QUEERLY: The Queer Artists Of Melodifestivalen Past And Present

Melodifestivalen (The Melody Festival, or Melfest), is Sweden’s national selection for Eurovision which decides the country’s Eurovision entrant. The festival most notably produced ABBA’s breakthrough hit ‘Waterloo’ and also boasts alums like Molly Sandén, who sang for Rachel McAdams in Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, as alumni.

Over its long history, the Melfest has had many queer participants, and in the lead up to Eurovision next week, I wanted to feature two past and present queer artists who have participated in Melfest.

Julia Alfrida

Julia Alfrida was the wildcard entry from Sveriges Radio P4 Nästa competition – which aims to showcase up and coming Swedish artists and new music. With her mixture of alt-pop and hip hop, Julia Alfrida sung ‘Rich’ in the second semi-final of Melfest 2021. Her performance drew many comparisons to our New Zealand fave, Lorde. While the she placed last, likely in part due to being fairly unknown, she showed promise and is definitely someone to watch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Julia Alfrida (@julialfrida)

Patrik Jean

Next up, in the same semi-final, is Patrik Jean who finished fifth. Though he technically received the third highest number of votes, he did not appeal across different age groups which each award their own points. However, with ‘Tears Run Dry’, he delivered a good electro-pop ballad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by P͟͟A͟͟T͟͟R͟͟I͟͟K͟͟ J͟͟E͟͟A͟͟N (@patrikjean)

Oscar Zia

Moving along to both the past and present we have Oscar Zia who participated in Melfest 2016 with ‘Human’, an emotional indie pop ballad which qualified directly to the final. In fact, he also hosted the above-mentioned semi-final this year with Swedish DJ Anis Don Demina, performing a duet, ‘Stad i ljus’ (City in lights), a cover of the winning song of Melfest 1988.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Oscar Zia (@oscarzia)

Darin

Finally, we have Darin, one of Sweden’s most famous artists with an extensive history of releases in both English and Swedish. In Melfest 2010, he preformed ‘You’re Out of My Life’, an old-school pop ballad, which advanced to the final. His newer stuff while still under the pop umbrella represents a more modern pop style. My favourite song of his is, ‘Finns inga ord’ (There are no words), a great electro-pop ballad which was my fourth most listened to song on Spotify in 2019.