Christer Björkman

Melodifestivalen (direct translation: The Melody Festival) is an annual music competition organised by Swedish public broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT). The competition is a six part tour (5 heats + the final) with stops in cities across Sweden to determine the country's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest. Melodifestivalen is also known informally as "Mello", or internationally as "Melfest".

Artists from all 50 states, five U.S. territories and the nation's capital perform original songs across different genres as they compete for America's votes in an eight-week live event that will crown one grand prize winner. This is the U.S. adaptation of the Eurovision Song Contest