Sweden's Benjamin Ingrosso to 'dance you off' in Lisbon!

The Swedish national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, Melodifestivalen, was organised by broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT) and was held at the Friends Arena in Solna (just north of Stockholm city centre). The Show hosted by David Lindgren consisted out of four semi-finals, a second chance round and a final with 12 acts competing for the winning title and the chance to represent Sweden in Lisbon.

The finalists

• Méndez - Everyday
• Renaida - All the Feels
• Martin Almgren - A Bitter Lullaby
• John Lundvik - My Turn
• Jessica Andersson - Party Voice
• LIAMOO - Last Breath
• Samir & Viktor - Shuffla
• Mariette - For You
• Felix Sandman - Every Single Day
• Margaret - In My Cabana
• Benjamin Ingrosso - Dance You Off
• Rolandz - Fuldans

About Benjamin Ingrosso

Benjamin Ingrosso (20) is a Swedish singer and songwriter. Since he was a child he has appeared in the leading role in several musicals, and in 2006 he won Lilla Melodifestivalen, the kids version of the popular Swedish national selection format.

He won the celebrity dancing TV-show Let’s Dance 2014, alongside his professional dancing partner, Sigrid Bernsson who also participated in this year’s Melodifestivalen as an artist. In February 2014 Benjamin Ingrosso announced that he had left the musical scene to focus entirely on music and songwriting.

Benjamin’s mother, Pernilla Wahlgren, is a popular Swedish pop artist who tried to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest several times in the past, starting in 1985 and most recently in 2010. Pernilla she was closest to win the ticket to Eurovision in 2003 when she placed 2nd, alongside Jan Johansen, and Let Your Spirit Fly. Since 2016 Benjamin participates in his mum’s TV series Wahlgrens Värld. 

Ingrosso already tried to represent Sweden in last year’s Eurovision Song Contest, reaching the Final of Melodifestivalen where he placed 5th with his song Good Lovin’. The Swedish entry, Dance You Off, is written by Benjamin himself alongside MAG, Louis Schoorl and K Nita.

About the show 

In 2002 the format of Melodifestivalen was overhauled and has since become the biggest television show of the year in Sweden. The show has also revived Sweden’s fortunes at the Eurovision Song Contest itself. A total of 2772 entries were submitted to the contest in 2018, with 28 songs shortlisted for the televised heats. The winner of Melodifestivalen was determined by a 50/50 combination of jury and public votes. The following countries were represented in the international jury:

• Albania, Armenia, Australia, Cyprus, France, Georgia, Iceland, Italy, Poland, Portugal and United Kingdom.

Benjamin Ingrosso won both the International jury voting and the public vote. More than 13,9 million votes were received for the Final of Melodifestivalen 2018.

Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest

Sweden first entered the Eurovision Song Contest in 1958 but it would take them until 1974 to win the competition when ABBA famously took the trophy with the song Waterloo, which became a global hit and an all-time Eurovision classic. Whilst Sweden has finished last on two occasions, in 1963 and 1977, over the past decade the country has come to dominate the contest. 

Since the Eurovision Song Contest semi-finals were introduced in 2004, Sweden has only once failed to qualify for the Grand Final. In 2010 Anna Bergendahl finished 11th in the semi-final and narrowly missed out on a place in the Grand Final with her song This Is My Life. Since then Sweden has won twice and has only once been out of the top five, in 2013, when the contest was hosted in the Swedish city of Malmö.

The Eurovision Song Contest is one of the most popular television programmes of the year in Sweden. This year Sweden will participate in the econd half of the Second Semi-Final on Thursday 10th May in Lisbon.