System shutdown: What went wrong for Sweden at Eurovision 2026?

Photo credit: Alma Bengtson/EBU

OPINION: For a country renowned for its Eurovision success, Sweden's disappointing result in 2026 raised an unusual question: what exactly went wrong?

On 8 March, a day after Felicia was crowned Melodifestivalen 2026 winner, Sweden sat at sixth in the odds and was being discussed in some quarters as a front-runner to snatch the Eurovision trophy for a record eighth time.

Fast forward two months and Sweden would ultimately finish in 20th position in the Eurovision Grand Final - a diabolical result for the Swedes, and their worst showing at Eurovision since they non-qualified in 2010.

Sweden also received the worst result out of the competing Nordic nations at this year's Eurovision, the first time since 1979 they had achieved this unwanted feat.

However, when the semi-final results were later announced, an even more devastating fact was uncovered. Sweden placed 13th in the televote in the semi-final, meaning if the juries hadn't been re-introduced to the semi-finals this year the Nordic nation would have faced its second Eurovision non-qualification.

Why did the Swedish Eurovision "system" - which has consistently placed in the top 14 since 2011 - shutdown?

I try to answer these questions and provide solutions to them today on June 6 - Sweden's national day.

Whilst such an article may seem harsh on what should be a day of celebration, one could argue Melodifestivalen and Eurovision are Sweden's national celebrations. So for a country that prides itself on its Eurovision success, it is important to understand what went wrong and learn from these mistakes.

At Eurovision: Styling and performance

The staging and production of the Swedish entry this year was sensational with an epic display of lasers and graphics.

Whilst some members of the Aussievision team were critical of Felicia's vocals, I personally thought they were solid, especially given the circumstances of losing her voice earlier in Eurovision week and collapsing backstage after a dress rehearsal the day prior.

However, Felicia's mask - her trademark - I believe played a major part of her undoing.

The mask not only concealed Felicia's face but also her emotions and therefore made her seem disconnected and unrelatable to the viewers.

In contrast, the top three women this year all had very emotive performances. From Bulgaria's Dara with the close-ups of her animated facial expressions, to Romania's Alexandra with her intense stares, to our own Delta's radiant smile - viewers knew exactly the mood and feelings the women were conveying and therefore were more likely to form a connection.

Close-up shots captured every emotion on Dara's face. In contrast Sweden's performance mainly consisted of wide shots of the stage and laser effects. Photo courtesy of the EBU.

In contrast, Felicia's mask symbolised the sterile, system-like Swedish pop that some Eurovision viewers have become sick of in recent years. Without any human face or emotions to see, the performance may as well have been done by a robot.

Anti-mask and anti-vaccination advocates across Europe would not have appreciated such a styling either.

As a Melodifestivalen viewer and general Swedophile I understand Felicia's mask is a reference to her former character Fröken Snusk who she had two number 1 hits with.

Felicia also mentioned in an interview with Wiwibloggs that she views the mask as a form of protection so people won't critique her face - which I understand as a shy introvert but also find bemusing given what a beautiful person she is.

However, the casual Eurovision viewer - unless their commentator describes the context to them during the show - are unlikely to know these backstories story, and therefore did not understand the meaning of the mask.

In an era of social media, viewers want to get to see and know celebrities and performers more. Which is why in hindsight, though an understandable gimmick in Melodifestivalen, Felicia's mask may have proved a major downfall.

Then there was Felicia's performance. Compared to other entries performed by female soloists at this year's Eurovision, a few arm movements and steps by Felicia made her routine feel quite static.

Contrast this to Bulgaria's Dara who literally threw herself about on stage and in her chair. Romania's Alexandra went down on her knees and rocked up and down the catwalk. Our Delta elegantly strutted the catwalk before being thrust in the air by a small platform from her golden piano.

Dynamic delivery: Romania's Alexandra threw herself all over the stage and was rewarded with a bronze medal finish. Photo courtesy of the EBU.

Instead, Felicia relied more on lasers, graphics and her male back-up dancers to excite the audience. The main star barely moving might work for a big ballad, but is a recipe for disaster for an up-tempo techno song.

With more engaging and exciting main female performers, there were simply better options for viewers and jurors to vote for than Sweden.

At Melodifestivalen: Competing entries selection

However, the seeds were sown for a poor Swedish Eurovision result even before a single Melodifestivalen song had been broadcast.

The selection panel for Melodifestivalen changed this year.

Last year 15 of the 30 competing Melodifestivalen entries were chosen by a professional jury headed by Melodifestivalen artistic director and producer Karin Gunnarsson. The other half were chosen by a special board of the broadcaster SVT.

This year, as described by Swedish Eurovision vlogger ESC Bluu, all 30 Meldodifestivalen entries were chosen by a professional jury of only four people - Karin Gunnarsson included. What's more, the jury had to unanimously agree on all the entries. Meaning if an entry got vetoed by one jury member it was unable to be performed on the televised show.

This likely meant a lot of vegemite, as we like to say in Australia, or acquired taste entries were eliminated.

This is unlikely to help Melodifestivalen's reputation of a competition with many solid entries, that are watered down in their respective genres to appeal to a mainstream pop audience.

Whilst Felicia's eurotechno entry My System was certainly attention grabbing initially, many listeners - including at Aussievision - remarked there was nothing particularly unique at the song. Harsher critics labelled it a Cascada rip-off.

Cascada themselves represented Germany at Eurovision 2013, also with a dance song with a lead female vocal. Similarly they finished bottom 6 on the scoreboard like Sweden this year.

Despite a folksy change up last year with KAJ's unexpected Melodifestivalen win with Bara Bada Bastu, Sweden fell into the trap of selecting another rather generic pop song. It was one of the best given what was on offer.

However the song is the most fundamental aspect of a Eurovision entry about its potential to do well. Whilst vocals, styling, performance and staging can help - if the base of the entry is flawed no amount of surface-level aesthetics will assist.

How can Sweden reboot its system?

Each entry has to be styled and performed differently, so I won't provide a solution to Felicia's performance specifically.

However here are some changes to Melodifestivalen I will suggest to ensure more unique entries are selected that will excite the Eurovision audience.

Change the entry selection panel back to last year's format

The fact that only four people decide what Sweden will see, and one person can ultimately veto a song, is leading to more bland and less exciting options.

Different genres need to be better represented. It is amazing that the country that has the second highest number of metal bands per capita, barely has anything of that genre in its televised selection - let alone given the chance to represent the country on the Eurovision stage.

Change the voting system

In Round 2 of the semi-finals and in the Grand Final Swedish televoters are divided into seven age groups plus a telephone caller group. Each group provides a set of points.

It is fascinating that 16 to 29 year olds have the same voting power as 3 to 9 year olds. A quintessential example of how out of line the latter age group is with modern music tastes was Melodifestivalen 2023 when the 3 to 9 year old age group gave Loreen's Tattoo 1 point despite all other groups giving her 12 points.

If you looking at the raw voting figures it is evident that 16 to 29 year olds cast the most votes, but that the youngest and oldest demographics have more influence in the overall results.

2020 Melodifestivalen winners The Mamas won the raw televote handily (1.61 million votes to 1.49 million), and the 16 to 29 year old group. However this only translated to a 1 point televote win over runner-up Dotter (72 to 71).

I personally find this undemocratic and, like Aftonbladet's Tobbe Ek has suggested, would like to see Sweden revert back to the pre 2019 system where one person's vote was equal no matter their age.

However if Melodifestivalen insists on keeping the age bracket televote system, then the scope of brackets need to be adjusted.

Gen Z and young adults should have more say, particularly as most of the modern music trends are set by them.

I would recommend specifically having an 18 to 25 year old age bracket, given that the European Broadcasting Union now requires each Eurovision country's jury to have at least two out of the seven jurors being in that age range. If the Swedes want to be strategic they must appeal to this demographic.

Diversify the composers of the songs at Melodifestivalen

Swedes are known to be some of the most successful modern music composers, especially in the pop genre.

However it is intriguing how the same handful of composers write almost all of the Melodifestivalen entries every year.

My System to its credit is composed by people who are not serial Melodifestivalen composers, and actually holds the Melodifestivalen record for entry with the most foreign composers.

Yet to change the sound, increase the number of genres, and present bolder options to the Swedish public - Melodifestivalen organisers should encourage more domestic composers who have not tried their hand at writing Melodifestivalen entries to do so.

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Sweden is my favourite country at Eurovision, which is why I care so much about them doing well. On Melodifestivalen and Eurovision passion alone - the Swedes deserve sensational results.

Loreen's historic Eurovision win in 2012 with Euphoria revolutionised the sound of Eurovision for many years. With the skills of many talented Swedish songwriters and producers, the potential is still there for Sweden to shake up the contest.

However this year's result is ominous and reminiscent of 2008 when former Eurovision winner Charlotte Perrelli only qualified for the Grand Final thanks to the back-up jury.

Sweden's 2008 Eurovision representative Charlotte Perrelli, like Felicia, had a laser-filled performance, sung at the number 2 slot in her semi-final, and was tipped by the bookies to finish in the Top 10 overall. However, she was also barely bailed out of her semi-final by the juries.

Two years later, Sweden's first non-qualification arrived. In an interview with Sverige Radio immediately after Anna Bergendahl and her guitar ballad This Is My Life were knocked out, the head of the Swedish Eurovision delegation Christer Björkman acknowledged the need for Sweden to send bolder choices to Eurovision.

The following year Melodifestivalen implemented sweeping rule changes.

This included allowing foreign composers, scrapping Swedish juries, having international juries decide 50% of the final result, and crucially having 15 of the songs chosen by a selection panel and another 15 chosen by SVT - similar to the Melodifestivalen selection system that has just been scrapped.

Eric Saade's Popular was chosen, finished third at Eurovision, and Sweden's fortunes at the contest rose stratospherically.

Sweden has a track record of learning from its Melodifestivalen and Eurovision mistakes - even if it was too late the first time. It would be well advised to do a speedier system reboot this second time.

We wish all our Swedish readers and followers a happy National Day!

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