"It Hurts" is a song recorded by Swedish singer Lena Philipsson. It was written by Thomas "Orup" Eriksson and produced by Anders Hansson for Philipsson's studio album '' Det gör ont en stund på natten men inget på dan'' (2004). It is the best known as the winning song of Melodifestivalen 2004, where it was performed in Swedish as "Det gör ont" (; "It Hurts"), and as 's entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2004, where it finished in fifth place with 170 points.

Melodifestivalen

Philipsson had previously entered

Melodifestivalen Melodifestivalen (; ) is an annual song competition organised by Swedish public broadcasters Sveriges Television (SVT) and Sveriges Radio (SR). It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest, and has been staged almo ...

, the Swedish national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, in 1986,

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

and 1988, finishing in second, fifth and second place, respectively. She also competed in

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

and in

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

as a songwriter. In 2004, Philipsson entered Melodifestivalen for the fourth time as a performer, with "Det gör ont", written by Orup. She first performed in the semi-final four at the Malmömässan in

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

and qualified for the final with a total of 134,189 votes. Philipsson then went on to win the final at the Globen in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, having received most points from both the jury and the televote.

Eurovision Song Contest

Since Sweden had placed fifth in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2003 The Eurovision Song Contest 2003 was the 48th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Riga, Latvia, following the country's victory at the with the song " I Wanna" by Marie N. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) ...

, Philipsson qualified directly to the final of the 2004 contest, held in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, Turkey. She performed at the 24th position—the last in the final—and eventually placed fifth with 170 points. Philipsson performed "It Hurts", the English-language version of the song, at Eurovision.

Commercial performance

The Swedish-language version of the song reached number-one on both

Svensktoppen ''Svensktoppen'' () is a weekly record chart airing on Sveriges Radio. Until January 2003, the songs had to be in the Swedish language. Svensktoppen has aired since 1962, except for the years 1982–1985. In the years leading up to the January 20 ...

and

Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan (, lit. "the Sweden top list") is the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from IFPI Sverige. It was formerly known as Topplistan (1975–1997) and Hitlistan (1998–2007) and has been known by its current name si ...

, and was certified

platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

. Following the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

, the English-language version charted in Belgium and Turkey.

Track listing

"Det gör ont" # "Det gör ont" — 3:00 # "Det gör ont (Instrumental)" — 3:00 "It Hurts" # "It Hurts" — 3:00 # "It Hurts (Instrumental)" — 3:00

Charts and certifications

Chart positions

Certifications

Cover versions

* Finnish musician M.A. Numminen covered the song in 2008. * Taiwanese pop singer

Jolin Tsai Jolin Tsai I-lin ( zh, c=蔡依林, p=Cài Yīlín; born September 15, 1980), also romanized as Jolin Cai, is a Taiwanese people, Taiwanese singer, songwriter, and actress. Recognized as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of C-Pop ...

covered the single under the title "Slow Life" for the 2009 album ''

Butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

''.

References

External links

"Det gör ont"
an
"It Hurts"
at

Svensk mediedatabas Svensk mediedatabas (''Swedish Media Database'') is a search engine for the audiovisual works of the National Library of Sweden. The database contains data about TV, radio, video, movies that have been shown in cinemas, gramophone records, CDs ...

* The lyrics o
"Det gör ont"
an
"It Hurts"
at Diggiloo.net {{authority control Eurovision songs of 2004 2004 singles Lena Philipsson songs Melodifestivalen songs of 2004 Eurovision songs of Sweden Number-one singles in Sweden Songs written by Orup 2004 songs