Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017

Prior to the 2017 contest, Sveriges Radio (SR) until 1979, and Sveriges Television (SVT) since 1980, had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Sweden fifty-six times since SR's first entry in 1958.^[1] Sweden had won the contest on six occasions: in 1974 with the song "Waterloo" performed by ABBA, in 1984 with the song "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" performed by Herreys, in 1991 with the song "Fångad av en stormvind" performed by Carola, in 1999 with the song "Take Me to Your Heaven" performed by Charlotte Nilsson, in 2012 with the song "Euphoria" performed by Loreen, and in 2015 with the song "Heroes" performed by Måns Zelmerlöw. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004, Sweden's entries, to this point, have featured in every final except for 2010 when the nation failed to qualify.

As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, SVT organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. Since 1959, SR first and SVT later have organised the annual competition Melodifestivalen in order to select their entries for the contest.

Melodifestivalen 2017 is the Swedish music competition that selected Sweden's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017.^[2] 28 songs competed in a six-week-long process which would consist of four heats on 4, 11, 18 and 25 February 2017, a second chance round on 4 March 2017, and a final on 11 March 2017.^[3] The six shows were hosted by Clara Henry, David Lindgren and Hasse Andersson.^[4] Seven songs competed in each heat—the top two qualified directly to the final, while the third and fourth placed songs qualified to the second chance round. The bottom three songs in each heat were eliminated from the competition. An additional four songs qualified to the final from the second chance round. The results in the heats and second chance round were determined exclusively by public televote and app voting, while the overall winner of the competition was selected in the final through the combination of a public vote and the votes from eleven international jury groups.

• The first heat took place on 4 February 2017 at the Scandinavium in Gothenburg. "Hold On" performed by Nano and "Wild Child" performed by Ace Wilder qualified directly to the final, while "Her Kiss" performed by Boris René and "Road Trip" performed by De Vet Du advanced to the Second Chance round. "Amare" performed by Adrijana, "One More Night" performed by Dinah Nah, and "Mitt liv" performed by Charlotte Perrelli were eliminated from the contest.
• The second heat took place on 11 February 2017 at the Malmö Arena in Malmö. "A Million Years" performed by Mariette and "Good Lovin'" performed by Benjamin Ingrosso qualified directly to the final, while "I Don't Give A" performed by Lisa Ajax and "Hearts Aligned" performed by Dismissed advanced to the Second Chance round. "Himmel och hav" performed by Roger Pontare, "Up" performed by Etzia, and "Vart har du vart" performed by Allyawan were eliminated from the contest.
• The third heat took place on 18 February 2017 at the Vida Arena in Växjö. "I Can't Go On" performed by Robin Bengtsson and "Boogieman Blues" performed by Owe Thörnqvist qualified directly to the final, while "Gotta Thing About You" performed by FO&O and "Kiss You Goodbye" performed by Anton Hagman advanced to the Second Chance round. "Snurra min jord" performed by Krista Siegfrids, "Gravity" performed by Jasmine Kara, and "Crucified" performed by Bella and Filippa were eliminated from the contest.
• The fourth heat took place on 25 February 2017 at the Skellefteå Kraft Arena in Skellefteå. "As I Lay Me Down" performed by Wiktoria and "En värld full av strider (Eatneme gusnie jeenh dåaroeh)" performed by Jon Henrik Fjällgren feat. Aninia qualified directly to the final, while "Statements" performed by Loreen and "När ingen ser" performed by Axel Schylström advanced to the Second Chance round. "Running with Lions" performed by Alice Svensson, "Bound to Fall" performed by Les Gordons, and "Du får inte ändra på mig" performed by Sara Varga and Juha Mulari were eliminated from the contest.
• The Second Chance round (Andra chansen) took place on 4 March 2017 at the Saab Arena in Linköping. "Gotta Thing About You" performed by FO&O, "I Don't Give A" performed by Lisa Ajax, "Her Kiss" performed by Boris René and "Kiss You Goodbye" performed by Anton Hagman qualified for the final.

The final was held on 11 March 2017 at the Friends Arena in Stockholm. Twelve songs competed - two qualifiers from each of the four preceding heats and four qualifiers from the Second Chance round. The combination of points from a viewer vote and eleven international jury groups determined the winner. The viewers and the juries each had a total of 473 points to award. The nations that comprised the international jury were Armenia, Australia, Czech Republic, France, Israel, Italy, Malta, Norway, Poland, the United Kingdom and Ukraine.^[5][6] Robin Bengtsson emerged as the winner of the national selection with his song "I Can't Go On".

Robin Bengtsson made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "I Can't Go On" as the Swedish Eurovision entry. On 2 April, he performed during the London Eurovision Party, which was held at the Café de Paris venue in London, United Kingdom and hosted by Nicki French. Between 3 and 6 April, Bengtsson took part in promotional activities in Tel Aviv, Israel where he performed during the Israel Calling event held at the Ha'teatron venue.^[7][8] On 8 April, Robin Bengtsson performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Selma Björnsdóttir.^[9] On 15 April, Bengtsson performed during the Eurovision Spain Pre-Party, which was held at the Sala La Riviera venue in Madrid, Spain.^[10]