Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013


Sweden was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 with the song "You", written by Robin Stjernberg, Linnea Deb, Joy Deb, and Joakim Harestad Haukaas, and performed by Stjernberg himself. The Swedish participating broadcaster, Sveriges Television, selected its entry through Melodifestivalen 2013. In addition, SVT was also the host broadcaster and staged the event at the Malmö Arena in Malmö, after winning the with the song "Euphoria" performed by Loreen.
After a six-week-long competition consisting of four heats, a Second Chance round and a final, "You" performed by Robin Stjernberg emerged as the winner of the Melodifestivalen 2013 after achieving the highest score following the combination of votes from eleven international jury groups and a public vote.
As the host country, Sweden qualified to compete directly in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Sweden's running order position was determined by draw. Performing in position 16 during the final, Sweden placed fourteenth out of the 26 participating countries with 62 points.

Background

Prior to the 2013 contest, Sveriges Radio until 1979, and Sveriges Television since 1980, had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Sweden fifty-two times since SR's first entry in. They had won the contest on five occasions: in with the song "Waterloo" performed by ABBA, in with the song "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" performed by Herreys, in with the song "Fångad av en stormvind" performed by Carola, in with the song "Take Me to Your Heaven" performed by Charlotte Nilsson, and in with the song "Euphoria" performed by Loreen. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004, the Swedish entries, to this point, have featured in every final except for 2010 when the nation failed to qualify.
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, SVT organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. Since 1959, SR first and SVT later have organised the annual competition Melodifestivalen in order to select their entries for the contest.

Before Eurovision

Melodifestivalen 2013 was the Swedish music competition that selected their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2013. 32 competed in a six-week-long process which consisted of four heats on 2, 9, 16 and 23 February 2013, a second chance round on 2 March 2013, and a final on 9 March 2013. The six shows were hosted by Gina Dirawi and Danny Saucedo. Eight songs competed in each heat—the top two qualified directly to the final, while the third and fourth placed songs qualified to the second chance round. The bottom four songs in each heat were eliminated from the competition. An additional two songs qualified to the final from the second chance round. The results in the semi-finals and second chance round were determined exclusively by public televoting, while the overall winner of the competition was selected in the final through the combination of a public vote and the votes from eleven international jury groups. Among the competing artists was former Eurovision Song Contest contestant Tommy Körberg who represented Sweden in 1969 and 1988.

Heats and Second Chance round

Final

The final was held on 9 March 2013 at the Friends Arena in Stockholm. Ten songs competed—two qualifiers from each of the four preceding heats and two qualifiers from the Second Chance round. The combination of points from a viewer vote and eleven international jury groups determined the winner. The viewers and the juries each had a total of 473 points to award. The nations that comprised the international jury were Croatia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Malta, Spain, The United Kingdom and Ukraine. "You" performed by Robin Stjernberg was selected as the winner with 166 points.
DrawArtistSongJuriesTelevoteTotalPlace
1Ulrik Munther"Tell the World I'm Here"82441263
2David Lindgren"Skyline"5712698
3State of Drama"Falling"5018689
4Anton Ewald"Begging"49591084
5Louise Hoffsten"Only the Dead Fish Follow the Stream"3649855
6Ralf Gyllenhammar"Bed on Fire"3340737
7Ravaillacz"En riktig jävla schlager"8324010
8Sean Banan"Copacabanana"3741786
9Robin Stjernberg"You"91751661
10Yohio"Heartbreak Hotel"301031332

At Eurovision

As the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 and host of the 2013 Contest, Sweden automatically qualified for a place in the final, held on 18 May 2013. In addition to their participation in the final, Sweden was assigned to vote in the first semi-final on 14 May 2013.
As the host nation, Sweden's running order position in the final was determined by draw, rather than being assigned by the producers of the show. On 18 March 2013 during the heads of delegation meeting, Sweden was drawn to perform 16th in the final. In the final, Sweden performed following United Kingdom and preceding Hungary. Sweden placed 14th in the final, scoring 62 points.
In Sweden, both the semi-finals and the final were broadcast on SVT1, with commentary provided by Josefine Sundström. The competition was also broadcast via radio on Sveriges Radio P4 with commentary by Carolina Norén for all three shows, Ronnie Ritterland for the semi-finals and Björn Kjellman for the grand final.
The national jury that provided 50% of the Swedish vote in the first semi-final and the final consisted of: Ralf Gyllenhammar, Erik Rapp, Daniel Breitholtz, Karin Gunnarsson and Monika Starck. SVT appointed Yohio as it spokesperson to announce the Swedish votes in the grand final.
The Swedish entry was awarded one of the three Marcel Bezençon Awards, which honour the best of the competing entries for the 2013 Contest in different areas of achievement. Sweden received the Composer Award, which was awarded to the best and most original composition as voted by the participating composers in the competition.

Voting

Points awarded by Sweden

ScoreCountry
12 points
10 points
8 points
7 points
6 points
5 points
4 points
3 points
2 points
1 point

ScoreCountry
12 points
10 points
8 points
7 points
6 points
5 points
4 points
3 points
2 points
1 point

Detailed voting results

DrawCountryJury RankCombined RankPoints
0110
0225
033
0421
0524
06447
079
0823
0920
10765
1113
1217
13238
141474
158101
16
171983
186210
191156
2015
2118
2216
235
241112
2522
261292