Maria Sur: “I’m not a ballad girl, this year I can finally show my true self”

BUILDING BRIDGES EUROVISION PODCAST

Maria Sur: “I’m not a ballad girl, this year I can finally show my true self”

March 2, 2024

1–2 minutes

Melodifestivalen 2024 is slowly coming to an end. The last of five Heats will go down in Karlstad tonight and after that, we will know the full line-up for the Grand Final in Stockholm next week.

Someone who is already qualified to the final is Maria Sur, who won runner-up in the second Heat of this year’s Melodifestivalen with her song When I’m Gone.

In this episode, Sebi and Dave had the chance to chat with Maria Sur — one of the finalists of Melodifestivalen 2024! She’s back for her second year in a row, and she’s grown a lot as an artist (and improved her Swedish skills!) in the past year. We find out why she chose a different type of song for 2024 and how she’s been dealing with all the success she’s found recently in her new home of Sweden.

We asked Maria what it’s like for an artist who has to wait all these weeks between qualifying from their Heat and the Final of Melfest, and if she would like to make any changes to her performance:

“We were really happy with the performance and the staging. This year we created a very new staging for Melodifestivalen because there’s never been a laser show before, so it’s very cool that we got something new, which is very hard to do. […] There’s not going to be a lot of big changes with the performance, so there’s not going to be a big difference [in the Final].”
— Maria Sur

Be sure and check out the full interview (above). She goes on to talk about how life has been for her since leaving Ukraine, the situation back in her home town of Zaporizhzhia, and her thoughts about Vidbir 2024!

How do you like When I’m Gone? Should Maria Sur win Melodifestivalen 2024? Let us know in the comments and on our social media profiles @buildingbridgespod !