FeaturesRotterdam 2021🇸🇪 Sweden

🇸🇪 Efraim Leo: “I hope everyone at home will get up and dance to my song” [INTERVIEW]

He will compete with "Best Of Me"

Before taking the stage in the fourth semi-final with his entry “Best Of Me”, we had a chance to speak with Efraim Leo about his song, the performance, what he has been doing so far, and what is next. His song was written by Amanda Björkegren, Herman Gardarfve, Cornelia Jakobsdotter and Efraim Leo himself.

“Writing music turned into my therapy when I started at the age of 15”

When you just get to know Efraim, you should know, that he grew up in a musical family and was around music his whole life. He did a small busking tour in the UK following “The Vamps” to 13 different cities and performed in front of the venues for the waiting crowd and he was the opening act for Icona Pop at the summer festivals last summer.

When everything shut down at the beginning of last year it was, of course, sad, but he used the time to write a lot of music. He feels happy, that he still has the chance to go to the studio to record music, but he can not wait to get finally back out there.

Next to his love for music, he is also a big movie fan. When he was younger he even created short movies with his friends. He loves Christoper Nolan as a Director. He names “Interstellar” and “Inception” as two of his favorite movies. Another thing he loves are video games.

Songwriting

He started writing music at the age of 15. As he talked about the reason he started so young, he shared, that writing music was like therapy for him. It was a way to express his feeling when he went through some difficult times in school. Efraim said that writing music really helped him to evolve as a person. In the beginning, he did not show his music to anyone. This changed, when he saw, that a lot of people can relate to his music and the things they also went through.

Efraim names Justin Bieber as one artist he learned a lot from and also was his idol when he started writing music. Later on, it was Ed Sheeran who really inspired him in songwriting, and Post Malone was also an artist that he looks up to.

Efraim is currently signed to Elaine Records and he is the only artist signed there at the moment. His manager started that label to get Efraims music out. He did not have a record deal last summer, when he was putting out his “Timing EP”, so she created the label to help Efraim get is music out.

Melodifestivalen 2021

His Melodifestivalen 2021 entry came together at a songwriting camp for the competition. He worked with Herman before, but it was his first time working with Amanda and Cornelia. Efraim got teamed up with them and it just worked out great in the studio. He always wanted to be part of Melfest, but “Best Of Me” was his first try to get into the show.

© Stina Stjernkvist/SVT for Melodifestivalen 2021

The only thing he can say about his performance is, that it is modern and that two dancers join him on stage for the performance. “Best Of Me” is a pop song with an uplifting sound, but the lyrics are sad and emotional. The song is about leaving a person, that you really love, but you also know they are not good for you. He hopes that people will get up and dance in their living rooms when he performs in Melfest! Depending on the success of his song, he might be down to make a music video for it. (Fingers crossed!)

It will not be the same energy with no audience at the show, but this makes him also less nervous and lets him concentrate on the cameras during his performance. It is sad, but he also sees the good side of this.

You can watch the full interview with Efraim Leo below:

Efraim will be performing 3rd in the 4th semi-final of Melodifestivalen 2021 for a place in the final. The show is due to take place on the 27th February 2021.

Are you excited to see Efraim in the competition? How do you think he will do in this year’s edition of Melodifestivalen? Let us know! Be sure to stay updated by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter@escxtra on Instagram and liking our Facebook page for the latest updates! Also, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to see our reactions to the over the news coming months.

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