{"id":9644,"date":"2022-03-03T20:31:15","date_gmt":"2022-03-03T20:31:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/?p=9644"},"modified":"2022-03-03T20:31:15","modified_gmt":"2022-03-03T20:31:15","slug":"5-essentials-of-melodifestivalen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/5-essentials-of-melodifestivalen\/","title":{"rendered":"5 essentials of Melodifestivalen"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by Wendy Wei from Pexels<\/p><\/div>\n


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\n<\/span><\/a>Power ballads. Wild costumes. Great production value. Campy humor. <\/span>Melodifestivalen<\/span><\/i> is here! Each year, Sweden holds a competition to select their entry for the Eurovision song contest. This colossal televised event shakes up Swedish pop culture for several weeks each spring as millions of viewers cheer on their favorite Swedish acts. If you\u2019re into schlager,<\/em>\u00a0this is definitely for you. If you don\u2019t know what that is – read on! This week we\u2019ll look at 5 core elements of Melodifestivalen<\/em> to prep you for the semi-final on Saturday!\u00a0<\/span>
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1. Formatet<\/em> \/ The format<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Melodifestivalen<\/em> gets started months before the actual live shows. Artists must submit their bidrag<\/em> (entry) for review in September of the previous year. From there, a jury selects the top bidrag<\/em> to enter the competition. At least 10% of the songs must be in Swedish, although the winning songs tend to be p\u00e5 engelska<\/em> (in English). Typically, English songs have a broader appeal once each country competes in Eurovision.<\/span><\/p>\n

Song lengths are 3 minutes max and there are other regler<\/em> (rules) for the music and stage performance. If you are accepted into Mello<\/em> (slang for Melodifestivalen), you’ll first compete in 1 or 4 total delt\u00e4vlingar<\/em> (heats). After the semi-final, and final \u2026it’s off to Eurovision for one lucky bidrag<\/em>. Each of these events is televised on SVT<\/a> and runs for a couple of hours.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Read\u00a0Melodifestivalen Swedish Song Contest Breakdown!<\/a> for a bit more about Mello<\/em> and learn additional vocabulary.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Programledarna<\/em> \/ The hosts<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The hosts of Melodifestivalen<\/em> are almost equally as important as the songs themselves. They are responsible for introducing the live acts, addressing publiken och tv-tittarna<\/em> (live audience and at-home viewers), getting backstage interviews, and delivering skits and songs between performances. Swedish singer Oscar Zia is this year\u2019s main host and performed a spoof song and dance called <\/span>Vilken j\u00e4vla press<\/span><\/i> (What f***ing pressure) it is to host the contest, which sounds cheesy, and it is, but in the best way, I assure you!<\/span>
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