We have arrived at the final destination on our preview journey and we are going to this year’s host country. It’s off to the country of meatballs, flat-packed furniture and a band who are celebrating a landmark anniversary this year. It’s Sweden!
History
Sweden first participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1958 and will make their 63rd appearance in the contest this year. They are the joint most successful country in the contest’s history with seven victories. Their first win came in 1974, when a little-known band called ABBA won with “Waterloo”, which was later voted the best Eurovision song of all time. Ten years later, the Herreys won for Sweden again in 1984 with “Digiloo Digiley”. The 90’s gave Sweden two more wins. Carola won in 1991 with “Fångad av en stormvind” and Charlotte Perrelli got the last win of the 20th century in 1999 with “Take Me to Your Heaven”. In 2012, Loreen broke the record for the most sets of 12 points under the old scoring system with “Euphoria”, collecting 18 sets of 12’s on her path to victory. Måns Zelmerlöw claimed Sweden’s sixth win in 2015 with “Heroes”.
At the 2023 contest, Loreen became the first woman to win Eurovision twice and gave Sweden their seventh victory with “Tattoo”. After a bidding process, Malmö, Sweden’s third-largest and southernmost city, was chosen to host Eurovision 2024. Malmö previously hosted the contest in 1992 and 2013, making them one of only five cities to have hosted Eurovision at least three times.
Selection
The Swedish broadcaster, Sveriges Television (SVT), organised the 64th edition of Melodifestivalen, to select their 2024 entry. 30 songs competed over five heats. In each heat, there were two rounds of public voting. In the first round, the song with the highest amount of votes went straight to the final. In the second round, the public vote was divided into age categories, each of which awarded a set of points. The act with the most points advanced to the final.
The third and fourth placed entries in each heat were sent to the final qualification round, which took place straight after the fifth heat. The top two songs in the public vote advanced to the final, where they joined the winners and runners-up of the five heats.
In the final, the winner was chosen by a combination of eight international juries (50%) and a public vote (50%). After winning both the jury and public vote, Marcus and Martinus were awarded the Swedish ticket to Malmö.
Artist
Marcus and Martinus Gunnarsen were born on February 21 2002 in Elverum in eastern Norway. They first rose to fame after winning 2012 edition of Melodi Grand Prix Junior, the children’s edition of the Norwegian selection for Eurovision. Their entry “To dråper vann” (Two drops of water), reached number eight on the Norwegian Singles Chart.
In 2015, Marcus & Martinus released their debut album “Hei” (Hi). The album reached number one on the Norwegian Albums Chart. One of the singles from the re-release of this album “Elektrisk” (Electrical), reached number three on the Norwegian Singles Chart and became the first ever Norwegian-language song to get over 100 million streams on Spotify.
In 2016, Marcus & Martinus released their first single in English, “Girls” featuring Madcon. This was their first number one single in Norway. This was followed by their first English-language album “Together” in November. It was their first album to go to number one in both Norway and Sweden. They later won “Artist of the Year” at the Spellemann Awards. In December, they performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert.
In 2017, Marcus & Martinus were the Norwegian spokespersons for the Eurovision Song Contest. They released their third album “Moments” later that year, which topped the Album Charts in Norway and Sweden again. In 2019, they released an EP called “Soon”.
In 2022, Marcus & Martinus took part in the second season of Masked Singer Sverige and won. In 2023, they competed in Melodifestivalen for the first time with “Air”. They finished second in the final.
The song that Marcus & Martinus will perform on home soil in Malmö is called “Unforgettable”. It was written and composed by Jimmy “Joker” Thörnfeldt, Joy Deb, Linnea Deb and Marcus & Martinus themselves. Three of the writers have written Eurovision winning entries, with Joy Deb and Linnea Deb writing “Heroes” (Eurovision 2015 winner) and Jimmy “Joker” Thörnfeldt writing “Tattoo” (Eurovision 2023 winner). In addition to opening the Grand Final, Marcus and Martinus will also perform in the first semi-final on May 7.
Song Review
Awkward moment when you host Eurovision in Sweden and the only Swedish representation is from Ireland.
Marcus and Martinus are very competent performers. This whole song is slick and streamlined in such a quintessentially Swedish way. The performance looks like a music video. Every part of this has been thought through with no stone left unturned.
As good as this is, I don’t think it’s going places. I have been listening to a lot of Swedish radio over the past year and the gap between Melodifestivalen and actual music you hear on the radio is enormous. There is much more diversity in the Swedish music scene than Melodifestivalen would have you believe. “Unforgettable” is a good song but at times it feels like it’s been streamlined too much that there isn’t any soul or feeling left in it. It should do reasonably well in the contest but it isn’t challenging for the win.
The One That Got Away
This year, Sweden missed out on not just Swedish representation but representation in Swedish!
Medina first attempted to represent Sweden at Eurovision 2022 with “In i dimman” (Into the fog) and finished third in the Melodifestivalen final. This year, they returned with “Que Sera” (What will be) and were the only Swedish-language artists to qualify for the final. Despite finishing second, this song became their first number 1 hit in Sweden.
This song is feelgood summer vibes wrapped into three minutes. Hip hop is massive in Sweden right now and it would have been nice to show that off to Europe. Sweden is the only Nordic country in the 21st century that has not sent an entry in its own language. As someone who has been listening to a lot of Swedish radio lately, I can say that there is so much great Swedish-language music out there right now. This would have been an explosive opening to the show in front of a home crowd.
Lycka till Sverige!
Are Marcus & Martinus unforgettable or do you have trouble remembering them? Leave your comments below.
Once again, thank you for following the Eurovision preview journey this year. It was a bit hectic with uploading stuff, but hopefully next year will be a bit calmer. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to pack for a flight tomorrow. Vi ses i Malmö!
(Sources: eurovision.tv, SVT, YouTube)
Thinking About It 