One of the most awaited national finals this year took place in Stockholm's golfball Globen Arena on the 13th of March: Melodifestivalen, Scandinavia's biggest music event. Approximately 4 million viewers followed the exciting event after a string of semi-finals had been held in various Swedish cities. Out of ten songs on stage that evening, it was finally Anna Bergendahl, who got the maximum points and will now represent Sweden in Europe's favourite TV-show.
The decision at this year's Melodifestivalen was taken by five regional Swedish juries, six international juries from Ireland, France, Norway, Greece, Serbia and Russia and televote. Alltogether, 1,7 million televotes had been cast with the winner - Anna Bergendahl with This Is My Life - getting 363546 of them.
See her entry below, in her preview video.
Who is she?
Her parents early recognised Anna’s love for music and bought her first guitar when she was only eight. She started to write her first songs at the age of ten. She was one of the competitors in the Swedish TV-show Super Troupers performing a very personal version of Wild Cherry’s classic hit Play That Funky Music. In 2008 she auditioned for the Swedish Idol performing the Bonnie Raitt song Have A Heart and the jury instantly praised her and her vocal abilities. Later on, she became a huge hit in the Swedish download charts.
After Idol Anna was of course contacted by a number of record companies: everyone wanted to sign her! However it was the intimate and professional feeling Lionheart International gave her that made her make her decision to sign both a record, publishing and management deal with them.
On Saturday the 13th of March, in front of nearly 4 million viewers, the Swedish people voted Anna to be the one who should represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Oslo with a landslide victory with her song This Is My Life. The song has since then reached No.1 in all Swedish charts.
She'll perform sixth in the second Semi-Final on the 27th of May in Oslo, Norway.
