Swedish national selection Melodifestivalen expands its lineup with veteran pop star Cazzi Opeia and rising dansband Royz Rollerz joining the race.
Screenshot: SVT
Swedish media released two additional names for Melodifestivalen over the past two days, which will serve as Sweden’s national selection for Eurovision 2027 in Burgas, Bulgaria. Aftonbladet reveals on one side an acclaimed singer and songwriter who has already performed twice in the contest’s grand final and co-wrote one of the biggest hits in Eurovision history. On the other side is a promising young dansband making a meteoric leap from music school to the nation’s biggest stage.
Cazzi Opeia
Cazzi Opeia, the stage name of 37-year-old Moa Carlebecker, is an acclaimed Swedish singer and songwriter. This will mark her third time competing in the selection as a performing artist. She first participated in 2022 with the song “I Can’t Get Enough”, which finished ninth in the grand final, and returned in 2024 with “Give My Heart a Break”, placing fourth. In addition to her performances, Cazzi Opeia has participated as a composer and songwriter in Melodifestivalen six other times. Her crowning achievement as a writer came in 2023, when she co-wrote “Tattoo” performed by Loreen, which won Melodifestivalen, took first place at Eurovision, and surpassed one billion streams on Spotify.
Royz Rollerz
Royz Rollerz is a young dansband expected to make its Melodifestivalen debut. The band members met during music studies at a Folkhögskola – an adult folk high school common in Nordic countries – and formed the group after being assigned a songwriting project for other dansbands. Their debut live performance took place in Örnsköldsvik in May, and shortly after, they released their debut single. Now, the young band is set to make a significant leap directly from music education to the biggest stage on Swedish television.
Previously Revealed Artists By Swedish Media
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Dotter, the stage name of 39-year-old Johanna Maria Jansson, is an acclaimed Swedish singer and songwriter. She is particularly well known and beloved by Eurovision fans for her four appearances as a performer in Melodifestivalen. Dotter first competed with the song “Cry”, which was eliminated in the semi-finals (6th place in the heat).
Following that setback, Dotter returned stronger than ever in 2020 with the hit “Bulletproof”, the overall favorite of that year. The song placed second in the grand final, missing first place by just a single point. The following year, Dotter returned with “Little Tot”, finishing in fourth place. After a brief break, she returned in 2024 with the ballad “It’s Not Easy To Write A Love Song”, finishing 12th in the Melodifestivalen grand final.
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The band E.M.D. was reported by Swedish newspaper Expressen. The group competed in Melodifestivalen 2009, where they lost to Malena Ernman. The band consists of Danny Saucedo and Erik Segerstedt, who both had recent appearances in Melodifestivalen, alongside Mattias Andreasson, who also competed in Melodifestivalen 2012, losing to Loreen before her overall Eurovision victory.
The band was active between 2007 and 2010 and has now reunited for a joint tour. The trio will necessarily compete in the fifth heat of Melodifestivalen, as their schedule is unavailable at other times, leaving a gap in their tour between February 27th and March 19th.
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During this past summer, the team of Eurodance star Martin “E-Type” Erikson began searching for suitable songs for Melodifestivalen, with many now reporting that E-Type is among the first artists to receive a green light from Swedish national broadcaster SVT to participate in next year’s contest. A source familiar with the details noted that SVT had tried to recruit him for years, and while Erikson never ruled out the idea, the key factor for him was finding the exact right song.
If reports prove correct, this will mark the third time the artist competes in the selection, following his debut in 2004 with “Paradise”, which placed fifth in the final, and again in 2008 alongside The Poodles with “Line of Fire”, which fell in the Second Chance round. Additionally, this will mark the first new music E-Type has released since 2019, aside from a song released in 2025 as part of an advertising campaign.
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Eva Jumatate is an 18-year-old singer who made her selection debut last year with the emotional ballad “Selfish”, advancing to the second-chance stage. Known in Sweden as a child prodigy, she finished second on Sweden’s “Got Talent” at age 11 and has since appeared in musicals and television series.
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Maria Sur, a 21-year-old Ukrainian artist who relocated to Sweden due to the war in Ukraine while her father stayed behind to fight, achieved her breakthrough at Melodifestivalen 2023. She competed with “Never Give Up”, qualifying for the grand final and placing ninth. The following year, she returned in Melodifestivalen 2024 with “When I’m Gone”, again qualifying for the grand final and reaching fifth place.
According to sources from Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, Sur is aiming for victory this time and will do everything possible to succeed. Furthermore, it was revealed that her song will be a tribute to her homeland, Ukraine, featuring Ukrainian elements.
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Veteran Melodifestivalen star Nanne Grönvall is expected to return to the competition next year as a performing artist. Grönvall has previously participated eight times as a singer and six additional times as a songwriter. Her crowning achievement came in 1996, when she won Melodifestivalen with the band One More Time and the song “Den vilda” (in English: “The Wild One”), which went on to finish third at Eurovision. Her most recent appearance in the selection was in 2020 with “Carpool Karaoke”, which was eliminated in the semi-finals.
Now, various backstage sources confirm that the artist will return to the big stage. According to a source familiar with the matter, the idea for her comeback was born following a performance she gave during the selection last spring. Sources further indicate that her intended entry is an upbeat pop song tailored to her style.
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Per Andersson, one of Sweden’s most widely recognized comedians and actors, has appeared in Melodifestivalen several times in the past. Most recently, in 2021, he co-hosted one of the semi-finals alongside Pernilla Wahlgren and Christer Björkman. Prior to that, in 2011, he was featured in interval sketches and artist introductions, and in 2013, he participated in memorable interval acts portraying artists whose songs had been rejected.
However, this time marks a new step for the comedian, as he is expected to take the stage for the first time as a competing singer.
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Theo Haraldsson (full name Theodor Haraldsson), the 21-year-old singer, began his media career in 2016 by uploading vlogs to his YouTube channel, where he continues to post today. He previously competed in Melodifestivalen twice under the stage name Theoz. In 2022, with his song “Som du vill” (in English: “As You Want”), he qualified for the grand final and finished seventh, returning in 2023 with “Mer av dig” (in English: “More of You”) to reach fifth place in the final. Haraldsson boasts over two million TikTok followers, a factor many believe contributed to his previous success in the selection.
In 2024, he announced he would be performing simply as Theo, marking the first time he is set to compete under this name.
Once again, Melodifestivalen will serve as Sweden’s national selection. This marks the 64th year the Swedish entry will be selected through this platform, which has chosen all of Sweden’s Eurovision representatives except for its debut entry in 1958, when singer Alice Babs was selected internally, and during Sweden’s absences from the contest in 1964, 1970, and 1976.
Several key rules maintained by Swedish national broadcaster SVT for this edition include the target that 30% of competing songs be performed primarily in Swedish, and that at least 50% of selected entries feature female songwriters (either female-only teams or mixed-gender collaborations). Furthermore, an artist performing a winning song at Melodifestivalen is not guaranteed to perform it at Eurovision, as SVT retains ultimate discretion over the act sent to the contest.
Melodifestivalen Format
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Heats (Deltävlingar): The competition comprised five heats with six songs each. From each heat, the top two songs receiving the highest televote scores qualified directly to the grand final.
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Final Qualification (Finalkval): The third-place songs from each of the five heats earned a second chance. This stage took place as a rapid vote immediately following the fifth heat, with the Swedish audience selecting the final two qualifiers for the grand final lineup.
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Grand Final (Final): Twelve songs competed in the grand final for the ticket to Eurovision. The winner was decided by a 50/50 split between the Swedish public vote and international jury points.
Sweden’s Eurovision Track Record
Sweden is widely considered a Eurovision powerhouse. Across 64 appearances, the country has won the contest seven times, sharing the all-time victory record with Ireland. These two nations are also the only ones to produce two-time Eurovision winners: Ireland’s Johnny Logan, who won in 1980 and 1987, and Sweden’s Loreen, who won in 2012 and 2023.
Sweden boasts an impressive record at the contest, achieving a top-five placement no fewer than 28 times – finishing first seven times, second once, third six times, fourth four times, and fifth ten times. On 17 additional occasions, Sweden finished between 6th and 10th place.
Eurovision 2027: This will be Sweden’s 65th participation in Eurovision. Sweden joined the competition in 1958, and has won it seven times over the years. Sweden’s last victory was in Eurovision 2023 with the song “Tattoo” performed by the singer Loreen.
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Tal Dahan – Journalist, radio broadcaster, and Eurovision content creator.
Tal Dahan is an Israeli journalist and editor specializing in the Eurovision Song Contest, working with the EuroMix editorial team for four years. Since 2022, she has provided regular on-site coverage of Eurovision from the host city, and from 2023 has also reported directly from the press room—offering the Israeli audience live updates, exclusive interviews, and in-depth commentary.
Tal is a member of the Eurovision tribute and parody band “EuroFalsh,” a radio broadcaster, and a student of political science and communications.
She is considered one of Israel’s leading young Eurovision experts. In addition to covering the main contest, Tal has reported from Eurovision pre-parties and national selection events across Europe (in Thessaloniki, Stockholm, Madrid, and more), been interviewed by major media outlets in Israel and internationally, and presented Eurovision-themed podcasts and radio shows.
