During an exclusive interview on the latest episode of The Euro Trip, Melodifestivalen Contest Producer Karin Gunnarsson revealed that the show’s new format will make the competition feel “​​more sexy and fun”.

In October this year, SVT announced an overhaul of the show’s format. Andra Chansen was replaced with a solitary Semi Final preceded by four Heats.

Speaking to The Euro Trip presenter James Rowe, Gunnarsson said: “We changed the name from Andra Chansen to a Semi Final, because that is really what it is. I want the feeling of winning to be as present for as long as it’s possible and I think a semi final has a different vibe around it.

“Andra Chansen is a second chance and I think many of the songs in Andra Chansen are winning songs, it’s not losers corner. We changed the name to make it feel a little more sexy and fun.”

Karin Gunnarsson was speaking in her first English-language interview since former Contest Producer Christer Björkman left Swedish broadcaster SVT earlier in 2021.

Asked whether the new Semi Final not consisting of duels will make the show less exciting, Gunnarsson conceded: “We do not know that until we try it. We have to be bold and try this and see what happens. We have to try it to learn and to see what will happen, maybe it’s not that good, I don’t know. But we cannot just sit back and be content with our arms crossed, we have to be a little bold.”

Gunnarsson also detailed the reasons for not including a participant from the P4 Nästa competition in Melodifestivalen 2022.

“For the last years I have put a lot of work into that [choosing an artist from P4 Nästa] but we haven’t really succeeded. So I just said we should pause for one year and evaluate the thing, if this is a good thing for P4 Nästa and for us. so I’ve not said it’s never gonna happen again”.

Karin Gunnarsson is in her first year as Contest Producer for Melodifestivalen. Prior to this role she was Assistant Competition Producer from 2017-2021.

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IMAGE CREDIT: SVT Melfest