Melodifestivalen 2013 was the Swedish music competition that selected the 53rd Swedish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2013. Robin Stjernberg's song "You" won the final, and became the first Second Chance song to win the Melodifestivalen final.
The final took place at the Friends Arena in Stockholm on 9 March 2013. For the twelfth consecutive year, the competition consisted of four heats, a "second chance" round, and a final. A total of 32 competing entries were divided into four heats, with eight compositions in each. From each heat, the songs that earned first and second place went directly to the final, while the songs that were placed third and fourth proceeded to the Second Chance heat. The bottom four songs in each heat were eliminated from the competition. This year the selection process for the 32 songs was slightly modified from the previous year by removing the web wildcard round and allowing the selection panel to decide on the finalist in the newcomer block of submissions. In addition, the winning artist of Svensktoppen nästa, a music competition organized by Sveriges Radio P4, automatically qualified to submit an entry for Melodifestivalen. Further changes included modification to the Second Chance round that removed one tier of duels.
Format Melodifestivalen 2013 was the twelfth consecutive year in which the competition took place in different cities across Sweden. The four heats were held in Karlskrona (2 February), Gothenburg (9 February), Skellefteå (16 February) and Malmö (23 February). The second chance round was held in Karlstad on 2 March while the final in Solna was held on 9 March. The final evening of the competition migrated to the newly built Friends Arena and for the first time since the creation of the current format, it did not take place at the Ericsson Globe.
In the heats, the winners were decided by the telephone and SMS votes of the viewers where the two entries with the most votes went directly to the final, while the third and fourth placed entries competed for another chance to get to the final in the Second Chance round. Of the eight songs that qualified to the Second Chance round, only two progressed to the final to complete the line-up of 10 finalists.
Schedule Date City Venue Capacity Heat 2 February Karlskrona Telenor Arena 4,000 Heat 1 9 February Gothenburg Scandinavium 14,000 Heat 2 16 February Skellefteå Skellefteå Kraft Arena 6,000 Heat 3 23 February Malmö Malmö Arena 15,500 Heat 4 2 March Karlstad Löfbergs Lila Arena 10,600 Second chance (Andra chansen) 9 March Solna Friends Arena 27,000 Final
Heats
The four heats were held in Karlskrona, Gothenburg, Skellefteå and Malmö. A selection panel consisting of seven men and eight women ages 17–46 selected the finalists out of 2549 total submissions (1902 for the regular contest and 647 for the newcomer selection).
In 2012, Sveriges Radio announced that they would award a wildcard to the artist that wins Svensktoppen nästa, a music competition organized by Sveriges Radio P4, the following year. While all of the artists competing in this competition already had songs, the competition was scheduled to take place on 26 August 2012, which was before the 1 September 2012 cut off date for both Melodifestivalen and the Eurovision Song Contest. Therefore, the winning artist was required to submit a new song that would then be given a wildcard to compete in the competition. Terese Fredenwall ultimately won the competition and on 19 October, SVT announced that she would compete in Melodifestivalen with the song "Breaking the Silence".
For Melodifestivalen 2013, SVT decided to discontinue the Web Wildcard competition that was previously held between 2010 and 2012. Instead, an open selection was still held for unpublished and new artists to submit their entries, however, the selection panel that evaluates submissions for the regular contest would also evaluate these entries and select one which would receive a wildcard. On 17 October 2012, SVT announced that the song "Island" performed by Elin Petersson had been selected and would receive the wildcard.
On 19 November 2012, the first of two press conference was held to present the artists, songs, and composers for the competing entries in the first and second heats. Sandra Bjurman and Stefan Örn, two of the composers who wrote "Running Scared", the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, were among the names.
On 26 November 2012, the second press conference was held to complete the line-up and present the remaining entries that would compete in the third and fourth heats. Peter Boström and Thomas G:son, the composers of "Euphoria", the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, both had several songs among the 32 entries.
On 3 January 2013, SVT announced the running order for each heat.
Heat 1 The first heat was held on 2 February 2013 in Telenor Arena, Karlskrona. "Skyline" performed by David Lindgren and "Heartbreak Hotel" performed by Yohio qualified to the final, while the songs "Burning Flags" performed by Cookies 'N' Beans and "Vi kommer aldrig att förlora" performed by Eric Gadd qualified to the second chance round. ArtistSong (English translation)Songwriter(s) Votes Place ResultTotal 1David Lindgren"Skyline"Fernando Fuentes, Henrik Nordenback, Christian Fast37,39228,72466,116 2 Final 2Cookies 'N' Beans "Burning Flags"Fredrik Kempe 16,246 14,19330,439 3Second Chance 3Jay-Jay Johanson "Paris"Jay-Jay Johanson 5,526 —5,526 8 Out 4Mary N'diaye "Gosa" (Cuddle)Johan Åsgärde, Mattias Frändå, Mary N’diaye 12,997 10,43923,436 5 Out 5Eric Gadd "Vi kommer aldrig att förlora" (We'll Never Lose)Eric Gadd, Thomas Stenström (tm), Jacob Olofsson 12,881 14,04726,928 4Second Chance 6Yohio"Heartbreak Hotel"Johan Fransson, Tobias Lundgren, Tim Larsson, Henrik Göranson, Yohio76,90578,211155,116 1 Final 7Anna Järvinen "Porslin" (Porcelain)Björn Olsson, Martin Elisson 8,689 —8,689 7 Out 8Michael Feiner & Caisa"We're Still Kids"Michael Feiner, Caisa Ahlroth12,098—12,0986Out
Heat 2 The second heat was held on 9 February 2013 in Scandinavium, Gothenburg. "Copacabanana" performed by Sean Banan and "Only the Dead Fish Follow the Stream" performed by Louise Hoffsten qualified to the final, while the songs "Begging" performed by Anton Ewald and "Hello Goodbye" performed by Erik Segerstedt and Tone Damli qualified to the second chance round. Artist Song (English translation)Songwriter(s) Votes Place ResultTotal 1Anton Ewald "Begging"Fredrik Kempe, Anton Malmberg Hård af Segerstad 33,436 37,04970,516 3Second Chance 2Felicia Olsson "Make Me No 1"Henrik Wikström, Ingela "Pling" Forsman, Amir Aly, Maria Haukaas Mittet 19,559 35,49055,049 5 Out 3Joacim Cans "Annelie"Joacim Cans 7,069 —7,069 8 Out 4Swedish House Wives "On Top of the World"Peter Boström, Thomas G:son 17,172 —17,172 6 Out 5Erik Segerstedt & Tone Damli "Hello Goodbye"Robin Fredriksson, Mattias Larsson, Måns Zelmerlöw 30,295 40,10770,402 4Second Chance 6Louise Hoffsten"Only the Dead Fish Follow the Stream"Louise Hoffsten, Sandra Bjurman, Stefan Örn33,07450,94784,021 2 Final 7Rikard Wolff"En förlorad sommar" (A Lost Summer)Tomas Andersson Wij7,785—7,7857Out 8Sean Banan"Copacabanana"Ola Lindholm, Sean Samadi (Sean Banan), Hans Blomberg, Joakim Larsson79,42864,314143,724 1 Final
Heat 3 The third heat was held on 16 February 2013 in Skellefteå Kraft Arena, Skellefteå."Falling" performed by State of Drama and "En riktig jävla schlager" performed by Ravaillacz qualified to the final, while the songs "In and Out of Love" performed by Martin Rolinski and "Hon har inte" performed by Caroline af Ugglas qualified to the second chance round. Artist Song (English translation)Songwriter(s) Votes Place ResultTotal 1Eddie Razaz "Alibi"Thomas G:son, Peter Boström 19,476 —19,476 6 Out 2Elin Petersson "Island"Elin Petersson 7,494 —7,494 8 Out 3Ravaillacz"En riktig jävla schlager" (A Proper Damn Schlager)Kjell Jennstig, Leif Goldkuhl, Henrik Dorsin52,27557,980111,255 1 Final 4Amanda Fondell "Dumb"Freja Blomberg, Fredrik Samsson 18,488 —18,488 7 Out 5Martin Rolinski "In and Out of Love"Thomas G:son, Andreas Rickstrand 29,246 41,78071,026 3Second Chance 6Caroline af Ugglas "Hon har inte" (She Hasn't)Caroline af Ugglas, Heinz Liljedahl 29,450 29,11458,594 4Second Chance 7State of Drama"Falling"Göran Werner, Sebastian Hallifax, Emil Gullhamn, James Hallifax40,80339,25680,059 2 Final 8Janet Leon"Heartstrings"Fredrik Kempe, Anton Malmberg Hård af Segerstad22,34827,90350,2515Out
Heat 4 The fourth heat was held on 23 February 2013 in Malmö Arena, Malmö."Tell the World I'm Here" performed by Ulrik Munther and "Bed on Fire" performed by Ralf Gyllenhammar qualified to the final, while the songs "You" performed by Robin Stjernberg and "Jalla Dansa Sawa" performed by Behrang Miri qualified to the second chance round. Artist Song (English translation)Songwriter(s) Votes Place ResultTotal 1Army of Lovers "Rockin’ the Ride"Alexander Bard, Henrik Wikström, Per QX, Andreas Öhrn, Jean-Pierre Barda 16,687 —16,867 6 Out 2Lucia Piñera "Must Be Love"Peter Kvint, Jonas Myrin 9,219 —9,219 8 Out 3Robin Stjernberg "You"Robin Stjernberg, Linnea Deb, Joy Deb, Joakim Harestad Haukaas 34,562 43,20477,766 3Second Chance 4Sylvia Vrethammar "Trivialitet" (Triviality)Thomas G:son, Calle Kindbom, Mats Tärnfors 13,609 —13,609 7 Out 5Ralf Gyllenhammar"Bed on Fire"Ralf Gyllenhammar, David Wilhelmsson43,60949,61693,225 2 Final 6Behrang Miri "Jalla Dansa Sawa" (Come On And Dance)Behrang Miri, Anderz Wrethov, Firas Razak Tuma, Tacfarinas Yamoun 31,761 38,45970,220 4Second Chance 7Terese Fredenwall"Breaking the Silence"Terese Fredenwall (music and lyric), Simon Petrén (music)25,16332,32957,4925Out 8Ulrik Munther"Tell the World I'm Here"Thomas G:son, Peter Boström, Ulrik Munther70,20458,160128,364 1 Final
Second Chance The Andra Chansen (Second Chance) round was held on 2 March in Löfbergs Lila Arena, Karlstad.
The format for the Second Chance round underwent changes from the tournament concept introduced in 2007. The first round where the eight songs are paired into duels was removed in favour of two basic rounds of voting where all eight songs will compete against each other. All eight songs were performed one after the other in a producer determined draw like the preceding heats. After the first voting round, the top five compositions advanced and the bottom three were eliminated. The second round of voting narrowed the field down to the top four, eliminating the song that achieved fifth place. After the top four have been determined, the song that received the most votes in the previous voting rounds and the song that came in fourth were paired in a duel. The songs that came second and third were paired in another duel. The winning songs of these two duels progressed to the final. "Begging" performed by Anton Ewald and "You" performed by Robin Stjernberg qualified to the final.
First Round Artist Song Votes Place ResultTotal 1Robin Stjernberg"You"58,02535,53593,560 2 Second Round 2Eric Gadd "Vi kommer aldrig att förlora" 14,164 —14,164 8Out 3Caroline af Ugglas "Hon har inte" 35,234 —35,234 6 Out 4Behrang Miri "Jalla Dansa Sawa" 56,165 29,61885,734 4 Second Round 5Erik Segerstedt & Tone Damli "Hello Goodbye" 42,425 28,09870,523 5 Out 6Anton Ewald"Begging"66,96531,69698,661 1 Second Round 7Cookies 'N' Beans"Burning Flags"25,826—25,8267Out 8Martin Rolinski "In and Out of Love" 51,997 35,78787,764 3Second Round
Second Round Duel Artist Song Votes ResultI 1Behrang Miri "Jalla Dansa Sawa"82,896Out 2 Anton Ewald "Begging" 105,890 FinalII 1 Robin Stjernberg "You" 98,105 Final 2Martin Rolinski "In and Out of Love" 95,930Out
Final The final of Melodifestivalen 2013 took place on 9 March 2013 at the Friends Arena in Solna. The 10 songs that qualified for the finals had either achieved being the top two in their respective heat, or having qualified from the Second Chance round.