Melodifestivalen 2016 is well and truly underway – Today, SVT announced that they had received 2,450 songs for next year’s competition.
At precisely 08:59, the broadcaster stopped allowing submissions and revealed that they had received 1,982 entries for the regular competition – the pool that regular composers who have previously released material fall under. The remaining 468 songs proceed to the public contest, for composers who are yet to publicly release their work.
Melodifestivalen’s executive producer, Christer Björkman commented on the submissions. “It’s more than last year and it’s probably due to the ESC effect. I have high hopes and hope we have a winner on home ground in May”.
The next step is a long one as each song is evaluated by a professional jury and whittled down to just 14. SVT will then begin discussions with a further 13 artists who they would like to see in next year’s competition. These artists can either be from the list of submissions or by invitation.
By late November, these 27 acts will join Smajling Swedes – the winners of this year’s Svensktoppen Nästa contest who have guaranteed themselves a place in next year’s competition. A press conference will be organised by SVT to publicly announce the artists as well as their competing song titles.
