Melodifestivalen 2014 was the Swedish music competition that selected Sweden's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. Hosted by Nour El-Refai and Anders Jansson, 32 songs competed in a six-week-long process that consisted of four semifinals on 1, 8, 15 and 22 February 2014, a second chance round on 1 March 2014, and a final on 8 March 2014. Eight songs competed in each semifinal – the top two qualified directly to the final, while the third and fourth placed songs qualified to the second chance round. An additional two songs qualified to the final from the second chance round. Among the competing artists were Helena Paparizou who represented Greece in 2001 as part of the duo Antique and won the Eurovision Song Contest for Greece in 2005, Martin Stenmarck who represented Sweden in 2005, Andreas Lundstedt who represented Switzerland in 2006 as part of the group six4one and Sylvester Schlegel who represented Sweden in 2007 as part of the group The Ark.
Semi-finals and second chance
The first semi-final took place on 1 February 2014 at the Malmö Arena in Malmö. "To the End" performed by Yohio and "Songbird" performed by Ellen Benediktson qualified directly to the final, while "Bröder" performed by Linus Svenning and "Survivor" performed by Helena Paparizou qualified to the second chance round.
The second semi-final took place on 8 February 2014 at the Cloetta Center in Linköping. "Undo" performed by Sanna Nielsen and "Efter solsken" performed by Panetoz qualified directly to the final, while "Love Trigger" performed by J.E.M and "När änglarna går hem" performed by Martin Stenmarck qualified to the second chance round.
The third semi-final took place on 15 February 2014 at the Scandinavium in Göteborg. "Yes We Can" performed by Oscar Zia and "Busy Doin' Nothin'" performed by Ace Wilder qualified directly to the final, while "Echo" performed by Outtrigger and "All We Are" performed by State of Drama qualified to the second chance round.
The fourth semi-final took place on 22 February 2014 at the Fjällräven Center in Örnsköldsvik. "Natural" performed by Anton Ewald and "Blame It On the Disco" performed by Alcazar qualified directly to the final, while "Raise Your Hands" performed by Ammotrack and "En himmelsk sång" performed by Ellinore Holmer qualified to the second chance round.
The second chance round took place on 1 March 2014 at the Sparbanken Lidköping Arena in Lidköping. "Bröder" performed by Linus Svenning and "Survivor" performed by Helena Paparizou were the two qualifiers for the final.
Final
The final of Melodifestivalen 2014 was held on 8 March 2014 at the Friends Arena in Solna, Stockholm. The two winners from each of the four semi-finals and the two second chance winners qualified for the final, creating a ten-song lineup. A mix of televoting/SMS voting and international jury voting selected "Undo" performed by Sanna Nielsen as the winner.
Draw
Artist
Song
Jury
Televote
Total
Place
1
Anton Ewald
"Natural"
4
14
18
10
2
Ellen Benediktson
"Songbird"
31
30
61
7
3
Alcazar
"Blame It on the Disco"
62
48
110
3
4
Oscar Zia
"Yes We Can"
32
21
53
8
5
Linus Svenning
"Bröder"
46
37
83
5
6
Helena Paparizou
"Survivor"
57
27
84
4
7
Yohio
"To the End"
39
43
82
6
8
Sanna Nielsen
"Undo"
90
122
212
1
9
Panetoz
"Efter solsken"
15
18
33
9
10
Ace Wilder
"Busy Doin' Nothin'"
97
113
210
2
At Eurovision
To ensure fair ticket distribution in the Nordic region for the semi-finals, the Eurovision Reference Group, at the request by the host broadcaster for the 2014 contest DR, held a draw at the European Broadcasting Union headquarters in Geneva in November 2013 where Sweden was drawn to compete in the first semi-final on 6 May 2014. During the semi-final allocation draw on 20 January 2014 at the Copenhagen City Hall, Sweden was drawn to compete in the first half of the first semi-final. In the first semi-final, the producers of the show decided that Sweden would perform 4th, following Estonia and preceding Iceland. Sweden qualified from first semi-final and competed in the final on 10 May 2014. During the winner's press conference for the first semi-final qualifiers, Sweden was allocated to compete in the first half of the final. In the final, the producers of the show decided that Sweden would perform 13th, following Germany and preceding France. Sweden placed 3rd in the final, scoring 218 points. On stage, Sanna Nielsen was joined by five backing vocalists: Britta Bergström, Jeanette Ohlsson, Thérèse Löf Amberg, Dea Norberg and Jessica Marberger. The Swedish performance focused on Sanna alone on stage surrounded by lights which eventually shone on a large glitter ball on the ceiling. In Sweden, both the semi-finals and the final were broadcast on SVT1 with commentary by Malin Olsson and Edward af Sillén. The shows were also broadcast via radio on Sveriges Radio P4 with commentary by Carolina Norén and Ronnie Ritterland. The Swedish spokespersons revealing the result of the Swedish vote in the final was Alcazar.
Points awarded to Sweden
12 points
10 points
8 points
7 points
6 points
5 points
4 points
3 points
2 points
1 point
Points awarded by Sweden
Semi-final 1
Points awarded in first semi-final:
12 points
10 points
8 points
7 points
6 points
5 points
4 points
3 points
2 points
1 point
Final
Points awarded in the final:
12 points
10 points
8 points
7 points
6 points
5 points
4 points
3 points
2 points
1 point
Split voting results
The following five members comprised the Swedish jury:
Michael Cederberg – Chairperson – playlist manager P3 radio, radio host
