Sweden participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "I Can't Go On" written by David Kreuger, Hamed "K-One" Pirouzpanah and Robin Stjernberg. The song was performed by Robin Bengtsson. The Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT) organised the national final Melodifestivalen 2017 in order to select the Swedish entry for the 2017 contest in Kyiv, Ukraine. After a six-week-long competition consisting of four heats, a Second Chance round and a final, "I Can't Go On" performed by Robin Bengtsson emerged as the winner after achieving the highest score following the combination of votes from eleven international jury groups and a public vote.
Sweden was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 9 May 2017. Performing as the opening entry for the show in position 1, "I Can't Go On" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 13 May.
The Swedish national broadcaster, Sveriges Television (SVT), broadcasts the event within Sweden and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. Since 1959, SVT has organised the annual competition Melodifestivalen in order to select the Swedish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest.
Melodifestivalen 2017 is the Swedish music competition that selected Sweden's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017.[2] 28 songs competed in a six-week-long process which would consist of four heats on 4, 11, 18 and 25 February 2017, a second chance round on 4 March 2017, and a final on 11 March 2017.[3] The six shows were hosted by Clara Henry, David Lindgren and Hasse Andersson.[4] Seven 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 three songs in each heat were eliminated from the competition. An additional four songs qualified to the final from the second chance round. The results in the heats and second chance round were determined exclusively by public televote and app voting, 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.
The second heat took place on 11 February 2017 at the Malmö Arena in Malmö. "A Million Years" performed by Mariette and "Good Lovin'" performed by Benjamin Ingrosso qualified directly to the final, while "I Don't Give A" performed by Lisa Ajax and "Hearts Aligned" performed by Dismissed advanced to the Second Chance round. "Himmel och hav" performed by Roger Pontare, "Up" performed by Etzia, and "Vart har du vart" performed by Allyawan were eliminated from the contest.
The final was held on 11 March 2017 at the Friends Arena in Stockholm. Twelve songs competed - two qualifiers from each of the four preceding heats and four 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 Armenia, Australia, Czech Republic, France, Israel, Italy, Malta, Norway, Poland, the United Kingdom and Ukraine.[5][6] Robin Bengtsson emerged as the winner of the national selection with his song "I Can't Go On".
Robin Bengtsson made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "I Can't Go On" as the Swedish Eurovision entry. On 2 April, he performed during the London Eurovision Party, which was held at the Café de Paris venue in London, United Kingdom and hosted by Nicki French. Between 3 and 6 April, Bengtsson took part in promotional activities in Tel Aviv, Israel where he performed during the Israel Calling event held at the Ha'teatron venue.[7][8] On 8 April, Robin Bengtsson performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Selma Björnsdóttir.[9] On 15 April, Bengtsson performed during the Eurovision Spain Pre-Party, which was held at the Sala La Riviera venue in Madrid, Spain.[10]
At Eurovision
Robin Bengtsson during the opening ceremony of Eurovision 2017
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot.[11] On 31 January 2017, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Sweden was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 9 May 2017, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[12]
Once all the competing songs for the 2017 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Sweden was set to open the show and perform in position 1, before the entry from Georgia.[13]
The two semi-finals and the final were televised in Sweden on SVT1 with commentary by Måns Zelmerlöw and Edward af Sillén.[14] The Swedish spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the Swedish jury during the final, was Wiktoria Johansson.[15]
Semi-final
Robin Bengtsson took part in technical rehearsals on 30 April and 4 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 8 and 9 May.[16] This included the jury show on 8 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.
At the end of the show, Sweden was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. It was later revealed that Sweden placed third in the semi-final, receiving a total of 227 points: 103 points from the televoting and 124 points from the juries.[17]
Final
Shortly after the second semi-final, a winners' press conference was held for the ten qualifying countries. As part of this press conference, the qualifying artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. This draw was done in the reverse order the countries appeared in the semi-final running order. Sweden was drawn to compete in the second half. Following this draw, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final, as they had done for the semi-finals. Sweden was subsequently placed to perform in position 24, following the entry from Belgium and before the entry from Bulgaria.[18]
Voting
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Sweden and awarded by Sweden in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:
Sweden
