John Lundvik Wins Melodifestivalen
After six weeks, Melodifestivalen came to a conclusion on Saturday as Sweden chose their Eurovision representative. John Lundvik, who was the favorite going into the final, smashed the competition with 181 points. He received a perfect score from the international jury, and, not surprisingly, also won the Swedish public vote.
The final scores for the final were:
Hanna Ferm and Liamoo– 107
Though the winner was quite clear to those of us who watched, the show was an exciting one due to the special guest stars and interval acts. Last year’s Melodifestivalen winner, Benjamin Ingrosso, opened the show with his friend (and 2018′s runner-up) Felix Sandman.
Dana International, the Israeli performer who won Eurovision in 1998, premiered a duet with Charlotte Perrelli, who won for Sweden in 1999. And Lynda Woodruff was back! A favorite among diehard Eurovision fans, Lynda is a satirical character performed by MelFest host, Sarah Dawn Finer. She’s a silly British woman who works for the EBU and (ironically) knows very little about Eurovision.
All in all, a wonderful show, and a great season of MelFest. Eurovision is two months away and all the entries are shaping up. Sweden always does well, but with John Lundvik as their entry, it’s a real possibility we could be celebrating another Swedish victory in Tel Aviv.