Josefine Ridell, 13 years old from Malmö, will compete with her Allt Jag Vill Ha (In English - Reaching For The Stars) in Minsk on the 20th of November in the final of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. Lyrics and music of Allt Jag Vill Ha were written by Joseph Ridell, together with Arash, Robert Uhlmann, Thomas G:son and John Bejerholm.
"Josefine is an accomplished artist, despite her young age. And together with Arash and Thomas G:son, she has created an exciting and a great contribution, which I think could have great success in Europe," said Christer Björkman, Head of the Swedish delegation at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.
Josefine Ridell comes from Oxievångskolan, located in Oxie, just outside Malmö in the Southernmost region of Sweden. She has been singing as long as she can remember and started playing keyboards when she was eight years old. For nearly a year, she has been writing her own music.
"It will be so incredibly fun to be part of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest! And it is an honour to represent Sweden. Arash and the guys are so wonderful and so professional. We have really super fun in the studio!" the young singer says.
When reflecting on the upcoming event, Josefine states that it is obviously a competition where she will represent Sweden and will really do her best, but first of all she's looking forward to meeting young artists from all over Europe. "To be able to share this musical experience with others from all over Europe is what I am really most excited about," she says.
"I was really impressed when Josefine came to us in the studio and really showed she could sing! We had fun when we worked on this song and I think she will have the adventure of a lifetime as she travels to Minsk. A few tips I can certainly give her, based on my own experience of the Eurovision Song Contest two years ago," said Arash, who competed with the song Always in 2009 in Moscow where he was representing Azerbaijan and a came in at an honourable 3rd place.
Who's behind the song?
Robert Uhlmann is a successful Swedish composers and producer located in Malmö, in the very south of Sweden. He has worked with artist such as Arash - one of the co-composers for Allt Jag Vill Ha - for quite a long time and also with Basshunter, the Danish group Smile and Aneela & Rebecca, for whom he wrote the lead music to the movie Bombay Dreams.
Thomas G:son, guitar player and composer, lives in Skövde, on the West side of Sweden. With 25 songs written for the Swedish national competition, Melodifestivalen (as of spring of 2010) he is one of the most frequent composers in the competition. G:son has also composed several songs for other participating countries in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Swedish producer/songwriter Johan Bejerholm has worked with Look Twice, Treble & Bass, The Family Tree and Arash. He has written and co-written songs for 20 years. In 2004, one of Johan's compositions was accepted for the Swedish Eurovision Song Contest try outs, Melodifestivalen.
Arash Labaf was born in Teheran, but came to Sweden quite young. He lives and works from Malmö, in the south of Sweden and uses his first name, Arash as a performer. He got his breakthrough as an artist in 2004, when the singel Boro Boro was released.
