Sweden: Tonight the fourth semi final show of Melodifestivalen 2021

Sweden: Sweden: Tonight the fourth semi final show of Melodifestivalen 2021
Saturday, 27 February 2021

  • The Swedish national selection for Eurovision 2021 continues tonight at 20:00 CET with the fourth semi final show of Melodifestivalen 2021.

    The fourth semi final of Melodifestivalen 2021 is set to hit our screens tonight live from Stockholm, while hosts of the event will be Christer Bjorkman alongside with Per Andersson (actress and comedian) and Pernilla Wahlgren. . In this evening’s 4th semi final we will see 7 more acts compete for the two spots that lead directy to the final and two more to the second chance round.

    The seven entries that will take the stage tonight are:

     

    1. Tess Merkel – "Good Life"
    2. Lovad – “Allting är precis likadant”
    3. Efraim Leo – “Best of Me”
    4. The Mamas – “In the Middle”
    5. Sannex – “All Inclusive”
    6. Clara Klingenström – “Behöver inte dig idag”
    7. Eric Saade – “Every Minute”

     

    The voting process incudes two rounds, both in which only the public votes determine the result. In the first round the five acts with the most votes qualify to a second round of public voting. The first two acts in this second round of votes qualify directly to the Grand final on March 13  while the 3rd and 4th will compete in the second chance round set for March 6, 2021.

     

    A few words for tonight's contestants

     

    1. Tess Merkel – 'Good Life'

    Eva Therese Margaretha Merkel also known as "Tess Merkel" (born 18 April 1970) is a Swedish singer who is one of the original members of the pop group Alcazar.

    Merkel was born in Nyköping Sweden. She started her career in a number of musicals and soon landed the job as a showgirl at Wallmans salonger in 1991. She also did some choirgirl jobs for Melodifestivalen, in Melodifestivalen 1993 she did the choir behind Lena Pålsson, in Melodifestivalen 1997 she choired behind her later bandmate Andreas Lundstedt and in Melodifestivalen 2000 she choired behind Avengers during their performance. Merkel herself has participated in Melodifestivalen three times as of 2010: in Melodifestivalen 2003, Melodifestivalen 2005, Melodifestivalen 2009 and in Melodifestivalen 2010, all four times as a member of the popular pop group Alcazar. 

    “Good Life” was written by Tony Malm, Tess Merkel, Palle Hammarlund, Mats Tärnfors.

     

    2. LOVAD – 'Allting är precis likadant'

    Promised, with songs like  "Tills vi dör"(Until we die ) and "Vi gjorde vårt bästa" (we did our best) have been received with millions of streams. She is on the Swedish top and gets tributes from all over pop Sweden with a solid B-rotation on P4.

    With a top 50 position in Sweden, viral both at home and in Norway, she has established her place on the music map. Promised mixes hopeful melodies with personal and apt lyrics.During its inception, Lovad has attracted the attention of most music journalists, been named Stockholm's Top 5 by Swedish Radio, and was awarded the 2019 STIM scholarship for his music and lyrics.

    She has been invited to the big stages together with, among others, Plura, Mauro Scocco and Eric Gadd, where you have been able to see her in everything from the restaurant lounge to the big stage at Liseberg.

    ‘Allting är precis likadant’ (Everything Is Exactly The Same)  was written by Mattias Andréasson, Alexander Nivek, Lova Drevstam, Albin Johnsén.

     

    3. Efraim Leo – 'Best Of Me'

    The 22 year-oldStockholm native Efraim Leo was born into a family of music-lovers. He started out on a heady diet of jazz and Bob Dylan. “My whole family is musical” he explains. Efraim started to teach himself to play the guitar at the age of 13, before starting to write songs at 15.

    Efraim featured on a dance track by Swedish superstar DJ MARC in 2016. ‘Show You The Light’ climbed high on the Billboard Dance Chart. This sooner led to the release of his debut single ‘You Got Me Wrong’ that made a splash and received native radio play. In 2018 Efraim took his music where it mattered the most - on the road. An ‘unofficial’ busking tour was organised, following The Vamps around the UK. 

     The experience sparked a deep-rooted love of live performance, and last summer Efraim took to the stage again in Sweden, playing some huge shows including Lollapalooza, Stockholm Pride and Summerburst Festival.This year he has released the self-written EP “Timing”.

    “Best Of Me” has been penned by Efraim Leo, Cornelia Jakobsdotter, Amanda Björkegren, Herman Gardarfve.

     

    4.The Mamas – 'In The Middle'

    The group consists of Ashley Haynes (born 19 January 1987 in Washington, D.C.), Loulou Lamotte (born 16 April 1981 in Malmö) and Dinah Yonas Manna (born 5 September 1981 in Stockholm). Founding member Paris Renita left the group in 2019.

    As a four-piece, the group provided backing vocals for John Lundvik's Melodifestivalen 2019 entry "Too Late for Love". Lundvik went on to win the competition and got to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 held in Tel Aviv, Israel, with the Mamas continuing to provide backing vocals The song finished 5th in the grand final on 18 May 2019.

    In late 2019, it was announced that the Mamas (without Paris Renita) would take part in Melodifestivalen in 2020, this time in their own right with their entry "Move".They performed in the first heat on 1 February 2020 in Linköping, and qualified directly for the final that took place on 7 March 2020 in the Friends Arena in Stockholm.The Mamas went on to win Melodifestivalen 2020 with a total of 137 points.

     

    5. Sannex – 'All Inclusive'

    The band was formed as a school project in 1977. In the mid -1980s , it was a six-man band, which invested in a professional career. In 1987 , Sannex became the backing band for Ann-Louise Hanson and in November that year it became a full-time dance band, after working with Ann-Louise for five weeks at Restaurang Cabaret in Stockholm . In 2013, the singer Andreas Olsson took over the band and they have since won, among other things, four Guldklavar in three years, a Grammi , participated in several TV programs, for example Allsång på Skansen 2017 and 2018.

    'All Inclusive’ has been written by Greta Svensson and Hans Thorstensson.

     

    6. Clara Klingenström – 'Behöver inte dig idag'

    Clara Klingenström is an 25 year-old artist and songwriter who grew up on Gotland. She has received attention for writing honest and naked lyrics with a strong recognition factor and released in the spring of 2019 her debut single "Ensam i en stad" (Alone in a City). In 2020, she released the radio favorite “Sommarminnen”.

    “Behöver inte dig idag” has beeb written by Clara Klingenström, Bobby Ljunggren, David Lindgren Zacharias.

     

    7. Eric Saade – 'Every Minute'

    Eric Khaled Saade born October 29, 1990), is a Swedish singer. He spent two years with the boy band What's Up!, leaving the band in February 2009 to pursue a solo career.

    In February 2010 Saade sang "Manboy", written by Fredrik Kempe and Peter Boström, at the second semi-final of Melodifestivalen 2010. He won the semifinal, finishing third overall. Saade released his first solo album, Masquerade, in May 2010. The album reached #2 in Sweden, and went gold.

    In February 2011, Saade entered the Melodifestivalen for a second time. This time he made the final, winning with "Popular" (written by Fredrik Kempe and produced by Peter Boström).Saade competed in the second semifinal of the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, advancing to the final. He finished third in the competition, Sweden's best placing since Charlotte Perrelli won in 1999 with "Take Me to Your Heaven".During the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö, Sweden, Saade was co-host in the "green room" .

    In November 2011 Saade released the single "Hotter Than Fire", a duet with Dev co-written with Jason Gill and J-Son. Saade participated in Melodifestivalen 2015 with the song "Sting" in a bid to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015.  In the final Saade placed fifth. On May 27, 2016, Eric released the track "Wide Awake" featuring Gustaf Norén which topped the charts in several European countries.  In 2018 Saade co-hosted all six shows of Melodifestivalen 2019 alongside Sarah Dawn Finer, Marika Carlsson and Kodjo Akolor. Saade was Swedish spokesperson for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019.

     

    You can watch the Melodifestivalen 2021 fourth semi final live show at 20:00 CET HERE