European Music Festival 2022

The European Music Festival 2022 was the seventh edition of the annual European Music Festival, organised by Sveriges Television (SVT) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). It was held on 16 October 2022, at the Malmö Arena in Malmö, Sweden. It was the second time Sweden had hosted the contest.

Twenty-six countries participated in the contest, with Australia, Czech Republic, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Ukraine making they return appearance in the contest. Though Ireland and North Macedonia making they debut appearance in the contest.

Finlnad's Bess with the song "Ram pam pam" was the winner of the contest. This was Finland's first victory in the contest. Spain and Italy finished in second and third place. Sweden and Ukraine completed the top five, with the former finishing fourth and fifth. Romania finished last.

Bidding phase and host city selection
After Sweden’s victory in 2021 contest in Tirana, the Swedish Head of Delegation Mari Ryberger stated that Sveriges Television (SVT) is keen to host the 2022 contest. On 18 October 2021, it was confirmed by the EBU that Sweden would host the 2022 contest. Between 20 and 29 October 2021, many cities across Sweden expressed interest in hosting the contest. Representatives from cities of Gävle, Gothenburg, Jönköping, Karlskoga, Karlstad, Leksand, Luleå, Malmö and Stockholm voiced their interest.

Host broadcaster SVT launched the bidding process on 10 November 2022. In the first phase of this process, any interested cities were to present their bid through certified email by 22 November 2022, after which SVT and the EBU would proceed to send all of them a bid book with more detailed requirements for the cities to submit their plans for review.

On 27 November, SVT announced that 9 cities had submitted their bid for hosting the contest and would be provided the following day with the bid books. They had until 10 December to draft and submit their detailed plans, which 9 cities did. On 22 December, it was reported that Gothenburg and Malmö would be the cities left in the running to host the contest.

On 13 January 2022, the EBU and SVT announced Malmö as the host city, with the 15,000 capacity Malmö Arena as the chosen venue for the contest. On the same date, EBU and host broadcaster SVT announced that the contest will be held on 16 October 2022.

Hosts
On 14 June 2022, it was announced that Christer Björkman, Petra Mede and Oscar Zia would host the contest

Opening and interval acts
On 28 July 2022, The EBU relased information about the opening and interval acts.

The final was opened by the traditional flag parade, introducing all twenty-six finalists, accompanied by the Alesso playing his song "We Go Out". The interval acts included Dotter performing a medley of "Bon Voyage" and her last year winning song "Little Tot" and Eric Saade performing a medley of "Manboy", "Popular", "Sting" and "Every Minute".

Voting
The results will be determined by 50% online voting and 50% jury voting. The online voting is taking place during the live show and starts after the last performance and is open for 15 minutes. International viewers could vote for one country three Times from one phone number. The other half of the points was determined by a national jury from every participating country. These points are then announced live during the programme by a spokesperson representing the participating country. The spokespersons give out the points from each of the participating country.

Backing vocals
On 4 February 2022, the EBU announced that pre-recorded backing vocals will be allowed also for this years competition. The use of recorded backing vocals will be entirely optional. Each delegation can choose to use backing singers, whether on or off stage. A combination of live and recorded backing vocals will also be allowed. All lead vocals performing the melody of the song, including an eventual use of a so-called lead dub, shall still be live on or off stage in the arena

Running order
The draw for the running order of the contest was held on 10 October in Malmö after the Opening Ceremony, with Ukraine drawn to open the contest and France drawn to close.

Participating countries
On 6 January 2022, the EBU released the official list of participants with 26 competing countries.