Melodifestivalen 2003

Melodifestivalen 2003 was the 43rd edition of the Swedish music competition Melodifestivalen, which was organised by Sveriges Television (SVT) and took place over a five-week period between 15 February and 15 March 2003. The winner of the competition was Fame with the song "Give Me Your Love", who represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003, where they came fifth with 107 points.^[1]

Melodifestivalen 2003
Dates and venue
Heat 1	15 February 2003
Heat 2	22 February 2003
Heat 3	1 March 2003
Heat 4	8 March 2003
Viewers' Choice	9 March 2003
Final	15 March 2003
Production
Broadcaster	Sveriges Television (SVT)
Director	Sven Stojanovic
Presenters	Heats, Final: Mark Levengood Heat 1: Charlotte Nilsson Lena Philipsson Heat 2: Carola Häggkvist Heat 3: Barbro Svensson Heat 4: Roger Pontare Viewers' Choice: Marianne Rundström [sv] Rickard Olsson Final: Jonas Gardell
Participants
Number of entries	32
Number of finalists	10
Vote
Voting system	Heats and Viewers' Choice: 100% public vote Final: 50% public vote, 50% jury vote
Winning song	"Give Me Your Love" by Fame
2002 ← Melodifestivalen → 2004

Format

The heats for Melodifestivalen 2003 began on 15 February 2003. Ten songs from these heats qualified for the final on March 15, 2003. This was the second year that a heat format had been used for the competition. "När löven faller" composed by Carola Häggkvist and Ingemar Åberg was disqualified prior to the competition due to Carola's refusal to participate as an artist with no replacement singer found,^[2][3] while "Someone, Somewhere, Someday" composed by Peter Ågrenwill and Mattias Holmlund to be performed by Nathalie Family was disqualified due to the singer being under the required age of 16 years old at the time the Eurovision Song Contest would be held.^[4][5]

Competition Schedule

Show	Date	City	Venue
Heat 1	15 February 2003	Jönköping	Tipshallen
Heat 2	22 February 2003	Gothenburg	Scandinavium
Heat 3	1 March 2003	Luleå	Arcushallen
Heat 4	8 March 2003	Sundsvall	Nordichallen
Viewers' Choice	9 March 2003	Stockholm	SVT Broadcasting House
Final	15 March 2003		Stockholm Globe Arena

The Winners' Choice round was replaced by the Viewers' Choice round where the public could now vote for the top two songs among the third- and fourth- placed ones from the heats.

Competing entries

Artist	Song	Songwriter(s)
Afro-dite	"Aqua Playa"	Marcos Ubeda [sv]
Alcazar	"Not a Sinner nor a Saint"	Lotta Ahlin [sv] Bobby Ljunggren Tommy Lydell
Aleena	"Better Believe It"	Aleena Gibson Bobby Ljunggren Tommy Lydell
Alive [sv] feat. Jesse Martin	"Ingen annan"	Lars Edvall Mattias Reimer
Andrés Esteche [sv]	"Just Like a Boomerang"	Johan Fransson (artist) [sv] Niklas Edberger [sv] Tim Larsson Tobias Lundgren
Barbados	"Bye, Bye"	Lotta Ahlin Bobby Ljunggren Tommy Lydell
Brandsta City Släckers	"15 minuter"	Gustav Eurén [sv] Karl Eurén [sv] Niclas Arn [sv]
Bubbles	"TKO (Knock You Out)"	Fredrik Lenander Lars Erlandsson Paul Rein
Crosstalk [sv]	"Stronger"	Lars Edvall Mattias Reimer
Da Buzz	"Stop! Look! Listen!"	Joakim Udd Peter Boström Pär Lönn [sv] Urban Robertsson
DeDe	"Someone, Somewhere, Someday"	Mattias Holmlund Peter Ågren
Fame	"Give Me Your Love"	Calle Kindbom [sv] Carl Lösnitz [sv]
Fernando Brito	"No dudes en llamarme"	Fernando Brito Johan Larsson
Jill Johnson	"Crazy in Love"	Larry Forsberg [sv] Lennart Wastesson Sven-Inge Sjöberg
Kerli & Locatellis	"Let's Go"	Johan Ekman Jonas Liberg
Lina Hedlund	"Nothing Can Stop Me"	Aleena Gibson Torbjörn Petersson
Liverpool [sv]	"Love Is All"	Larry Forsberg Lennart Wastesson Sven-Inge Sjöberg
Maarja	"He Is Always on My Mind"	Lars Edvall Mattias Reimer
Markus Landgren [sv]	"Television"	Pernilla Sahlin Peter Sahlin [sv]
Méndez	"Carnaval"	Gustav Jonsson Leopoldo Méndez Marcus Sepehrmanesh Patrik Henzel Tommy Tysper
Mikael Erlandsson [sv]	"Tills jag mötte dig"	Christian Antblad [sv] Tommy Denander
Nanne Grönvall	"Evig kärlek"	Nanne Grönvall Peter Grönvall [sv]
Östen med resten	"Maria"	Larry Forsberg Lennart Wastesson Sven-Inge Sjöberg
Pandora	"You"	Jan Johansen Shirley Clamp Tania Clamp
Pernilla Wahlgren & Jan Johansen	"Let Your Spirit Fly"	Anders Dannvik [sv] Ola Höglund [sv]
Sanna Nielsen	"Hela världen för mig"	Thomas G:son
Sahlene	"We're Unbreakable"	Aleena Gibson Bobby Ljunggren Robert Olausson
Sarek	"Genom eld och vatten"	Mårten Eriksson [sv] Stina Jadelius [sv]
Shanna Smith	"Tonight's the Night"	Richard Evenlind [sv]
Shirley Clamp	"Mr. Memory"	Lotta Ahlin Bobby Ljunggren Tommy Lydell
Sofia Källgren & Robert Wells	"My Love"	Marcos Ubeda
Style	"Stay the Night"	Brian Hobbs Christer Sandelin Jonas Stadling Olle Törnström Thomas Axelsson Tommy Ekman [sv]

Contest overview

Heat 1

The first heat took place on 15 February 2003 at the Tipshallen in Jönköping. 2,977,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 429,810 votes were cast, with a total of SEK 3,653,385 collected for Radiohjälpen. The heat was hosted by Mark Levengood, Charlotte Nilsson, and Lena Philipsson.^[6]

R/O	Artist	Song	Votes		Place	Result
			Round 1	Round 2
1	Crosstalk	"Stronger"	14,651	—	6	Out
2	DeDe Lopez	"Someone, Somewhere, Someday"	5,386	—	7	Out
3	Méndez	"Carnaval"	26,836	34,576	3	Viewers' Choice
4	Alive feat. Jesse Martin	"Ingen annan"	5,341	—	8	Out
5	Jill Johnson	"Crazy in Love"	42,697	48,786	2	Final
6	Da Buzz	"Stop! Look! Listen!"	16,817	—	5	Out
7	Markus Landgren	"Television"	19,997	25,998	4	Viewers' Choice
8	Pernilla Wahlgren & Jan Johansen	"Let Your Spirit Fly"	95,703	90,302	1	Final

Heat 2

The second heat took place on 22 February 2003 at the Scandinavium in Gothenburg. 3,180,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 632,206 votes were cast, with a total of SEK 5,373,751 collected for Radiohjälpen. The heat was hosted by Mark Levengood and Carola Häggkvist.^[7]

R/O	Artist	Song	Votes		Place	Result
			Round 1	Round 2
1	Andrés Esteche	"Just Like a Boomerang"	29,223	—	5	Out
2	Sanna Nielsen	"Hela världen för mig"	46,841	79,015	2	Final
3	Kerli & Locatellis	"Let's Go"	15,334	—	7	Out
4	Pandora	"You"	10,496	—	8	Out
5	Brandsta City Släckers	"15 minuter"	42,354	52,459	4	Viewers' Choice
6	Fame	"Give Me Your Love"	69,283	125,975	1	Final
7	Aleena	"Better Believe It"	26,285	—	6	Out
8	Alcazar	"Not a Sinner nor a Saint"	63,702	69,859	3	Viewers' Choice

Heat 3

The third heat took place on 1 March 2003 at the Arcushallen in Luleå. 2,914,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 340,882 votes were cast, with a total of SEK 2,897,497 collected for Radiohjälpen. The heat was hosted by Mark Levengood and Barbro Svensson.^[8]

R/O	Artist	Song	Votes		Place	Result
			Round 1	Round 2
1	Barbados	"Bye, Bye"	36,287	38,144	2	Final
2	Shanna Smith	"Tonight's the Night"	5,861	—	8	Out
3	Nanne Grönvall	"Evig kärlek"	11,771	—	7	Out
4	Sarek	"Genom eld och vatten"	55,934	58,138	1	Final
5	Sofia Källgren & Robert Wells	"My Love"	22,381	—	5	Out
6	Liverpool	"Love Is All"	23,105	19,615	4	Viewers' Choice
7	Shirley Clamp	"Mr. Memory"	11,962	—	6	Out
8	Style	"Stay the Night"	37,145	19,708	3	Viewers' Choice

Heat 4

The fourth heat took place on 8 March 2003 at the Nordichallen in Sundsvall. 3,047,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 444,972 votes were cast, with a total of SEK 3,782,262 collected for Radiohjälpen. The heat was hosted by Mark Levengood and Roger Pontare.^[9]

R/O	Artist	Song	Votes		Place	Result
			Round 1	Round 2
1	Sahlene	"We're Unbreakable"	20,817	—	5	Out
2	Fernando Brito	"No dudes en llamarme"	7,526	—	8	Out
3	Bubbles	"TKO (Knock You Out)"	37,669	44,994	3	Viewers' Choice
4	Maarja	"He Is Always on My Mind"	14,221	—	6	Out
5	Östen med resten	"Maria"	69,716	86,354	1	Final
6	Lina Hedlund	"Nothing Can Stop Me"	20,878	27,581	4	Viewers' Choice
7	Mikael Erlandsson	"Tills jag mötte dig"	10,581	—	7	Out
8	Afro-dite	"Aqua Playa"	51,974	51,378	2	Final

Viewers' Choice

The Viewers' Choice round took place on 9 March 2003 at the SVT Broadcasting House in Stockholm. 2,282,000 viewers watched the show live. A total of 341,866 votes were cast, with a total of SEK 2,905,861 collected for Radiohjälpen. The show was hosted by Marianne Rundström and Rickard Olsson.^[10]

R/O	Artist	Song	Votes	Place	Result
1	Méndez	"Carnaval"	33,315	5	Out
2	Markus Landgren	"Television"	21,763	7	Out
3	Brandsta City Släckers	"15 minuter"	44,191	3	Out
4	Alcazar	"Not a Sinner nor a Saint"	102,240	1	Final
5	Liverpool	"Love Is All"	28,060	6	Out
6	Style	"Stay the Night"	21,490	8	Out
7	Bubbles	"TKO (Knock You Out)"	55,596	2	Final
8	Lina Hedlund	"Nothing Can Stop Me"	35,211	4	Out

Final

The final took place on 15 March 2003 at the Stockholm Globe Arena in Stockholm. 3,813,000 viewers watched the show live. A total of 1,230,751 votes were cast, with a total of SEK 10,461,384 collected for Radiohjälpen. The show was hosted by Mark Levengood and Jonas Gardell.^[11]

R/O	Artist	Song	Juries	Televote		Total	Place
				Votes	Points
1	Fame	"Give Me Your Love"	108	229,753	132	240	1
2	Jill Johnson	"Crazy in Love"	100	116,440	22	122	4
3	Östen med resten	"Maria"	10	92,722	11	21	8
4	Afro-dite	"Aqua Playa"	48	59,520	0	48	7
5	Sanna Nielsen	"Hela världen för mig"	27	136,984	66	93	5
6	Barbados	"Bye Bye"	7	37,132	0	7	10
7	Sarek	"Genom eld och vatten"	11	127,143	44	55	6
8	Pernilla Wahlgren & Jan Johansen	"Let Your Spirit Fly"	90	156,702	88	178	2
9	Bubbles	"TKO (Knock You Out)"	10	91,979	0	10	9
10	Alcazar	"Not a Sinner nor a Saint"	62	182,376	110	172	3

Detailed jury votes

R/O	Song	Luleå	Umeå	Sundsvall	Falun	Karlstad	Örebro	Norrköping	Gothenburg	Växjö	Malmö	Stockholm	Total
1	"Give Me Your Love"	6	12	4	6	12	12	10	12	10	12	12	108
2	"Crazy in Love"	12	10	12	10	8	10	8	10	4	10	6	100
3	"Maria"		2	6			1	1					10
4	"Aqua Playa"	8	8	8	2	1	6	6	4		1	4	48
5	"Hela världen för mig"			2	1	4		4	8	8			27
6	"Bye Bye"		1			2				2	2		7
7	"Genom eld och vatten"	4			4					1		2	11
8	"Let Your Spirit Fly"	2	6	10	12	6	8	12	6	12	6	10	90
9	"TKO (Knock You Out)"	1		1			2		1		4	1	10
10	"Not a Sinner nor a Saint"	10	4		8	10	4	2	2	6	8	8	62
Jury spokespersons[11]
Luleå – Maria Sjölund Umeå – Sandra Warg Sundsvall – Joachim Vogel Falun – Anders Rosén Karlstad – Karin Mannberg Örebro – Antoni Matacz Norrköping – Victoria Dyring Gothenburg – Tina Nordström Växjö – Grynet Malmö – Anne Lundberg Stockholm – Karin Falck

Ratings

Viewing figures by show

Show	Air date	Viewers (millions)	Ref.
Heat 1	15 February 2003	2.977	[6]
Heat 2	22 February 2003	3.180	[7]
Heat 3	1 March 2003	2.914	[8]
Heat 4	8 March 2003	3.047	[9]
Viewers' Choice	9 March 2003	2.282	[10]
Final	15 March 2003	3.813	[11]

See also

• Eurovision Song Contest 2003
• Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest
• Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003