In addition to Sweden and Finland, Israel, Greece and Moldova, among others, also advanced - as expected. More surprisingly, Belgium qualified.
Sweden has only missed the final of the Eurovision Song Contest once. The pressure was therefore great on Felicia to deliver, and in the first semi-final she performed second.
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 making a fuss.
"I turned around and took my first step so hard that the glitter on my glasses came off. My first thought was, 'Why can't I see my right eye?'" she said in a statement.
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.
The hosts Victoria Swarovski and Michael Ostrowski then welcomed the audience in different languages and went through the voting rules - including that you cannot vote for your own country's entry.
During the evening, there was an interlude about Austria and Australia being mixed up (with "Austria" sung in several European languages, such as French and Spanish) - similar to last year's interlude, which poked fun at Switzerland and Sweden in the same way.
Palestine protests
Overall in the competition, Felicia's odds have fallen from seventh to tenth place, which she is not happy about.
"It sucks," she told Aftonbladet.
The big favorite is Finland, with Finnish-Swedish violinist Linda Lampenius and singer Pete Parkkonen. They received loud applause for their "Liekinheitin", and Lampenius played the violin live - for which she received permission from 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 the first semi-final went
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.)
