For most of our interviews, we chat with artists who are either trying to, about to, or have represented their country on the Eurovision stage. For this special episode of the podcast, we were lucky to spend some time with acclaimed Swedish songwriter Melanie Wehbe.

Melanie is a kind of jack-of-all-trades — she’s been in the ‘Mello bubble’ since 2012 in one capacity or another. She’s been a songwriter, backing vocalist, coach and in 2023, she even performed at Melodifestivalen as an artist!

In 2020, she co-wrote the winning song Move, performed by The Mamas, but sadly didn’t get to see it on the Eurovision stage when the pandemic forced its cancelation.

This year, Melanie co-wrote the winning song of Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2024, Sand performed by Saba. Interestingly, this wasn’t her first triumph at DMGP, having won as a songwriter in 2019 with Love Is Forever.

Melanie revealed that she would travel to Malmö on the side of Saba, to support her as a backing singer. She also told us how the first meeting with the Danish delegation went:

“We had a meeting about the upcoming performance in Malmö. There is a new stage and we definitely have a new budget for the performance, so I hope we will see some improvements here and there and some changes, just to make it a little bit new. But I am super proud of Saba and I think she did an incredible job!”

— Melanie Wehbe

Furthermore, Melanie also revealed some of her favorites in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest and gave us some interesting insights on her heritage.

“I’m half Armenian and I heard Armenia’s song and I love it. I think it’s so cute that Armenia sends something cultural, in Armenian and even though it has the cultural vibes, it’s still very modern. […] I hope they are open-minded and that they are including. I think it’s time for Armenia to one day have a queer person represent Armenia in Eurovision. I’m proud to be Armenian and I am often rooting for them!

— Melanie Wehbe

Be sure and check out the full interview (above). She also tells about her own Melfest experience from last year, how the pandemic derailed her Mello win in 2020, how she had mere hours to learn Dotter’s song at Mello 2024, where she would like Saba to perform in this year’s Eurovision running order, and more!

How do you like Sand? How will Denmark do at Eurovision 2024? Would you like to see Melanie return to Melfest? Let us know in the comments and on our social media profiles @buildingbridgespod !