Melodifestivalen 2009

Melodifestivalen 2009 was the 49th edition of the Swedish music competition Melodifestivalen, which was organised by Sveriges Television (SVT) and took place over a six-week period between 7 February and 14 March 2009. The winner of the competition was Malena Ernman with the song "La Voix", who represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, where she came twenty-first with 33 points.

Format
For the 2009 contest a number of changes were implemented to this format: the first four heats now include a duel format, with the top four songs competing against each other for a place in the final - the 1st and 4th-placed songs and the 2nd and 3rd-placed songs battled against each other, with the winning songs, as decided by another public vote, qualifying to the final, while the losing songs take part in the Second Chance round.

Additionally, a maximum of eight people were allowed on stage, an increase from the previous maximum of six. As well as this pre-recorded backing vocals were now allowed to be included on the songs' backing tracks, however the main vocals were still required to be performed on stage.

This year also marked the introduction of an "international jury". The jury consists of 12 members, who all work within the music industry, with many of them involved in Eurovision. The international jury selected one song from each heat that did not qualify to the final, focusing their decision on their suitability for Eurovision. After the Second Chance round had finished, the jury selected their preferred song from the remaining entries, which qualified to the final, becoming the 11th finalist. The international jury also voted during the final of the contest, becoming the 12th jury, alongside the 11 regional juries of Sweden.

Stage design
The first plans of the stage were made during the summer of 2008 and was, for the third time, designed by Viktor Brattström, with the intention to provide a feeling of endlessness: "The audience will get the feeling of not knowing where the stage starts or ends, not knowing what's coming up around the corner".

The green room, where the artists rested after their performances, was altered from previous contests. Instead of competing artists and composers sitting together at tables, artists sat together on sofas beside the stage, while composers sat together in the front rows of the audience.

Wildcards
Starting in 2004, four out of the 32 participants were selected directly by the contest's producers, in order to increase musical and artistic breadth. Each artist, called "wildcard", participated in a different heat. The wildcards in 2009 were the following:

Competing entries
A record-breaking 3,440 songs were submitted to the competition, with only 28 proceeding to the next round. The final 28 songs chosen to compete in the heats were released by SVT on 14 October, along with the names of their authors.

Heat 1
The first heat took place on 7 February 2009 at the Scandinavium in Gothenburg. 3,294,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 721,334 votes were cast, with a total of SEK1,396,108 collected for Radiohjälpen.

Heat 2
The second heat took place on 14 February 2009 at the Skellefteå Kraft Arena in Skellefteå. 3,032,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 812,874 votes were cast, with a total of SEK1,269,807 collected for Radiohjälpen.

Heat 3
The third heat took place on 21 February 2009 at the Ejendals Arena in Leksand. 2,922,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 691,238 votes were cast, with a total of SEK1,053,643 collected for Radiohjälpen.

Heat 4
The fourth heat took place on 28 February 2009 at the Malmö Arena in Malmö. 3,188,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 639,928 votes were cast, with a total of SEK1,122,842 collected for Radiohjälpen.

Second chance
The second chance round took place on 7 March 2009 at the Himmelstalundshallen in Norrköping. 2,886,000 viewers watched the show live. A total of 639,928 votes were cast.

International jury choice
The international jury had the task of selecting a song from each heat which they think was the most suitable for the Eurovision Song Contest. The jury were only able to pick songs that had not passed to the final. If they pick a song which qualifies to the final through the Second Chance round, that song became ineligible for the jury's choice. The international jury were also given the right to vote during the final of the contest, becoming the 12th jury, alongside the 11 regional juries.

Final
The final took place on 14 March 2009 at the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm. 3,592,000 viewers watched the final live. A total of 1,748,970 votes were cast, with a total of SEK3,457,435 collected for Radiohjälpen.