The right one at the right time? Cornelia Jakobs wins in Sweden 🇸🇪
12 March 2022 at 21:58 CET📺 Watch: Cornelia Jakobs – Hold Me Closer
After a 6-week run of live shows, Sweden’s Melodifestivalen finally came to its glittering conclusion on Saturday night. A 12-song final was aired over 2 hours by Swedish broadcaster SVT, with a tense vote determining the winner.
Scoring was done via both a public vote and an international jury vote. Melodifestivalen has long used the influence of an international jury to help choose the right song to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest. In the 2022Â final, international juries from Spain, Israel, Ireland, the Netherlands, Italy, Finland, Australia and the Czech Republic were on hand to assist Sweden in making what they will be hoping was the best choice. Both the public vote and the international jury vote accounted for 50% of the total score.
In the end, it was Cornelia Jakobs who triumphed, with the song Hold Me Closer.
Cornelia had entered Melodifestivalen twice before, in 2011 and 2012, with her former girlband Love Generation. But solo with Hold Me Closer was the first time she’d made the Melodifestivalen final. Now she’s won it, a lot more people will be introduced to the singing and songwriting talent (who turned 30 years of age this week), as she prepares to take to the Eurovision stage for her country in Turin.
Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest
Sweden made its debut in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1958. The country is known for having the most successful Eurovision winners ever, ABBA, which was the first of Sweden’s victories in the competition. Sweden is one of the most successful countries in the Eurovision Song Contest with 6 victories to date, coming second behind Ireland’s record-holding 7 wins.
Sweden first entered the Eurovision Song Contest in 1958Â but it would take them until 1974Â 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.
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 only twice finished outside of the top 10Â of the Grand Final, in 2013Â and 2021.
Can Cornelia Jakobs prove Popular in Turin?…
📺 Watch: Eric Saade – Popular (2011)
Share your thoughts on Sweden’s result via the official Eurovision Song Contest YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and Facebook channels.