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About Sweden...
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2004 Result
Points in Semi Final: N/A
Position in Semi Final: N/A
Points in Final: 170
Position in Final: 6th
2005 Contest: Directly qualified to Final
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History (1956 to 2003)
Sweden's previous appearances: 43 year(s) out of 48
Years participated: 1958-1963; 1965-1969; 1971-1975; 1977-
Best result: 1st (1974, 1984, 1991, 1999)
Sweden is one of Eurovision's most successful and consistent performers. Making its first appearance in 1958, the country had to wait quite a while for its first victory. When Sweden did win, in 1974, it did so in style. The song 'Waterloo' launched ABBA to international stardom, and remains probably the most well-known Eurovision winner. Since then, Sweden's record of success has been second only to Ireland, notching up further winners in 1984 (Herreys with 'Diggi Loo Diggi Ley'), 1991 (Carola) and 1999 (Charlotte Nilsson's 'Take me to your heaven'). All were irritatingly bouncy pop songs, though none have come close to matching the enduring appeal of 'Waterloo'. In recent years, Sweden has seemed an excellent judge of televoters' taste, managing to avoid relegation on every occasion, and boasting a run of top ten finishes stretching back to 1998 - 5th in 2003, 8th in 2002, 5th in 2001, 7th in 2000, 1st in 1999 and 10th in 1998. With a record this consistent, Sweden is always regarded as a serious contender at Eurovision, and 2003's strong finish by Fame has secured the country a direct place in the Final.
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This year's entry
Position in Semi Final draw: N/A
Position in Final draw: 24
What I said prior to the Semi Final:
"Lena Philipsson has been competing to represent Sweden since the 1980s, and finally gets her reward in 2004. As usual, Sweden will perform in English, with the anthemic 'It hurts'. However, the decision to Anglicise the original Swedish version ('Det gör ont') seems to have provoked more debate than usual - I can't help feeling that the song has lost something in translation. What sounds rythmic in Swedish verges on repetitive in the English version (all the 'hurts, oh it hurts...'), and some of the lyrics - especially 'nobody but me can know the way I feel' - seem rather shoehorned in to fit the music. Nevertheless, the song remains a fantastic slice of energetic Europop, with a rousing chorus, and is undoubtedly one of Sweden's strongest entries for ages. Though the country does consistently well at Eurovision, some recent entries - notably Friends in 2001 and Fame in 2003 - have lacked soul and emotion. In constrast, 'It hurts' seems much more convincing as a song, thanks to the power and maturity of Lena's vocal performance. With this emotional edge, could Lena take the Eurovision crown back to Sweden?"
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What I predicted...
My prediction for Semi Final: N/A
My prediction for Final: 3rd to 5th, possible winner
What I predicted prior to the Semi Final:
"Once again, Sweden is regarded as one of the favourites for victory, and with a good song and an excellent performer, Sweden can surely expect another top ten finish. The country's excellent draw - performing last at the Final - will do it no harm at all. Recent experience suggests that performing last offers few benefits to an already weak song (Lithuania 2002, Slovenia 2003); on the other hand, it can help a strong song (such as Denmark 2001) to stick in televoters' minds. Sweden's song this year is one of the latter, and Lena will almost certainly bring the contest to a rousing conclusion. Whether it will be quite enough to win, I'm not sure - other countries, such as Iceland, Germany and possibly Ukraine, all bringing something distinctive and memorable to Eurovision, will be hard to beat. As a result, Sweden might have to content itself with something like 3rd place."
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What you thought...
Final Poll Ranking: out of 36 ()
(Updated 15 May 2004; change refers to movement over final week)
In the run up to the Contest, over 5,000 visitors to this site voted for their favourite song in the Soult.com Eurovision Poll.
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What actually happened
The last act of the evening, Lena Philipsson took to the stage in an outfit a little too young for her. It was a shocking fuschia pink, with matching eyeshadow and lipstick, similar to that favoured by compatriot Charlotte Nilsson in 1999, and - less successfully - by Slovenia's Karmen in 2003. Fortunately for Lena, 'It hurts' was more successful than 'Na na na', possibly due to her doing seemingly suggestive things with the microphone throughout her performance. Still, it was hard to criticise the professionalism of Lena's vocal and stage presence, and 6th place seemed a fair reward for her efforts, coming within a whisker of echoing my prediction.
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What the bookies thought...
 | Sweden to win: | 15/05/04 (prior to Final) | 6-1 |
| | 13/05/04 (after Semi Final) | 9-1 |
| | 11/05/04 | 9-1 |
| | 08/05/04 | 10-1 |
| | 06/05/04 | 9-1 |
| | 04/05/04 | 9-1 |
| | 31/04/04 | 9-1 |
| | 24/04/04 | 9-1 |
| | 17/04/04 | (f) 7-1 |
| | 07/04/04 | (jf) 8-1 |
| | 24/03/04 | (jf) 8-1 |
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Lena opened the betting as favourite back in March, before relinquishing this position to Greece and Ukraine. Nevertheless, the Swedish song was always regarded as a real contender. Finishing 6th, Sweden extends its run of top ten finishes (every year since 1998), and once again qualifies directly to the 2005 Final.
(Odds quoted here were those offered by Coral.co.uk. 'F' indicates favourite, 'JF' joint favourite.)
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Links
 http://www.lenaphilipsson.net/
 http://svt.se/svt/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?d=11449
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Notes (see 'History' above)
- The 1956 Contest (where each country had two songs) is counted as a single appearance;
- Countries eliminated in the 1993 preliminary heat (EE, HU, RO, SK) ARE NOT counted as making an appearance in that year's Contest;
- Countries eliminated in the 1996 preliminary heat (DE, DK, HU, IL, MK, RO, RU) ARE NOT counted as making an appearance in that year's Contest;
- Countries eliminated in the 2004, 2005 and 2006 Semi Finals ARE counted as making an appearance in that year's Contest.
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Your comments (134)
From Ebba, SWEDEN
Added 16:35:9 2004-5-16
Congratualtions Lena! You did a great job and we are very proud and happy for you!
From Mark, GERMANY
Added 16:32:44 2004-5-16
swedish fans are very quiet now? uiuiui.....
maybe she should have show some fun in what she´s doing on stage, to catch some more symphathy from viewers.
From Lena- and orup supporters, IRELAND
Added 18:32:26 2004-5-15
WHAT THE **** IS WRONG WITH AUSTRALIA? ARE YOU REALLY THAT JEALOUS? You have NOTHING to do with EUROvision! DOWN UNDER in my ASS(tralia)!!!! GO LENA! GO SWEDEN!
From Lollo & Fille, UNITED KINGDOM
Added 18:9:59 2004-5-15
Lena will win! At least, we hope so..
From lorena, ALBANIA
Added 17:13:36 2004-5-15
hola tu eres muy guapa Lena!felisidat!!!!
From LoLo, BELGIUM
Added 17:0:55 2004-5-15
This is a great song! But Ukraine is better .... Too bad, coz I love Sweden =) But LPh must sing it in Swedish, not in English. English is the most boring language ever to sing songs in (next to Dutch).
My top 4 is:
1.Ukraine
2.Sweden
3.Belgium
4.Belarus ---> very great song but unfortunately didn't make the finals =(
From Nida, UNITED KINGDOM
Added 16:34:1 2004-5-15
Well I think a lot of people talk garbage. This is a beautiful song and I hope that LPh gives it a good peformance to top it up tonight.
From Tarkan(BelgaTurc), BELGIUM
Added 15:49:51 2004-5-15
very well done Sweden
Great job
GO SWEDEN GO
1- SWEDEN
2- UKRAINE
3- GREECE
4- BELGIUM
5- TURKEY
From TINA , AUSTRALIA
Added 15:39:18 2004-5-15
Sorry, Sweden, but your entry is a bad one, this time! You will get pity votes only from your northern neighbours! The southern European countries have it going on this year -- (No. 1)GREECE's "Shake It" (Did you take a good look at THAT performance?), MALTA, SPAIN, FRANCE, GERMANY, CYPRUS and even ALBANIA!!!
From andreazz, SWEDEN
Added 15:7:15 2004-5-15
Sony Music - If "It Hurts" goes well in the Eurovison - Sony can launch Lena Ph all over Europe!
Leif Käck, artist boss at Sony Music Sweden says: If it goes well for "It Hurts" tonight we plan a big venture on the internatinal market. The plan Sony Music has is first Europe if she wins or is a morale winner - then they gonna make this happend. Its a big venture with lots of money put into it. Song writer Orup and Lena are going in the studio after the Istanbul adventure, to recored a swedish album, but they are gonna record the english allum at the same time, if "It Hurts" goes well. There are alternative songs she can do in english and make some new versions of her older songs. Lena has been sceptical to an international carreer, but she have partly thought it over.
From Neron, SWEDEN
Added 14:56:10 2004-5-13
Good luck Lena!
From Kristín, SWEDEN
Added 21:17:10 2004-5-12
a'ight... 3 days until we'll know who wins... I love Lena Ph:s song, it so great, but it's better in english. Unfortunately, I haven't heard "Heaven" (competing for the beautiful Ísland) on íslenk, but it's also one of my favourites... här är min top 2-lista: 1) Sverige 2) Ísland... hejdå och lycka till!
From andreazz, SWEDEN
Added 19:52:15 2004-5-12
I read in SVD that Lena PH is ready to give her all on Saturday.
As we all know - Lena Philipsson is best when it really matters!
More pics and information from Eurovsion/Melodifestivalen you can found here:
www.lenaphilipsson.net
From panayotis, GREECE
Added 17:52:56 2004-5-12
I am tired of the comment that all swedish entries are ABBA clones. Even if it was like that, what's the problem? Do all other entries sound more original?? I prefer the swedish edition of the song and I was a bit dissapointed of her performance. It's still in my top 5 but I'm still in favor of Ukraine!!!
From Jane, UNITED KINGDOM
Added 17:25:27 2004-5-12
Certainly the best Eurovision song I've heard in many years. Been listening to it nearly all day, both the English and Swedish versions and am aiming to be word perfect in the Swedish before the night is out, even though Lena will sing in English on Saturday night.
Best of luck to Lena and all Swedes for a great result on Saturday.
From Nillan, SWEDEN
Added 17:15:6 2004-5-12
Hey don´t take it so seriuosly, my god, if people think that the swedish song sounds like ABBA, so let them, it is there choice. Pss by the way, does the Norweigen song sounds like abba???
No.... strage the song is made by a swedish songwriters OPS.
Who ever winns, Good luck to everybody.
And there is no reason to be nasty, just make sure you clean infront of you own door first.
From Lady Ice, ICELAND
Added 22:56:17 2004-5-11
I thought this song was much much much better in swedish.
The english version makes it sound more slow and not as swedish and as special. Swedish is a beautiful language, why use english??
Anyway, Lena is a good singer, but the video was rather bad. But good luck Sweden, I love you.
From Margret, ICELAND
Added 20:5:2 2004-5-11
hey! you Bekim from sweden! 14 years old kids can know alot about music ! many of them are lerning something about music , maiby play the piano or som. after reading your comment I think that many 14 years old kids know more about music than you! Sweden has one of the best songs. so just be thankful for being from that country! do never talk that way to teenagers!
From bekim, SWEDEN
Added 14:14:18 2004-5-11
good luck sweden but ALBANIEN has the best song.
the swedish song is not the best song in the swedish song contest, there was bettre songs but with the posibilities of televoting it seems that only 14 years girls or boys are voting. and how mutch they know about music??
From David F, SWEDEN
Added 13:51:33 2004-5-11
oh boy, this forum (or this contest) really seems to trigger some ugly nationalist tendencies.. i just saw a panel discussion on the tv with members of the european parliament, and i was struck with the thought that gosh, we probably really need the union to keep from strangling each other. the mps themselves seemed quite hostile to eachother.
and looking in to this forum confirms that notion. europe's defining characteristic seems to be that everybody hates eachother.
what a great idea to hold a contest in music (because it can't get any more subjective and impossible to agree on) to celebrate that important part of the european culture! :)
personally i think sweden's contribution is quite excellent. but i've only heard it in swedish. probably sounds terrible in english.
and i must say the comparison with abba is a bit unfair, but most of all uninformed. of course if you compare it with someone from greece or turkey, playing the flute with their nose, standing on one leg, with the national flag over their shoulders, it would sound like abba. or kylie minouge. or orup.
but please observe that the eurovision song contest is NOT a contest in ethnic music.
From jakie, AUSTRALIA
Added 13:33:51 2004-5-11
Kylie Minogue? you think she is like Kylie... nah more like dannii... cheap and trashy
From Jakie, AUSTRALIA
Added 13:31:53 2004-5-11
Proving again Sweeden is yet to get over the ABBA hump, Lena Philipsson looks like she has come straight out of the Agnetha/Anni-frid school of dance. In fact the foot movements at the start of the clip I saw were straight from Waterloo. I don’t care for the song, but again she will have a good chance because she has the lack of decency to carry it off… I saw her Weeties I think
From Robin J, SWEDEN
Added 11:24:6 2004-5-11
1) Lena is not ugly. And she is not emberrasing. She does what she does with humour!
2) Det gör ont/It Hurts is not an ABBA-copy. I agree with the swedish pressrelease that says it "has more in common with Kylie Minogue than ABBA"...
Thankyou.
From Jonathan Strawbridge, UNITED KINGDOM
Added 22:15:19 2004-5-10
I am all for Sweden this year!
Any song sung in EUROVISION does not rely upon the language it is sung in ... but on the beat!
Be assured that many on the night will be claping to this song ...
From Margret, ICELAND
Added 18:8:34 2004-5-9
hi! :)
i just love this song! its so great! it will be in the top 5. I hope that it will win, but cyprus does have a good song to. Lena is so great! I hope SWEDEN will do well! I will give Sweden som points! Give Iceland to :D
bye from Iceland!
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Sweden
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