By Aline Mahrud

WHEN?: Saturday 12 February 2022

WHERE?: Scandinavium, Gothenburg WHERE DO I WATCH? SVT Play UPDATE: Covid means Stockholm will now be the venue for all 2022 events

Lundvik (pictured above) is the 2nd of 3 returning former winners to this year’s 60th Melodifestivalen but we wonder whether the 1st trans contestant in its history, Tone Sekelius, closing this heat (read further down this article) might steal the pre-show headlines?

• Read on for reasons including for LIAMOO, Lisa Ajax and Browsing Collection

6. John Lundvik Änglavakt (Angel guard) (Anderz Wrethov, Elin Wrethov, Benjamin Rosenbohm, Fredrik Sonefors, John Lundvik)

Lundvik won Melodifestivalen in 2019 finishing 5th in Tel Aviv, Israel behind winner Duncan Laurence for the Netherlands with Arcade. It was his 2nd tilt at MF finishing 3rd in 2018 with It’s My Turn. In 2019 he was backed memorably by group The Mamas who went on to win MF in 2020 with Move but not represent Sweden because Covid cancelled Eurovision that year.

Lundvik says of his song this year: ‘It’s about relationships between people. It’s a soundtrack for those who are there for each other no matter what.’

Opening song LIAMOO Bluffin’ (Jimmy “Joker” Thörnfeldt, Sami Rekik, Dino Medanhodzic, Ali Jammali)

Elsewhere LIAMOO makes his 3rd MF appearance. In 2018 he was 6th with Last Breath and a year later finished 3rd duetting with Hanna Ferm on Hold You. This year there’s some real pedigree in that songwriting team with Medanhodzic having worked with Dotter and Thörnfeldt having co-writes on 5 other of the 28 MF entries this year.

2. Niello & Lisa Ajax Tror du att jag bryr mig (Do you think I care?) (Yvonne Dahlbom, Niklas Grahn Linroth, Jesper Welander)

Ajax appears at MF for the 3rd time with the previous 2 being solo where she made the finalen. In 2017 she finished 9th with I Don’t Give A and in 2019 she was 9th again with Torn.

4. Alvaro Estrella Suave (Linnea Deb, Jimmy “Joker” Thörnfeldt, Joy Deb, Alvaro Estrella)

Estrella also has MF history and this year makes his 4th appearance. In 2014 he failed to make the finalen with Bedroom. In 2020 he teamed up with Mendez finishing 11th with Vamos Amigos. Last year he was 10th with Baila Baila.

Other acts include:

3. Samira Manners I Want To Be Loved (Samira Manners, Fredrik Andersson)

Read more about them at Scandipop.

5. Browsing Collection Face In The Crowd (Carolina Karlsson, Mimi Brander, Moa Lenngren, Nora Lenngren, Sandra Bjurman, Jimmy Wahlsteen)

Bjurman co-wrote Azerbaijan’s 2011 winner Running Scared and we’re expecting punk/metal here.

7. Tone Sekelius My Way (Anderz Wrethov, Tone Sekelius)

Tone is MF’s first trans artist in its history and this song has reportedly been entered and rejected a couple of times by MF before. 

• Keep an eye on monstagigz.com during January as we’ll be previewing 2022’s 28 entries. Our Heat 1 preview. Heat 3 preview Heat 4 preview
• During February this site will predict how each heat will go on the Friday after we’ve heard the songs before the Saturday events.
• In March we’ll forecast how the finalen will go and how each of the 12 qualifiers would do in May in Turin at Eurovision.
• Picture via Facebook courtesy John Lundvik
• Have you heard any of these songs or seen any of these shows? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
• Enjoyed this review? Follow monstagigz on Twitter @NeilDurham, email neildurham3@gmail.com and check us out on Instagram and Facebook