ESCXTRA’s 2018 Hopefuls: Sweden

Welcome to our brand new weekly series, ‘ESCXTRA’s 2018 Hopefuls’, in which we will tell you who we would like to see in Eurovision next year! This series will keep you entertained with new music from across Europe every Monday until the national final season begins next year, and may give you somebody new to root for to represent your country!  Today, we look at who we want to see represent Sweden in Eurovision 2018. Let’s get started!

Icona Pop

Icona Pop is one of the most recognisable names in electropop music worldwide! In 2012, they had a breakthrough with their hit single, I Love It. The single was nominated for and won many awards, and since then Icona Pop have released many other singles which have done amazingly in Sweden.

Sweden loves Icona Pop, but it seems that their popularity in the rest of Europe is beginning to dwindle. Representing Sweden in Eurovision could give them a much-needed boost, and they could easily give Sweden their third win in the 10’s!

Darin

Darin is one of Sweden’s best-selling pop artists, with six music albums reaching number one in the Swedish charts! You may recognise Darin from his participation in Melodifestivalen 2010, with his song, You’re Out of My Life. He came fourth in the final, but we think that this is the time for Darin to win!

More recently, he performed his single, Nobody Knows, as part of the interval act for the second semi-final in Eurovision 2013. We think that a return from Darin to Eurovision is quite likely, and we look forward to it greatly!

Miss Li

Miss Li creates pop music with jazz infusions. Her music has been featured in many TV programmes and commercials worldwide, making her incredibly recognisable, even if people don’t actually know who she is!

Her music is something slightly different to usual Eurovision music. Hearing her perform for Sweden in Eurovision could be quite refreshing! Miss Li’s songs are cute and she is a fantastic performer. This could be a perfect combination for Sweden!

Ace Wilder

Mention Ace Wilder to a Eurovision fan and they’ll be bound to know her, and they will either love her or hate her! Her breakthrough came when she participated in Melodifestivalen 2014 with her song, Busy Doin’ Nothin‘. She finished only two points behind the winner, Sanna Nielsen, giving us one of the most nail-biting ends to Melodifestivalen ever!

Ace has participated in Melodifestalen twice more since 2014, in 2016 with Don’t Worry (finishing third), and this year with Wild Child (finishing seventh). Her songs are always popular among Eurovision fans, although Busy Doin’ Nothin’ is mostly considered her best song. We think that if she were to get the right song, she could do very well for Sweden in Eurovision!

Emil Berg

Emil Berg has had just one hit in Sweden: Du swipa höger (You swipe right). The song is modern and catchy, and it’s easy to see how it became a hit! However, since then, Emil hasn’t managed to chart in Sweden. Similarly to Ace, all that Emil needs is to find the right song, one that could become his second hit, and he could win for Sweden in Eurovision!

ISA

ISA is often called “Sweden’s answer to Taylor Swift”. She participated in Melodifestivalen 2015 with her song, Don’t Stop, and quickly became a favourite. However, she only reached seventh place in the final. The next year, she participated again in Melodifestivalen with I Will Wait, but was eliminated in the Andra Chansen round.

ISA’s music is fabulously on-trend, and she is able to do what many already accomplished singers struggle with: singing whilst performing a complicated dance choreography! This is bound to capture viewer’s attention and win her a lot of points for Sweden in Eurovision. Taylor Swift should watch out!

Sarah Dawn Finer

Sarah Dawn Finer has appeared in Melodifestivalen and Eurovision several times; she has entered Melodifestivalen twice and hosted it twice, and commentated on Eurovision Song Contest’s Greatest Hits along with Christer Björkman. She is also very well-known for her character, Lynda Woodruff, an English EBU spokeswoman, which she performed as in several sketches for Eurovision 2013. In the 2013 final, she gave a beautiful rendition of the ABBA song, The Winner Takes It All.

Sarah clearly knows how to perform a massive power-ballad, and we think that we will definitely see her represent Sweden in Eurovision one day! She’s just such an obvious choice and she’s always involved! We look forward to her blowing us away with her voice.

Danny Saucedo

Danny Saucedo has also appeared in Melodifestivalen many times, coming in the top 3 every time! He has released many singles, most of which have done fantastically in the Swedish charts. Now that his fan base has massively improved, this could be the time for Danny to return!

In 2012, he came second to Loreen in Melodifestivalen with Amazing. Since then, particularly in the last year, he has released many chart-topping singles in Sweden. We hope that he is saving one for Melodifestivalen next year, because we would love to see him back!

Agnes

Agnes rose to fame after winning the second season of the Swedish singing competition Idol, beating previous Eurovision winner Måns Zelmerlöw! She is now one of Sweden’s biggest pop artists, and has won 7 awards for her music. Agnes performed Release Me as part of the interval act in the second semi-final of Eurovision 2013.

Agnes has been quiet since 2013, so a comeback might be on the way. She could easily find a song that would be perfect for Sweden in Eurovision. Winning Melodifestivalen would hardly be a struggle for her. In fact, the moment that SVT announce her as participating in Melodifestivalen, it’d probably be a good idea to book your flight to Sweden for Eurovision the year after!

Next week, we will look at who we want to see represent Spain!
What do you think of our hopefuls? Is there anybody else you’d like to see for Sweden in Eurovision? Do the idea of any of these artists excite you? Tell us in the comments below!