Sweden 2024: Your guide to the 'Melodifestivalen' final

How To Watch: The final of 'Melodifestivalen' 2024 is happening on Saturday 9 March, with a start time of 20:00 CET. Wherever you are in the world, you'll be able to tune in live via SVTPlay. And Swedish broadcaster SVT are also offering international viewers the option to watch with English-language commentary.

This time last year, we were looking our Liverpool 2023 winner right in the eye and we didn't even know it!

Tattoo by Loreen ended up taking the Melodifestivalen trophy in Sweden and would go on to give her country a record-equalling 7th Eurovision win that May.

Now, ahead of the Contest rolling into Malmö, Sweden needs to find its successor to that reigning champ Tattoo. And it's getting down to this serious business on Saturday night. Balloons and boas at the ready, folks! 

Melodifestivalen 2024 is now in its 6th week. But with the deadline for broadcasters to submit their Eurovision entries looming ever closer, that means that it's about time to wrap this show up - and so 'Melfest' is now set to come to its exciting conclusion!

The Swedish pre-selection kicked off during the first weekend of February, when the first of 5 semi-finals took place in - fittingly enough - Malmö. 

The Melodifestivalen tour has since made its way across the nation, and now 5 semi-finals later, our starting lineup of 30 hopefuls has been whittled down by Swedish voters to a final 12. 

Saturday night's 12 finalists will once again be performing their songs in the hope of scoring plenty of votes from the Swedish public. App voters and televoters will make up 50% of the finalists' total scores at the end of the night.

The other 50% of the points will come from a broad selection of international juries. 

Comedienne Carina Berg, who has been presenting the 2024 edition of Melodifestivalen during its semi-final phases too, will be returning for Saturday night's final to take up hosting duties one last time. 

During the show, last year's Melodifestivalen (and Eurovision!) winner Tattoo is set to have yet more glory bestowed upon it. The song will be celebrated as the latest inductee into broadcaster SVT's Melodifestivalen Hall of Fame. 

And so we'll be reminded once more of the almighty pop force that resulted in us all taking a trip back to Sweden this May. It never gets old, does it?

Ahead of Saturday night's final, Sweden has already been responding very well to the 12 finalists that were released onto streaming services on the evening of Saturday 2 March.

On the Spotify daily chart at the start of the week, 18 of the Top 20 songs were from Melodifestivalen 2024, with the entirety of the Top 10 being from the Swedish Eurovision pre-selection. And still at the time of writing, 5 days later on Friday 8 March, Melodifestivalen songs take up the positions from 1 to 9, with none other than Beyoncé rounding up the Top 10 at number 10!

If you're joining us in tuning in to Sweden on Saturday, here are the 12 finalists that you'll be watching:

Maria Sur – When I’m Gone

Maria Sur, a Ukrainian performer who along with her family sought refuge in Sweden in 2022, debuted at Melodifestivalen 2023 with her song Never Give Up, which reached the final of the competition.

Now, she's back and switching from ballad to banger!

Jay Smith – Back To My Roots

The winner of Idol back in 2010, Jay's Back To My Roots sees the singer team up with his sister on songwriting duties - Maria-Jane Smith of the popular duo Smith & Thell. 

Lisa Ajax – Awful Liar

Another former Idol winner, this is Lisa Ajax's 4th solo appearance at Melodifestivalen, and her 4th time making it to the final, too. Lisa will be performing Awful Liar with some company - her lil' baby who is due to arrive in June!

Smash Into Pieces – Heroes Are Calling

This band made a big impression on their debut Melodifestivalen outing in 2023, with their song Six Feet Under reaching the final and becoming the most played Melodifestivalen song of the year on Swedish radio, surpassing even winner Tattoo. 

So it's no surprise that the boys are back in 2024 and no doubt hoping to take that win for themselves this time.

Cazzi Opeia – Give My Heart A Break

This artist holds a very special record - she's the only songwriter to have won both the Eurovision Song Contest (with Loreen's Tattoo) and the American Song Contest (Wonderland by AleXa). 

Give Me Heart A Break might well have been named Give My Pen A Break - but we're very pleased she's evidently still doing great things with her songwriting skills. 

Annika Wickihalder – Light

A newcomer to Melodifestivalen who has made a mighty-fine first impression on the contest, being included in a strong final lineup. Annika promises to be providing some of the most ambitious vocals on Saturday night - and based on prior form, we have no reason to doubt her!

Marcus & Martinus – Unforgettable

The energetic twins from Norway return to Melodifestivalen for a second consecutive year. In 2023, they finished in second place to Loreen with their song Air. Can they go one place better in 2024?...

Dotter – It’s Not Easy To Write You A Love Song

Dotter's 4th appearance at Melodifestivalen, but her first since 2021. The closest she's come to winning the competition so far is runner-up in 2020, with her song Bulletproof. She's called It's Not Easy To Write You A Love Song the sister song to that entry - so let's see how close the family resemblance is when those votes start coming in!

Medina – Que Sera

The song which has been number 1 on Spotify Sweden since its release, thus far giving no other finalists a turn at the top. Will its energy-filled performance help the song's streaming success translate into scores?...

LIAMOO – Dragon

The most recent Idol winner in the lineup, LIAMOO competes with Dragon. It's his 4th song to have participated in Melodifestivalen so far, and the 4th to have qualified directly to the final. 

He'll no doubt be hoping that with it being the Chinese year of the dragon, an extra helping of good luck might be bestowed onto Dragon on Saturday night!

Jacquline – Effortless

This is Jacqline's first year competing in Melodifestivalen, and she qualified directly to the final with Effortless. Since then, the song has become quite the fan favourite, and was the most played Melodifestivalen song on Swedish radio throughout this week leading up to the final.

Loreen will be handing over the Melodifestivalen trophy on Saturday night, but might she also be handing over her 'MOTHER' moniker to a new queen?...

Danny Saucedo – Happy That You Found Me

He famously finished in second place to Eric Saade in 2011, and again to Loreen in 2012, so Danny Saucedo's elusive Melodifestivalen win and subsequent Eurovision Song Contest participation have seemed somewhat overdue for a long time now. The singer returns with a feel-good dance number to lift the vibe on Saturday night - let's see if he can make it his best result yet.