The fifth season of Swedish Idol premiered on 3 September 2008 and continued until its grand finale on 12 December, when 22-year-old Kevin Borg was crowned winner. It was the first season to feature new judges Laila Bagge, Anders Bagge and Andreas Carlsson, a move that made it the first Idol series in the world to completely replace its judging panel. The series took advantage of guest judges including Charlotte Perrelli, Desmond Child and Cyndi Lauper, and the final 3 results show featured a performance by Leona Lewis, who sang "Forgive Me". For the second year running, the grand finale was held in Stockholm's Globen Arena with a live audience of 16,000 people, where operatic group Il Divo also sang live. Season 5 of Swedish Idol marked only the second time in worldwide Idol history where neither of the final two contestants were born in the show's home country. Winner Kevin Borg was born in Malta and runner-up Alice Svensson was born in Vietnam. The only other Idol contest to have this occur was Greece's Super Idol in 2004.
Judges Laila Bagge - Sony BMG manager Anders Bagge - Record producer Andreas Carlsson - Songwriter
Hosts Peter Jihde - Host during Idol and Idol Eftersnack Katrin Zytomierska - Host during Idol Eftersnack
Auditions Auditions were held in the Swedish cities of Gothenburg, Luleå, Karlstad, Lund and Stockholm during the spring of 2008.
Finals
Finalists (ages stated at time of contest)
Contestant Age Hometown Voted Off Liveshow Theme Kevin Borg 22 Arvidsjaur Winner Grand Finale Alice Svensson 17 Hedesunda 12 December 2008 Robin Bengtsson 18 Svenljunga 5 December 2008 Judges' Choice Johan Palm 16 Mjölby 28 November 2008 Gospel Hits Anna Bergendahl 16 Nyköping 21 November 2008 Love Songs Robin Ericsson 21 Stockholm 14 November 2008 Soul & Duets Lars Eriksson 28 Lund 7 November 2008 Rock Hits Sepideh Vaziri 24 Stockholm 31 October 2008 Swedish Hits Loulou Lamotte 27 Burträsk 24 October 2008 Hits by ABBA Yazmina Simic 16 Växjö 17 October 2008 The 90s Jesper Blomberg 22 Floda 10 October 2008 Idol's 5-Year Celebration Live Show Details Heat 1 - Top 8 Girls (29 September 2008) Order Artist Song (original artists) Result1Victoria Dogan"Secret Love" (JoJo)Eliminated2Loulou Lamotte"I Wanna Dance with Somebody" (Whitney Houston)Safe3Alice Svensson"Beautiful Disaster" (Kelly Clarkson)Safe4Jenny Karevik"Licence to Kill" (Gladys Knight)Bottom two5 Sepideh Vaziri"I Will Survive" (Gloria Gaynor)Safe6 Yazmina Simic"What a Wonderful World" (Eva Cassidy)Safe7Anna Bergendahl"Time After Time" (Eva Cassidy)Safe8Linda Pritchard"All the Man That I Need" (Whitney Houston)Safe Heat 2 - Top 8 Boys (30 September 2008) Order Artist Song (original artists) Result1Jesper Blomberg"Everything" (Michael Bublé)Bottom two2Elias Ringquist"No Diggity" (Blackstreet)Safe3Kevin Borg"How Am I Supposed to Live Without You" (Michael Bolton)Safe4Rasmus Ingdahl"Someone Should Tell You" (Lemar)Eliminated5Robin Bengtsson"Bridge Over Troubled Water" (Simon & Garfunkel)Safe6Johan Palm"When You Were Young" (The Killers)Safe7Lars Eriksson"Everybody Hurts" (R.E.M.)Safe8Robin Ericsson"Maybe Tomorrow" (Stereophonics)Safe Heat 3 - Top 7 Girls (1 October 2008) Order Artist Song (original artists) Result1Linda Pritchard"Stop" (Sam Brown)Eliminated2Anna Bergendahl"Love You I Do" (Jennifer Hudson)Safe3Yazmina Simic"Heaven" (Bryan Adams)Safe4Jenny Karevik"Be the Man" (Celine Dion)Safe5Alice Svensson"Fighter" (Christina Aguilera)Safe6Sepideh Vaziri"One Night Only" (Jennifer Hudson)Bottom two7Loulou Lamotte"Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)" (Aretha Franklin)Safe Heat 4 - Top 7 Boys (2 October 2008) Order Artist Song (original artists) Result1Elias Ringquist"Ordinary People" (John Legend)Eliminated2Robin Bengtsson"Chariot" (Gavin DeGraw)Safe3Lars Ericsson"Politik" (Coldplay)Safe4Jesper Blomberg"Hallelujah I Love Her So" (Ray Charles)Safe5Robin Eriksson"I Surrender" (Rainbow)Bottom two6Kevin Borg"Footloose" (Kenny Loggins)Safe7Johan Palm"You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do as You're Told)" (The White Stripes)Safe Heat 5 - Top 12 (3 October 2008) Order Artist Song (original artists) Result1Johan Palm"When You Were Young" (The Killers)Advanced2Jenny Karevik"Licence to Kill" (Gladys Knight)Eliminated3Jesper Blomberg"Everything" (Michael Bublé)Advanced4Alice Svensson"Beautiful Disaster" (Kelly Clarkson)Advanced5Robin Bengtsson"Chariot" (Gavin DeGraw)Advanced6Anna Bergendahl"Love You I Do" (Jennifer Hudson)Advanced7Robin Eriksson"I Surrender" (Rainbow)Advanced8Loulou Lamotte"Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)" (Aretha Franklin)Advanced9Kevin Borg"How Am I Supposed to Live Without You" (Michael Bolton)Advanced10Sepideh Vaziri"I Will Survive" (Gloria Gaynor)Advanced11Lars Ericsson"Politik" (Coldplay)Advanced12Yazmina Simic"Heaven" (Bryan Adams)Advanced Live Show 1 (10 October 2008) Theme: Idol's 5 Year Celebration Order ArtistSong (original artists)Result1Kevin Borg"Natalie" (Ola Svensson)Safe2Loulou Lamotte"Hurt" (Christina Aguilera)Safe3Robin Bengtsson"Mercy" (Duffy)Safe4Yazmina Simic"Don't Stop the Music" (Rihanna)Bottom two5Lars Eriksson"You're Beautiful" (James Blunt)Safe6Alice Svensson"These Words" (Natasha Bedingfield)Safe7Jesper Blomberg"So Sick" (Ne-Yo)Eliminated8Sepideh Vaziri"I Kissed a Girl" (Katy Perry)Bottom three9Johan Palm"Viva la Vida" (Coldplay)Safe10Anna Bergendahl"Release Me" (Oh Laura)Safe11Robin Ericsson"It's My Life" (No Doubt)Safe Live Show 2 (17 October 2008) Theme: 90s Hits Order ArtistSong (original artists)Result1Robin Ericsson"Angels" (Robbie Williams)Safe2Yazmina Simic"Born to Make You Happy" (Britney Spears)Eliminated3Anna Bergendahl"Nothing Compares 2 U" (Sinéad O'Connor)Safe4Robin Bengtsson"Torn" (Natalie Imbruglia)Bottom two5Johan Palm"Beautiful Ones" (Suede)Safe6Lars Eriksson"One" (U2)Safe7Sepideh Vaziri"(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" (Bryan Adams)Safe8Loulou Lamotte"Stars" (Simply Red)Safe9Kevin Borg"All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You" (Heart)Safe10Alice Svensson"Ironic" (Alanis Morissette)Safe Live Show 3 (24 October 2008) Theme: Songs by ABBA Order ArtistSong (original artists)Result1Loulou Lamotte"SOS"Eliminated2Lars Eriksson"Money Money Money"Safe3Alice Svensson"Lay All Your Love on Me"Safe4Robin Ericsson"Waterloo"Safe5Anna Bergendahl"Mamma Mia"Bottom three6Kevin Borg"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)"Safe7Robin Bengtsson"Does Your Mother Know"Safe8Johan Palm"The Winner Takes It All"Safe9Sepideh Vaziri"Dancing Queen"Bottom two Live Show 4 (24 October 2008) Theme: Swedish SongsGuest Judge: Charlotte Perrelli Order ArtistSong (original artists)Result1Robin Bengtsson"När vindarna viskar mitt namn" (Roger Pontare)Bottom two2Sepideh Vaziri"Främling" (Carola Häggkvist)Eliminated3Kevin Borg"Lyssna till ditt hjärta" (Friends)Safe4Alice Svensson"Min kärlek" (Shirley Clamp)Bottom three5Johan Palm"Johnny the Rucker" (Magnus Uggla)Safe6Robin Ericsson"Michelangelo" (Björn Skifs)Safe7Anna Bergendahl"Stad i ljus" (Tommy Körberg)Safe8Lars Eriksson"Det börjar verka kärlek banne mig" (Claes-Göran Hederström)Safe
Elimination chart Stages:Semi-FinalsFinalsWeeks:29 Sep30 Sep1 Oct2 Oct3 Oct10 Oct17 Oct24 Oct31 Oct7 Nov14 Nov21 Nov28 Nov5 Dec12 DecPlaceContestantResult1Kevin Borg Winner2Alice Svensson Btm 3 Btm 2 Runner-up3Robin Bengtsson Btm 2 Btm 2 Btm 2 Btm 3Elim4Johan Palm Btm 3 Btm 3 Btm 2Elim5Anna Bergendahl Btm 3Elim6Robin Ericsson Btm 2 Btm 2Elim7Lars ErikssonElim8Sepideh Vaziri Btm 2 Btm 3 Btm 2Elim9Loulou LamotteElim10Yazmina Simic Btm 2Elim11Jesper Blomberg Btm 2Elim12Jenny Karevik Btm 2ElimSemiElias RingquistElimLinda PritchardElimRasmus IngdahlElimVictoria DoganElim
+ Legend Women Men Top 11 Top 16Eliminated Safenot performed
Finalist Song Choices Rock Guest judge: Desmond Child Johan Palm - Poison (Alice Cooper) Lars Eriksson - Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana) Anna Bergendahl - Save Up All Your Tears (Cher) Robin Ericsson - You Give Love a Bad Name (Bon Jovi) Robin Bengtsson - Dude Looks Like a Lady (Aerosmith) Alice Svensson - Heaven's on Fire (Kiss) Kevin Borg - Livin' on a Prayer (Bon Jovi)
Soul & Duets Soul Kevin Borg - Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours (Stevie Wonder) Robin Ericsson - Reach Out I'll Be There (Four Tops) Robin Bengtsson - (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay (Otis Redding) Johan Palm - You Can't Hurry Love (The Supremes) Alice Svensson - I Say a Little Prayer (Dionne Warwick) Anna Bergendahl - Bleeding Love (Leona Lewis)
Duets
Johan Palm & Robin Ericsson - We Built This City (Starship) Kevin Borg & Anna Bergendahl - (I've Had) The Time of My Life (Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes) Robin Bengtsson & Alice Svensson - You're the One That I Want (John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John)
Love Robin Bengtsson - Let Me Entertain You (Robbie Williams) & Fields of Gold (Sting) Kevin Borg - If Tomorrow Never Comes (Ronan Keating) & In the Shadows (The Rasmus) Anna Bergendahl - Simply the Best (Tina Turner) & Over the Rainbow (Eva Cassidy) Johan Palm - I'll Stand By You (The Pretenders) & Friday I'm in Love (The Cure) Alice Svensson - Because of You (Kelly Clarkson) & Crazy In Love (Beyoncé)
Gospel Guest judge: Carola Häggkvist Johan Palm - Long Train Runnin' (Doobie Brothers) & Free Fallin' (Tom Petty) Alice Svensson - Shackles (Mary Mary) & Independent Women (Destiny's Child) Kevin Borg - Higher and Higher (Jackie Wilson) & The Way You Make Me Feel (Michael Jackson) Robin Bengtsson - Joyful, Joyful (Lauryn Hill) & My Love Is Your Love (Whitney Houston)
Jury's choice Alice Svensson - Keep This Fire Burning (Robyn) & Girlfriend (Avril Lavigne) Robin Bengtsson - It's My Life (Bon Jovi) & Black or White (Michael Jackson) Kevin Borg - Livin' la Vida Loca (Ricky Martin) & Hot In Herre (Nelly)
Idol 2008 album
Det bästa från Idol 2008 (The Best from Idol 2008) is a sampling Swedish Idol 2008 shows.
References