Sveriges 12:a


Sveriges 12:a was a one-off music competition in the Eurovision Song Contest format, organised and broadcast by the Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Television. It served as a local alternative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, which was planned to be held in Rotterdam, Netherlands, but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The competition consisted of a pre-qualifying round on 9 May 2020, hosted by Christer Björkman and David Sundin, and a final on 14 May 2020, hosted by Christer Björkman and Sarah Dawn Finer. Both shows were broadcast live on SVT1, as well as on the streaming platform SVT Play.

Format

During the pre-qualifying round on 9 May 2020, short clips of all forty-one entries that would have participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 were shown, including the Swedish entry "Move" by the Mamas, despite not being a part of the programme's competitive element. From the remaining forty entries, televoting determined which twenty-five songs would be heard in full during the final on 14 May 2020. Only the Swedish public was able to vote and could do so via the Melodifestivalen app. In the final, which also featured a live performance of "Move" and a new song, "Let It Be", by the Mamas, it was determined which entry would have received Sweden's twelve points, had the Eurovision Song Contest not been cancelled.

Presenters

The pre-qualifying round was hosted by two presenters: comedian David Sundin, who also co-hosted Melodifestivalen 2020, and singer and television producer Christer Björkman, who represented. The final was hosted by Björkman and singer and television presenter Sarah Dawn Finer, who also co-hosted Melodifestivalen in 2012, 2016, and 2019.

Participants

Pre-qualifying round

The pre-qualifying round Inför ESC took place on 9 May 2020 at 21:00 CEST and featured short clips of the following competing entries:
CountryArtistSongLanguageResult
1Arilena Ara"Fall from the Sky"EnglishNon-qualifier
2Athena Manoukian"Chains on You"EnglishNon-qualifier
3Montaigne"Don't Break Me"EnglishQualifier
4Efendi"Cleopatra"EnglishQualifier
5Hooverphonic"Release Me"EnglishQualifier
6Victoria"Tears Getting Sober"EnglishQualifier
7Sandro"Running"EnglishNon-qualifier
8Ben & Tan"Yes"EnglishQualifier
9Uku Suviste"What Love Is"EnglishQualifier
10Aksel"Looking Back"EnglishQualifier
11Tom Leeb"Mon alliée (The Best in Me)"English, FrenchQualifier
12Tornike Kipiani"Take Me as I Am"EnglishQualifier
13Stefania"Supergirl"EnglishQualifier
14Lesley Roy"Story of My Life"EnglishQualifier
15Daði og Gagnamagnið"Think About Things"EnglishQualifier
16Eden Alene"Feker libi" English, AmharicQualifier
17Diodato"Fai rumore"ItalianQualifier
18Damir Kedžo"Divlji vjetre"CroatianNon-qualifier
19Samanta Tīna"Still Breathing"EnglishNon-qualifier
20The Roop"On Fire"EnglishQualifier
21Destiny"All of My Love"EnglishQualifier
22Natalia Gordienko"Prison"EnglishNon-qualifier
23Jeangu Macrooy"Grow"EnglishQualifier
24Vasil"You"EnglishNon-qualifier
25Ulrikke"Attention"EnglishQualifier
26Alicja"Empires"EnglishQualifier
27Elisa"Medo de sentir"PortugueseNon-qualifier
28Roxen"Alcohol You"EnglishNon-qualifier
29Little Big"Uno"English, SpanishQualifier
30Senhit"Freaky!"EnglishNon-qualifier
31Gjon's Tears"Répondez-moi"FrenchQualifier
32Hurricane"Hasta la vista"SerbianNon-qualifier
33Ana Soklič"Voda"SloveneNon-qualifier
34Blas Cantó"Universo"SpanishQualifier
35James Newman"My Last Breath"EnglishQualifier
36Benny Cristo"Kemama"EnglishNon-qualifier
37Ben Dolic"Violent Thing"EnglishQualifier
38Go A"Solovey" UkrainianNon-qualifier
39VAL"Da vidna" BelarusianNon-qualifier
40Vincent Bueno"Alive"EnglishQualifier

Final

The final took place on 14 May 2020 at 21:00 CEST and featured the twenty-five songs that qualified from the pre-qualifying round.