"Kärleken är" is a ballad

Ballad

A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...

 in Swedish

Swedish language

Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...

 about love. It was written by Ingela Forsman

Ingela Forsman

Ingela Birgitta "Pling" Forsman is a Swedish lyricist in popular music. 1981–2009, 33 of her songs have competed in the Swedish Melodifestivalen, three of them winners: Bra vibrationer , Se på mej and Kärleken är...

, Bobby Ljunggren

Bobby Ljunggren

Bobby Ljunggren is a Swedish songwriter. He has entered the Eurovision Song Contest as a composer six times, five times for his native Sweden , and once for Lithuania, in 2005. He is a veteran of the Melodifestivalen competition, with 39 entries...

 and Håkan Almqvist. The song was sung by Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 and country

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 singer Jill Johnson

Jill Johnson

Jill Anna Maria Johnson, , is a Swedish country- and pop-singer and songwriter. She performed the Melodifestivalen 1998 winning song Kärleken är, and represented Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 with that song, which finished 10th with 53 points. In 2003 she again entered Melodifestivalen...

 in the Swedish Melodifestivalen 1998

Melodifestivalen 1998

Melodifestivalen 1998 was the selection for the 38th song to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest. It was the 37th time that this system of picking a song had been used. 1141 songs were submitted to SVT for the competition...

, where it won and competed for Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1998

Eurovision Song Contest 1998

The Eurovision Song Contest 1998 was the 43rd Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 9 May 1998 at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, United Kingdom. The presenters were Terry Wogan and Ulrika Jonsson...

. It finished 10th with 53 points. It was the last Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 entry in the Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...

 sung in Swedish

Swedish language

Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...

.

Although lyricist Ingela "Pling" Forsman did not comment on the background of the song when it won Melodifestivalen and competed at Eurovision, she has since confirmed that the lyrics indeed were inspired by the aftermath of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales

Diana, Princess of Wales

Diana, Princess of Wales was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981, and an international charity and fundraising figure, as well as a preeminent celebrity of the late 20th century...

 in a car accident in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 in 1997 . The chorus in Swedish translates as; "An angel flew by on her way to heaven, so free, but she left her smile here on earth - like a warming sun, like heavenly starlight, so that we can contemplate life and its events with a faith; love is..."

Single

The single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 "Kärleken är" was released on 20 March 1998. It reached #5 on the Swedish singles chart.

Track listing

1. "Kärleken är" (radio version) - 3:00
2. "Kärleken är" (instrumental version) - 3:00

Svensktoppen

Kärleken är was tested on the Sveriges Radio

Sveriges Radio

Sveriges Radio AB – Swedish Radio Ltd – is Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcaster. The Swedish public-broadcasting system is in many respects modelled after the one used in the United Kingdom, and Sveriges Radio - like Sveriges Television - shares many characteristics with...

 radio chart Svensktoppen

Svensktoppen

Svensktoppen is a record chart at Sveriges Radio. Until January 2003, the songs had to be in the Swedish language. Svensktoppen has aired since 1962, except for the years 1982-1985. Svensktoppen airs once a week...

, entering on 2 May 1998 at #1 and spending a total of six weeks on the listing.

Tracks

Kärleken är was also tested on Sveriges Radio's hit list Trackslistan

Trackslistan

Tracks, or Trackslistan, is a top 20 song list and a program of the Swedish Radio channel SR P3. The program premiered on September 8, 1984, and is broadcast on Saturday afternoons. The Tracks are played all eight p.m.. The listeners vote for the songs they think is the best. Track list is one of...

. On 11 April 1998 the song entered the list, spending eight weeks on the chart, with its peak position at #6 on 16 May 1998.

English

Jill Johnson recorded the song on her 1998 album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 När hela världen ser på

När hela världen ser på

När hela världen ser på was released on 10 May 1998 and is an album from Swedish pop and country singer Jill Johnson. The album peaked at #37 at the Swedish album chart.-Track listing:#När hela världen ser på - 4:30#Kärleken är - 3:00...

, both in its Swedish and English language

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

versions, the latter entitled "Eternal Love" and retaining the theme of the original Swedish lyrics.

External links

• "Kärleken är" at the Swedish singles chart