By Aline Mahrud

WHEN?: Saturday 8 March 2025 Strawberry Arena, Stockholm 7pm UK time

WHERE DO I WATCH?: SVTPlay

We predict that this year’s Melfest does contain a potential Eurovision winner in Basle in May but that it isn’t 2015 victor Måns Zelmerlöw or Spotify comedy chartoppers KAJ.

• Read on for reasons including our predictions for how these finalists would fare in Eurovision 2025

3. Greczula Believe Me (Amanda Nordelius, John Russel, Kristofer Greczula) ESC PREDICTION: 1-5th

Kristofer Greczula started as a vocalist in the rock group Damn Delicious and this co-write sounds very Queen. There’s no point in reminding people of Freddie Mercury without a bold performance and that’s what we received when it won Heat 3. Måns may be the bookies’ favourite to win MF but we believe this piece of glam rock nostalgia would actually earn Sweden its best result in Eurovision 2025 of all its MF choices. Exactly the sort of entry the UK should be sending.

4. Klara Hammarström On And On And On (Dino Medanhodzic, Jimmy Jansson, Klara Hammarström, Moa ‘Cazzi Opeia’ Carlebecker, Peter Boström, Thomas G:son) ESC PREDICTION: 11-15th

Love the tempo changes in this pleasing electropop stormer but its rather odd staging is definitely to its detriment and would need to be rethought if it went to Basle. We predict this will earn Hammarström’s best ever Melfest result and she has has participated in 3 MFs. In 2020 Nobody failed to advance. We said of it: ‘Klara’s sounding very Dua Lipa to these ears and that’s always a good thing. One to watch.’ A year later Beat Of Broken Hearts finished 6th and we said of it: ‘It’s the only Fredrik Kempe song in the finalen yet 1 of 2 K/Claras. Performed and staged well but reminding us a little too much of a song from hit film The Greatest Showman to be 1 of our favourites.’ A year later she finished 6th again with Run To The Hills and we said: ‘We were just a little unmoved by it in its live incarnation. There was 1 point where we felt the vocal was very off although generally it is well performed. Hammarström’s look in particular is very striking and superhero. The running order’s just been revealed and she’s both the show opener and number 1 on Spotify in Sweden currently. Too early for the win?’

9. Måns Zelmerlöw Revolution (David Lindgren Zacharias, Måns Zelmerlöw, Ola Svensson, Sebastian Atas) ESC PREDICTION: 6-10th

A fine lyrical sentiment very similar to former winner Lundvik’s (see below) with both entries and Segerstedt’s mining the same Coldplay-light furrow. Vocally strong but not as good as Lundvik this would seem the sensible choice for Sweden to send not least because the staging is memorable but we don’t think it would achieve the country’s best result there as it’s all just a little too familiar.

Zelmerlöw won Eurovision convincingly in 2015 with Heroes and went on to co-host it in Stockholm the following year performing comedy interval song Love, Love, Peace, Peace with Petra Mede.

His MF debut was in 2007 when Cara Mia finished 3rd and the album it was from Stand By For … went on to top the Swedish charts.

Zelmerlöw returned again in 2009 when Hope and Glory won the jury vote but could only finish 4th overall.

8. Meira Omar Hush Hush (Anderz Wrethov, Dino Medanhodzic, Laurell Barker, Meira Omar) ESC PREDICTION: 6th to 10th

Omar was a contestant on the 1st season of Love Is Blind: Sweden. Inspired attempt to create something magical as if from a Bollywood film. This for us is the surprise package which we can’t see Sweden picking but would do really well at Eurovision because it’s something completely different but really entertaining. Fingers crossed the people behind the cameras can stay on their feet for it!

2. Dolly Style Yihaa (Caroline Aronsson, David Lindgren Zacharias, Herman Gardarfve, Melanie Wehbe, Mikaela Samuelsson, Patrik Jean) ESC PREDICTION: 16th to 20th

Well deserved 1st appearance in an MF final for this really fun entry. This K-Pop looking band always present hook-filled almost novelty numbers and so it is again here. Dolly Style have competed 3 times previously at MF never making it further than the Andra Chansen round. Hello Hi! went out at that stage in 2015.

A year later Rollercoaster performed similarly. We said of it: ‘We loved last year’s entry Hello! Hi! and Rollercoaster is co-written by Eurovision winner Thomas G:son and it’s as uptempo, fun and ever so slightly bonkers as one would wish it to be. It’s our big favourite this week with Linda second but we think it might struggle. Fab-U-Lous in its fuller form. Will need all the help it can get to progress though. ‘We’re on a Rollercoaster …’

In 2019 Habibi didn’t progress from its heat and we said of it: ‘Dolly Style may have had more line-up changes than the Sugababes but the act, style and songs remain very much the same with an emphasis on 60s fashion goes Hello Kitty singing pop belters. Habibi seems a little more understated than the 2 hook-laden pop gems that saw them reach AC twice. We suspect Sweden may tire of them a little tonight.’

5. Scarlet Sweet ‘n’ Psycho (Anderz Wrethov, Dino Medanhodzic, Jimmy ‘Joker’ Thörnfeldt, Scarlet Hunts, Thirsty) ESC PREDICTION: 6th to 10th

Visually arresting and appealingly hard rock, we were surprised this didn’t win Heat 5. The vocal appears to be a little challenging and it didn’t qute contain the moment for us that its predecessor did. Only previous entry Circus X deserved better than crashing out in andra chansen last year and in 2025 the hard rock duo competes with a song co-written by Jimmy ‘Joker’ Thörnfeldt who is currently MF royalty having co-written 3 of Sweden’s last 4 MF winners. A step up from last year and we suspect this will be fighting for the same audience as Greczula in the final.

7. Maja Ivarsson Kamikaze Life (Andreas “Giri” Lindbergh, Jimmy ‘Joker’ Thörnfeldt, Joy Deb, Linnea Deb, Maja Ivarsson) ESC PREDICTION: 16-20th

‘Woah-oh-oh-ooooh!’ Giving us Kim Wilde 80s pop/rock vibes which we love. Performance was charismatic which was perhaps to be expected as Ivarsson was lead vocalist of the Swedish indie rock band the Sounds. Thörnfeldt co-wrote last year’s MF winner and the previous year’s MF and Eurovision winner.

1. John Lundvik Voice Of The Silent (Jimmy Jansson, John Lundvik, Peter Boström, Thomas G:son) PREDICTION: ESC PREDICTION: 11th to 15th

Impressive vocal with inspiring lyrics with a social conscience and a rousing Coldplay-esque anthem similar to entries by both Zelmerlow and Segerstedt (see above and below). The sparse staging actually enhances the final’s best vocal. Lundvik has history on his side and finished 5th in the 2019 Eurovision in Tel Aviv with Too Late For Love and we wrote: ‘We’re enjoying that this has gospel elements and love the choir but find the song a little predictable. The rousing backing vocals really lift it though and this could win the whole contest.’ He finished 3rd in the 2018 MF with It’s My Turn and co-wrote 2020’s French Eurovision entry which was Covid cancelled. He also finished 8th in the 2022 MF with Änglavakt (Angel Guard).

10. Saga Ludvigsson Hate You So Much (Herman Gardarfve, Lisa Desmond, Saga Ludvigsson) ESC PREDICTION: 11th to 15th

Sweden’s Sabrina Carpenter bossed the live vocal and complicated dance routine yet we weren’t expecting her to be the only non-male winner of the heats. There have been some fine country-infused entries in MF this year and the shine will be taken a little off this after Dolly Style made it to the final at the 2nd attempt with something similar but a little more fun. Ludvigsson is co-writer of her entry, she has participated in the talent show Talang, where she was a finalist, as well as in the Idol contest, finishing 2nd.

11. Annika Wickihalder Life Again (Annika Wickihalder, Herman Gardarfve, Patrik Jean) ESC PREDICTION: 16th-20th

Giving Lundvik a run for his money for the night’s best gospel-type vocal. The song is an improvement on Light which finished 8th last year and of which we said: ‘Wickihalder’s gospel-type number was rather nervously performed which rather counted against it for us. We would have chosen the schlager joy of Elisa Lindstrom’s Forever Yours and Scarlet’s Circus X whose song boasts the most thrilling climax to a song we’ve heard all Eurovision season.’ Life Again, however, does feel like the template of a song we’ve heard many times in MFs in years gone by.

6. Eric Segerstedt Show Me What Love Is (Erik Segerstedt, Mattias Andréasson, Pontus Söderman) ESC PREDICTION: 16th-20th

Solid and unspectacular material and performance from the runner-up in Idol 2006. Segerstedt joined with 2 other Idol contestants – 2006’s Danny Saucedo and 2007’s Mattias Andréasson – to form EMD which finished 3rd in 2009’s MF with Baby Goodbye. He returned 4 years later performing Hello Goodbye with Tone Damli which went out in the Andra Chansen.

12. KAJ Bara bada bastu (Just take a sauna) (Anderz Wrethov, Axel Åhman, Jakob Norrgård, Kevin Holmström, Kristoffer Strandberg, Robert Skowronski) ESC PREDICTION: non-qualifier

A comedy entry in a niche Swedish/Finnish dialect. Always going to be difficult to judge for a non-Swedish speaker how this might land. 1st song in Swedish to make it straight to the finalen in the country’s native tongue despite the 60s-inspired joy that was Linnea Henriksson in Heat 1. Expect it to be, as AussieVision might put it, dogged by the international juries – apart from Finland if it’s there.

• Keep an eye on monstagigz.com during January as we’ll be previewing 2025’s 30 entries.
• During February this site will predict how each heat will go on the Friday after we’ve heard the songs before the Saturday events. Heat 1 preview Heat 2 preview Heat 3 preview Heat 4 preview Heat 5 preview Heat 1 predictions Heat 2 predictions Heat 3 predictions Heat 4 predictions Heat 5 predictions Finalen predictions
• In March we’ll forecast how the finalen will go and how each of the 12 qualifiers would do in May in Basle at Eurovision.
• Picture via Facebook courtesy Greczula, Melodifestivalen and SVT
• Have you heard any of these songs or seen any of these shows? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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