The first semi-final in Gothenburg on the 9th of February will now include the young and talented Amy Diamond with her song Thank You. Amy has just released her latest album which went straight into the Swedish top-10. She hopes to repeat her chart success in Gothenburg by winning her semi-final, where she will meet tough competition from local stars like E-type featuring The Poodles or Christer Sjögren.
The second semi-final in Västerås will be crowned by the presence of former Eurovision Song Contest winner Carola in the duet One Love, together with Andreas Johnson. Carola has already taken part in the Eurovision Song Contest three times before, coming 3rd in 1983, winning the contest in 1991, and coming 5th in the 2006 competition. Celebrating the 25th anniversary of her singing career, she hopes to represent Sweden again in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade.
The popular group Eskobar will enter the Melodifestivalen semi-final in Linköping. Singing Hallelujah New World, we can possibly expect an unusal kind of music. The three guys hope to reach the final of the Swedish selection which will take place on 15th March in Stockholm's Globen Arena. Eskobar shot to fame when they released their first album in 2000 and has since then been one of the most successful Swedish indiepop bands.
Veteran Niklas Strömstedt was put in the Linköping semi-final by Swedish television. He is going to perform För Många Ord Om Kärlek. Niklas composed IMorgon Är En Annan Dag for Christer Björkman, who defended the Swedish colours on home ground in 1992 in Malmö. He has also scored lots of hits in his own right as a solo singer and as part of the trio Glenmark/Eriksson/Strömstedt, who scored one of the biggest hits ever in Sweden with their soccer hymn När Vi Gräver Guld I USA.
Hoping to reach the final
All four wildcards will have to compete against seven other songs in their respective semi-final and only two of every semi-final will directly to the final in Stockholm. The artists coming third and fourth in the semi-finals shouldn't give up their hopes though, as they will have another chance to qualify in the second chance round in Kiruna one week prior to the big final. There, two more songs will be selected to round up the field in Stockholm with 10 participants altogether.
The running order of Melodifestivalen 2008 can be found on the event's website.
