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Semi‑final 2 of Melodifestivalen 2026 is in the books, and Sweden has once again proved that even their “filler” Saturday night show looks more expensive than most countries’ actual Eurovision staging. Despite focussing on the Winter Olympics, you can bet nearly three million people eschewed skating for schlager.
The show
The circus rolled into Gothenburg with an arena full of people apparently pre‑drunk on glitter and key changes and balloons – well it is Sweden. The hosts looks considerably more polished than last week and have now settled into that uniquely Swedish combo of awkward‑on‑purpose banter, and laser‑precise autocue delivery – talking of which, they have clearly listened to your webmaster in chef’s pleas last week, and are introducing the songs with “Melodi nummer” now. It’s nice to know I’m still connected!
Running order? Front‑loaded with bops, obviously. Sweden did not drag you out on a February evening for a gentle mid‑tempo did they? They hit “play” on an uptempo opener from a twink, turned the LEDs up to “migraine”, and never really took their foot off the pedal long enough for anyone to nip to the kitchen. Pyro came out on schedule… and the firemen came out at the end to put it out, every money note, every fake final chorus, and every “this is my moment” look straight down the camera.
The results
| ong | Performer(s) | Rd1 | Rd2 Pts | Rd2 Psn | Wild Card |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glitter | Arwin | 41 | 5 | ||
| Oxygen | Laila Adèle | 50 | 3 | ||
| Honey Honey | Robin Bengtsson | 76 | 2 | Q | |
| My System | FELICIA | Q | |||
| Där hela världen väntar | Klara Almström | 43 | 4 | ||
| Rakt in i elden | Brandsta City Släckers | 94 | Q |
When the app‑mashing and ringing on the old phone was over and the confetti cannon reloaded, Felicia won the overall televote and went direkt till finalen.
The second golden ticket went to Brandsta City Släckers after the second round of voting, and the Eurovision-style points giving out which, personally, I am glad they brought back. What I am glad they got rid of, thankfully, was the stupid idea of announcing the third qualifier on SVT PLAY – just no!
That ended up being Robin Bengtson
The remaining entries did the noble job of padding out the playlist, before politely exiting the competition, and heading straight to “cult favourite” status on Reddit/X/whatever!
Onward, people!
