De Vet Du and Boris René on Qualifying to Andra Chansen, Dinah Nah and Adrijana on Semi-Final Performance (Melodifestivalen 2017)

Photo: Lizel Strömberg (ZEL Photography)

Following the first semi-final of Melodifestivalen 2017, which saw newcomer Nano and contest veteran Ace Wilder qualify direct to the finals, we caught up with Andra Chansen qualifiers De Vet Du and Boris René as well as Dinah Nah and Adrijana, who finished fifth and sixth respectively. There was a wealth of emotions on display from the contestants as they shared their thoughts and feelings on the culmination of months of preparation.

"I'm feeling good," begins Adrijana. "I'm feeling so happy, so blessed that I had the chance to do this, what I've dreamt of all my life." Adrijana's feelings on the experience of positive despite having had to power through sickness to give her performance. Now she is eager to work on the next phase of her career. "I have so much shit going on. I have an album, singles, videos, tours, I have so much. This was just the beginning for me. It was my time to show off myself, who I am, me as an artist, and I think my song will do so well in radio and other stuff so I'm happy."

Boris René maintains an unwavering positivity about his participation in the contest and qualifying to Andra Chansen once again. "I felt more prepared entering Melodifestivalen overall again because you know what it's all about and you know how everything goes on. Yeah, I would say I'm more prepared than that time but we'll see what happens in Andra Chansen."

One of the big upsets of the night, particularly to international viewers, was the non-qualification of Dinah Nah, who served a glossy, sparkling performance of her dance-pop single "One More Night" complete with a wall of women back-up dancers, camera work, and a set of sparklers that shot off in the song's final chorus. "I did the best that I could do," says Dinah Nah. She has her follow-up single ready to release and is open to future participation in Eurovision national selection contests. "Maybe I'll participate in another country next year." Her manager Tommy, having worked supremely hard to optimise her return to the contest, is coy when probed about where his savvy at representing her comes from. "You're only as good as the people you work with."

De Vet Du not only made a tremendous impact with their highly technical, visually extravagant performance, their Andra Chansen qualification was one of the more memorable ones as Swedes typically have a propensity to be more guarded in their emotional displays. "We did it!" exclaims Johan Gunterberg. The group also was notable for making goofy faces in the background when other people were being showcased, though they haven't been reprimanded. "Nobody said anything, did we do that a lot? That's funny," says Gunterberg. They are prepared to get back to work in preparation for their Andra Chansen duel. "We have a demon director. He's going to make sure that we're busy, I can promise you that," says Tor Wallin. Despite having garnered a passionate fanbase before entering Melodifestivalen, the group is hopeful that their participation will open up more opportunities to play a wider array of shows. Being booked for predominantly club gigs means that their younger audience has had less opportunity to see them perform live. "We love the club scene but festivals and big stages are fun too," says Chris Martland.

Watch our post-semi-final interviews with De Vet Du, Dinah Nah, Boris René, and Adrijana here: