"Hero"
Single by Charlotte Perrelli
from the album Hero
A-side"Hero"
B-side"Hero (Instrumental)"
ReleasedFebruary 2008
Recorded2007
Genre
Length2:56
LabelUniversal Music
Songwriter(s)
Charlotte Perrelli singles chronology
"Jag är tillbaka"
(2007) 		"Hero"
(2008)
Eurovision Song Contest 2008 entry
Country
Artist(s)
Language
English
Composer(s)
Lyricist(s)
Fredrik Kempe
Finals performance
Semi-final result
12th (back-up jury)
Semi-final points
54
Final result
18th
Final points
47
Entry chronology
◄ "The Worrying Kind" (2007)
"La voix" (2009) ►

"Hero" is a 2008 pop song performed by the Swedish singer Charlotte Perrelli, written by Fredrik Kempe and Bobby Ljunggren. It was entered into the Melodifestivalen 2008, winning at the Globen arena on 15 March 2008.[1] Due to this, it represented Sweden at the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade, Serbia.

The single "Hero" was released on 12 March 2008. It topped the Swedish Singles chart, and was certified Gold, in recognition of 10,000 copies sold. After the contest, it was certified Platinum, as 40,000 copies sold.[2] The song entered the 3rd place at Svensktoppen on 13 April 2008, and it stayed on the chart for eight weeks until 1 June 2008 peaking at #3. The Swedish single top 100, she peaked at #1 for 5 weeks, and left the charts after 19 weeks. Her position in the 'best of all time' is #503 with 769 points.

Melodifestivalen and Eurovision

See also: Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008
Perrelli performing "Hero" at the Eurovision Song Contest.

"Hero" participated in the fourth heat of the 2008 Melodifestivalen which was held on 1 March 2008 at the Telenor Arena in Karlskrona. The song was the last of the eight competing entries to perform and directly qualified to the contest final as one of the two songs song which received the most telephone votes.[3] On 15 March, during the final held at the Globe Arena in Stockholm, Perrelli was the first of the ten competing acts to perform, and "Hero" won the contest with 224 points, receiving the highest number of votes from the regional juries and the second-highest number of votes from the viewing public.[4][5]

During the month of April and part of May, Perrelli went on a promotional tour through Europe. She visited Germany, Belgium, Albania, Montenegro, Serbia and the Netherlands. The single was released to radio stations in those countries to which she competed in the semifinal.[6] She originally planned to visit Russia as well, but she didn't receive a visa in time and her tour there was cancelled.[7]

Perrelli made it through the semifinal on 22 May in Eurovision Song Contest 2008 as the jury wildcard and competed in the final.[8] She competed as number 15, the same that she had in 1999, when she won with "Take Me to Your Heaven".[9] However, she only managed to finish 18th out of 25 entries with 47 points.

Music video

The Music video was shot in Stockholm on 14 April 2008, and the filming went on for two days. Among other shooting spots some of the scenes were filmed in the room of Globen Arena.[10] During the shoot Perrelli was assisted by a personal make-up artist and stylist, ten cameramen, and her sister, Kina Björk.[10]

The music video was officially released on 7 May 2008.

Cover versions

Track listing

  1. "Hero"
  2. "Hero" (instrumental version)

Chart positions

Chart (2008) Peak
position
European Hot 100 Singles[12] 86
Finnish Singles Chart[13] 18
Swedish Singles Chart[14] 1
Danish Singles Chart[15] 24
Swiss Singles Chart[16] 65
Norwegian Singles Chart[17] 20
Hungarian Airplay Chart[18] 4
Turkish Singles Chart[19] 20

Year-end charts

Chart (2008) Position
Swedish Singles Chart[20] 1
Chart (2009) Position
Hungarian Singles Chart[21] 18

Release history

Country Date
Sweden (Download) February 2008
Sweden[22] 12 March 2008
Norway[23]
Denmark[24]
Finland[25]
Belgium[26] Spring 2008
Austria[26]
Netherlands[26]
China[27] Autumn 2008
Poland[27]
Hungary[27]

References

  1. ^ (in Swedish)Charlotte Perrelli vann finalen
  2. ^ ""Hero" har sålt platina - Nöje - Expressen.se". Archived from the original on 2008-05-14. Retrieved 2008-06-04.
  3. ^ Klier, Marcus (1 March 2008). "Eurovision Sweden: the results of the fourth semi final - ESCToday.com". ESCToday. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
  4. ^ Klier, Marcus (9 March 2008). "Eurovision Sweden: the running order for Melodifestivalen final - ESCToday.com". ESCToday. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
  5. ^ "Charlotte Perrelli wins Melodifestivalen!". Eurovision.tv. 15 March 2008. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
  6. ^ (in Swedish)Nu intar Perrelli Europa (Aftonbladet.se)
  7. ^ (in Swedish)Ryska byråkrater stoppar Perrelli (Expressen.se)
  8. ^ (in Swedish)Perrelli:Det känns helt fantastiskt underbart (Expressen.se) Archived 2008-05-25 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ (in Swedish)Perrelli drog sitt lyckonummer (Expressen.se) Archived 2008-05-25 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ a b (in Swedish)Charlottes lyxvideo (Expressen.se) Archived 2008-04-20 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ Olle Kvarnsmyr (10 November 2018). "Linnea Henrikssons kupp" (in Swedish). Aftonbladet. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  12. ^ European Hot 100 Singles Chart
  13. ^ Lista – Suomen virallinen lista
  14. ^ swedishcharts.com - Charlotte Perrelli - Hero
  15. ^ danishcharts.dk - Charlotte Perrelli - Hero
  16. ^ Swiss chart w.22
  17. ^ VG-list week 22/2008
  18. ^ "Hungarian Airplay Chart". Mahasz.hu. Retrieved 2008-09-11.
  19. ^ Turkish Top 20 Chart Archived 2009-03-05 at the Wayback Machine
  20. ^ "Swedish year-end chart 2008". Archived from the original on 2011-07-19. Retrieved 2011-08-29.
  21. ^ "Éves összesített listák - MAHASZ Rádiós TOP 100 (súlyozott)". Mahasz. Mahasz.
  22. ^ CDON.COM - Nordens största butik på nätet Archived 2008-04-24 at the Wayback Machine
  23. ^ Cdon.Com Archived 2008-04-22 at the Wayback Machine
  24. ^ Cdon.Com Archived 2008-04-15 at the Wayback Machine
  25. ^ Cdon.Com Archived 2008-04-04 at the Wayback Machine
  26. ^ a b c "Rekord Perrelli (Expressen.se)". Archived from the original on 2008-04-20. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
  27. ^ a b c Perrelli lanseras i Kina (Aftonbladet.se)

External links

Charlotte Perrelli
Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest 2008
Categories