After a six-week-long competition consisting of four heats, a Second Chance round and a final, "You" performed by Robin Stjernberg emerged as the winner of the Melodifestivalen 2013 after achieving the highest score following the combination of votes from eleven international jury groups and a public vote.
As the host country, Sweden qualified to compete directly in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Sweden's running order position was determined by draw. Performing in position 16 during the final, Sweden placed fourteenth out of the 26 participating countries with 62 points.
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, SVT organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. Since 1959, SR first and SVT later have organised the annual competition Melodifestivalen in order to select their entries for the contest.
Melodifestivalen 2013 was the Swedish music competition that selected their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2013. 32 competed in a six-week-long process which consisted of four heats on 2, 9, 16 and 23 February 2013, a second chance round on 2 March 2013, and a final on 9 March 2013.[2] The six shows were hosted by Gina Dirawi and Danny Saucedo. Eight songs competed in each heat—the top two qualified directly to the final, while the third and fourth placed songs qualified to the second chance round. The bottom four songs in each heat were eliminated from the competition. An additional two songs qualified to the final from the second chance round. The results in the semi-finals and second chance round were determined exclusively by public televoting, while the overall winner of the competition was selected in the final through the combination of a public vote and the votes from eleven international jury groups. Among the competing artists was former Eurovision Song Contest contestant Tommy Körberg (participating as a member of Ravaillacz) who represented Sweden in 1969 and 1988.
Heats and Second Chance round
The first heat took place on 2 February 2013 at the Telenor Arena in Karlskrona. "Heartbreak Hotel" performed by Yohio and "Skyline" performed by David Lindgren qualified directly to the final, while "Burning Flags" performed by Cookies 'N' Beans and "Vi kommer aldrig att förlora" performed by Eric Gadd qualified to the Second Chance round. "Paris" performed by Jay-Jay Johanson, "Gosa" performed by Mary N'diaye, "Porslin" performed by Anna Järvinen, and "We're Still Kids" performed by Michael Feiner and Caisa were eliminated.[3]
The final was held on 9 March 2013 at the Friends Arena in Stockholm.[7] Ten songs competed—two qualifiers from each of the four preceding heats and two qualifiers from the Second Chance round. The combination of points from a viewer vote and eleven international jury groups determined the winner. The viewers and the juries each had a total of 473 points to award. The nations that comprised the international jury were Croatia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Malta, Spain, The United Kingdom and Ukraine. "You" performed by Robin Stjernberg was selected as the winner with 166 points.[8]
Robin Stjernberg at the final dress rehearsal in Malmö.
As the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 and host of the 2013 Contest, Sweden automatically qualified for a place in the final, held on 18 May 2013. In addition to their participation in the final, Sweden was assigned to vote in the first semi-final on 14 May 2013.[9]
As the host nation, Sweden's running order position in the final was determined by draw, rather than being assigned by the producers of the show.[10] On 18 March 2013 during the heads of delegation meeting, Sweden was drawn to perform 16th in the final.[11] In the final, Sweden performed following United Kingdom and preceding Hungary.[12] Sweden placed 14th in the final, scoring 62 points.[13][14]
In Sweden, both the semi-finals and the final were broadcast on SVT1, with commentary provided by Josefine Sundström.[15] The competition was also broadcast via radio on Sveriges Radio P4 with commentary by Carolina Norén for all three shows, Ronnie Ritterland for the semi-finals and Björn Kjellman for the grand final.[16]
The Swedish entry was awarded one of the three Marcel Bezençon Awards, which honour the best of the competing entries for the 2013 Contest in different areas of achievement. Sweden received the Composer Award, which was awarded to the best and most original composition as voted by the participating composers in the competition.[19]
