Before she even set foot on stage to compete in the second semi final of Eurovision 2022, Sweden's Cornelia Jakobs was already one of the favourites to win and also has a Eurovision past.
To make it to Italy to compete in this year's Eurovision Song Contest, Cornelia had to make it through the heats of famous Swedish national competition Melodifestivalen and the the final, where she faced very tough competition from national treasure Anders Bagge and his song Bigger Than The Universe. Fortunately for Cornelia, while the lion's share of the viewer vote went to Anders, she came out on top with the international juries and got enough support from the pubic to clinch victory with her track Hold Me Closer.
Sweden have a proud record in Eurovision. No music fan with ever forget ABBA's victories in the early 1970s, while other famous Swedish winners include Charlotte Nilsson who won the final contest of the last millennium with Take Me To Your Heaven, Loreen who won with the anthemic Euphoria 10 years ago and Manz Zamerlow, who scored their last win in 2015.
Cornelia, 30, was in action in Thursday's Eurovision semi final 2, performing second to last near the end of the show and making it through to follow other semi final qualifiers like Norway's Subwoolfer, and bookies' favourites to win in the Eurovision odds, Ukraine's Kalush Orchestra into the final.
Cornelia is 20th in the Eurovision final running order, but Eurovision 2022 is far from her first rodeo when it comes to the contest having missed out on representing Sweden in both 2011 and 2012.
Who is Sweden's Eurovision entry Cornelia Jakobs?
Cornelia first entered Melodifestivalen in 2011 as a member of girl group Love Generation, three years after competing in Sweden's version of Pop Idol. Love Generation finished third in the fourth semi final of the contest with their song Dance Alone, which was enough to earn them a place in the 'second chance' show, where they crashed out.
The group gave Eurovision another shot a year later with Just A Little Bit, but they fell at the first hurdle after only finishing sixth in their semi. Since Love Generation's Eurovision heartache, Cornelia has forced a solo career in her native land, composing and performing the song "Weight of the World" which became the soundtrack for HBO Nordic series Björnstad.
Other songs Cornelia has on Spotify include Fine, All The Gold and Late Night Stories.
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