Ernman represented Sweden at the first semi-final of the Contest on 12 May 2009, where she qualified to the final of the Contest after receiving 105 points, placing 4th in a field of 18 competing entries. At the final she performed 4th on stage. At the close of the voting she had received 33 points, placing 21st of the 25 competing countries.
Melodifestivalen 2009 implemented a number of new rules which changed the dynamics of the contest, including more people, pre-recorded backing vocals and a new international jury who selected an 11th finalist.
The third heat took place on 21 February 2009 at theEjendals Arena inLeksand. "Baby Goodbye" performed byE.M.D. and "Så vill stjärnorna" performed byMolly Sandén qualified directly to the final, while "You're Not Alone" performed byBWO and "I Got U" performed by Rigo and the Topaz Sound feat. Red Fox advanced to the Second Chance round. "Alla" performed bySofa was selected by the international jury to progress to the wildcard round. "The Queen" performed byVelvet, "Du vinner över mig" performed byMikael Rickfors, and "Här för mig själv" performed by Maja Gullstrand were eliminated from the contest.
The final was held on 14 March atGlobe Arena inStockholm. 11 songs competed, with the winner being decided by a mix of televoting/SMS voting and jury voting. The final winner wasMalena Ernman with the pop/opera song "La voix", composed by Ernman and last year's winning composerFredrik Kempe, and was sung in both English and French. Ernman received top marks from the televoting public, and only came 8th with the juries. Second place went toCaroline af Ugglas with "Snälla, snälla", while third place went to boybandE.M.D. with "Baby Goodbye".
Since Sweden is not one of the "Big Four" and was not the host of the 2009 contest, it had to compete in one of the two semi-finals.
Following a draw in Moscow, the Swedish entrant took part in the first semi-final on 12 May 2009, performing 5th. At the semifinal, Sweden's entry qualified for the final, which took take place on May 16.[1][2] while the draw for the running order was held on 16 March 2009.[3][4] It finished 21st of 25 participants with just 33 points.[5]