Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is a European music competition that has been held annually since 1956. For Måns Zelmerlöw, it has been a big dream since childhood to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden. After his victory in 2015 at the Swedish preliminary, the Melodifestivalen, this dream came true for him. He competed with his song "Heroes" and also won the Eurovision Song Contest 2015.
Since Måns loves the ESC very much, he was there again and again in the following years. In 2016, he hosted the contest, which was held in Sweden, together with Petra Mede. In the following years, he was part of the Interval Acts or of interludes, for example.
This page lists more information about the years in which Måns took part in the Eurovision Song Contest.
2015 - Austria
After Måns won the Swedish preliminary show, the Melodifestivalen, he represented his country at the 60th Eurovision Song Contest 2015 in Vienna with the motto "Building Bridges". There he first competed in the second semi-final on May 21st with starting number 13 and he won it with 217 points.
He qualified for the final on May 23rd, 2015. With start number 10, he entered the competition with his song "Heroes". In his performance he interacts with the animated stick figure "MP" and thus enthused the audience. In the end, he clearly won the final with 365 points, ahead of Russia with 303 points and Italy with 292 points. Måns was able to bring home the 6th victory at the ESC for Sweden.
Måns received the highest rating of 12 points for a total of 12 times and was awarded by the following countries: Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Switzerland, Slovenia and the United Kingdom.
Here is the performance of Måns Zelmerlöw with his song "Heroes".
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2016 - Sweden
Because of Måns’ victory, the 61st Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was held from May 10th to 14th in Stockholm in Sweden, with the motto "Come Together". In addition to Petra Mede, who already moderated the ESC in Sweden back in 2013, Måns also hosted the broadcast of the competition.
Måns opened the competition at the first semi-final with an interpretation of his winning title "Heroes". Together with a boy as an artist and a children’s choir, he presented a real world version of the song. The boy took on the role of the stick figure MP from the 2015’s performance.
Petra and Måns opened the second semifinals with the piece "That’s Eurovision" and hereby tell the story of the ESC.
In the final, they both presented the interval act "Love Love Peace Peace", which has been celebrated until today.
Måns also sang his winning song "Heroes" from the previous year, as well as his new single "Fire in the Rain".
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2017 - Ukraine
The Eurovision Song Contest 2017 was held in Ukraine after the victory of Jamala. It was hosted by the three moderators Timur Miroschnytschenko, Volodymyr Ostaptschuk and Oleksandr Skitschko. The final took place in Kiev on May 13th.
Måns was also part of the competition that year. However, he was mostly heard only behind the camera which was not receivable for all countries. Because Måns commented the broadcasting together with Edward af Sillén for the Swedish television SVT1.
But Måns was at least also visible to viewers from all over the world. He was part of a sketch in which he shows the three Ukrainian hosts how to become the best host for the ESC and therefore he acts as the personal trainer for them.
And this sketch can be seen here.
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2019 - Israel
The 64th Eurovision Song Contest took place from May 14th to 18th, 2019 in Tel Aviv, Israel, after Netta had won the competition the previous year.
As an interval act, the "Switch Song" was performed that year, in which former Eurovision winners sang the songs of the others in their own interpretation. It all started with Conchita Wurst, she sang Måns’ song "Heroes". Måns in turn sang the song "Fuego", the original winning song by Eleni Foureira. This song was also released as a new single on the same day. Eleni sang "Dancing Lasha Tumbai" by Verka Serduchka, who then interpreted the winning song of last year "Toy" by Netta.
In the end, Gali Atari, Conchita Wurst, Måns, Eleni Foureira and Verka Serduchka came together on stage and
sang the song "Hallelujah" together.
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2020 - Online
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 65th Eurovision Song Contest, which was supposed to be held in the Netherlands, unfortunately had to be canceled and was postponed to 2021.
As a replacement, the online event "Europe Shine A Light" was launched on May 16th, in which the original applicant songs were shown and other former ESC participants appeared as guests.
Among them was Måns, who performed his song "Heroes" as an acoustic version from his home near London.
It was dedicated to the many helpers during the pandemic, for example those in the health sector,
which were also shown by corresponding videos next to the performance, because they are the heroes of the pandemic.
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2021 - Netherlands
The 65th Eurovision Song Contest 2021 took place from May 18th to 22nd in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The motto was "Open Up". Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, there were some adjustments done to the competition. For example, in addition to the live performances, recordings of the participants were made in advance, which could be broadcasted if necessary.
Most of the interval acts were also pre-recorded. So was "Rock The Roof", in which former ESC participants presented their songs on the roofs of skyscrapers in Rotterdam at night. Måns started this interval act with his title "Heroes", and the stick figure MP was also back again.
The following participants can also be seen on "Rock The Roof": Lenny Kuhr (De Troubadour, 1969),
Getty Kaspers and Teach-In (Ding-a-dong, 1975), Sandra Kim (J’aime La Vie, 1986), Helena Paparizou (My Number One, 2005)
and Lordi (Hard Rock Hallelujah, 2006).
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2023 - Great Britain (on behalf of Ukraine)
The 67th Eurovision Song Contest 2023 should actually have taken place from 9 to 13 May in the country of last year´s winner, Ukraine. Due to the war in the country, Great Britain took over the hosting of the music contest on behalf of Ukraine. The motto in Liverpool this year was "United by music".
The broadcaster was the BBC, which in addition to the television broadcast also organised various special programmes and even provided its own podcast on the subject of the ESC, the Eurovisioncast. Alongside Nina Warhurst (BBC Breakfast), Daniel Rosney (BBC News) and Ngunan Adamu (Radio Merseyside), Måns also hosted the weekly podcast and provided information on everything to do with the ESC.
Besides the podcast, however, Måns also took part in the actual ESC show again in 2023, this time in the two semi-final shows. He tested his knowledge against Filomena Cautela in a little quiz about qualifiers or non-qualifiers from previous semi-finals.
The viewers of the Swedish television SVT could also hear Måns in the final. As before in 2017, he commented on the show
for SVT together with Edward af Sillén.
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