Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest - 2012

Sweden won the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 with the song Euphoria performed by Loreen. The song was selected after a series of semi-finals, a second chance round, an online competition and a national final which was organised by Swedish broadcaster SVT.

The Swedish Final was held on March 10th at the Globe Theatre in Stockholm, hosted by Sarah Dawn Finer, Helena Bergström & Gina Dirawi. The winner was chosen by televoting (50%) & 11 international juries (50%).

Before the final there were 5 semi-finals which were also hosted by Sarah Dawn Finer, Helena Bergström & Gina Dirawi. In the first 4 semi-finals there were two rounds of televoting - the first to select the top 5 and the second to select the top 2 songs that qualified directly for the final and the 3rd & 4th placed songs that went forward to the 5th semi-final where they had a second chance to qualify for the final. In the 5th semi-final the songs competed in groups of pairs. The most popular song from each pairing was chosen by televoting, then the winners of pairs 1 & 2 competed against each other to qualify for the final as did the winners of pairs 3 & 4.

Before the semi-finals there was a 'Web Joker' contest. The Swedish 'Web Joker' semi-finals were held on the SVT website. Each week 8 songs were presented and the following Monday there was SMS voting for one hour. Two songs in each semi-final qualified for the 'WebJoker' final - one chosen by the SMS voting and another chosen by an SVT jury. The 'WebJoker' Final was held on the SVT website & Radio P4 Extra, hosted by Lotta Bromé. The winner was chosen by SMS voting and went on to compete in one of the Swedish Semi-Finals.

Results:

The 'Web Joker' Final - November 7th

1. I mina drömmar - Maria BenHajji
2. Need to know - Bowties
3. Beautiful love - David Nestander
4. Marilyn Monroe - Never Alone
5. All day all night - Grand Slam
6. A heartbeat away - Demosångare
7. Ingenting, ingen - Caroline Coquard
8. Forever by your side - Trison

Semi-Final 1 - February 4th - VIDA Arena, Växjö

1. Euphoria - Loreen
2. Mystery - Dead by April
3. Sean den förste banan - Sean Banan
4. Jag reser mig igen - Thorsten Flinck & Revolutionsorkestern
5. The boy can dance - Afro-Dite
6. Salt and pepper - Marie Serneholt
7. På väg - Abalone Dots
8. I want to be Chris Isaak (this is just the beginning) - The Moniker

Semi-Final 2 - February 11th - Scandinavium, Gothenburg

1. Shout it out - David Lindgren
2. Soldiers - Ulrik Munther
3. Baby doll - Top Cats
4. Stormande hav - Timoteij
5. Ge aldrig upp - Thomas Di Leva
6. I din himmel - Sonja Aldén
7. Aldrig aldrig - Andreas Lundstedt
8. Det går för långsamt - Mimi Oh

Semi-Final 3 - February 18th - Tegera Arena, Leksand

1. Why am I crying - Molly Sandén
2. Björn Ranelid feat. Sara Li - Mirakel
3. Lovelight - Andreas Johnson
4. Youngblood - Youngblood
5. Förlåt mig - Mattias Andréasson
6. Just a little bit - Love Generation
7. Sanningen - Carolina Wallin Pérez
8. I mina drömma - Maria BenHajji

Semi-Final 4 - February 25th - Malmö Arena, Malmö

1. Amazing - Danny Saucedo
2. Why start a fire - Lisa Miskovsky
3. Don't let me down - Lotta Engberg & Christer Sjögren
4. Land of broken dreams - Dynazty
5. The girl - Charlotte Perrelli
6. Kyss mig - Axel Algmark
7. Goosebumps - Hanna Lindblad
8. Allting blir bra igen - OPA!

Semi-Final 5 - March 3rd - Eventcenter, Nyköping

Land of broken dreams - Dynazty (-) V Baby Doll - Top Cats (Q)
Lovelight - Andreas Johnson (-) V Stormande hav - Timoteij (Q)
Jag reser mig igen - Thorsten Flinck & Revolutionsorkestern (Q) V Don't let me down - Lotta Engberg & Christer Sjögren (-)
Sean den förste banan - Sean Banan (Q) - Youngblood - Youngblood (-)

Baby Doll - Top Cats (F) V Stormande hav - Timoteij (-)
Jag reser mig igen - Thorsten Flinck & Revolutionsorkestern (F) V Sean den förste banan - Sean Banan (-)

The Final - March 10th - Globen, Stockholm

01. Euphoria - Loreen, 268 points
02. Amazing - Danny Saucedo, 198 points
03. Soldiers - Ulrik Munther, 88 points
04. Shout it out - David Lindgren, 88 points
05. Why am I crying - Molly Sandén, 77 points
06. Baby doll - Top Cats, 68 points
07. Mystery - Dead by April, 52 points
08. Jag reser mig igen - Thorsten Flinck & Revolutionsorkestern, 43 points
09. Why start a fire - Lisa Miskovsky, 39 points
10. Mirakel - Björn Ranelid feat. Sara Li, 25 points

Sweden competed in the second half of the second semi-final at Baku, Azerbaijan on May  242012. Loreen received 181 points and placed 1st, thus qualifying for the final on 26 May.

In the final, Sweden was drawn to performed 17th. They received votes from 40 countries, with only Italy failing to award them any points. Loreen won and scored a total of 372 points, the second-highest winning score in the contest's history after Norway's 387 point win in 2009. Nevertheless, Sweden received a record set of 12 points from 18 countries.

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Lorine Zeineb Nora Talhaoui (born October 16 1983), better known by her stage name Loreen, is a Swedish pop singer and music producer. Loreen represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan, with her entry Euphoria and won first place with 372 points.

Interested in becoming a musician, she took part in the Idol 2004 television competition, coming fourth overall. The following year she released her first single, The Snake, with the band Rob'n'Raz and became a television presenter on TV400. Working as a segment producer and director for several Swedish reality TV shows, in 2011 she released the single My Heart is Refusing Me to commercial success in Sweden.

Loreen was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1983 but the family later moved to Västerås, where she attended school. She spent most of her teenage years in Gryta, a residential area in Västerås. Both of her parents are Berbers from South Morocco.

Loreen became known to Swedish audiences after taking part in the Swedish Idol 2004 competing as Lorén Talhaoui. She was initially picked as a wildcard by the judges to join the singing competition.

During the hiatus between 2005-2011 she worked as a segment producer and director for reality TV shows such as Värsta pojkvänsakademin (TV3), Matakuten (TV4) and Frufritt (SVT).

Loreen returned to the public eye when she took part in Melodifestivalen 2011 with the song My Heart Is Refusing Me, which she co-wrote with Moh Denebi and Björn Djupström. After placing fourth in the second semifinal in Gothenburg, she competed in the Second Chance round, but failed to qualify to the final after a sing-off with Sara Varga. The song was released on March 11 2011 and became a hit on the Swedish Singles Chart, reaching #9. Following Loreen's success a year later, the song re-entered the chart and then peaked at #22.

In the first semifinal of Melodifestivalen 2012, Loreen advanced directly to the final round with her entry Euphoria, written by Thomas G:son and Peter Boström. She won the national final with a combined total of 268 points and represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The song won the competition with a total of 372 points from 40 voting countries out of 42 (Italy was the exception, and Sweden could not vote for itself). According to online betting companies she was the favourite to win the contest.

Loreen's debut album is set for September 2012 release. On June 3 2012, Loreen's Eurovision winning entry Euphoria charted at No. 3 on the UK Official Singles Chart, the highest chart position for a non-UK Eurovision entry since Johnny Logan's Hold Me Now in 1987. The single sold 62,148 copies in its first week in the United Kingdom. She is also noted for having an ongoing chart presence in the United Kingdom, remaining in the top twenty for weeks after the competition, rare for a Eurovision song.

On June 21 2012, Loreen made an appearance at the MTV World Stage in Gothenburg, Sweden.