Sweden's Saade claims Eurovision final spot
Published: 13 May 11 09:10 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/33752/20110513/
Eric Saade stepped up to the plate and did his duty for Sweden on Thursday, singing and dancing his way into the final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Dusseldorf, Germany.
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The hopes of Saade and his legions of Swedish followers however hung in the balance as the last of the finalists were read out. Sweden was the final country to be called, after a wait described by Saade "a nightmare".
"It was damn nightmare to sit there and wait for the final envelope. I sat with my head in my hands and thought, 'I can't cope, I can't cope'," he said after the drama had reached a happy ending.
20-year-old Saade, from Helsingborg in southern Sweden and his club hit "Popular" will now take its place alongside the other 24 competitors performing in the Dusseldorf Arena on Saturday evening.
Sweden has overhauled its domestic Eurovision qualifiers in a bid to reverse the poor fortunes of recent years, with Eric Saade one of a group of artists hand-picked in a bid to boost quality.
The country has not placed in the top ten since 2006 and Anna Bergendahl's failure to qualify for the 2010 final with "This is my life" in 2010 signalled a low point in Sweden's distinguished Eurovision history.
Saade has been confident of his chances when speaking to the media and on Saturday at 9pm the nation will be glued to their television sets hoping he can deliver on his promise of a return to the Eurovision song summit.
Peter Vinthagen Simpson
news@thelocal.se
+46 8 656 6513
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Every immigrants must do excellent job to bring Sweden always on top.
Should act as a giant advert letting the world know what Sweden has become, rather than what it still pretends to be, and for that Eric Saade-and-the-idiots should be applauded.
Immigrant? He was born in Helsingborg. Where's he migrated to then?
It is such a shame that music has died .
And what happened to the sound mixture ? Vocals are too loud , very poor quality - you get a bloody headache !!!
According to Wikipedia:
"Saade grew up in Kattarp outside Helsingborg to a Lebanese father of Palestinian origins and a Swedish mother. They divorced when Saade was four. He is the second of eight siblings and half siblings."
What a tight slap in your face.
Long time No see
Sweden, last year, committed a fatal sin by letting down a genuine musician & great artist like Salem Al Fakir ... for polotical reasons in my opinion ... following the invisible ideology of Swedish Feminist Chauvinism (SFC).
This year ... they felt that they shoud do some thing to bring back some balance & silence some rebels like Leo & others ... by bringing some male singer from Arabic roots ... this shift is good 7 welcomed if it is sincere of course.
But neither the song nor the singer are good enough to represent Sverige in ESC2011 ... I don't expect it will make any progress in the finals coparing it many lovely & great contributions from other contries.
I think that Sweden has the talent & ability to produce great songs that can attract the audience around the world if the industry can understand what is going on!
Maybe next time
Melodifestivalen is not political and this year's choice was certainly not a nod to accepting Middle Eastern culture.
I want to see a man song contest... When men actually sang like they had a pair. Instead of everybody singing like a strangled cat........Bring back the days of Euro hairy chests. Euro moustache..Yeah baby....
Doesn't make him Swedish either... Whatever DNA your parents have is what you have. Once a Turk, always a Turk