Martin"""Just Like a Boomerang"Barbados"Bye, Bye"Brandsta City Släckers""Bubbles"TKO (Knock You Out)""Stronger"Da Buzz"Stop! Look! Listen!"DeDe"Someone, Somewhere, Someday" Fame "Give Me Your Love" Fernando Brito"No dudes "Jill Johnson"Crazy in Love"Kerli & Locatellis"Let's Go"Lina Hedlund"Nothing Can Stop Me""Love Is All"Maarja"He Is Always on My Mind""Television"Méndez""""Nanne Grönvall""Östen med resten"Maria"Pandora"You"Pernilla Wahlgren & Jan Johansen"Let Your Spirit Fly"Sanna Nielsen""Thomas G:sonSahlene"We're Unbreakable"Sarek""Shanna Smith"Tonight's the Night"Shirley Clamp"Mr. Memory"Sofia Källgren & Robert Wells"My Love"Marcos UbedaStyle"Stay the Night"

Contest overview Heat 1 The first heat took place on 15 February 2003 at the Tipshallen in Jönköping. 2,977,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 429,810 votes were cast, with a total of collected for . The heat was hosted by Mark Levengood, Charlotte Nilsson, and Lena Philipsson. Artist Song Votes Place Result 1 Crosstalk "Stronger" 14,651 6 Out 2 DeDe Lopez "Someone, Somewhere, Someday" 5,386 7 Out 3 Méndez "" 26,836 34,576 3 Viewers' Choice 4 Alive feat. Jesse Martin "" 5,341 8 Out 5 Jill Johnson "Crazy in Love" 42,697 48,786 2 Final 6 Da Buzz "Stop! Look! Listen!" 16,817 5 Out 7 Markus Landgren "Television" 19,997 25,998 4 Viewers' Choice 8 Pernilla Wahlgren & Jan Johansen "Let Your Spirit Fly" 95,703 90,302 1 Final

Heat 2 The second heat took place on 22 February 2003 at the Scandinavium in Gothenburg. 3,180,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 632,206 votes were cast, with a total of collected for . The heat was hosted by Mark Levengood and Carola Häggkvist. Artist Song Votes Place Result 1 Andrés Esteche "Just Like a Boomerang" 29,223 5 Out 2 Sanna Nielsen "" 46,841 79,015 2 Final 3 Kerli & Locatellis "Let's Go" 15,334 7 Out 4 Pandora "You" 10,496 8 Out 5 Brandsta City Släckers "" 42,354 52,459 4 Viewers' Choice 6 Fame "Give Me Your Love" 69,283 125,975 1 Final 7 Aleena "Better Believe It" 26,285 6 Out 8 Alcazar "Not a Sinner nor a Saint" 63,702 69,859 3 Viewers' Choice

Heat 3 The third heat took place on 1 March 2003 at the Arcushallen in Luleå. 2,914,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 340,882 votes were cast, with a total of collected for . The heat was hosted by Mark Levengood and Barbro Svensson. Artist Song Votes Place Result 1 Barbados "Bye, Bye" 36,287 38,144 2 Final 2 Shanna Smith "Tonight's the Night" 5,861 8 Out 3 Nanne Grönvall "" 11,771 7 Out 4 Sarek "" 55,934 58,138 1 Final 5 Sofia Källgren & Robert Wells "My Love" 22,381 5 Out 6 Liverpool "Love Is All" 23,105 19,615 4 Viewers' Choice 7 Shirley Clamp "Mr. Memory" 11,962 6 Out 8 Style "Stay the Night" 37,145 19,708 3 Viewers' Choice

Heat 4 The fourth heat took place on 8 March 2003 at the Nordichallen in Sundsvall. 3,047,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 444,972 votes were cast, with a total of collected for . The heat was hosted by Mark Levengood and Roger Pontare. Artist Song Votes Place Result 1 Sahlene "We're Unbreakable" 20,817 5 Out 2 Fernando Brito "No dudes " 7,526 8 Out 3 Bubbles "TKO (Knock You Out)" 37,669 44,994 3 Viewers' Choice 4 Maarja "He Is Always on My Mind" 14,221 6 Out 5 Östen med resten "Maria" 69,716 86,354 1 Final 6 Lina Hedlund "Nothing Can Stop Me" 20,878 27,581 4 Viewers' Choice 7 Mikael Erlandsson "" 10,581 7 Out 8 Afro-dite "Aqua Playa" 51,974 51,378 2 Final

Viewers' Choice The Viewers' Choice round took place on 9 March 2003 at the SVT Broadcasting House in Stockholm. 2,282,000 viewers watched the show live. A total of 341,866 votes were cast, with a total of collected for . The show was hosted by Marianne Rundström and Rickard Olsson. Artist Song Votes Place Result 1 Méndez "" 33,315 5 Out 2 Markus Landgren "Television" 21,763 7 Out 3 Brandsta City Släckers "" 44,191 3 Out 4 Alcazar "Not a Sinner nor a Saint" 102,240 1 Final 5 Liverpool "Love Is All" 28,060 6 Out 6 Style "Stay the Night" 21,490 8 Out 7 Bubbles "TKO (Knock You Out)" 55,596 2 Final 8 Lina Hedlund "Nothing Can Stop Me" 35,211 4 Out

Final The final took place on 15 March 2003 at the Stockholm Globe Arena in Stockholm. 3,813,000 viewers watched the show live. A total of 1,230,751 votes were cast, with a total of collected for . The show was hosted by Mark Levengood and Jonas Gardell. Artist Song Juries Televote Total Place 1 Fame "Give Me Your Love" 108 229,753 132 240 1 2 Jill Johnson "Crazy in Love" 100 116,440 22 122 4 3 Östen med resten "Maria" 10 92,722 11 21 8 4 Afro-dite "Aqua Playa" 48 59,520 0 48 7 5 Sanna Nielsen "" 27 136,984 66 93 5 6 Barbados "Bye Bye" 7 37,132 0 7 10 7 Sarek "" 11 127,143 44 55 6 8 Pernilla Wahlgren & Jan Johansen "Let Your Spirit Fly" 90 156,702 88 178 2 9 Bubbles "TKO (Knock You Out)" 10 91,979 0 10 9 10 Alcazar "Not a Sinner nor a Saint" 62 182,376 110 172 3

+ Detailed jury votes Song Total 1 "Give Me Your Love" 6 12 4 6 12 12 10 12 10 12 12 108 2 "Crazy in Love" 12 10 12 10 8 10 8 10 4 10 6 100 3 "Maria" 2 6 1 1 10 4 "Aqua Playa" 8 8 8 2 1 6 6 4 1 4 48 5 "" 2 1 4 4 8 8 27 6 "Bye Bye" 1 2 2 2 7 7 "" 4 4 1 2 11 8 "Let Your Spirit Fly" 2 6 10 12 6 8 12 6 12 6 10 90 9 "TKO (Knock You Out)" 1 1 2 1 4 1 10 10 "Not a Sinner nor a Saint" 10 4 8 10 4 2 2 6 8 8 62 Jury spokespersons LuleåMaria Sjölund UmeåSandra Warg SundsvallJoachim Vogel FalunAnders Rosén KarlstadKarin Mannberg ÖrebroAntoni Matacz NorrköpingVictoria Dyring GothenburgTina Nordström VäxjöGrynet MalmöAnne Lundberg StockholmKarin Falck

Ratings +Viewing figures by showShowAir dateViewers(millions)Heat 12.977Heat 23.180Heat 32.914Heat 43.047Viewers' Choice2.282Final3.813

See also Eurovision Song Contest 2003 Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003

References

External links Melodifestivalen at SVT's open archive