Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest - 2002

The Swedish Final was held on March 1st at the Globe Theatre in Stockholm, hosted by Kristin Kaspersen & Claes Åkesson. For the first time, songs could be sung in a language other than Swedish. The winner was chosen by 50% televoting, 50% regional juries - Afro-Dite was the favourite with both and they won the ticket for the ESC in Tallinn, Estonia. Their song, Never let it go, was written by Marcos Ubeda.

Before the final, there were 5 semi-finals.

The Swedish Semi-Finals were hosted by Kristin Kaspersen & Claes Åkeson. The first four semi-finals had two rounds of voting. In the first round, the 8 songs were performed and there was a televote. Then in the second round, the top 4 songs were performed again, followed by another televote. The top 2 songs went forward to the final, while the 3rd/4th placed songs went forward to the 5th semi-final, where a jury of former Swedish Final winners selected 2 of the songs to go forward to the final. The jury consisted of: Siw Malmkvist, Lasse Holm, Jill Johnson, Tommy Nilsson, Charlotte Nilsson, Svante Thuresson, Roger Pontare and Nanne Grönvall.

Results:

Semi-Final 1 - 19th January - Tipshallen, Växjö

1. Kom och ta mig - Brandsta City Släckers
2. Adrenaline - Méndez
3. Världen utanför - Barbados
4. Last to Know - Excellence
5. Du har rört vid min själ - Camilla Lindén
6. Hollywood-do - Zoë
7. Blue As Her Angel Eyes - Tom Nordahl
8. En värld som alltid brinner - Rickard Sköld

Semi-Final 2 - 26th January - Himmelstalundshallen, Norrköping

1. Never Let It Go - Afro-Dite
2. No hay nada más - Javiera Muñoz
3. What Difference Does It Make - The Poets
4. Sail Away - Annika Ljungberg
5. Ge mig mitt hjärta tillbaka - Jakob Stadell & Voice Boys
6. Sluta - Ann-Louise & Molle
7. Du och jag (i hela världen) - Martin
8. Ingenting ingenting - Jennifer Newberry

Semi-Final 3 - 2nd February - Nordichallen, Sundsvall

1. Hon kommer med solsken - Östen med Resten
2. Big Time Party - Hanna & Lina Hedlund
3. Tidig är tiden - Rolf Carlsson
4. Det innersta rummet - Date
5. Hon är en annan nu - Sylvia Vrethammar
6. Ingenting är större än vi - Arvingarna
7. Back Again - Towe Jaarnek
8. You're the Best Thing - Linda Grip

Semi-Final 4 - 8th February - Lugnet, Falun
1. Vem é dé du vill ha - Kikki, Bettan & Lotta
2. The One That You Need - Friends
3. Sista andetaget - Jan Johansen
4. Son of a Liar - Kine Jaarnek
5. Vackare nu - Fredrik Wännman
6. It Takes 2 - The Honeydrops
7. Ge mig himlen för en dag - Solo
8. I Want You - Niklas Andersson

Winners' Choice - 22nd February - Globen, Stockholm

1. Världen utanför - Barbados
2. Sista andetaget - Jan Johansen
3. Sail Away - Annika Ljungberg
4. Son of a Liar - kine Jaarnek
5. What Difference Does It Make - The Poets
6. Det innersta rummet - date
7. Last to Know - Excellence
8. Tidig är tiden - Rolf Carlsson

The final - March 1st - Globen, Stockholm

01. Never Let It Go - Afro-Dite, 248 points
02. Adrenaline - Mendez, 162 points
03. Vem é dé du vill ha - Kikki, Bettan & Lotta, 100 points
04. Världen utanför - Barbados, 90 points
05. Kom och ta mig - Brandsta City Släckers, 88 points
06. No hay nada más - Javiera Muñoz, 71 points
07. Sista andetaget - Jan Johansen, 65 points
08. The One That You Need - Friends, 46 points
09. Big Time Party - Hanna Hedlund & Lina Hedlund - 43 points
10. Hon kommer med solsken - Östen med Resten, 33 points

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Afro-dite is a Swedish pop group made up of three pop singers. The group consists of Blossom Tainton-Lindquist, Gladys del Pilar and Kayo Shekoni. The name is a play on words implying they are beautiful as Greek goddess Aphrodite and being black.

Blossom has already been in showbusiness for a long time. She sings and dances, played in several musicals and even hosted TV-shows on Swedish television.

Gladys, born in Ecuador, came to Sweden when she was only 7 years old. She worked with Dr. Alban and Denniz Pop but her final breakthrough was when she appeared in ABBA - the true story.

Kayo is another multitalented woman. She is not only a singer, but also an actress, TV-show host and model. In the 80s she sang with the pop group Freestyle and in the 90s she fronted the eurodance project Le Click.

Afro-dite came together to sing the song Never let it go for the Eurovision Song Contest 2002. The song was originally meant to be sung by Alcazar but they refused. In Eurovision, Afro-dite reached the 8th place. In 2007 they released a new album. In 2003 they participated again at Melodifestivalen where they came 7th with Aqua playa and in 2012 Afro-Dite came 5th in semi-final one with the song The boy can dance.