Logo used between the second and thirteenth edition
Fantasifestivalen ("The Fantasy Festival") is an annual music competition organised by the Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT). It determines the country's representative for the North Vision Song Contest, and has been organized for every edition to date.
The festival has already produced one North Vision winner so far - Malena Ernman's "One Step From Paradise" from Fantasifestivalen 03 and North Vision Song Contest 3 and seven other top 10 placings, including four other finishes in the top 3, for Sweden at the contest. Light orchestrated pop songs, known locally as schlager music, are so prevalent that the festival is sometimes referred to as Schlagerfestivalen ("The schlager festival"). However, SVT tries to present other styles of music such as indie, rap and rock.
Origin
Fantasifestivalen is based on Melodifestivalen, the Swedish national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest.
Further information: History of Melodifestivalen
Participation
Timoteij, the first edition's winner of Fantasifestivalen, performing on North Vision Song Contest in Budapest.
Many different songs and performers have entered Fantasifestivalen since its debut. To be eligible, performers must have any connection to Sweden - born there, raised there or have ancestry from Sweden. In the sixth and seventh edition non-Swedish artists were allowed to enter the 'Foreigner Final'. In the eighth, ninth edition and fourteenth edition non-Swedish artists were allowed to submit an entry to SVT, from which one entry had been picked internally to compete in the contest.
A CD of each edition's competing songs had been released between the second and tenth edition and from the fifteenth edition onwards.
Selection of contestants
Songs
SVT begins looking for songs a few weeks before the start of the first semifinal of the attendant show. The song can be in any language, any length and any music style. SVT prefers a huge variety of music styles to make the show more exciting.
Artists
SVT selects all the performers.
Notable artists
Petra Marklund, better known as September, has hosted the first edition and returned as a performer in the second edition, whereas Marie Serneholt was a performer in the first edition and returned as a host in the second and eighth edition. Sean Banan, who hosted the fourth edition and Måns Zelmerlöw, who hosted the fifth and sixth edition, have already competed as an artist in the competition.
Many worldwide-known acts have already participated, like Lykke Li', who is known for her song "I Follow Rivers"; Roxette, known for several hits along the world in the late 80's and early 90's, just as "The Look", "Listen To Your Heart", "It Must Have Been Love" and "Joyride"; Agnetha Fältskog, known as an ex-member of the Swedish group ABBA, which won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with "Waterloo" and had several more hits around the world or Agnes, who had huge success all over Europe with her song "Release Me" in 2009. Tove Lo participated in the competition before her international success. Günther, who is known for his hit "The Ding Dong Song", which rose popularity as an internet meme, took part, as well as Alcazar, who became famous for their song "Crying At The Discoteque" all around Europe. Army of Lovers gained much success in the 90s, especially with their song "Crucified", Amanda Jenssen is also a bigger name that is known for hits like "Happyland" and "Dry My Soul". 90s star Pandora competed in the eleventh edition, as well as young popstar Zara Larsson. The twelfth edition has had bigger names, including Zara Larsson, Mohombi and Anette Olzon, former lead singer of the Finnish band Nightwish.
Artists that participated most times in the contest
Hosting
Usually cities like Malmö, Gothenburg, Östersund, Uppsala, Örebro or Linköping are hosting the semi-finals and the Andra Chansen Round, whereas Stockholm is hosting the grand final, mostly in the Friends Arena.
Hosts
| Edn. | Format | Dates | Locations | Hosts | Voting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #01 | 32 songs, 4 semi-finals, one second chance round & one final | 22 March 2013 - 5 April 2013 | Danny Saucedo & Petra Marklund | 50% Jury, 50% SMS and telephone voting in the final. 100% SMS and telephone voting in the heats and Second Chance round. | |
| #02 | 3 May 2013 - 24 May 2013 |
|
Andreas Lundstedt & Marie Serneholt | ||
| #03 | 12 June 2013 - 30 June 2013 |
|
Gina Dirawi & Eric Saade | ||
| #04 | 19 July 2013 - 3 August 2013 | TBA | Helena Bergström & Sean Banan | ||
| #05 | Not taken place | Not taken place | |||
| #06 | 25 August 2013 - 23 November 2013 | Loreen & Måns Zelmerlöw | |||
| #07 | 25 December 2013 - 31 January 2014 | Pär Lernström & Kakan Hermansson | |||
| #08 | 3 April 2014 - 1 May 2014 | Marie Serneholt & Rickard Olsson | |||
| #09 | 30 May 2014 - 10 July 2014 | Carina Berg | |||
| #10 | 21 July 2014 - 12 September 2014 | Nour El-Refai & Anders Jansson | |||
| #11 | 12 October 2014 - 13 November 2014 | David Hellenius & Jessica Almenäs | |||
| #12 | 25 November 2014 - 3 January 2015 | Caroline Winberg & Malin Persson | |||
| #13 | 24 January 2015 - 6 March 2015 | Sanna Nielsen & Robin Paulsson | |||
| #14 | 28 songs, 4 semi-finals, one second chance round & one final | 21 March 2015 - 17 May 2015 | |||
| #15 | 31 May 2015 - 18 July 2015 | Christine Meltzer & Måns Zelmerlöw | |||
| #16 | 5 songs, one final | 20 September 2015 | Christer Björkman | 100% SMS and telephone voting in the final. | |
| #17 | 28 songs, 4 semi-finals, one second chance round & one final | 11 October 2015 - TBA | Gina Dirawi | 50% Jury, 50% SMS and telephone voting in the final. 100% SMS and telephone voting in the heats and Second Chance round. |
Rounds
One edition of Fantasifestivalen lasts about one month and consists of six shows: four semifinals, in which seven songs compete; a Second Chance round featuring songs which narrowly missed out on qualification from the semifinals; and a grand final. Twelve songs comprise the final: two automatic qualifiers from each of the semifinals, and the four most popular songs in the Second Chance round.
Foreigner Final
A "foreigner final" had been introduced in the 6th and 7th edition of Fantasifestivalen after the NBU allowed foreign artists to enter national selections. This round takes place before the first semi-final and will not have a specific number of participants. The public will choose the best song, that will participate in the respective Fantasifestivalen edition.
Semi-finals and Second Chance
Under the current system, four semifinals are hosted each second day and seven songs compete in each show.
Unlike in the final, no juries are used; televoting decides the results. The songs are performed with voting lines open for about one and a half day for the first round of voting; the 5 songs receiving the most votes in the first round qualify to the second round. These remaining top 5 battle again for two places in the final and Andra Chansen round - the 1st and 2nd placed songs qualify to the final, and the 3rd and 4th placed songs progress to Andra Chansen.
The Second Chance round (Andra Chansen) is the fifth heat in which the last four places in the final are decided. The third- and fourth-placed songs from each semifinal (eight songs in total) compete in the event. The eight songs become divided into four duels, from which each winner qualifies to the final.
Final
Twelve songs participate: two from each semifinal, four from the Second Chance round. A running order is decided by the competition's supervisors to ensure that similar songs and artists are kept apart in the final.
The winner will represent Sweden in the North Vision Song Contest.
Voting
Timoteij announcing the Swedish jury results in the second edition of Fantasifestivalen.
Lina Rafn announcing the Danish jury results in the fourteenth edition of Fantasifestivalen.
The current voting format is a positional voting system similar to that used at the Eurovision Song Contest. 11 international juries each award 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 points to their top seven songs, the eleven juries account for 50% of the total score. Televotes account for the remaining 50%; The value of the votes was 2 x 473 points, which meant that tele-votes and jury-votes represent 50/50 each. If an entry is getting 10% of the tele-votes it will be equivalent to 10% of 473 points. The song with the highest number of points at the end of the voting is the winner.
If there is a tie, the song that has received more votes from the public receives the higher position.
Juries
Juries can send an application to SVT, when it is announced that the lines for this are open. Norway is the only country yet to be part of the international juries in every edition. Sweden used to be part of the juries until the 11th edition.
History
The following table shows the amount of countries being selected as international voting jury.
| Amount | Country | Editions |
|---|---|---|
| 14 |  Norway
|
#01, #02, #03, #04, #06, #07, #08, #09, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15 |
| 10 |  Sweden
|
#01, #02, #03, #04, #06, #07, #08, #09, #10, #11 |
| 8 |  Denmark
|
#01, #06, #09, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15 |
| 7 |  Azerbaijan
|
#03, #04, #07, #08, #11, #13, #14 |
 Greece
|
#01, #02, #03, #04, #10, #11, #12 | |
| 6 |  Bosnia & Herzegovina
|
#07, #08, #09, #13, #14, #15 |
 Ireland
|
#06, #09, #11, #12, #13, #15 | |
 Moldova
|
#04, #06, #09, #10, #13, #15 | |
| 5 |  Faroe Islands
|
#10, #12, #13, #14, #15 |
 France
|
#06, #07, #08, #09, #10 | |
 Georgia
|
#09, #10, #11, #12, #13 | |
 Germany
|
#10, #11, #12, #13, #15 | |
 North Macedonia
|
#01, #02, #03, #04, #06 | |
 Ukraine
|
#03, #04, #06, #07, #15 | |
| 4 |  Albania
|
#11, #12, #14, #15 |
 Andorra
|
#02, #03, #06, #12 | |
 Liechtenstein
|
#04, #06, #07, #08 | |
 Portugal
|
#04, #06, #07, #08 | |
 Switzerland
|
#02, #03, #12, #14 |
Winners
All Swedish North Vision representatives have come from Fantasifestivalen to date, except NONONO in the 5th edition, due to organization problems and low viewing figures the Fantasifestivalen edition had been cancelled. Sweden has won the North Vision Song Contest 3, and achieved seven other top 10 placings, including top 3 placings in the first, fifth, eighth and thirteenth edition.
| Edition | Artist | Song | Translation | Points (Fantasifestivalen Final) | Margin | Position in North Vision |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #01 | Timoteij | "Puls" | Pulse | 156 | 3 | 3rd |
| #02 | Martin Stenmarck | "Frozen In My Heart" | 183 | 62 | 8th | |
| #03 | Malena Ernman | "One Step From Paradise" | 153 | 5 | 1st | |
| #04 | Melissa Horn | "Kvar I Nått Jag Lämnat" | Remaining in the night I left | 133 | 9 | 14th |
| #051 | NONONO | "Pumpin Blood" | — | — | 3rd | |
| #06 | Marie Serneholt | "That's the Way My Heart Goes" | 121 | 9 | 17th | |
| #07 | Malena Ernman | "Perdus" | Lost | 123 | 8 | 16th (SF) |
| #08 | Ulrika | "Animal" | 131 | 1 | 3rd | |
| #09 | Helena Paparizou | "Set Your Heart On Me" | 169 | 58 | 7th | |
| #10 | Alvaro Estrella | "All In My Head" | 125 | 6 | 20th | |
| #11 | Getty Domein | "Dance With The Devil" | 149 | 15 | 17th | |
| #12 | Mahan Moin | "Azizami" | My darling | 116 | 3 | 6th |
| #13 | Stockholm Syndrome | "Kalabalik" | 155 | 42 | 2nd | |
| #14 | Timoteij | "Wildfire" | 103 | 4 | 11th | |
| #15 | Dinah Nah | "Taste Your Love" | 126 | 1 | 4th | |
| #16 | Agnes Carlsson | "Human Touch" | 386 | 28 | TBA | |
| #17 | TBA | |||||
1 The song has not been chosen through Fantasifestivalen 05.