Sweden was represented at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2014 The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 was the 59th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the with the song "Only Teardrops" by Emmelie de Forest. Organised by the European B ...

with the song "

Undo Undo is an interaction technique which is implemented in many computer programs. It erases the last change done to the document, reverting it to an older state. In some more advanced programs, such as graphic processing, undo will negate the las ...

", written by

Fredrik Kempe Fredrik Kempe (born 29 April 1972) is a Swedish songwriter and opera and pop singer, who was born in Vårgårda. He has participated in Swedish versions of the musicals ''Les Misérables'' and ''Chess''. In 2002, Kempe had a hit with ''Vincerò' ...

David Kreuger David Kreuger is a Swedish songwriter and music producer. Career David Kreuger began at Cheiron Studios in the spring of 1993. During the period 1993-1997, he worked with Per Magnusson on several projects. Together, they produced and wrote s ...

, and Hamed "K-One" Pirouzpanah, and performed by

Sanna Nielsen Sanna Viktoria Nielsen (born 27 November 1984) is a Sweden, Swedish singer, television presenter and musical theatre performer. On her seventh attempt, she won Melodifestivalen 2014, Melodifestivalen in 2014 with the song "Undo (Sanna Nielsen so ...

. The Swedish participating broadcaster, (SVT), organised the national final in order to select its entry for the contest. After a six-week-long competition consisting of four heats, a Second Chance round and a final, "Undo" performed by Sanna Nielsen emerged as the winner after achieving the highest score following the combination of votes from eleven international jury groups and a public vote. Sweden was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 6 May 2014. Performing during the show in position 4, "Undo" was announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 10 May. It was later revealed that Sweden placed second out of the 15 participating countries in the semi-final with 131 points. In the final, Sweden performed in position 13 and placed third out of the 26 participating countries with 218 points.

Background

Prior to the 2014 contest, (SR) until 1979, and (SVT) since 1980, had participated in 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 ...

representing Sweden fifty-three times since SR's first entry in . Sweden had won the contest on five occasions: in with the song "

Waterloo Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo, 1815 battle where Napoleon's French army was defeated by Anglo-allied and Prussian forces * Waterloo, Belgium Waterloo may also refer to: Other places Australia * Waterloo, New South Wale ...

" performed by

ABBA ABBA ( ) were a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. They are one of the most popular and successful musical groups of all time, and are one of the List ...

, in with the song "

Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" is a song recorded by Swedish trio Herreys – brothers Per, Louis, and Richard Herrey – with music composed by Torgny Söderberg and Swedish lyrics written by Britt Lindeborg. It was produced by Anders Engb ...

" performed by

Herreys Herreys (), sometimes Herrey's or Herrey, is a Swedish pop group, consisting of the three brothers Per Herrey (born 9 August 1958), Richard Herrey (born 19 August 1964), and Louis Herrey (born 3 November 1966). They won the Eurovision Song C ...

, in with the song "

Fångad av en stormvind "Fångad av en stormvind" (; "Captured by a Storm Wind") is a song recorded by Swedish singer Carola, written and produced by Stephan Berg. It in the Eurovision Song Contest 1991 held in Rome, winning the contest, having previously won 's M ...

" performed by

Carola Carola is a female given name, the Latinized form of the Germanic given names Caroline or Carol. People named Carola include: Acting * Carola Braunbock (1924–1978), Czech-born East German actress * Carola Höhn (1910–2005), German actre ...

, in with the song "

Take Me to Your Heaven Tusen och en natt is a 1999 album from Swedish dansband Wizex Wizex is a Swedish dansband formed in Osby in 1973. It purchased the rights to the name from a band that started as ''Ulrik Wittmans Kvintett'' in 1957''.'' When Ulrik Wittman left th ...

" performed by

Charlotte Nilsson Anna Jenny Charlotte Perrelli (; ; born 7 October 1974), known until 2003 by her maiden name, is a Swedish singer and television host. Under her maiden name, she won the 1999 Melodifestivalen and subsequently that year's Eurovision Song Conte ...

, and in with the song "

Euphoria Euphoria ( ) is the experience (or affect) of pleasure or excitement and intense feelings of well-being and happiness. Certain natural rewards and social activities, such as aerobic exercise, laughter, listening to or making music and da ...

" performed by

Loreen Lorine Zineb Nora Talhaoui (born 16 October 1983), known professionally as Loreen (), is a Swedish singer and songwriter. Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest, Representing Sweden, she won the Eurovision Song Contest in Eurovision Song Conte ...

. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, Sweden's entries, to this point, have featured in every final except for

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

when the nation failed to qualify. In

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, Sweden placed fourteenth in the contest with the song "

You In Modern English, the word "''you''" is the second-person pronoun. It is grammatically plural, and was historically used only for the dative case, but in most modern dialects is used for all cases and numbers. History ''You'' comes from ...

" performed by

Robin Stjernberg Robin James Olof Stjernberg (; born 22 February 1991, Hässleholm, Sweden) is a Swedish pop singer, songwriter and producer. He represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 on home soil on 18 May 2013 with the song "You". Stjernberg s ...

. As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, SVT organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. Since 1959, SR first and SVT later have organised the annual competition in order to select their entries for the contest.

Before Eurovision

Melodifestivalen 2014

''Melodifestivalen 2014'' was the Swedish music competition that selected Sweden's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. 32 competed in a six-week-long process which consisted of four heats on 1, 8, 15 and 22 February 2014, a second chance round on 1 March 2014, and a final on 8 March 2014. The six shows were hosted by

Nour El-Refai Nour El Refai (born 14 November 1987) is a Swedish actress and comedian. She became known for her participation in the candid-camera show ''Raj Raj'' in 2007 and hosted Melodifestivalen 2014. El Refai has also appeared in several movies such as ...

and

Anders Jansson Lars ''Anders'' Jansson, (born 9 October 1967 in Staffanstorp), is a Swedish comedian known for such TV-shows as Hipp Hipp and the Swedish version of QI. Jansson, as well as his close companion Johan Wester, started out his entertaining care ...

. Eight songs competed in each heat—the top two qualified directly to the final, while the third and fourth placed songs qualified to the second chance round. The bottom four songs in each heat were eliminated from the competition. An additional two songs qualified to the final from the second chance round. The results in the heats and second chance round were determined exclusively by public televoting, while the overall winner of the competition was selected in the final through the combination of a public vote and the votes from eleven international jury groups. Among the competing artists were former Eurovision Song Contest contestants

Helena Paparizou Helena Paparizou (; ; born 31 January 1982) is a Swedish-Greek singer, and television personality. Born and raised in Sweden to Greek parents, she launched her singing career in Sweden in 1999 as a member of the laïko (Greek folk music) and Eur ...

who represented Greece in 2001 as part of the duo

Antique An antique () is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely to describe any object that i ...

as well as in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

which she won,

Martin Stenmarck Martin Olof Jon Stenmarck (born 3 October 1972) is a Swedish singer, musician, and voice actor. He represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with the song "Las Vegas (Martin Stenmarck song), Las Vegas", finishing 19th with 30 point ...

who represented Sweden in 2005,

Andreas Lundstedt Björn Helge Andreas Lundstedt (born 20 May 1972) is a Swedish singer, best known as a member of the pop-dance group Alcazar. Biography Born in Uppsala, Sweden, since childhood, Lundstedt had wanted to be a singer. At the age of five, he took ...

(participating as a member of Alcazar) who represented Switzerland in 2006 and Sylvester Schlegel who represented Sweden in 2007 as part of the group The Ark.

Heats and Second Chance round

*The first heat took place on 1 February 2014 at the

Malmö Arena Malmö Arena is a multi-purpose List of indoor arenas, indoor arena in Malmö, Sweden, and the venue for home games of Swedish Hockey League, SHL ice hockey team Malmö Redhawks. It is the largest arena in the SHL, and the List of indoor arenas ...

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 ...

. " To the End" performed by

Yohio Kevin Johio Lucas Rehn Eires (born 12 July 1995), known professionally as Yohio (stylized as YOHIO), is a Swedish singer and songwriter. He is best known for his performances as Yohio, wearing a lolita dress in previous years, with an androgyn ...

and "

Songbird A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 5,00 ...

" performed by Ellen Benediktson qualified directly to the final, while "

Survivor Survivor(s) may refer to: * one who survives Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Survivors, characters in the 1997 KKnD series#Armies, ''KKnD'' video-game series * ''The Survivors'', or the ''New Survivors Foundation'', a fictional ...

" performed by

and "Bröder" performed by

Linus Svenning Linus Martin Tommy Svenning (born 13 April 1990) is a Swedish singer and songwriter who participated in Melodifestivalen 2014, the selection process for picking the Swedish entry to the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Bröder". He sang i ...

qualified to the Second Chance round. "Aleo" performed by Mahan Moin, "Casanova" performed by

Elisa Lindström Eva Elisa Lindström (born 24 April 1991) is a Swedish pop and country music singer, and the lead singer for the dansband Elisa's. Career As part of the music group Lali, she participated in Lilla Melodifestivalen in 2005, where their song tit ...

, "Bedroom" performed by

Alvaro Estrella Álvaro Raúl Estrella Zapata (born 14 August 1980) is a Swedish singer and dancer of Chilean origin who has participated four times in Melodifestivalen (2014, 2020, 2021 and 2022), the selection process for picking the Swedish entry to the Euro ...

, and "Bygdens son" performed by Sylvester Schlegel were eliminated. *The second heat took place on 8 February 2014 at the Cloetta Center in

Linköping Linköping ( , ) is a city in southern Sweden, with around 167,000 inhabitants as of 2024. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Chu ...

. "

" performed by

and "Efter solsken" performed by Panetoz qualified directly to the final, while "När änglarna går hem" performed by

and "Love Trigger" performed by J.E.M qualified to the Second Chance round. "Hallelujah" performed by The Refreshments, "Glow" performed by Manda, "I Am Somebody" performed by Pink Pistols, and "Set Yourself Free" performed by Little Great Things were eliminated. *The third heat took place on 15 February 2014 at the

Scandinavium Scandinavium () is an indoor arena located in Gothenburg, Sweden. Construction on Scandinavium began in 1969 after decades of setbacks, and was inaugurated on 18 May 1971. Scandinavium has been selected as a championship arena at least fifty t ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

. "Yes We Can" performed by

Oscar Zia Oscar Zia (born 10 October 1996) is a Swedish singer, songwriter, and actor. In 2012, he first came to national attention for coming eighth in the Swedish version of ''X Factor (Swedish TV series), X Factor''. In 2014, Zia finished as runner-up ...

and " Busy Doin' Nothin'" performed by

Ace Wilder Alice Kristina Ingrid Gernandt (born 23 July 1982), better known by her stage name Ace Wilder, is a Swedish singer and songwriter. She first received public attention with her participation in Melodifestivalen 2014 with the song " Busy Doin' No ...

qualified directly to the final, while "All We Are" performed by State of Drama and "Echo" performed by

Outtrigger Outtrigger may refer to: * Outtrigger (video game), a 1999 video game * Outtrigger (band), a Swedish metal band See also * Outrigger An outrigger is a projecting structure on a boat, with specific meaning depending on types of vessel. Ou ...

qualified to the Second Chance round. "Red" performed by Eko, "Burning Alive" performed by

Shirley Clamp Shirley Natasja Clamp (born 17 February 1973) is a British-Swedish pop singer. She has achieved four Top 10 singles in Sweden including a Number 1 with " Med hjärtat fyllt av ljus" in 2009, and three Top 10 albums. She has competed seven times ...

, "En enkel sång" performed by

CajsaStina Åkerström CajsaStina Åkerström (born 16 August 1967) is a Swedish singer-songwriter, painter and author. She is the daughter of singer Fred Åkerström. Biography Her debut album was released by Warner Music in 1994. Åkerström has since released thr ...

, and "Around the World" performed by Dr. Alban feat.

Jessica Folcker Jessica Elisabeth Angelique Folcker (born 9 July 1975), known professionally as Jessica, is a Swedish singer. Her debut album ''Jessica'' in 1998 used her mononym, whereas follow up album ''Dino'' credited Jessica Folcker. Her following albums ...

were eliminated. *The fourth heat took place on 22 February 2014 at the

Fjällräven Center Fjällräven ( Swedish for "the arctic fox"; ) is a Swedish brand specialising in outdoor equipment—mostly clothing and luggage. The company was founded in 1960 by Åke Nordin (1936–2013) from Örnsköldsvik in Northern Sweden. The c ...

Örnsköldsvik Örnsköldsvik (; ), often shortened to just Ö-vik, is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Örnsköldsvik Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden, with 32,953 inhabitants in 2017. Its natural harbour and archipelago is in th ...

. " Blame It on the Disco" performed by Alcazar and "Natural" performed by

Anton Ewald Anton Kim Ewald (born 7 August 1993) is a Swedish singer and dancer. He has participated in Melodifestivalen several times as both a background dancer and singer. Career Ewald began his career as a background dancer at Melodifestivalen. In Melo ...

qualified directly to the final, while "En himmelsk sång" performed by Ellinore Holmer and "Raise Your Hands" performed by Ammotrack qualified to the Second Chance round. "Fight Me If You Dare" performed by I.D.A, "Hollow" performed by

Janet Leon Janet Ava Owji (born 19 October 1990), also known by her stage name OWJI and her former stage name Janet Leon, is a Swedish singer, songwriter and Artists and repertoire, A&R. Leon began her career as part of the pop group Play (Swedish group), ...

, "Hela natten" performed by

Josef Johansson Josef Johansson (born 10 June 1993) is a Tunisian-Swedish pop singer and songwriter. Born in Tunisia where he began singing as a young singer at age 6, he was raised in Gothenburg, Sweden. He later moved to Stockholm and appeared in a number of r ...

, and "Ta mig" performed by

Linda Bengtzing Linda Birgitta Bengtzing (born 13 March 1974) 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, 2014, 2016, 2020 and 2022. ...

were eliminated. *The Second Chance round (''Andra chansen'') took place on 1 March 2014 at the

Sparbanken Lidköping Arena Sparbanken Lidköping Arena is an indoor arena in Lidköping, Sweden. It is the home arena for the bandy team, Villa Lidköping BK. The normal capacity of the arena is 4,500 for bandy games and 12,500 for concerts, and the arena was opened on Dece ...

Lidköping Lidköping () is a locality and the seat of Lidköping Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had about 40,000 inhabitants in 2021. It is situated on the southern shore of Lake Vänern and sometimes refers to itself as "Lidkö ...

. "

" performed by

and "Bröder" performed by

qualified to the final.

Final

The final was held on 8 March 2014 at the

Friends Arena Nationalarenan, known as Strawberry Arena since 2024 for sponsorship reasons, is a retractable roof multi-purpose stadium in Stockholm, Sweden. Located next to the lake Råstasjön in Solna, just north of the City Centre, it is the largest stadi ...

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 ...

. Ten songs competed—two qualifiers from each of the four preceding heats and two qualifiers from the Second Chance round. The combination of points from a viewer vote and eleven international jury groups determined the winner. The viewers and the juries each had a total of 473 points to award. The nations that comprised the international jury were Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Russia, Spain and The United Kingdom. "

" performed by

was selected as the winner with 212 points.

At Eurovision

To ensure fair ticket distribution in the Nordic region for the semi-finals, the Eurovision Reference Group, at the request by the host broadcaster for the 2014 contest DR, held a draw at the

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; , UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations in countries within the European Broadcasting Area (EBA) or who are member states of the Council of Europe, members of the ...

headquarters in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

in November 2013 where Sweden was drawn to compete in the first semi-final on 6 May 2014. During the semi-final allocation draw on 20 January 2014 at the

Copenhagen City Hall Copenhagen City Hall () is the headquarters of the Copenhagen City Council as well as the Lord mayor of the Copenhagen Municipality, Denmark. The building is situated on City Hall Square in central Copenhagen. Architecture The current building ...

, Sweden was drawn to compete in the first half of the first semi-final. In the first semi-final, the producers of the show decided that Sweden would perform 4th, following

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

and preceding

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. Sweden qualified from first semi-final and competed in the final on 10 May 2014. During the winner's press conference for the first semi-final qualifiers, Sweden was allocated to compete in the first half of the final. In the final, the producers of the show decided that Sweden would perform 13th, following

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and preceding

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Sweden placed 3rd in the final, scoring 218 points. On stage, Sanna Nielsen was joined by five backing vocalists: Britta Bergström, Jeanette Ohlsson, Thérèse Löf Amberg, Dea Norberg and Jessica Marberger. The Swedish performance focused on Sanna alone on stage surrounded by lights which eventually shone on a large glitter ball on the ceiling. In Sweden, both the semi-finals and the final were broadcast on

SVT1 SVT1 (SVT Ett; commonly referred to as Ettan) is the primary television station of the Swedish public service broadcaster Sveriges Television in Sweden. History Television in Sweden officially launched on 4 September 1956 with the launch of '' ...

with commentary by

Malin Olsson Malin Isabel Sofie Dos Santos Cardoso Olsson (born 19 March 1982) is a Swedish actress, former singer and beauty pageant titleholder. Career Olsson was crowned Miss Sweden in 2001, Olsson went on to represent Sweden in Miss Universe 2001 in Pue ...

and

Edward af Sillén Edward af Sillén (born 25 September 1982 in Blumenau, Santa Catarina, Brazil) is a Swedish screenwriter and director for stage, film and TV. He has translated and directed numerous successful theatre shows including ''Twelfth Night'' by William ...

. The shows were also broadcast via radio on

Sveriges Radio P4 P4 (''pe fyra'') is a national radio channel produced by the Swedish public broadcaster Sveriges Radio. P4 was started in 1987 as a network of regional stations, but national programming was added in 1993 when P3 was relaunched as a specialist you ...

with commentary by Carolina Norén and Ronnie Ritterland. The Swedish spokespersons revealing the result of the Swedish vote in the final was Alcazar.

Voting

Points awarded to Sweden

Points awarded by Sweden

Detailed voting results

The following members comprised the Swedish jury: * Michael Cederberg (jury chairperson)playlist manager P3 radio, radio host * Robert Sehlbergmusic director at RIX FM radio *

singer * dancer, choreographer, creative director * Elli Flemströmartist, member of J.E.M

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 2014

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014

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