The fourth heat of Melodifestivalen 2023 is taking place this Saturday, 25th of February. A total of seven acts will compete for the two places to the Grand Final, and two places that will lead to the semi-final. Signe and Hjördis Bornemark are a sisterly duo who is making their debut at the Melodifestivalen stage. They will be performing “Edelweiss” as the second act of the evening.

Hello Signe & Hjördis, first of all I would like to congratulate you for being selected for the Melodifestivalen 2023. How does that feel and what made you decide to take part at the show?
Hello! Thank you! We are super stoked to be part of Melodifestivalen 2023, so far it all is super fun and exciting to do. When we were asked to try the song out and send it in, we were quite shocked because we hadn’t really thought about being part of the competition before, so when we got selected it felt super cool and pretty unreal!

How did you get involved with singing? What were your musical beginnings?
Our home has always been surrounded by music. Our dad works with producing songs and makes predominantly music for kids, following our grandma Gullan Bornemark’s footsteps. He has brought us to his concerts all of our lives, and we have sung both there and in his studio (and just for fun at the piano of course), with him and together, ever since we can remember!

The two of you performed at many stages together since kindergarten which performance you’ve done so far is your favourite?
Well, one of our most recent performances was one at the Royal Academy in Sweden (Kungliga Akademien) where we did a medley of Povel Ramel songs with our dad and Mats Öberg. We sang and played in front of a lot of amazing people, amongst them the king and queen, which was really fun.

Can you tell us a bit about “Edelweiss” what does the songmean for you?
Edelweiss was written by Anderz Wrethov, Jimmy Jansson and lyrics by Myra Granberg. The flower Edelweiss is known to signify deep love and devotion. The song is about fighting for love and what love stands for.

What can we expect from your performance? Can you give us a hint?
We work with a variety of different elements in the performance. It’s going to be a pretty intimate and ethereal show, but with a lot of energy too. And of course, some violin playing from Hjördis.

Do you watch Eurovision regularly, if so would you like to share a memory which you have of it or a favourite song from the contest?
Actually both of us love to watch Eurovision, at least the final. One memory Hjördis will always remember is Alexander Ryback playing the violin in Fairytale in 2009, which inspired her to pick up the violin, just as her grandpa. That is probably on of Signe’s favorite songs from the competition too.

If you had a chance to make a duet with any Melodifestivalen/Eurovision participant, who would you choose?
Then that would have to be Alexander Ryback, or maybe Monica Zetterlund who competed in Eurovision (and Melodifestivalen?) quite some time ago. She is one of our favorite artists ever, an amazing jazz singer.

If you could be an animal which one would you choose and why?
Probably some type of bird, for both of us. It is a basic answer, but we think most would agree that being able to fly would be super cool.

What are your plans after Melodifestivalen 2023?
We want to continue making music, and it’s going to be exciting to see were this takes us. Both of us are currently in school, so for Signe at least (who is in first year of high school) that will have to be part of her plan too:)

Thank you so much for your time Signe & Hjördis. We wish you the best of luck at Melodifestivalen. Do you want to share something else or you maybe have a message for readers of escbubble?
Thank you so much, we are so excited and we hope you are too!

Don’t forget to tune in to ESCBubble’s live blog of Melodifestivalen 2023 Heat 4 on Saturday night.