Eurovision 2027 Gossip: Melodifestivalen Names

Eurovision 2027’s national selections are not supposed to start until January, but the gossip has started already. Swedish press has now attached thirteen names to Melodifestivalen 2027, Spain has a Benidorm Fest line-up without a confirmed place in Burgas, Germany has a new song-picking team led by the producer behind two recent winners, Australia has reopened its song portal, and Bulgaria has put up the money. This is everything from the week of 10–16 October that moves the 2027 picture — with the rumours clearly marked as rumours.

Illustration: a studio desk with a microphone and a stack of sealed envelopes. Generated image — no real person or place depicted.

Key takeaways

• Thirteen names are now linked to Melodifestivalen 2027, mostly via Aftonbladet. SVT has confirmed none of them. The most credible is Cazzi Opeia, who co-wrote Loreen’s “Tattoo”.
• Björn Kjellman and Oscar Zia will host Melodifestivalen 2027, over five heats and a final.
• Spain named eighteen Benidorm Fest 2027 acts — while its broadcaster’s chair proposes staying out of Eurovision.
• Germany’s new song team includes Pele Loriano, the producer behind “The Code” and “Wasted Love”.
• Australia will pick internally again, with its song portal open from 17 October to 7 November.
• 32 countries are confirmed for Burgas, with Moldova and Albania the latest. Bulgaria’s government has added €4.8 million for the host city.

What’s on this page

Melodifestivalen: the rumoured line-up · How much to trust it · Spain: a festival without a ticket · Germany’s new team · Norway and Estonia · Australia · Albania · Burgas: money and logistics · The selection calendar · Who is in, so far

Melodifestivalen: the rumoured line-up

The Swedish tabloids start reconstructing Melodifestivalen’s line-up long before SVT announces it. This year’s list has been built mainly by Aftonbladet and collected by ESCBeat. None of it is confirmed by SVT, and we would treat any single name as a rumour until the official announcement.

We have filled in the history column only where the reporting gives it, rather than from memory. Eurovoix has separately linked Imenella to the competition as well.

Cazzi Opeia is the name with the most behind it. She would be competing as a performer for a third time — ninth in the 2022 final with “I Can’t Get Enough” and fourth in 2024 with “Give My Heart a Break” — and she has written six other Melodifestivalen songs, among them “Tattoo”, which Loreen took to victory at Eurovision 2023. A songwriter who has already written a Eurovision winner is exactly the profile SVT likes to bring back.

Royz Rollerz is the curiosity: a five-piece dance band formed in spring 2025 at Dreamhill Music Academy in Örnsköldsvik. Envyyou are a four-piece rock band from Malmö founded in 2016. Joanné Nugas played the lead role in the Max Martin musical &Julia, and was born to parents from the Philippines — a neat link to a country competing at Eurovision Asia next month.

The confirmed details are thinner. Björn Kjellman and Oscar Zia will host, a jury will shortlist the submitted songs, and the competition will run over six shows: five heats and a final. SVT, unlike NRK, has not banned AI-written songs; we looked at that difference in our piece on AI songs in the 2027 piles.

How much to trust a rumoured line-up

Treat these lists as leads, not line-ups. A rumour usually starts with something real — an artist seen at a songwriting camp, a label booking a slot, an unusually quiet release schedule — and some of it hardens into an entry while some of it does not. Three things make a name more credible than the rest.

• A track record in the competition. Returning artists are the easiest for SVT to book and the easiest for reporters to confirm. That is why Cazzi Opeia and Nomi Tales sit at the top of most people’s lists.
• A songwriting connection. Melodifestivalen is built around writers as much as singers. Someone who has written a Eurovision winner has a reason to be in the room.
• More than one outlet reporting it. A name in one tabloid is a rumour; a name reported independently by two is a story. Most of the thirteen so far trace back to Aftonbladet.

For bettors, there is nothing to trade yet. Polymarket ran a Melodifestivalen 2026 winner market, now closed, but lists no 2027 market — and no Eurovision 2027 winner market either. Its only open Eurovision board is the 2027 participants market. The rumour mill is useful for knowing who to watch when prices do open, not for acting on now.

Spain: a festival without a ticket

RTVE named the eighteen acts for Benidorm Fest 2027 on 14 October, from about 900 submissions: Alba Morena, Andrés Koi, Bombai, Chema Rivas, Dani Dicostas, Fran Tuduri, GALE, Isabel Aaiún, Ladilla Rusa, Merche, Pipiolas, Polo Nández & Sebastián Llosa, Rossa, Sara Abad, Sev’s, Suzete, Tami Tamako and Vicco. The best-known is Vicco, back after “Nochentera” made her one of the festival’s breakout stars in 2023. The semi-finals are on 26 and 28 January and the final on 30 January, with songs due on 17 December.

The catch is that nobody knows whether the winner goes anywhere. RTVE’s chair José Pablo López has proposed that Spain stay out of Eurovision 2027 over Israel’s participation, and the board vote has not been reported. In 2026 the festival ran as a stand-alone contest for a recording contract and prize money, and its winners did not go to Vienna. The Polymarket contract on Spain’s participation jumped anyway; we explain why we think that over-reads the festival.

Germany’s new team

SWR received around 400 submissions for Das Deutsche Finale 2027, 25 of them written at its own songwriting camp, and is already down to about forty. The more interesting news is who is choosing. SWR has built a new ESC team, and it includes Pele Loriano, the Swiss producer behind two recent winners — “The Code” for Switzerland in 2024 and “Wasted Love” for Austria in 2025 — alongside Jules Kalmbacher, who sat on Germany’s 2026 jury, Lilly Behling, Florian Müller and Celina Spanier.

Germany finished 23rd in the 2026 final with Sarah Engels’ “Fire”. Bringing in the producer behind two consecutive winners is the clearest signal yet that the broadcaster intends to change how it picks, not just whom. The rules also require a clear connection to Germany, an artist aged at least 18 by January 2027, and no AI-written songs.

Norway and Estonia

NRK received 1,500 songs for Melodi Grand Prix 2027 and believes 30 to 50 of them were written entirely by AI despite its ban; its head of delegation, Mads Tørklep, said “it is difficult for us to stop the use of technology” and that “the industry may have to take the lead in how to solve this.” The Eurovision Song Contest’s own rules currently have no specific clause on AI at all. Between eight and ten songs are expected in the line-up. In Estonia, ERR received 155 submissions for Eesti Laul 2027, which closed to entries this month.

Australia

SBS will choose Australia’s 2027 act internally again, as it has since dropping Australia Decides after 2022. Its song portal is open from 17 October to 7 November; songs must be no longer than three minutes, unreleased, and have at least one Australian citizen among the writers. SBS says it wants “distinctive, contemporary songs”. Delta Goodrem gave Australia its best result since 2016 in Vienna, so the bar is high — and the guessing has started, with Aussievision already asking whether Midnight Til Morning could be the act.

The same week, SBS confirmed it will broadcast Eurovision Asia on 14 November — the first broadcaster outside the eleven countries to do so.

Albania

RTSH confirmed on 12 October that Albania will compete in Burgas, choosing its entry at Festivali i Këngës 65 in December, with 28 acts named. As one of the earliest selections on the calendar, it is likely to produce one of the first confirmed 2027 songs.

Burgas: money and logistics

Bulgaria’s government has allocated an additional €4.8 million to Burgas Municipality to support hosting, including a test event at Arena Burgas to trial a live music show at the venue. The contest takes place on 11, 13 and 15 May 2027. Around it, the city is preparing the practical side: more flights linking Germany, France and Sweden to Burgas, English-language transport information for visitors, and a proposal to use the former Magaziya 7 site for the Eurovillage.

The 2027 selection calendar so far

Only dates that a broadcaster has confirmed are listed; everything else is marked as not yet announced rather than guessed.

Who is in, so far

Eurovoix counts Moldova as the 32nd country confirmed for 2027. ESCToday expects around 40 in the end, with a maximum of 44 possible and 26 in the Grand Final. The penalty-free window for broadcasters to withdraw an application closes in the middle of October, so the next few weeks should settle most of the open questions — Spain’s board vote above all.

The Eurovision 2027 preview tracks every confirmation and withdrawal, and Junior Eurovision comes first, on 24 October in Malta, where Polymarket has Spain narrowly ahead.

Sources

• Melodifestivalen 2027 rumours and confirmed details: ESCBeat, citing Aftonbladet, 10 October 2026; Eurovoix, 3–9 October 2026.
• Benidorm Fest 2027: ESCToday and ESCXTRA, 14–15 October 2026. Germany: ESCBeat, citing ESC Kompakt, 15 October 2026. Norway: ESCXTRA and ESCBeat, 12–15 October 2026. Estonia: ESCXTRA, 14 October 2026.
• Australia: ESCXTRA, ESCToday and Aussievision, 13–15 October 2026. Albania: ESCToday, 12 October 2026. Burgas: Eurovoix and ESCToday, 9–14 October 2026.