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Svensktoppen Nästa: The Grassroots Route To Winning Eurovision Written by on August 25, 2016 | 1 Comment

Eurovision super fans might have heard about Svensktoppen Nästa, and the one artist who heads away from that competition with a Melodifestivalen free pass in their hands is generally the first name in contention. But what is Svensktoppen Nästa, and how does the competition actually work? Ben Robertson visits the Stockholm qualifier and meets co-ordinator Maths Broberg to get the wider picture.

On August 28th the Final of the ninth Svensktoppen Nästa – the new music competition organised by Sveriges Radio – will take place. In recent years the competition has popped up on the radar of Eurovision  Song Contest and Melodifestivalen fans as one act from this show will qualify to the Melodifestivalen Semi Finals. However it is a competition in its own right, rather than a preselection. The prize of winning is, apart from the exposure, a chance to appear in the heavily-influencial Svensktoppen chart.

How Does Svensktoppen Nästa Work?

The web of Svensktoppen Nästa’s structure is complex, but fundamentally it comes down to local new music getting a chance for local, and potentially even national,  radio airplay. Each of Sweden’s twenty five local radio districts organises a competition for new music, which can come from either new or established artists. As you would expect it is dominated by new talents, but some comebacks are kicked off through this in the summer season. An example would be Laila Adele who was in last year’s final after appearing in Melodifestivalen 2006.

With all the entries submitted to each local area, regional juries split them into smaller groups in order to make a competitive local final. Songs are then performed live, with full vocals and instruments with jury and phone voting in each area deciding the winner. That leaves twenty five songs fighting to be the winner. Those songs are whittled down to eight by a central jury, and these eight compete in the Swedish final, broadcast live on radio nationwide. Jury and televoting select the winner.

Think of it like a little Eurovision with each local radio station enforced to have a preselection, and then most of those songs getting cut.

In recent years the winning act from this contest has got the huge carrot of being offered a place in Melodifestivalen itself. This started in 2013 as an alternative to the Webbjoker competition SVT previously ran online, which struggled to get any traction away from hardcore fans and not enough high-quality artists going through. Originally, the winning acts in this competition qualified direct to Melodifestivalen. Sadly these acts haven’t done particularly well, with none of the Svensktoppen Nästa winners going past Melodifestivalen’s Semi Final stage. However State of Drama, Melodifestivalen finalists in 2013, were second in the 2011 running of Svensktoppen Nästa.

This lack of success meant a slight change last year, and an extra complication. The jury in the Grand Final will award their points for who they think should win the Svensktoppen Nästa competition, but they will also separately decide on the artist who they think should go to Melodifestivalen. This may, or may not be, the Svensktoppen Nästa winner. Last year this proved to be controversial. Michael Fallon won the Svensktoppen Nästa ticket with ‘Kommer Tid, Kommer Råd’, but group Smajling Swedes (who changed name to ‘SMILO’) were the selection of Melodifestivalen’s wildcard.

The Melodifestivalen part of the deal is a huge incentive, and Michael Fannon was ready with a new song to take part in the big Swedish TV, but that song had to get  through the long list of thousands once again, and ‘Skuggan Av Vår Stad’ eventually falling short in Melodifestivalen’s jury room.

The jury’s move to pick another artist was arguably the right call. SMILO’s entry to Melodifestivalen, the EDM-lite ‘Weight of the World’ was the first from a Svensktoppen Nästa artist to reach the last round of televoting in a Melodifestivalen heat. Although still missing out on qualifying for Friends Arena, one could argue this choice of a more ‘Melodifestivalen’ type of artist was correct and Fannon’s Swedish language pop would likely have lingered lower down like result table.

A Taste Of Stockholm

I was lucky enough at the start of June to attend the Stockholm edition of Svensktoppen Nästa. The event, held on the same stage as Eurovision Village in Kungsträdgården, was the entertainment to accompany Stockholm’s summer food festival Smaka på Stockholm. The Friday afternoon show, starting at 15:00 and lasting two hours, may seem like a bizarre time slot. However this is drivetime radio not primetime TV, and the show was interspersed with traffic updates from across the county. The 2015 Stockholm regional winners, who just happened to be SMILO, performed their new song and winning entry from last year as the interval act.

National Final followers will recognise the set-up. The three-person jury sitting politely on the front row, there is a constant call for listeners to vote, and moments for the artists to plead why the audience should vote for them. The variety of genres would be little surprise to any Melfest fan either. 2016 may have lacked in schlager, but happy-clappy gospel, guitar singer-songwriter and cool dance music all featured.

However there were key fundamental differences that set Svensktoppen Nästa apart. The songs submitted must be all ready to launch – no demos allowed – so successful songs can be played on the radio from day one. However in the live shows each song must be played live, both music and vocals, which is against the majority of National Finals and a world away from the ultra-controlled TV environment of Melodifestivalen.

The artists I met at this year’s Stockholm competition were all delighted by the opportunity. Their songs had been played on local radio for weeks before the live final, and while waiting for the results they were all mobilising their growing social networks to get out the vote. Sam Seg was one of those artists, competing with gentle-country influenced pop song ‘Lover’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InE8P8airzI

Unsurprisingly, Sam has returned from eighteen months away from Sweden in the US, studying at the Berklee College of Music and now harbours ambitions of launching himself from the exploding Swedish music scene. For him, Svensktoppen Nästa is an opportunity to get more people to listen to his music. This is the moment to build a career from the grassroots of Swedish radio.

The eventual winner, Erik Toro, has far more reaching goals than that. Post-contest he had one phrase to say about why he wanted to enter Svensktoppen Nästa.

“I Want To Win Eurovision”

Erik Toro is not yet a household name, but certainly one already playing at making it big in the industry. We’ve covered him on ESC Insight before, where he managed to hit the top of Swedish iTunes in a marketing strategy designed to increase his exposure. All to give him a push towards that Eurovision entry. His music videos and music have been professionally produced and his social media capital is already magnitudes larger than Sam’s above.

Erik is one of the first artists we have seen since the change in rules to directly couple Svensktoppen Nästa to the opportunity to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest. So much could potentially damage the brand, making it less of a spectacle in its own right and merely a stepping stone to a greater show. I have previously argued that the two should be more interlinked, but with Svensktoppen Nästa currently a summer show each artist would need a new song regardless to meet Melodifestivalen’s rules and the EBU’s September 1st deadline.

Maths Broberg, the co-ordinator of Svensktoppen Nästa, doesn’t see the coupling as a huge problem. In fact he was flattered by Erik’s comment – after all the Eurovision connection might be bringing more talented artists to Svensktoppen Nästa’s shores. However he was keen to highlight the differences of the live performances and the radio airplay aspect – this had fundamental differences to Melodifestivalen and Eurovision – although one of the same kind in promoting new Swedish music.

Sadly for Erik, his dream to represent Sweden at Eurovision has already ended. Of the 25 local winners he was not shortlisted for the final eight who will compete in Svensktoppen Nästa’s final in Linköping. Perhaps a little bit of that process feels unjust. Maths Broberg admitted it is always ‘an incredibly tough decision’.

Michael Fannon (centre) after winning Svensktoppen Nästa 2015 (Photo: Mike Grönberg, Sveriges Radio)

Michael Fannon (centre) after winning Svensktoppen Nästa 2015 (Photo: Mike Grönberg, Sveriges Radio)

For Svensktoppen Nästa, perhaps it is now at a crossroads. More success in Melodifestivalen might make that coupling stronger to the point SVT might want to synchronise the competitions further. However having attended I get why this is one of the biggest events organised by Sveriges Radio, and it is not something to just throw away. What I am sure nobody realised is that the direct coupling between the two would have people directly aiming for Ukraine in May through this tiny window of opportunity. The qualification route may be long and of lottery-esque improbabilities, but the rewards at the end of the tunnel are so big people are going to buy plenty of raffle tickets.

The final of Svensktoppen Nästa will be available to listen to through their website on Sunday 28th August starting at 14:03 local Swedish time. Check out the eight qualifiers and their songs on this link

About The Author: Ben Robertson

Ben Robertson has attended 23 National Finals in the world of Eurovision. With that experience behind him he writes for ESC Insight with his analysis and opinions about anything and everything Eurovision Song Contest that is worth telling.

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One response to “Svensktoppen Nästa: The Grassroots Route To Winning Eurovision”

  1. Nice piece there, Ben – this year is the first time I’ve actually bothered to find out anything about this particular Contest and some of the entries aren’t bad…

    I have to say that my preferences might not match a stereotypical Melodifestivalen viewpoint – I did love the song with the most un-PC title when I reviewed the eight entries earlier this month in my blog :

    https://eurovisionthroughtheages.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/lmbto-will-anyone-from-svensktoppen.html

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