Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002

Eurovision Song Contest 2002
Eurovision Song Contest 2002
Participating broadcaster	Sveriges Television (SVT)
Country	Sweden
National selection
Selection process	Melodifestivalen 2002
Selection date(s)	Heats; 19 January 2002; 26 January 2002; 2 February 2002; 9 February 2002; Winner's Choice; 22 February 2002; Final; 1 March 2002
Selected artist(s)	Afro-dite
Selected song	"Never Let It Go"
Selected songwriter(s)	Marcos Ubeda
Finals performance
Final result	8th, 72 points
Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest

Sweden was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 with the song "Never Let It Go", written by Marcos Ubeda, and performed by Afro-dite. The Swedish participating broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT) selected its entry through Melodifestivalen 2002.

Before Eurovision

Melodifestivalen 2002

Sveriges Television (SVT) pre-selection for Eurovision Song Contest 2002, Melodifestivalen 2002 was held on 1 March 2002. For the first time in the history of the competition, four heats were held around the country in various arenas around Sweden. A "second chance" round was also held. In total, 32 songs competed this year, compared to 10 the previous years. For the first time, songs could be sung in a language other than Swedish. Hosted by Kristin Kaspersen and Claes Åkeson, the final was won by Afro-dite after the disco group won both the televoting and jury voting. The song they performed was written by Marcos Ubeda and called "Never Let It Go".

Heats and Winner's Choice round

The first heat took place on 19 January 2002. "Kom och ta mig" performed by Brandsta City Släckers and "Adrenaline" performed by Méndez qualified directly to the final, while "Världen utanför" performed by Barbados and "Last to Know" performed by Excellence advanced to the Winner's Choice round. "Blue as Her Angel Eyes" performed by Tom Nordahl, "Du har rört vid min själ" performed by Camilla Lindén, "Hollyowood-Do" performed by Zoë and "En värld som alltid brinner" performed by Richard Sköld were eliminated from the contest.
The second heat took place on 26 January 2002. "Never Let It Go" performed by Afro-dite and "No hay nada más" performed by Javiera qualified directly to the final, while "What Difference Does It Make?" performed by the Poets and "Sail Away" performed by Annika Ljungberg advanced to the Winner's Choice round. "Ingenting ingenting" performed by Jennifer Newberry, "Du och jag (i hela världen)" performed by Martin, "Sluta!" performed by Ann-Louise and Molle and "Ge mig mitt hjärta tillbaka" performed by Jakob Stadell and Voice Boys were eliminated from the contest.
The third heat took place on 2 February 2002. "Hon kommer med solsken" performed by Östen med Resten and "Big Time Party" performed by Hanna and Lina qualified directly to the final, while "Tidig är tiden" performed by Rolf Carlsson and "Det innersta rummet" performed by Date advanced to the Winner's Choice round. "Back Again" performed by Towe Jaarnek, "You're the Best Thing" performed by Linda Grip, "Ingenting är större än vi" performed by Arvingarna and "Hon är en annan nu" performed by Sylvia Vrethammar were eliminated from the contest.
The fourth heat took place on 8 February 2002. "Vem é dé du vill ha" performed by Kikki, Bettan and Lotta and "The One That You Need" performed by Friends qualified directly to the final, while "Sista andetaget" performed by Jan Johansen and "Son of a Liar" performed by Kina Jaarnek advanced to the Winner's Choice round. "Ge mig himlen för en dag" performed by Solo, "I Want You" performed by Niklas Andersson, "It Takes 2" performed by the Honeydrops and "Vackrare nu" performed by Fredrik Wännman were eliminated from the contest.
The Winner's Choice round (Vinnarnas val) took place on 22 February 2002. "Världen utanför" performed by Barbados and "Sista andetaget" performed by Jan Johansen qualified to the final.

Final

The final took place on 1 March 2002 at the Globe Arena in Stockholm.

Draw	Artist	Song	Jury	Televote	Total	Place
1	Afro-dite	"Never Let It Go"	116	132	248	1
2	Brandsta City Släckers	"Kom och ta mig"	0	88	88	5
3	Javiera	"No hay nada más"	71	0	71	6
4	Barbados	"Världen utanför"	46	44	90	4
5	Hanna and Lina	"Big Time Party"	43	0	43	9
6	Östen med Resten	"Hon kommer med solsken"	11	22	33	10
7	Friends	"The One That You Need"	46	0	46	8
8	Kikki, Bettan and Lotta	"Vem é dé du vill ha"	34	66	100	3
9	Jan Johansen	"Sista andetaget"	54	11	65	7
10	Méndez	"Adrenaline"	52	110	162	2

At Eurovision

At the contest Afro-dite were drawn to sing in 12th position, just before the interval. They eventually finished in 8th position (out of 24) with 72 points, receiving a maximum 12 points from Bosnia-Herzegovina.^[1]

The representative for the host country, Estonia, Sahlene, was Swedish. She finished 3rd, and got 12 points from Sweden.

Voting

Points awarded to Sweden^[2]
Score	Country
12 points	Bosnia and Herzegovina
10 points	Denmark Lithuania
8 points	Estonia
7 points	Finland Slovenia
6 points
5 points
4 points	Austria Latvia Turkey
3 points	Israel
2 points
1 point	Belgium Greece United Kingdom

Points awarded by Sweden^[2]
Score	Country
12 points	Estonia
10 points	Finland
8 points	France
7 points	Spain
6 points	Bosnia and Herzegovina
5 points	Latvia
4 points	Malta
3 points	Belgium
2 points	United Kingdom
1 point	Cyprus

References

^ "Final of Tallinn 2002". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 8 April 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
^ ^a ^b "Results of the Final of Tallinn 2002". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 8 April 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2021.