STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN – Following the announcement of the four semifinal participants for 2016 Melodifestivalen edition, we at oikotimes.com make a tribute to the participants most of them known the Eurofans from previous participations. Let’s see who’s back in the bidding to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest. Martin Stenmarck, Molly Sanden and Krista Siegfrieds highlight the big return to the contest
Samir & Viktor
Samir & Viktor or Samir och Viktor is a Swedish music duo that consists of Paradise Hotel contestant Samir Badran and fashion blogger Viktor Frisk. Samir & Viktor participated in Melodifestivalen 2015 with the song “Groupie”, the song finished 8th in the Final.
Robin Bengtsson
Robin Bengtsson (born 1990 in Svenljunga, Sweden) is a Swedish singer who took part in Swedish Idol 2008 finisheing third behind winner Kevin Borg and runner-up Alice Svensson. In mid-2009, he was signed by Merion Music label releasing the single “Another Lover’s Gone”. Bengtsson was also a guest of Katrin Zytomierska’s programs Idol 2008: Eftersnack and ZTV program Sexuellt.
Ace Wilder
Alice Kristina Ingrid Gernandt (born 23 July 1982 in Stockholm) better known by her stage name Ace Wilder, is a Swedish singer and songwriter who’s best known for taking part in Melodifestivalen 2014.
Anna Book
She has participated in Melodifestivalen, the contest to select Sweden’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, a total of three times. At the first Melodifestivalen 2007 semifinal on 3 February in Jönköping, Book’s song “Samba Sambero” was the second song announced as a finalist. The song then went on and finished ninth and second last in the final, where it received one point.
Pernilla Andersson
Andersson sings “Blå vägen hem” on Svante Thuresson’s album Svante Thuresson & vänner. She wrote the music of Thuresson’s album Nya kickar and she produced his two last albums. As pianist she has been touring with Thomas Di Leva. In 2001 she received SKAP’s scholarship. She contested Melodifestivalen 2011 with the song Desperados and came to the “second chance” (andra chansen) but lost. In 2011 she received the Ulla-Billquist-scholarship.
Albin & Mattias Andréasson
Mattias participated in Melodifestivalen 2009 (as member of EMD) and 2012 edition.
Krista Siegfrids
Kristin “Krista” Siegfrids (born 4 December 1985) is a Finnish singer. She represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 with her entry “Marry Me”. Siegfrids’ debut album, named Ding Dong!, was released in May 2013.
Molly Pettersson Hammar
In September 2011 Molly took part in the eighth season of Idol. In the Quarter-Finals she sang Alicia Keys’ “A Woman’s Worth”, she finished in the Top 12 and progressed through to the Semi-Final. In the Semi-Final she sang U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Name”, she progressed to the Finals. In the Finals she made it through the final 4 before bing eliminated. Hammar participated in Melodifestivalen 2015 with the song “I’ll Be Fine”, finishing sixth in the semifinal and being eliminated. The song peaked at number 65 on the Swedish Singles Chart. However the song peaked at number 6 on Digilistan (The Swedish download chart) ahead of the songs that qualified for Andra Chansen.
Isa
Isa Sanna Mattiasdotter Tengblad (born 25 April 1998), known professionally as simply Isa (stylized as ISA) is a Swedish singer and songwriter. She has participated in Småstjärnorna, which is broadcast on TV4, where she imitated singer Jill Johnson. In the summer of 2012 she released the single “Bomb”. She performed the song at Sommarkrysset the same year. In 2014 she released the single “What We Are”. Tengblad participated in Melodifestivalen 2015 with the song “Don’t Stop” in the competition’s third semi-final. She made it to the final in Friends Arena.
David Lindgren
In 2012, he took part in the Swedish Melodifestivalen 2012. In the second heat, his song “Shout It Out” co-written by Fernando Fuentes and Tony Nilssonmade it to the Globen final on March 10, 2012 and finished 4th overall. He participated in Melodifestivalen 2013 with the song “Skyline” co-written by Fernando Fuentes, Henrik Nordenback and Christian Fast. After his performance in an initial semi-final round on February 2, 2013, he finished 1st/2nd – advancing directly to the Melodifestivalen finals which were held on March 9, 2013, where he finished 8th, with 69 points.
Oscar Zia
In 2013, he was in the backing vocals alongside Loulou Lamotte in the Behrang Miri song “Jalla Dansa Sawa” performed at the Melodifestivalen 2013 in the Swedish selection process for Eurovision Song Contest 2013. Although the song failed to make it to the finals after a duel elimination round won by Anton Ewald and his song “Begging”, the song gained great popularity with the Swedish public and the single was released immediately after the competition reaching number 4 on Sverigetopplistan, the official Swedish Singles Chart. In 2014, he took part in Melodifestivalen 2014 this time as a solo singer “Yes We Can” reaching the Final 10 held on 8 March 2014 in a bid to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. He was a member of the Swedish jury in the contest.
Lisa Ajax
On 28 November 2014, she made it to the Idol finals inside the Stockholm Globe Arena. Her recording of the song “Love Run Free” has reached the 48th position at iTunes during its first week at chart. On 5 December 2014, she won the Idol finals ahead of runner-up Mollie Lindén. She also participated at Lilla Melodifestivalen 2012 with the song “Allt som jag har”.
Boris Réne
Boris René Lumbana Kapasa (born 19 June 1991) is a Congolese-born Swedish footballer who plays for Degerfors IF as a defender. His older brother Christian, played also football in the Swedish lower leagues with Örebro SK Ungdom and Karlslunds IF, but Christian retired in Winter 2010 and lives now in Kista. Boris is besides his football career an Alternative Pop Musician, which released on 19. May 2013 his first single Alive.
Martin Stenmarck
Martin Olof Jon Stenmarck (born October 3, 1972 in Täby Municipality, Stockholm County) is a Swedish singer and voice actor. He represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with Las Vegas, finishing 19th with 30 points. In 2006, he released his first single in Swedish, Sjumilakliv, which became one of the year’s biggest hits in Sweden. The single was certified Platinum and spent 10 weeks at #1 on the official Swedish singles chart. The album Nio sanningar och en lögn (Nine truths and one lie) topped the Swedish albums chart and achieved Gold status in the first of its three weeks at #1. He has also embarked on a voice acting career, dubbing animated films. He provided the Swedish voice for Lightning McQueen in the Disney movie Cars. Since 2011 he is also the host of the TV show “Kvällen är din”.
Panetoz
Panetoz took part in Melodifestivalen 2014, the Swedish selection process to pick Sweden’s entry to the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest which is being held in Copenhagen, Denmark. The band presented the song “Efter solsken” (After sunshine) in semi-final 2 held in Linköping on 8 February 2014 qualifying directly to the Final 10 held in Stockholm Friends Arena on March 8, 2014 eventually finishing 9th in the final. Despite its loss, “Efter solsken” proved popular with the Swedish public and the song upon release as a single reached number 4 on Sverigetopplistan, the official Swedish Singles Chart.
Linda Bengtzing
Linda Birgitta Bengtzing (born March 13, 1974 in Gullspång, Sweden) is a Swedish pop singer, famous for her participation in the fourth season of Fame Factory in Sweden and for her entries at Melodifestivalen 2005, 2006, 2008, 2011 and 2014
Dolly Style
Dolly Style are a Swedish pop group. The group was created by Emma Nors and Palle Hammarlund and features three girls all born in 1996 that call themselves Molly, Holly and Polly,[1] The trio claims to originate from a “dollhouse in Dollyville”. The group gets its inspiration from Japanese culture such as fairy kei, gyaru and the lolita subculture. The group participated in Melodifestivalen 2015 with the song “Hello Hi”, in the first semifinal. The group made it to the “Second Chance” round but failed to make it to the Melodifestivalen final.
Molly Sandén
Sandén represented Sweden in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2006, singing Det finaste någon kan få. She received a record position of 3rd place, despite the fact no other Scandinavian countries competed or were eligible to vote. Sandén has also entered Melodifestivalen 2009, the Swedish contest to choose the entry for Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia. Sandén qualified for the Grand Final of Melodifestivalen 2009 with her song Så vill stjärnorna. In the final, she finished in last place only getting two points. These two points came from the international jury. None of the Swedish juries gave her any points and she finished eighth in the public vote out of 11, the highest place of the no pointers. Sandén competed in the third semifinal in Melodifestivalen 2012 and reached the final with her song “Why Am I Crying”, where she came fifth.
