Now it is clear that Sweden will meet Finland and Linda Lampenius - who is predicted to win the whole contest - in the Eurovision final on Saturday.
In addition to Sweden and Finland, Israel, Greece and Moldova also advanced as expected. More surprisingly, Belgium also advanced in the competition, at the expense of Portugal, which had been tipped to do better but was eliminated in the semi-finals.
Only once has Sweden missed the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. The pressure was therefore great on Felicia to deliver. Everything went according to plan when it came to the singing and the laser show – but not the costume. When the singer took the stage in Vienna, the rhinestone on her glasses fell off – but she carried on without pretending anything.
"I didn't see it fall. My first thought was: I've gone blind," Felicia says afterwards.
"But it went great. I carried on and was just as happy about it."
Vicky Leandros began
Eurovision legend Vicky Leandros opened the first semi-final in Vienna by singing "L'amour est bleu", which she performed for Luxembourg in 1967, together with a choir dressed in blue.
During the evening, there was an interlude about Austria and Australia being mixed up - similar to last year's interlude, which poked fun at Switzerland and Sweden in the same way.
Palestine protests
Overall, for the competition, Felicia has dropped in the odds from seventh to tenth place overall, which she is not happy about.
"I want to win. But it's great fun to be here. It's like Melodifestivalen, but everyone speaks English so you don't understand everything," she says.
The big favourite, Finland, with Finnish-Swedish violinist Linda Lampenius and singer Pete Parkkonen, is the top pick in this year's field. They received huge applause in the semi-final for their "Liekinheitin" and Lampenius played the violin live - which had been authorised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
Since Israel's war in Gaza began, there has been massive criticism of the country's participation in Eurovision. This year, several countries, including Spain and Ireland, withdrew from the competition in protest. When Israeli artist Noam Bettan was about to perform his entry "Michelle," cries of "liberate Palestine" were heard inside the stadium.
This is how it went in the first semi-final
On to the finals:
Greece: Akylas – "Ferto"
Finland: Linda Lampenius and Pete Parkkonen – "Liekinheitin"
Belgium: Essyla – "Dancing on the ice"
Sweden: Felicia – "My system"
Moldova: Satoshi – "Long live Moldova!"
Israel: Noam Bettan – "Michelle"
Serbia: Lavina - "Kraj mene"
Croatia: Lelek – "Andromeda"
Lithuania: Lion Ceccah – "Sólo quiero más"
Poland: Alicja – "Pray"
Italy: Sal Da Vinci – "Per semper sì"
Germany: Sarah Engels – "Fire"
Eliminated:
Portugal: Bandidos do Cante – "Pink"
Georgia: Bzikebi – "On replay"
Montenegro: Tamara Zivković – "Nova zora"
Estonia: Vanilla Ninja – "Too epic to be true"
San Marino: Late Hit – "Superstar"
(Footnote: Italy and Germany were already qualified for the final.)
