By Aline Mahrud

WHERE? Kristianstad Arena, Kristianstad WHEN? Saturday 14 February 2026 WHERE TO WATCH? SVT

Saga Ludvigsson made last year’s final on her debut finishing 12th with Hate You So Much.

• Read on for reasons including more detail about this show’s 6 acts

We said of it: ‘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.’

Saga Ludvigsson Ain’t Today (Dino Medanhodzic, Jimmy Jansson, Johanna ‘Dotter’ Jansson, Saga Ludvigsson)

Ludvigsson is once again a 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.

This year co-writers include the amazing Dotter who has come close to representing Sweden in the past and we would love her to do so in the near future.

Medina Viva L’Amor (Ali ‘Alibrorsh’ Jammali, Anderz Wrethov, Dino Medanhodzic, Jimmy ‘Joker’ Thörnfeldt, Sami Rekik)

Medina finished 2nd in 2024 with Que Sera and we said of it: ‘This Swedish hip hop duo with Arabic influences previously finished 3rd in MF in 2022 with In i dimman (Into The Fog). Que Sera‘s position as heat 5 closer was a little misleading because it wasn’t quite the big finish to the show that we were hoping for and, in fact, was a bit of a mess. Bicycles, quite simply, have no place on a Melodifestivalen stage.’

Patrik Jean From Dusk Till Dawn (David Lindgren Zacharias, Joy Deb, Melanie Wehbe, Patrik Jean)

Jean has known greater success as a songwriter for acts including Melodifestivalen winners The Mamas and Marcus and Martinus. He debuted as a performer in 2021 with Tears Run Dry in 2021. We said of it: ‘The rematch between The Mamas and Dotter may not be happening just yet but this entry was written by the team behind last year’s winner Move. Jean is a talented singer/songwriter/producer who we think will benefit from this position in the running order.’ Our prediction he would make the final was incorrect.

Emilia Pantić  Ingenting (Nothing) (Emilia Pantić, Fredrik Andersson, Jakob Westerlund, Theodor Ström, Wilmer Öberg)

The 1st of 3 newcomers in this heat. Pantić is a pop artist who debuted in 2022 with the single Roadkill.

Korslagda King Of Rock’n’ Roll (Andreas Werling, Pedro Sanchez, Kristofer Strandberg, Stefan ‘UBBE’ Sjur)

A rock band formerly known as Korslagta kukar (Crossed Cocks) who debuted in 2019.

Eva Jumatate Selfish (Eva Jumatate, Herman Gardarfve, Marlene Strand, Ruth Lindegren)

A Swedish actress/singer who participated in Talang in 2019 where she made it to the final. At 17 she is this year’s youngest MF competitor and competes in her home town of Kristianstadt.

• Keep an eye on monstagigz.com during January as we’ll be previewing 2026’s 30 entries.
• During January/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 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 Vienna at Eurovision.
• Picture via Facebook courtesy Saga Ludvigsson, 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
• Enjoyed this review? Follow monstagigz on Twitter @NeilDurham, email neildurham3@gmail.com and check us out on Instagram and Facebook