2009 was the 49th edition of the Swedish music competition , which was organised by (SVT) and took place over a six-week period between 7 February and 14 March 2009. The winner of the competition was Malena Ernman with the song "La Voix", who represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, where she came twenty-first with 33 points.
Format For the 2009 contest a number of changes were made to this format: the first four heats now included a duel format, with the top four songs competing against each other for a place in the final - the 1st and 4th-placed songs and the 2nd and 3rd-placed songs battled against each other, with the winning songs, as decided by another public vote, qualifying to the final, while the losing songs took part in the Second Chance round.
Additionally, a maximum of eight people were allowed on stage, an increase from the previous maximum of six. Pre-recorded backing vocals were now allowed to be included on the songs' backing tracks, however the main vocals were still required to be performed on stage.
This year also marked the introduction of an "international jury". The jury consisted of 12 members, who all work within the music industry, with many of them involved in Eurovision. The international jury selected one song from each heat that did not qualify to the final, focusing their decision on their suitability for Eurovision. After the Second Chance round had finished, the jury selected their preferred song from the remaining entries, which qualified to the final, becoming the 11th finalist. The international jury also voted during the final of the contest, becoming the 12th jury, alongside the 11 regional juries of Sweden.
+ Competition Schedule Show Date City Venue Heat 1 7 February 2009 Gothenburg Scandinavium Heat 2 14 February 2009 Skellefteå Skellefteå Kraft Arena Heat 3 21 February 2009 Leksand Ejendals Arena Heat 4 28 February 2009 Malmö Malmö Arena Second chance 7 March 2009 Norrköping Himmelstalundshallen Final 14 March 2009 Stockholm Ericsson Globe
Stage design
The first plans of the stage were made during the summer of 2008 and was, for the third time, designed by Viktor Brattström, with the intention to provide a feeling of endlessness: "The audience will get the feeling of not knowing where the stage starts or ends, not knowing what's coming up around the corner".
The green room, where the artists rested after their performances, was altered from previous contests. Instead of competing artists and composers sitting together at tables, artists sat together on sofas beside the stage, while composers sat together in the front rows of the audience.
Wildcards Starting in 2004, four out of the 32 participants were selected directly by the contest's producers, in order to increase musical and artistic breadth. Each artist, called "wildcard", participated in a different heat. The wildcards in 2009 were the following: Artist Song Heat Marie Serneholt "Disconnect Me" Heat 1 Markoolio "" Heat 2 E.M.D. "Baby Goodbye" Heat 3 Malena Ernman "La Voix" Heat 4
Competing entries A record-breaking 3,440 songs were submitted to the competition, with only 28 proceeding to the next round. The final 28 songs chosen to compete in the heats were released by SVT on 14 October, along with the names of their authors. Artist Song Songwriter(s)Agnes"Love Love Love"Alcazar"Stay the Night"Amy Diamond"It's My Life"Anna Sahlene & Maria Haukaas Storeng"Killing Me Tenderly"BWO"You're Not Alone"Caroline af Ugglas""Cookies 'N' Beans"What If"E.M.D."Baby Goodbye"Emilia"You're My World"H.E.A.T"1000 Miles"Jennifer Brown"Never Been Here Before"Jonathan Fagerlund"Welcome to My Life"Lasse Lindh och Bandet""Lasse LindhLili & Susie"Show Me Heaven""" Malena Ernman "La Voix" Måns Zelmerlöw"Hope & Glory"Marie Serneholt"Disconnect Me"Markoolio""Mikael Rickfors""Thomas G:sonMolly Sandén""""Nina Söderquist"Tick Tock" & The Topaz Sound feat. Red Fox"I Got U"Sarah Dawn Finer"Moving On"Scotts""Shirley Clamp""Sofia""Star Pilots"Higher"Susanne Alfvengren""Thorleifs"Sweet Kissin' in the Moonlight"Velvet"The Queen"
Contest overview Heat 1 The first heat took place on 7 February 2009 at the Scandinavium in Gothenburg. 3,294,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 721,334 votes were cast, with a total of collected for . + Round 1 Artist Song Votes Place Result 1 Nina Söderquist "Tick Tock" 28,404 59,122 87,526 5 Out 2 Jonathan Fagerlund "Welcome to My Life" 20,847 20,847 7 Out 3 Shirley Clamp "" 11,542 11,542 8 Out 4 Scotts "" 39,831 72,455 112,286 3 Round 2 5 Emilia "You're My World" 28,960 60,471 89,431 4 Round 2 6 Alcazar "Stay the Night" 40,913 77,368 118,281 1 Round 2 7 Caroline af Ugglas "" 32,839 84,451 117,290 2 Round 2 8 Marie Serneholt "Disconnect Me" 23,599 23,599 6 Out
+ Round 2 Duel Artist Song Votes Result I 1 Scotts "" 63,208 Second chance 2 Alcazar "Stay the Night" 92,630 Final II 1 Emilia "You're My World" 79,496 Final 2 Caroline af Ugglas "" 66,520 Second chance
Heat 2 The second heat took place on 14 February 2009 at the Skellefteå Kraft Arena in Skellefteå. 3,032,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 812,874 votes were cast, with a total of collected for . + Round 1 Artist Song Votes Place Result 1 Lili & Susie "Show Me Heaven" 30,813 70,081 100,894 4 Round 2 2 Lasse Lindh och Bandet "" 9,084 9,084 8 Out 3 Jennifer Brown "Never Been Here Before" 9,645 9,645 7 Out 4 H.E.A.T "1000 Miles" 50,735 96,985 147,720 2 Round 2 5 Markoolio "" 14,704 14,704 6 Out 6 Amy Diamond "It's My Life" 43,352 77,571 120,923 3 Round 2 7 Cookies 'N' Beans "What If" 33,490 64,613 98,103 5 Out 8 Måns Zelmerlöw "Hope & Glory" 74,821 129,621 204,442 1 Round 2
+ Round 2 Duel Artist Song Votes Result I 1 H.E.A.T "1000 Miles" 89,631 Final 2 Amy Diamond "It's My Life" 69,204 Second chance II 1 Måns Zelmerlöw "Hope & Glory" 107,523 Final 2 Lili & Susie "Show Me Heaven" 67,859 Second chance
Heat 3 The third heat took place on 21 February 2009 at the Ejendals Arena in Leksand. 2,922,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 691,238 votes were cast, with a total of collected for . + Round 1 Artist Song Votes Place Result 1 Velvet "The Queen" 15,985 15,985 6 Out 2 Rigo & The Topaz Sound feat. Red Fox "I Got U" 18,515 38,078 56,593 4 Round 2 3 Molly Sandén "" 29,523 55,713 85,236 3 Round 2 4 E.M.D. "Baby Goodbye" 65,234 127,990 193,224 1 Round 2 5 Mikael Rickfors "" 17,785 36,284 54,069 5 Out 6 Maja Gullstrand "" 10,568 10,568 8 Out 7 Sofia "Alla" 14,782 14,782 7 Out 8 BWO "You're Not Alone" 41,082 80,414 121,496 2 Round 2
+ Round 2 Duel Artist Song Votes Result I 1 Rigo & The Topaz Sound feat. Red Fox "I Got U" 39,124 Second chance 2 E.M.D. "Baby Goodbye" 116,034 Final II 1BWO "You're Not Alone" 66,520 Second chance 2 Molly Sandén "" 85,886 Final
Heat 4 The fourth heat took place on 28 February 2009 at the Malmö Arena in Malmö. 3,188,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 639,928 votes were cast, with a total of collected for . + Round 1 Artist Song Votes Place Result 1 Agnes "Love Love Love" 27,501 61,082 88,583 2 Round 2 2 Star Pilots "Higher" 28,311 58,751 87,062 3 Round 2 3 Susanne Alfvengren "" 7,530 7,530 8 Out 4 Anna Sahlene & Maria Haukaas Storeng "Killing Me Tenderly" 17,240 17,240 7 Out 5 Thorleifs "Sweet Kissin' in the Moonlight" 23,830 48 525 72,355 5 Out 6 Sarah Dawn Finer "Moving On" 27,394 57,776 85,170 4 Round 2 7 Next 3 "" 21,737 21,737 6 Out 8 Malena Ernman "La Voix" 48,415 102,708 151,123 1 Round 2
+ Round 2 Duel Artist Song Votes Result I 1 Star Pilots "Higher" 54,785 Second chance 2 Agnes "Love Love Love" 66,740 Final II 1 Sarah Dawn Finer "Moving On" 48,526 Second chance 2 Malena Ernman "La Voix" 88,870 Final
Second chance The second chance round took place on 7 March 2009 at the Himmelstalundshallen in Norrköping. 2,886,000 viewers watched the show live. A total of 639,928 votes were cast. + Round 1 Duel Artist Song Votes Result I 1 Scotts "" 47,593 Out 2 Sarah Dawn Finer "Moving On" 88,739 Round 2 II 1 Lili & Susie "Show Me Heaven" 65,405 Round 2 2 BWO "You're Not Alone" 54,283 Out III 1 Amy Diamond "It's My Life" 65,493 Out 2 Star Pilots "Higher" 84,671 Round 2 IV 1 Rigo & The Topaz Sound feat. Red Fox "I Got U" 49,543 Out 2 Caroline af Ugglas "" 100,860 Round 2
+ Round 2 Duel Artist Song Votes Result I 1 Sarah Dawn Finer "Moving On" 98,984 Final 2 Lili & Susie "Show Me Heaven" 65,217 Out II 1 Star Pilots "Higher" 107,425 Out 2 Caroline af Ugglas "" 111,009 Final
International jury choice The international jury had the task of selecting a song from each heat which they think was the most suitable for the Eurovision Song Contest. The jury were only able to pick songs that had not passed to the final. If they pick a song which qualifies to the final through the Second Chance round, that song became ineligible for the jury's choice. The international jury were also given the right to vote during the final of the contest, becoming the 12th jury, alongside the 11 regional juries.
Heat Artist Song Result Eligible entries 2 Amy Diamond "It's My Life" Out 3 Sofia "Alla" Final Ineligible entries that already qualified to the final 1 Caroline af Ugglas "" 4 Sarah Dawn Finer "Moving On"
Final The final took place on 14 March 2009 at the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm. 3,592,000 viewers watched the final live. A total of 1,748,970 votes were cast, with a total of collected for . Artist Song Juries Televote Total Place 1 Måns Zelmerlöw "Hope & Glory" 96 182,651 48 144 4 2 Caroline af Ugglas "" 51 318,952 120 171 2 3 Agnes "Love Love Love" 40 49,819 0 40 8 4 H.E.A.T. "1000 Miles" 58 178,283 24 82 7 5 Emilia "You're My World" 28 48,844 0 28 9 6 Alcazar"Stay the Night" 67 199,014 72 139 5 7 Sarah Dawn Finer "Moving On" 75 146,300 12 87 6 8 E.M.D. "Baby Goodbye" 49 231,098 96 145 3 9 Sofia "Alla" 12 19,885 0 12 10 10 Molly Sandén "" 2 51,467 0 2 11 11 Malena Ernman "La Voix" 38 322,657 144 182 1
Song rowspan="2" Regional Juries Total 1 "Hope & Glory" 6 10 12 6 10 2 4 2 12 10 10 12 96 2 "" 10 12 8 4 6 4 6 1 51 3 "Love Love Love" 1 4 8 2 1 8 6 10 40 4 "1000 Miles" 2 6 2 1 12 2 4 1 8 12 8 58 5 "You're My World" 4 12 8 4 28 6"Stay the Night" 6 10 12 10 1 10 10 1 1 6 67 7 "Moving On" 12 4 1 4 6 6 10 8 2 12 8 2 75 8 "Baby Goodbye" 10 8 8 12 1 6 4 49 9 "Alla" 8 4 12 10 "" 2 2 11 "La Voix" 1 8 2 1 4 6 12 2 2 38 Jury spokespersons International juryMarija Šerifović LuleåSoran Ismail Umeå Sundsvall FalunMåns Möller KarlstadClaudia Galli ÖrebroThomas Oredsson Norrköping Gothenburg Växjö Malmö Stockholm
Ratings + Viewing figures by show Show Air date Viewers(millions) Heat 1 3.294 Heat 2 3.032 Heat 3 2.922 Heat 4 3.188 Second chance 2.886 Final 3.592
See also Eurovision Song Contest 2009 Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest
References
External links Official Melodifestivalen website