Sveriges 12:a (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈsvæ̌rjɛs ˈtɔ̂lːva]; "Sweden's twelve [points]") was a one-off music competition in the Eurovision format, organised and broadcast by the Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT). It served as an alternative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, which was planned to be held in Rotterdam, Netherlands, but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sveriges 12:a
Dates
Semi-final9 May 2020
Final14 May 2020
Host
VenueTV-huset, Stockholm, Sweden
Presenter(s)
Executive producer
Host broadcasterSveriges Television (SVT)
Participants
Number of entries40
Vote
Voting systemSemi-final: 100% televote
Final: 50% jury, 50% televote
Winning song Iceland
"Think About Things"

The competition consisted of a pre-qualifying round on 9 May 2020, hosted by Christer Björkman and David Sundin, and a final on 14 May 2020, hosted by Christer Björkman and Sarah Dawn Finer. Both shows were broadcast live on SVT1, as well as on the streaming platform SVT Play.[1]

Format

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During the pre-qualifying round on 9 May 2020, short clips of all forty-one entries that would have participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 were shown, including the Swedish entry "Move" by the Mamas, despite not being a part of the programme's competitive element.[2] From the remaining forty entries, televoting determined which twenty-five songs would be heard in full during the final on 14 May 2020.[2] Only the Swedish public was able to vote and could do so via the Melodifestivalen app.[1] In the final, which also featured a live performance of "Move" and a new song, "Let It Be", by the Mamas, it was determined which entry would have received Sweden's twelve points, had the Eurovision Song Contest not been cancelled.[1][2]

Presenters

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Christer Björkman and Sarah Dawn Finer, presenters of the final of Sveriges 12:a

The pre-qualifying round was hosted by two presenters: comedian David Sundin, who also co-hosted Melodifestivalen 2020, and singer and television producer Christer Björkman, who represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1992. The final was hosted by Björkman and singer and television presenter Sarah Dawn Finer, who also co-hosted Melodifestivalen in 2012, 2016 and 2019.[3]

Participants

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Pre-qualifying round

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The pre-qualifying round Inför ESC ("Ahead of the ESC") took place on 9 May 2020 at 21:00 CEST and featured short clips of the following competing entries:

Draw Country[4] Artist[4] Song[4] Language(s)[4] Result
01   Albania Arilena Ara "Fall from the Sky" English Non-qualifier
02   Armenia Athena Manoukian "Chains on You" English Non-qualifier
03   Australia Montaigne "Don't Break Me" English Qualifier
04   Azerbaijan Efendi "Cleopatra" English[a] Qualifier
05   Belgium Hooverphonic "Release Me" English Qualifier
06   Bulgaria Victoria "Tears Getting Sober" English Qualifier
07   Cyprus Sandro "Running" English Non-qualifier
08   Denmark Ben & Tan "Yes" English Qualifier
09   Estonia Uku Suviste "What Love Is" English Qualifier
10   Finland Aksel "Looking Back" English Qualifier
11   France Tom Leeb "Mon alliée (The Best in Me)" English, French Qualifier
12   Georgia Tornike Kipiani "Take Me as I Am" English[b] Qualifier
13   Greece Stefania "Supergirl" English Qualifier
14   Ireland Lesley Roy "Story of My Life" English Qualifier
15   Iceland Daði og Gagnamagnið "Think About Things" English Qualifier
16   Israel Eden Alene "Feker libi" (ፍቅር ልቤ) English, Amharic[c] Qualifier
17   Italy Diodato "Fai rumore" Italian Qualifier
18   Croatia Damir Kedžo "Divlji vjetre" Croatian Non-qualifier
19   Latvia Samanta Tīna "Still Breathing" English Non-qualifier
20   Lithuania The Roop "On Fire" English Qualifier
21   Malta Destiny "All of My Love" English Qualifier
22   Moldova Natalia Gordienko "Prison" English Non-qualifier
23   Netherlands Jeangu Macrooy "Grow" English Qualifier
24   North Macedonia Vasil "You" English Non-qualifier
25   Norway Ulrikke "Attention" English Qualifier
26   Poland Alicja "Empires" English Qualifier
27   Portugal Elisa "Medo de sentir" Portuguese Non-qualifier
28   Romania Roxen "Alcohol You" English Non-qualifier
29   Russia Little Big "Uno" English, Spanish Qualifier
30   San Marino Senhit "Freaky!" English Non-qualifier
31    Switzerland Gjon's Tears "Répondez-moi" French Qualifier
32   Serbia Hurricane "Hasta la vista" Serbian[d] Non-qualifier
33   Slovenia Ana Soklič "Voda" Slovene Non-qualifier
34   Spain Blas Cantó "Universo" Spanish Qualifier
35   United Kingdom James Newman "My Last Breath" English Qualifier
36   Czech Republic Benny Cristo "Kemama" English Non-qualifier
37   Germany Ben Dolic "Violent Thing" English Qualifier
38   Ukraine Go A "Solovey" (Соловей) Ukrainian Non-qualifier
39   Belarus VAL "Da vidna" (Да відна) Belarusian Non-qualifier
40   Austria Vincent Bueno "Alive" English Qualifier

Final

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The final took place on 14 May 2020 at 21:00 CEST and featured the twenty-five songs that qualified from the pre-qualifying round.

Draw Country[4] Artist[4] Song[4] Language(s)[4] Points[5] Place
Jury Televote Total
01   Azerbaijan Efendi "Cleopatra" English[a] 0 0 0 15
02   United Kingdom James Newman "My Last Breath" English 6 2 8 6
03   Denmark Ben & Tan "Yes" English 0 6 6 8
04   Estonia Uku Suviste "What Love Is" English 0 0 0 15
05   Australia Montaigne "Don't Break Me" English 3 0 3 13
06   Lithuania The Roop "On Fire" English 1 8 9 4
07   Netherlands Jeangu Macrooy "Grow" English 0 0 0 15
08   Spain Blas Cantó "Universo" Spanish 0 0 0 15
09   Poland Alicja "Empires" English 0 0 0 15
10   Germany Ben Dolic "Violent Thing" English 0 4 4 11
11   Belgium Hooverphonic "Release Me" English 4 0 4 11
12   Iceland Daði og Gagnamagnið "Think About Things" English 12 12 24 1
13   Norway Ulrikke "Attention" English 0 0 0 15
14   Ireland Lesley Roy "Story of My Life" English 0 1 1 14
15   France Tom Leeb "Mon alliée (The Best in Me)" English, French 0 5 5 9
16   Malta Destiny "All of My Love" English 10 10 20 2
17   Finland Aksel "Looking Back" English 0 0 0 15
18   Bulgaria Victoria "Tears Getting Sober" English 8 0 8 6
19   Georgia Tornike Kipiani "Take Me as I Am" English[b] 0 0 0 15
20   Greece Stefania "Supergirl" English 0 0 0 15
21    Switzerland Gjon's Tears "Répondez-moi" French 7 3 10 3
22   Austria Vincent Bueno "Alive" English 0 0 0 15
23   Israel Eden Alene "Feker libi" (ፍቅር ልቤ) English, Amharic[c] 0 0 0 15
24   Italy Diodato "Fai rumore" Italian 5 0 5 9
25   Russia Little Big "Uno" English, Spanish 2 7 9 4

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b Contains the Japanese mantra "Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō".
  2. ^ a b Contains "I love you" in Italian, Spanish, French and German, and one more word in French.
  3. ^ a b Also contains lyrics in Hebrew and Arabic.
  4. ^ Contains one repeated phrase in Spanish and two words in English.

References

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  1. ^ a b c Dahlander, Gustav (3 April 2020). "Klart för Eurovision-vecka i SVT". Melodifestivalen: Expertbloggen (in Swedish). SVT. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  2. ^ a b c Ek, Torbjörn (3 April 2020). "SVT gör eget Eurovision". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  3. ^ Granger, Anthony (27 April 2020). "Sweden: Sarah Dawn Finer to Host Sveriges 12:a". Eurovoix. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h "Rotterdam 2020". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  5. ^ Granger, Anthony (14 May 2020). "Sweden: Daði og Gagnamagnið Wins Sveriges 12:a". Eurovoix. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
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