(CNN) -- To the rest of the world, Sweden seems to represent all that is enviably European. Scandinavia's largest country has a reputation for being stylish, progressive and glacially cool -- in short, everything the Eurovision Song Contest is not. So it may come as a surprise to some to learn that the Swedes take the annual song competition -- occasionally viewed by some of their neighbors as a bit of a joke -- very seriously indeed. Unlike in many other western European countries, the privilege of representing Sweden at the annual contest is hotly contested, through a grueling series of televised heats which have grown to become more popular than Eurovision itself.

They form emotional attachments to the songs and, ultimately, also the winner -- which is one of the reasons why so many Swedes still care about how we do in
Eurovision."