I managed to catch up with Swedish songwriters, producers and identical twins Ylva and Linda Persson about their 2016 Eurovision journey, they have entered many national selections this year, so I decided to ask some questions about their Eurovision Journey.

What makes competing with Songs in the national finals special?

We have a huge passion and love for Eurovision since childhood and our goal has always been to reach a winning position and go to the Eurovision final. Its been a great inspiration to us and we want to spread joy and love with our songs. We have had the opportunity to work with some great artists around Europe and we keep going!

What is the best song you have worked on for this years ESC season?

All our songs are precious to us like babies and we wish them all the best. Of course it’s more interesting when the songs score well and are successful like for example the 3rd place in Belarus ESC 2014 “You will be here” that also got a Grammy for best music video of the year and “Hold your colours” in Finland ESC 2015 that came 4th.

Would you ever like to compete in Eurovision youselves as contestants?

It has been a dream to compete in Melodifestivalen (Sweden) since childhood and who knows maybe one day we can be the front artists? But for now we focus more on song writing and also joining as backing vocalists, which is pretty unique when it comes to being foreign songwriters for Eurovision. We take great joy in being part of the show and also prepare together with the artists and teams for the act as we believe that is a successful concept. We did compete ourselves as artists in Switzerland for the ESC online selection 2015 and we also do many gigs on our own as well as song and music video releases.

How did you get into song writing/producing?

We first started writing songs at 7 year old by the piano and the interest and passion for Eurovision started with watching Melodifestivalen in 1983 when Carola won with “Främling”. Since then we’ve been true fans to the variation of songs, languages and cultures that the contest offers and this truly has has inspired us to write our own songs for over 20 years. We’ve always had an interest in computers and we’re also working with IT since many years, so our interest to start producing has grown from there and we really wish there were more female producers out there as it’s a very male dominated industry and chargong.

Has writing Eurovision songs always been a passion, when did your Eurovision journey begin?

We’ve been submitting songs for the Swedish selection for many years and also competed in the Webjoker pre-selection for Melodifestivalen, but seriously started working with artists for national selection around Europe during 2011-2012 and our first song to get selected was “I need you now” in Moldova Eurovision 2013 with Inaya. This was the start of our 20 songs in national selections and Junior Eurovision from 2013-2016.

What year (in terms of songs) was the best year in your opinion?

The last two years have been very rewarding for us in terms of the number of songs for each season. Last year we competed with 6 songs in national selections and scored 3rd place in Romania and 4th place in Finland. In 2016 we also have 6 competing songs in national selections and we have yet to see the outcome in the coming weeks. Fingers crossed! 🙂

Finally what advice would you give to a songwriter/producer who is starting out and would like to become a producer of Eurovision songs?

We don’t think there is that “one recipe” for being successful but each producer or songwriter much find their own path, the right cooperations, artists and songs. It’s hard work and many hours and to keep going and never give up!

They produced ‘Overload’ for the 2016 Ukrainian selection. It was sung by semi finalist Viktoria Petryk. Sadly the song did not make it through the final, but this was my favourite song of the entire Ukrainian selection.

This is the song Ylva and Linda are finalists with in Moldova. It is called Irresistible, and it is sung by Doinita Gherman. Doinita was born and raised in the Moldovan capital city of Chisianu and has studied music from a very young age. Eurovision is the pinnacle of anyone career so we wish her the very best of luck.

This is the song Ylva and Linda will be taking to the Icelandic final this weekend. The song is called Eye of the storm and is sung by Karlotta Sigurðardóttir, who appeared on the Icelandic version of The Voice.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLS_XSN-SaO7UR5tmODMblejMimWMsOvfn

This is the link to all the amazing songs that Ylva and Linda have entered into the different selections. They have been very busy this season, entering in countries such as Ukraine, Lithuania, Moldova, Iceland and many more. They are finalists in Moldova and Iceland so we would live to wish them the best of luck.

The team at ESC United wish Ylva and Linda the very best with the many songs they have entered this season, and we hope to see them in Stockholm. Tack så mycket damtoalett!