After 6 long weeks of competing, 12 acts are left and tonight, Sweden will pick a winner, who will get to represent the country in Vienna. Follow the live broadcast here and stay tuned to ESC Daily, as we are on location in the Friends Arena and will keep you updated throughout the evening!
This is the starting order for tonight’s show:
1. Samir & Victor – ‘Groupie’
2. JTR – ‘Building It Up’
3. Dinah Nah – ‘Make Me (La La La)’
4. Jon Henrik Fjällgren – ‘Jag Är Fri (Manne Liem Frije)’
5. Jessica Andersson – ‘Can’t Hurt Me Now’
6. Måns Zelmerlöw – ‘Heroes’
7. Linus Svenning – ‘Forever Starts Today’
8. Isa – ‘Don’t Stop’
9. Magnus Carlsson – ‘Möt Mig i Gamla Stan’
10. Eric Saade – ‘Sting’
11. Mariette – ‘Don’t Stop Believing’
12. Hasse Andersson – ‘Guld och Gröna Skogar’
22:05 – Thanks for watching
Mans Zelmerlow goes to Vienna, while JTR takes a spot somewhere at the bottom of the table. We are proud of the boys from Down Under for reaching this final, and we can’t wait to see Mans compete with our very own Guy Sebastian in Vienna! Right now, we will move into the green room to try and talk to him. You can see the result of that somewhere in the following days, here at ESC Daily.
For now: thanks for watching & have a goodnight!
22:03 – The winning performance
22:00 – Mans to Vienna!
He wins the televoting before Jon Henrik, and goes to Vienna with his song ‘Heroes’! Jon Henrik Fjallgren ends up in second place.
An emotional Mans gives a reprise of his song, with the disbelief still in his eyes. After two previous attempts, his year has finally come.
21:59 – Saade & Mariette just inside the top 5
Mariette scores 28 points and Eric Saade 29. Both do not pass Mans Zelmerlow by that. Only two songs left in the race.
21:57 – Magnus & Linus are out
They both score only 18 points.
21:53 – Televoting results are in
The curse of the second starting position puts JTR low on the televoting. Too bad, but we are still proud of the guys! Let’s move on to see who will finish high up there!
21:48 – Lines are closed
While we are listening to a weird version of ‘Undo’, the countdown starts… and finishes! Lines are closed. We will have the results soon!
21:46 – The full jury scores
21:44 – Mans in the lead, JTR 9th so far
Mans Zelmerlow takes the jury vote by a landslide. He now has 122 points, with Mariette in second place trailing by almost 50 points. Eric Saade is even further behind.
JTR scored some mixed results, and with 21 points altogether we find them back in 9th place so far.
21:40 – Mans or Mariette for Sweden
Mans Zelmerlow keeps scoring 12’s, but Mariette can follow him quite closely. JTR scores zeroes for some time, but then Belgium gives another 8 points to our boys from Down Under!
21:34 – Mans is running away
Armenia and France give Mans Zelmerlow even more 12 points! He is running away with it easily now. France also awards another 6 points to JTR, and with another 1 point from Israel our Aussies are in 5th place right now!
21:30 – Results!
Estonia gives the first 12 points of tonight to Mans Zelmerlow! Malta follows – again 12 for Mans! JTR starts solidly with 6 points so far.
21:21 – ‘What Does the Fox say?’
While the votes are being counted, it’s time for tonight’s interval act, the duo Ylvis from Norway. Last year, they scored a huge hit with their song ‘What Does the Fox Say?’. This year, we see them in discussion with executive producer Christer Björkman, and afterwards, they’re live on stage in the Friends Arena, performing their song ‘Stonehenge‘.
21:16 – ‘Snabbrepris’-time, and Filippa Bark ‘på Engelska’
After we’ve seen all 12 acts on stage, it’s time for the first recap, or ‘snabbrepris’. Unfortunately, the Melodifestivalen-app is still not working, so the Swedish public can only vote through calling or texting. After this, we go back to the greenroom, where Filippa Bark introduces herself in English for the international audiences, and talks with Jessica Andersson, Eric Saade and Mariette.
21:11 – Hasse Andersson – ‘Guld och Gröna Skogar’
‘I’ve become sort of everyone’s grandfather here’, Hasse Andersson told Swedish media earlier this week. Aside from that, he has also become immensely popular with the audience, and his performance of ‘Guld och Gröna Skogar’ has the entire Friends Arena dancing. Whether or not the international juries will appreciate this is doubtful.
21:07 – Mariette – ‘Don’t Stop Believing’
Praised in media and by fellow competitors, Mariette was not short of compliments in the week leading up to the final. Over 30 metres of extra fabric was flown in from the USA in order to give her a little extra ‘oomph’. Vocally, Mariette is strong, especially in comparison with her predecessor on stage. She’s bound to collect jury votes, but whether or not the Swedish audience has grown to appreciate her song will determine her final ranking.
21:03 – Eric Saade – ‘Sting’
His third time around in Melodifestivalen, Eric Saade has truly gone all out. Fireworks, confetti and a flying platform are some of the tricks up his sleeve tonight. All these theatrics can not mask the fact that ‘Sting’ might be his weakest entry up to date. On top of that, Saade is one of the least blessed vocalists of the evening, which even his backing singers have a hard time disguising. In spite of that, the audience is on their feet for the spectacular finale of his performance.
20:58 – Magnus Carlsson – ‘Möt Mig i Gamla Stan’
Before taking the stage, Magnus promises the audience that he’ll rewrite ‘Möt Mig i Gamla Stan’ in English, should he win the ticket to Vienna. The song is classic schlager like we’ve seen many times before at Melodifestivalen. Even in 2015 immensely popular with Swedish audiences, but it probably would not stand a big chance of a good result in Vienna, even with an English translation.
20:51 – Isa – ‘Don’t Stop’
When Isa takes the stage, it’s easy to forget that she’s only 16 years old. She’s very confident in her rendition of ‘Don’t Stop’, which might not be the most original song of the evening, but is performed with truly contagious enthusiasm. Her starting position, late in the field, might give her a little edge when competing for votes in the same target group as Dinah Nah and JTR.
20:44 – Linus Svenning – ‘Forever Starts Today’
Linus Svenning gets the doubtful honour of being the first performing artists whose nerves really shine through. His shaky and nervous perfomance is compensated by the spectacular staging, including lots of fire and the rolling of drums from one dancer to another.
20:38 – Måns Zelmerlöw – ‘Heroes’
According to the Swedish newspapers, the audience during the rehearsals and about any bookie you can find, there is no one to even threaten Måns Zelmerlöw’s victory tonight. Only the mentioning of his name by the hosts causes the audience to errupt in wild cheers. Whether or not it really will be Måns that will go to Vienna in May, might be in the hands of the international juries. The public seems to already have made their minds up.
20:31 – Jessica Andersson – ‘Can’t Hurt Me Now’
Up next it’s one of tonight’s most experienced Melodifestivalen-contestants, Jessica Andersson. Her dramatic ‘Can’t Hurt Me Now’ is supported by thousands of tiny lights in the audience, but it’s hard to imagine this is gonna push the outdated ballad to a high ranking. In spite of that, Jessica’s experience shines through, as her perfomance is one of a true professional in her craft.
20:25 – Jon Henrik Fjällgren – ‘Jag Är Fri (Manne Liem Frije)’
Considered Måns Zelmerlöw’s biggest, and perhaps only, direct competitor, Jon Henrik Fjällgren does not dissapoint. The new outfit he has decided to wear for this performance fits the song perfectly, and his singing is without error. He doesn’t dare to include the longer, higher note however, that he experimented with during rehearsals.
20:20 – Dinah Nah – ‘Make Me (La La La)’
During Andra Chansen, Dinah Nah said she and her direct competition, Dolly Style, were probably aiming for the same target group of voters: young girls. Tonight, she’s gonna have to share their attention with many more acts, but in order to convince them to vote for her, she’s put in her best effort so far. Full of energy and vocally stronger than she’s been in earlier performances, Dinah Nah’s put on a good, solid show, no matter what her result might end up being.
20:17 – JTR – ‘Building It Up’
Up next it’s the boyband JTR, and ‘Building It Up’. Vocally, the boys need each other for support, but as the confetti rains down on the audience, their honest enthusiasm truly comes across on the screen. Probably not a huge jury-favourite, but their many young, female fans are bound to supply them with some votes.
20:15 – Filippa Bark
For the first time tonight, we catch a glimpse of Filippa Bark, probably the most controversial act in the 2015 Melodifestivalen. She tells a few Swedish jokes, to the great amusement of the audience in the arena.
20:11 – Samir & Victor – ‘Groupie’
‘If we win Melodifestivalen, we will go bungeejumping in Thailand!’, Samir and Victor tell the audience. To officially start tonight’s competition, they perform their song ‘Groupie’ as energetic as ever. Both men are wearing t-shirts that read ‘#slutanäthata’ , or ‘stop internet hate’, on the back. To add something to their performance, they let themselves fall backwards from their LED-block tower at the end of the song. It’s unlikely that they can be considered a serious competitor for the victory, but at least the 2015 final is off to a happy start!
20:00 – Nu kör vi!
The Melodifestivalen 2015 final has officially kicked off! The first performance of the evening is Eurovision’s reigning winner, Conchita Wurst, with hosts Sanna Nielsen and Robin Paulsson. Together, they perform a new version of ‘The Final Countdown’. Afterwards, Conchita Wurst performs her 2014 winning entry, ‘Rise Like a Phoenix’.
19:50 – Only moments away…
Welcome to this ESC Daily liveblog! We’re on location in the Friends Arena, ready to keep you up to date on what’s happening in the final of one of Europe’s biggest preselection events!
13:45 – Final dress rehearsal
This afternoon, the second and final dress rehearsal in front of a live audience took place. For both the artists and the production team a good opportunity to dot the i’s and cross the t’s, because the Friends Arena was almost completely sold out. Aside from a slight technical mishap during the voting procedure, the show proceeded without interruptions.
Based on the audience’s response, the closest battle tonight will be between Måns Zelmerlöw and Hasse Andersson, while the mock-up vote was won by Samir & Viktor.