Sweden was treated with a glamourous final of Melodifestivalen tonight. Not only the 11 competing songs had the 13000 people in the Globen Ericsson Arena clapping along, but also the opening and interval acts got huge amounts of applause. The popular host of tonight's show, Petra Mede, also added to the charm of the show which usually is Sweden's most watched TV show every year with more than 4 million people tuning in!
The result of tonight's show was decided by 11 juries located all around Sweden, an international jury and televote. The international jury's votes were given by the winner of the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest, Marija Šerifović, who also was also part of the jury.
The final result list for the Melodifestivalen final tonight looked like this:
Malena Ernman - La Voix - 182 points
Caroline af Ugglas - Snälla Snälla - 171 points
E.M.D - Baby Goodbye - 145 points
Måns Zelmerlöw - Hope & Glory - 144 points
Alcazar - Stay The Night - 139 points
Sarah Dawn Finer - Moving On - 87 points
H.E.A.T - 1000 Miles - 82 points
Agnes - Love Love Love - 40 points
Emilia - You're My World - 28 points
Sofia - Alla - 12 points
Molly Sandén - Så Vill Stjärnorna - 2 points
The juries' clear favorite was Måns Zelmerlöw, followed by Sarah Dawn Finer and Alcazar. The televote was won by Malena Ernman, followed by Caroline af Ugglas and E.M.D. In the end it was Malena who won, placing Caroline second and E.M.D. third.
Malena Ernman is an opera singer (mezzo-soprano). Ernman is a versatile artist in her field, who outside the world of opera and operettas also has performed chansons, cabaret, jazz, appeared in musicals and she is a performer who's declared that she's very much attracted to the attributes of varité theatre and small, intimate stage rooms. Malena Ernman is today one of Sweden's most sought after opera performers nationally and internationally.
Not only the winner can be happy though, but also all the other participants can call themselves lucky! In this week's official Swedish singles charts, 26 of the 32 Melodifestivalen songs reached the top 60, and all of the top 10 are songs which have taken part in this year's Swedish final! This makes it a historical event as it has never happened in any country before!
Malena Ernman will represent Sweden in the first Semi-Final of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest which will take place on the 12th of May in Moscow.
