Eleni Foureira, Eric Saade and Chanel to open Malmö 2024 First Semi-Final

It'll be a top-tier trinity of Eurovision fan faves that pop up at the First Semi-Final of the 68th Eurovision Song Contest on Tuesday 7 May.

SVT has invited along Eleni Foureira, Eric Saade and Chanel to perform the opening act of that First Semi-Final. Titled United By Music, the number not only showcases the official slogan of the Eurovision Song Contest, but also the message that you don't have to actually win the Contest to be a winner at Eurovision. These three artists earned hoards of new fans with their Eurovision performances, and have gone on to release a multitude of huge hits between them since.

These three superstars will do exactly what the Eurovision Song Contest is all about; they will unite us through music as they travel to Malmö from all corners of Europe. 

Alongside 24 dancers on stage, Eleni, Chanel and Eric will perform the songs they participated with at the Contest. It's set to be a spectacular show that will kick off this year's Eurovision Song Contest in style.

Eleni Foureira

This fiery diva finished as runner-up at the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with her song Fuego. Eleni gave Cyprus its best result to date and its highest points tally too, with an incredible 436 points to earn that second-place finish.

Since her time in Lisbon, she's released an album, an EP, and scored smash hits such as Temperatura, Oh Mami and El Telephone.

Eric Saade

Eric gave Sweden a bronze-medal finish at the 2011 Contest, when his song Popular proved a hit with both the juries and the public vote. And despite Sweden's terrific run of results at the Contest in recent years, Eric's third-place finish remains in the Top 5 of the country's league table of results over the past two decades. 

Since the Eurovision Song Contest, Eric has released three albums, toured extensively through Scandinavia and was even involved in the Contest the last time it was in Malmö - in 2013 when he hosted the Green Room. 

Chanel

The winner of the inaugural Benidorm Fest, Chanel went on the give Spain its best result at the Eurovision Song Contest since 1995! At the 2022 Contest in Turin, Chanel took Spain to a third-place finish with her song SloMo. The song gave Spain its highest score of all time - 459 points.

Since Chanel's Eurovision debut, she's achieved more hits at home in Spain, with the likes of Loka and Clavaíto, the latter of which has even out-performed SloMo on streaming, passing the 100 million mark on Spotify. In January of 2024, Chanel released her debut album ¡Agua!, which went straight to number 1 in Spain. 

Edward af Sillén, director and scriptwriter of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024, says about the thinking behind the First Semi-Final opening act:

"We want to kickstart this year's edition with a big pop number that showcases Sweden's immense love for this competition and demonstrates how we are all United by Music. Three fantastic live artists from every corner of Eurovision, who may not have won the gold, but who won the hearts of the audience. This number is set to raise the bar for the entire week, and we hope the audience will love it."

You can watch the First Semi-Final of the 68th Eurovision Song Contest on Tuesday 7 May at 21:00 CEST.