Living in the UK, the Eurovision song contest was never actually that much of a big deal. Each year we would have one entry that would somehow seem to embarrass us at the final and try to avoid the dreaded “Nil Point”. Admittedly over the past few years the entries have become more respectable, but we still never seem to get it quite right.
Moving to Sweden in 2011 I realized that here it was far more serious. From February Sweden hosts a competition known as “Melodifestivalan”. Each week a heat is chosen until eight finalists are chosen and then two of the “Second chance” entries go through to the final.
Last year a young singer, Eric Saade, represented Sweden and came a highly respectable third in the Eurovision after winning Meliodifestivalan. But this year I genuinely think Sweden will go all the way. In 2011, a young singer called Loreen entered with a song called “My Heart is refusing me”. Her voice was nothing short of phenomenal, simply the best in the entire competition. But I don’t think Sweden was quite ready for her voice.
This year that has changed. Loreen has entered with a song that is fantastic. Loreen’s voice is haunting, emotional and unbelievable at times. The song, for me, encapsulates the meaning of Eurovision.
Sweden has always had moderate success in Eurovision, but this year we could be witnessing the emergence of a global superstar.
