Sweden's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was selected in Melodifestivalen 2006, the Swedish national final. Before the final there were four heats and a second chance round, with all shows presented by Lena Philipsson, Melodifestivalen 2004 winner and Swedish representative at Eurovision 2004. The top two songs in each heat directly qualified for the final, while the 3rd and 4th placed songs went forward to the second-chance round. With the votes from the jury and televote, Carola was chosen to go to Athens for Sweden singing the song "Evighet" (Eternity). The song was written by Thomas G:son and Carola Häggkvist and composed by Thomas G:son, Bobby Ljunggren and Henrik Wikström.
Heats and Second Chance round
The first heat took place on 18 February 2006 at the Ejendals Arena in Leksand. "Sing for Me" performed by Andreas Johnson and "Jag ljuger så bra" performed by Linda Bengtzing qualified directly to the final, while "The Name of Love" performed by Magnus Bäcklund and "Kameleont" performed by Electric Banana Band advanced to the Second Chance round. "Aiayeh (The Music of the Samba)" performed by Simone Moreno, "This Woman" performed by Anna Sahlene, "Kuddkrig" performed by Pandang, and "Naughty Boy" performed by Hannah Graaf were eliminated from the contest.
The second heat took place on 25 February 2006 at the Löfbergs Lila Arena in Karlstad. "Lev livet!" performed by Magnus Carlsson and "I dag och i morgon" performed by Kikki Danielsson qualified directly to the final, while "En droppe regn" performed by Niclas Wahlgren and "Mi amore" performed by Velvet advanced to the Second Chance round. "Oh Yeah" performed by the Elephantz, "Etymon" performed by Sonja Aldén, "Ge mig en kaka till kaffet" performed by Östen med Resten, and "La chica de la copa" performed by Pablo Cepeda were eliminated from the contest.
Her entry in the contest sparked controversy. From the moment she declared that she would be entering the 2006 contest, there were cries that she had just won the contest out of fear of her already established fanbase voting her to victory no matter what she sang. Carola was also criticized for her prior statements about homosexuality and for her use of "personal assistants" who largely controlled what she said and didn't say when she appeared in public.[citation needed]
The controversy of Carolagate was further inflamed by a series of mysterious events during the semi-final from which she qualified (Gothenburg) and during the final in Stockholm itself. Further, during the recap for the voting of the Gothenburg semi-final, the recap of Carola's performance ran for approximately 30 seconds instead of the traditional 10–12.
During the final, people had major problems televoting for several entrants, the brunt of which were revolved around two entrants: Andreas Johnson and BWO, the two entrants who placed 2nd and 3rd. While there were wide reports of people not being able to vote for these two entrants, nobody complained about complications when voting for Carola. Furthermore, during the recap during for voting, SVT used footage from the Gothenburg semi-final when showing Carola's entry, which wouldn't have been so suspicious and noticeable had Carola not had a throat infection which resulted in a less stellar performance than in Gothenburg.[citation needed]
Though not part of the controversy, the aforementioned throat infection persisted, which led to Carola being forced to alter (lower) her vocals for the last stanza (the one with the wailing, which wasn't wailing anymore) when performing "Invincible" in Athens.
At Eurovision
Because Sweden placed 19th at the 2005 contest, Carola was forced to compete in the Eurovision semi-final she performed 20th, following Portugal and preceding Estonia. Sweden finished in 4th place with 214 points, thus qualifying for the final.[1] At the final, Carola performed in 22nd spot and at the end of voting received 170 points and finished in 5th place.[2] It is notable that this is Carola's third top 5 finish in the Eurovision Song Contest (3rd in 1983, 1st in 1991 and 5th in 2006). Also, Carola achieved her 5th place without receiving any 12 points, unlike most other of the top 10 countries that year. Meaning that Sweden automatically qualified for the final in the 2007 contest.
Sweden
