In recent years, Sandén said that she had been focused on her pop music—at one point aspiring to become “the Swedish Taylor Swift.” But when she was invited back into the studio for Eurovision—particularly to work on the the soaring, catchy track “Húsavík”—she found herself channeling the singer she originally intended to become, as a Eurovision-obsessed kid practicing high notes in her basement.
“I was a weird kid and I was bullied, so I would go to my basement and I practiced my vocal skills,” said Sandén. “I practiced those high notes. Especially the song with Celine Dion, ‘All By Myself’.” Sandén broke out into song to demonstrate. “The high pitch goes on forever. That long note. . .I practiced that one especially and the first time I nailed it in my basement, I was so happy. I just saw stars twinkling, like gold and glitter coming from the roof. It was just a magical thing that happened when I nailed this long note for the first time. And I thought, wow, this is my magic, this is my super power. I have to have this note in my song to be able to win.”
Laughing, Sandén said, “When I look back on it, I realize those stars and glittering is just lack of oxygen in my brain. But back then, I thought, this is what I’m meant to do. This is my purpose.”
When she recorded “Húsavík”—Sigrit’s triumphant ballad—Sandén incorporated that very high note, the same star-inducing crescendo she practiced in her basement and used in her first Eurovision song. (The high note that gave Vanity Fair’s chief film critic Richard Lawson “genuine chills.”)
“When I saw the movie, I got goosebumps,” said Sandén, of hearing her voice come out of McAdams’s mouth on that Eurovision stage. “Because it was like, she’s me.”
According to Netflix, Sandén’s vocals were mixed with McAdams’s own voice for the tracks. In a separate phone call with Vanity Fair, Eurovision’s music producer, Savan Kotecha, said that Sandén and McAdams’s “tones worked so well together” that, in playing back certain tracks, he had a hard time differentiating between the vocals. But Sandén, who has seen the film, said she only noticed McAdams’s voice in a scene in which the actor was singing to herself in front of a piano. Asked if she thought the vocals had been mixed, Sandén sounded skeptical: “If they say so, maybe that’s the truth. But I just know that I didn’t really hear [McAdams] in the soundtrack. . .maybe it’s mixed in somewhere.”
Sandén said that she had steeled herself to watch the film—expecting that it might be a biting parody of the competition that represented her childhood. “I thought it was going to be even more ugly. But I think they managed a good balance of handling the parody but also being uplifting and highlighting the beautiful things with Eurovision,” said Sandén. “For me it’s about the countries coming together and joining in music. Even if it’s silly, it’s beautiful.” She did admit, however, “Those weird characters are really there. I’ve met them myself. Everyone is taking themselves way too seriously.”
These days, Sanden said, she is working on a new album, mainly writing in Swedish. But she’s been toying with the idea of writing a few English songs as well, perhaps buoyed by her positive experience on Eurovision. In the meantime though, Sanden is gearing up to watch the Netflix film again on Friday, when it premieres—this time, with her sisters.
Speaking about her surprising return to the competition series, she reiterated, “It feels like a rematch for the 14-year-old Molly who lost four times and didn’t even make it to the final. Now it feels like I can leave Eurovision forever on a good note.”
Where to Watch Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga:
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