WHEN?: Saturday 7 March 2025 7pm UK time WHERE TO WATCH? SVT

WHERE?: Strawberry Arena, Stockholm

Melodifestivalen cements its position as Eurovision’s greatest selection show with this 66th final that includes the return of 2 former winners, a boy/girl group reunited after more than 20 years apart, a novelty TV character and 1 song capable of winning in Vienna in May.

• Read on for reasons including A-Teens, FELICIA, Greczula & Sanna Nielsen

1. A-Teens Iconic (Dino Medanhodzic, Jimmy Jansson, Lina Hansson, Moa ‘Cazzi Opeia’ Carlebecker, Thomas G:son) ESC PREDICTION: 2nd to 5th

A-Teens are singers Marie Serneholt, Sara Lumholdt, Dhani Lennevald and Amit Sebastian Paul who had UK hits with Upside Down and Halfway Around The World as well as 2 ABBA covers a quarter of a century ago. Iconic is a song of the month for us written by some Eurovision royalty and is very pop through a tropical house lens but it’s the presentation with light boxes and some wonderfully choreographed moves which means it absolutely lives up to its title. Already topped the charts in its native Sweden. Iconic indeed.

2. Meira Omar Dooset Daram (I Love You)  (Anderz Wrethov, Jimmy ‘Joker’ Thörnfeldt, Laurell Barker, Meira Omar) ESC PREDICTION: 11th to 15th

This means I Love You in Farsi and is an attempt to bring the Arash sound to a wider audience. Similar to last year’s Hush, Hush which finished 10th. Thin vocal.

3. Lilla Al-Fadji Delulu (Daniel Réhn, Edward af Sillén, Lilla Al-Fadji, Fredrik Sonefors, Melanie Wehbe, Mikaela Samuelsson) ESC PREDICTION: non-qualifier

Novelty song from a fictional Swedish comedy character which we’re struggling to find funny. It is catchy but will mean little to an international audience.

4. Saga Ludvigsson Ain’t Today (Dino Medanhodzic, Jimmy Jansson, Johanna ‘Dotter’ Jansson, Saga Ludvigsson) ESC PREDICTION: 11th to 15th

Sweden’s Sabrina Carpenter has another country-infused song that’s likely to be a chart hit and we think Saga should improve on her 12th place finish last year with Hate You So Much.

5. Smash Into Pieces Hollow (Benjamin Jennebo, Chris Adam Hedman Sörbye, Per Bergquist, Philip Strand) ESC PREDICTION: 6th to 10th

Rock is a music genre that consistently does well at Melodifestivalen without often winning and we feel this is the least competitive of the band’s MF entries. This rock Swedish 4-piece from Örebro came 3rd in both 2023 with Six Feet Under and in 2024 with Heroes Are Calling. 

6. Cimberly Eternity (Cimberly-Malaika Wanyonyi, David Lindgren Zacharias, Dino Medanhodzic, Melanie Wehbe) ESC PREDICTION: 16th to 20th

This Kenyan/Finnish singer who won the 19th season of Idols Sweden in 2023 is giving us the strong vocals we wanted. This is very much an uptempo girl bop in Agnes style with a song structure that will be familiar to MF die-hards.

7. Medina Viva L’Amor (Ali ‘Alibrorsh’ Jammali, Anderz Wrethov, Dino Medanhodzic, Jimmy ‘Joker’ Thörnfeldt, Sami Rekik) ESC PREDICTION: 16th to 20th

Medina can always be relied upon to bring the party and they do again in 2026 although an attempt has also been made this year to deliver a message on the dancefloor. It was Valentine’s Day on Saturday when they won their heat and a bilingual celebration of love is always appropriate but may struggle in this competition this year to repeat the success of previous efforts after finishing 2nd in 2024 with Que Sera and 3rd in 2022 with In i dimman (Into The Fog).

8. Greczula Half Of Me (Andreas Werling, Karl Ivert, Kian Sang, Greczula) ESC PREDICTION: 6th to 10th

Kristofer Greczula finished 3rd last year and started as a vocalist in the rock group Damn Delicious. As ABBA as it is Queen-influenced but by leaning into Melodifestivalen has Greczula lost a little of his bite?

9. Robin Bengtsson  Honey, Honey (Gavin Jones, Pär Westerlund, Petter Tarland, Robin Bengtsson) ESC PREDICTION: 21st to 25th

Bengtsson has made the final in each of his previous 4 appearances but diminishing returns suggested he may be lucky to do so this year qualifying through the final kval. This is bluesy and laidback but a long way from I Can’t Go On which won MF in 2017 finishing 5th in Kyiv, Ukraine.

10. FELICIA My System (Audun Agnar Guldbrandsen, Emily Harbakk, Felicia Eriksson, Julie Bergan, Theresa Rex) ESC PREDICTION: 1st to 5th

FELICIA is the former Fröken Snusk, who performed in a balaclava and competed with Unga & fria (Young & Free) in 2024, where she just missed out in the Andra Chanson. My System is captivating electronic dance music which is spectacularly performed in the electronic dance music genre which often doesn’t require it. The only potential Eurovision winner in this very strong field.

11. Sanna Nielsen  Waste Your Love (Jimmy Jansson, Peter Boström, Thomas G:son) ESC PREDICTION: 16th to 20th

There are Eurovision winners in Nielsen’s writing team this year but we think this uptempo schlager is a little too on the nose Clean Bandit to merit victory. Nielson’s got a terrific vocal and charisma in abundance but we think this might be outdone in the final as we don’t see this 8th entry as winning.

12. Brandsta City Släckers Rakt in i elden (Straight into the fire) (Anderz Wrethov, Elin Wrethov, Kristofer Strandberg, Robert Skowronski) ESC PREDICTION: non-qualifier

There’s something down-to-earth and charming about these singing firemen and Rakt in i elden has catchy handclaps and chanting for days which reminds of the schlager genre of Melfest’s glorious past. A great way to finish particularly as it’s in Swedish.

• During February this site predicted how each heat would go on the Friday after we’d heard the songs before the Saturday events. Heat 1 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 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 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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