10 March 2024

Break out the M&M’s, Marcus & Martinus have won Melodiefestivalen 2024 with Unforgettable and will represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö. It was a comprehensive win by the twin brothers from Norway as they smashed the international jury vote, and then smashed the public vote. Other than the slow start accruing votes during the jury phase, where some artificial excitement was probably created by presenting their lowest scoring juries first, the win looked never in doubt. After 13 points total from the first two juries, M&M took the maximum 12 points from each of the remaining six juries.

Marcus & Martinus led 85 to 46 over Cazzi Opeia heading into the public voting phase, and by the time it came to reveal their votes, M&M only needed 20 points to overhaul Medina, who earlier scored 61 points to launch them into the lead. M&M then scooped 91 points from the public, to beat Medina 177 to 104, with Smash Into Pieces third on 90. Cazzi Opeia could only manage 41 points from the public, to finish fourth on 87 points.

According to commentator Bella Qvist, M&M are only the second international act to win Melfest following the Swedish-American group, The Mamas, in 2020, which included the American, Ashley Haynes. Also noteworthy is that M&M went one better than last year, when they finished second to Loreen and Tattoo with Air.

Results

01 Marcus & Martinus – Unforgettable – 177 (85/92)
02 Medina – Que Sera – 104 (43/61)
03 Smash Into Pieces – Heroes Are Calling – 90 (31/59)
04 Cazzi Opeia – Give My Heart A Break – 87 (46/41)
05 Liamoo – Dragon – 83 (38/45)
06 Danny Saucedo – Happy That You Found Me – 74 (34/40)
07 Maria Sur – When I’m Gone – 72 (37/35)
08 Annika Wickihalder – Light – 63 (38/25)
09 Jacqline – Effortless – 61 (40/21)
10 Jay Smith – Back To My Roots – 46 (20/26)
11 Lisa Ajax – Awful Liar – 37 (26/11)
12 Dotter – It’s Not Easy To Write A Love Song – 34 (26/8)

Review & Score

Overall, it wasn’t a great Melodifestivalen in terms of song quality. Nothing crazy or interesting. No song in Swedish in the final for the first time ever, and the only time you might have heard Swedish was in Medina’s Que Sera, which also included several other languages. The key differentiation between many of the acts was the visual aspect. Marcus & Martinus were unparalleled in that regard, and they already had the best song anyway. They were one of the most likely winners ever.

01 Maria Sur – When I’m Gone (6)

Impressive visually, including the laser show itself (the first time laser mapping was used at Melfest), When I’m Gone felt a bit repetitive. Maria did two places better than her 9th last year.

02 Jay Smith – Back To My Roots (5)

Interest in this waned over time. It need more punch and variety.

03 Lisa Ajax – Awful Liar (6)

Another one where interest fell away, and it lost quite a bit of impact. The song is about pretending everything is right after a breakup. Lisa’s next impact will be in June, when her baby girl is due to be born. There were three female ballads in this year’s final, and two were essentially overlooked, with Lisa’s one of them. Notably she only got 11 points from the public to see her finish in 11th place, which was as tad harsh.

04 Smash Into Pieces – Heroes Are Calling (7)

A somewhat surprising third place, thanks to the band awarded the third highest points from the public and that they stood out as the only rock song. The laser show, again, impressed, while the song, very good in its own right, didn’t quite compare to last year’s Six Feet Under so I never fully gravitated to it.

05 Cazzi Opeia – Give My Heart A Break (7)

So cheerful and I was rapt to see Cazzi do well with the international jury and then achieve a respectable fourth place. The song didn’t quite have enough to it to really challenge for the win.

06 Annika Wickihalder – Light (7)

The best of the three solo female ballads, especially with the gospel vocals and lighting from the audience.

07 Marcus & Martinus – Unforgettable (8)

It was a simple case of best song this year, augmented by the best staging. Their win might have been even bigger if not for Sweden being one of the bizarre countries to still allow the public to vote after the jury results are revealed. Knowing M&M were almost certain to win, people likely threw their votes around a bit, because Unforgettable should have won the public vote much bigger than just the 31 point margin over Medina.

08 Dotter – It’s Not Easy To Write A Love Song (7)

It’s not easy to win Melfest, either! Dotter’s fourth attempt ends with a last place, including just 8 points from the public (their lowest). Nothing too wrong with the style of song and the artistic presentation; it just seemed to be plodding by the end.

09 Medina – Que Sera (3)

For a party song, I was already over this before the Melfest final. The novelty value had evaporated, and there’s really not a great deal to it other than a lot of chorus repetition and hand waving.

10 Liamoo – Dragon (4)

For all the fire in this, there wasn’t much spark. Fairly generic and bland stuff. Liamoo broke out of performance mode when the little fire prop on his hand actually worked. If that’s all this act was about, it wasn’t about much.

11 Jacqline – Effortless (7)

For my second favourite heading into the final, Jacqline’s 9th place is not a big surprise. As much as there’s that intoxicating rhythm and lovely voice, the song really tails off. A bridge that you could barely crawl under and a bit of a whimper finale. Apparently she’s been sick in recent days, and that possibly had some impact. While she got a respectable 40 points from the international jury, the public crushed her with just 21.

12 Danny Saucedo – Happy That You Found Me (7)

Fifth time unlucky for saucy Danny Saucedo. I was happy that I found this in time as Happy That You Found Me was the only one that really improved for me following the heats. I especially appreciated the artistic narrative of his presentation, and that it’s meant to be a reflection of the ups and downs and the many stages of life. The song was quite addictive too, even if lacking in a great deal of substance. Being alone and bouncing around so much, it did look like Danny was trying too hard. Sixth place is probably about right.

With an average score of 6.2, the 2024 edition of Melodifestivalen rates slightly lower than the last two years (6.4 and 6.5, respectively), and just ahead of the 6.1 of the two years prior. The simple fact is there wasn’t anything outstanding this year to nudge it higher like a Loreen (Tattoo) in 2023, or a Cornelia Jakobs (Hold Me Closer) in 2022.

My Top 12

01 Marcus & Martinus – Unforgettable (-)
02 Jacqline – Effortless (-)
03 Cazzi Opeia – Give My Heart A Break (-)
04 Annika Wickihalder – Light (+2)
05 Smash Into Pieces – Heroes Are Calling (-)
05 Danny Saucedo – Happy That You Found Me (+6)
07 Dotter – It’s Not Easy To Write A Love Song (+1)
08 Maria Sur – When I’m Gone (+1)
09 Lisa Ajax – Awful Liar (-5)
10 Jay Smith – Back To My Roots (-3)
11 Liamoo – Dragon (+1)
12 Medina – Que Sera (-1)

The improvement of Danny Saucedo by 6 places and the drop by 5 places of Lisa Ajax were the biggest changes from my preview and caused much of the other shuffling about. The two minor exceptions are Annika Wickihalder’s jump of two places and Jay Smith’s fall of 3 places. The bottom two switched themselves around, while the top 3 remain unchanged. Now the question is can Marcus & Martinus be the first non-Swedish act to win the Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden? While I muse over that, off for some M&M’s. Peanut, of course!

Sweden: Melodifestivalen 2024 Final – Preview & My Top 12

Sweden: Loreen Wins Melodifestivalen 2023 With Tattoo – Review