World Song Contest

65 countries took part in the 47th edition of the World Song Contest which started in February 2009 which eventually became a fight between five songs. But before the final, 30 songs had to qualify. And once again, we had the evidence that some kind of music are not made for success here. We already knew that R&B or Rap were not among the favorites, we can add Blues to the list despite a beautiful song from Joan Armatrading, and despite the fact Blues will probably not be represented before 47 other editions.

But this time, and for once, ESC related songs also failed to do well. Except for Finland, which reached the 11th position in the final, all the others didn't qualify. The fact the Eurovision fever was growing with all the national final taking place didn't raise the temperature in this contest. On the other hand, some countries finally did better than the last few months. Brazil equalled its best ever result and Nicaragua reached its best result ever, which was also a first top 10 and 20 position since its first participation in WSC .40. Nigeria also reached the top 20 for the first time.

Portugal aimed to be the second country to win the contest twice with the same artists. Only Russia managed to do it in WSC, with Varvara, in WSC .05 and WSC .16. But David Fonseca found a real opposition from Spain, the United Kingdom (represented by Franz Ferdinand) and Brazil, which took an early lead during the voting but couldn't manage to make a break. Indeed, it seemed it had to be a battle between those three countries when Sweden came back from nowhere and eventually won the all thing on the last vote. Sweden never did better than a 3rd position, and had to wait 47 editions and the song "What Have I Done", performed by Anna Ternheim, to finally take the crown.

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Anna Ternheim (born May 31, 1978) is a Swedish singer-songwriter. In her more meditative moments, the folky  Anna Ternheim seems to conjure up the shadow of fellow Swede Sophie Zelmani; at other times, her poignant, urgent, piano-driven songs nod to artists like Coldplay and, to a certain extent, Dido. It was probably thanks to this well-read sound, not to mention the fact that she recorded her songs in English, that Ternheim went on to earn critical acclaim on an international scale following the release of her sophomore LP. Ternheim's first recordings, a couple of EPs released on Only Records, emerged in 2003. She wasn't destined to languish in obscurity for long, though. Ternheim was picked up by Stockholm Records soon after that, and the label went on to release what would prove to be Ternheim's breakthrough album, Somebody Outside, the following year. Somebody Outside went on to be nominated for numerous Swedish Grammy awards, including Best Newcomer, which Ternheim won. She signed a deal with Universal soon after that, and her sophomore album, Separation Road, was released in 2006. For this second album, she was awarded Best Female Artist and Best Lyricist of the Swedish Grammy jury, again she was nominated for Best Songwriter and Best Album. She received the award for Best Female Artist at the Swedish National Radio's P3 Gold Awards the same year. Her debut US album, Halfway to Fivepoints, was released on April 22, 2008. Her latest album, Leaving on a Mayday, was released on August 11, 2009. The album won Album of the Year at the 2009 Swedish Grammy Awards along with the award for Best Female Artist.