Danielle Gilbert
UCOR 1440-06
Dr. David Green
16 March 2017
Sweden: The Grand Finale
Eurovision is often used in order to display aspects of a country’s culture and past. In this post I will evaluate how Sweden displays itself through Eurovision and how this form of nation branding aligns or misaligns with the national identity that I previously set up in my first blog post. National identity can be defined as “a sense of a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, and language” (Oxford). This concept of national identity can be supported by a country’s attempt at nation branding which can be seen as “the phenomenon by which governments engage in self-conscious activities aimed at producing a certain image of the nation state” (qtd. In Jordan, 283). In the first blog I concluded that Sweden is a country built on their traditions that are still important to the country, the Swedish language, their progressive and democratic government, how Swedes interact with the European Union (EU), and the importance of immigration in their society. Since writing my first blog post, I found that another important part of Swedish identity is the term lagom which can be interpreted as “just the right amount or in moderation” (Robins). This term is very noticeable in many different part of Sweden’s part in Eurovision. Throughout my second blog post I evaluated five of Sweden’s consecutive entries and how the different aspects that took place on stage represented the country. In the blog post I specifically cited how Sweden’s use of English, their choice in singers and producers, and the lyrics of their songs were used to portray the diversity of Sweden and how others may view the performances.
Lagom is a key aspect of Swedish identity the country features in Eurovision. To support this idea we can look at the certain parts of the competition that distinctly show lagom taking place. For starters, if you take a look at the postcards that are used at the beginning of each song, some countries choose to highlight their own accomplishments or important sightseeing spots in their country. Sweden, on the other hand, chooses to focus on the country performing the next song; all attention is diverted from the host country. These postcards were created in exactly the same way in both 2013 and 2016. Recreating them in 2016 only slightly altering them to fit the current artist of each country shows that this wasn’t just an artistic choice but truly a showing of lagom. On stage, the country often forgoes the use of blatantly traditional instruments or props. Instead, there is a focus on the artist themselves with only the use of background lights and images, as seen specifically in Sweden 2012-2015 performances, all of which used little to no background dancers with the exception of the 2013 entry.
In the Swedish entries for Eurovision, many of the singers that are used to represent the country are descendants of immigrant parents. This aligns with their national identity because immigration is such a huge part of the country’s identity. Eric Saade the singer of the 2011 “‘Popular’ comes from a diverse background with a Palestinian immigrant father and a native Swedish mother” and the singer of the 2012 entry Loreen has parents that “come from Moroccan parents who immigrated to Sweden” (Eric; Loreen). As I talked about in my first blog post, Sweden is known to be a very homogenous society, but the rise of immigration in the country is becoming a prevalent Other. The fact they use singers with immigration in their family’s background is good representation of the growing immigrant population that is taking place in Sweden.
Sweden is well-known for their democratic and progressive government as seen in their empowerment of women, equality rights, and social welfare policies. On stage, Sweden’s government is hard to see taking place, but if you look closely, you can see that what is presented does align with their national identity. Of the five years that I looked at, Sweden had two women enter and their performances showcased how strong and independent women are. “Undo” was a great example of how Sweden uses their songs to uplift and empower women because the lyrics and staging gave complete control to the singer. Along with female empowerment, Sweden used their opportunity to host Eurovision to showcase some of their views on issues taking place in Europe, as shown in the performance called “The Grey People”. The performance which took place during the first part of the Eurovision semi-final called to attention the refugee crisis taking place through an outstanding modern dance performance (The Grey People). By Sweden addressing this issue, they let their political views collide on stage with the use of art.
The major misalignment between Sweden’s national identity and how they present themselves on stage is the language used. Although at the Eurovision finale English and French are the standard languages, many countries choose to instead showcase their own country's native language either by performing the entire song in that language or using it alongside English or French. However, in the performances I evaluated for Sweden, there was not a single Swedish word used. Although Swedes take a lot of pride in their language, the lack of use in the Eurovision song contest is surprising. Sweden does take the Eurovision song contest seriously, so this may be why they choose to not sing their songs in Swedish, but this misalignment is very noticeable in their participation.
When I look at Sweden’s part in Eurovision I don’t think they are intentionally nation branding. Although I do think that they take the Eurovision song contest seriously by putting in a lot of time in the effort of creating song, choosing their competing artist, and the overall production value, I think Sweden sees the contest as nothing more than that a contest. Watching many of the Eurovision entries you can see the amount of effort that they put into every single performance. Sweden is often the last to choose their contest for the semifinal and only the best from their own type of contest called Melodifestivalen. The final winner is chosen by popular vote and put in as Sweden’s singer for Eurovision. Although Sweden does put in this immense amount of effort into Eurovision, they are not forcing a nation brand upon any of the viewers of what Sweden is like. Sweden never goes out of its way to essentialize themselves because, on the stage, the country does not boil down their culture to make it easier for viewers to understand. However, Sweden does not overtly display their culture on stage or during the contest, so essentializing themselves could never really happen. In the Eurovision contest, Sweden doesn’t really use any traditional Swedish instruments or dances; instead they tend to gravitate towards the more modern or Western style of music and dance. There is a heavy use of electronic pop style used within their performances which indicates that they are leaving behind their traditions when on stage and turning more towards modernity. While they do use very modern elements in the Eurovision contest they are still very authentic to who they are as a country. They never try to simulate anything during their performances, most of which are created by the singers themselves. When Sweden hosts Eurovision it is very much in the spirit of lagom, where the focus isn’t on Sweden but on competition the competitors. They are authentic in how they present themselves to others, which is why there is so much alignment with their on stage presence and their national identity.
The Eurovision song contest has its many different facets and how a country involves themselves in the competition can really make a difference on what other other countries take away. Sweden’s active participation in the competition since the late 1950s’ gives those with no knowledge of the country a little view of who they are. Despite their lack of formal nation branding, the country seems to have unconsciously given themselves a name. At face value Eurovision can be just a song contest but in reality it means so much more. The viewers and participants of Eurovision are well aware of how much more the song contest is meant to mean.
Word Count: 1372
Works Cited
“Definition of the word national identity.” Oxford dictionary, https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/national_identity Accessed 15 March, 2017.
Jordan, Paul. The Modern Fairy Tale: Nation Branding, National Identity and the Eurovision in Estonia. University of Tartu Press, 2014.
"Loreen." Loreen's Official Website. Warner Music Sweden, Web. 14 Feb. 2017.
Robins, Danny. "'Lagom': Why Swedes Are Happier Than Us." The Huffington Post. The Huffington Post, 19 Oct. 2014. Web. 16 Mar. 2017.
Said, Edward W., Orientalism. Vintage, 1979.
“The Grey People” Austria, Eurovision Song Contest, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Zi4H9NPglY Accessed 15 Mar. 2017
"Eric Saade."Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 07 Feb. 2017. Accessed 14 Feb. 2017.
