(Liverpool) After the extravagant performances of the artists, the audience voted: it is the singer Loreen who won the Eurovision Song Contest, which took place in Liverpool on Saturday.
Posted at 9:52 am. Updated at 6:30 p.m.
Sylvain PEUCHMAURD Agence France-Presse
Sweden, represented by 2012’s victorious singer Loreen, was the favorite with Tatoo, a pompous love song, ahead of Finland with singer Käärijä’s frantic Cha Cha Cha and fluorescent green puff bolero.
Quebec singer La Zarra represented France at this prestigious music competition and 35 years ago a certain Céline Dion won the competition for Switzerland. France, on the other hand, have not won with Marie Myriam since 1977.
This time, on the occasion of the 67th edition of the event, La Zarra performed his song Obvious. She was the sixth to take the stage. She appeared on a high platform from where she presented her entire performance. The artist sang her song confidently while wearing a sequined black and red dress and matching hat.
La Zarra was cheered by the crowd as she uttered the last note of her song, while the initially rather sober decoration was lit up with twinkling lights and jets of flame.
PHOTO OLI SCHAL, AGENCY FRANCE-PRESSE
Quebec La Zarra
This year, Ukraine is represented by electronic duo Tvorchi and Heart of Steel, a song inspired by the resistance during a month-long siege of the Azovstal factory in Mariupol and met with audience acclaim.
Several songs invoke war in their own way.
PHOTO MARTIN MEISSNER, ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Ukrainian group Tvorchi
For Switzerland, the young singer Remo Forrer launched a serious message of peace with Watergun.
neon bolero
PHOTO MARTIN MEISSNER, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Croatian group Let 3
At the other end of the spectrum, the mustachioed flamboyant Croatian group Let 3, featuring Mama ŠČ! the stage on fire. a scathing title that attacks Vladimir Putin in a thinly veiled way. The group used spark-spitting rockets and kangaroo slippers in a burlesque performance.
The show began in the queue where spectators competed with glitter, flags and colors.
We dance, we sing, and when the question arises who will win, the answer is a jumble of country names.
Wassylyna Kindrat, a 25-year-old Ukrainian from Lviv who was forced to flee her country in December, is hoping for victory “not for the Eurovision Song Contest, but in the war” sparked by the Russian invasion. The colors of Ukraine hoisted all over the city of Liverpool “make you feel like you’re at home,” says the young woman, with glitter in the corners of her eyes and the Ukrainian flag on her shoulders.
At his side is his girlfriend Kate, delighted whose “Fuck You Putin” t-shirt she says pulls him on, incessant requests for photos and videos.
“When I arrived in Liverpool yesterday, ‘I cried’ because there’s blue and yellow everywhere in the city, explains Lana Bilko, a Ukrainian who has lived in the UK for a long time.
“Absurd Outfits”
“In a peaceful world, this year’s competition should be held in Ukraine,” said British Culture Minister Lucy Frazer and Ukraine’s Oleksandr Tkachenko in a joint statement. “But Vladimir Putin’s barbaric war made this impossible. »
“The Eurovision Song Contest,” they argued, “is one of the best examples of how music can unite us all.”
This edition of the Eurovision Song Contest “belongs more to them than to us,” said Jenny Birchett, a 70-year-old Briton, dressed in the colors of Ukraine.
“Glitter look! says Kate Bourne, a 44-year-old teacher who wears a stunning silver dress and smiles. Everyone wears “absurd outfits,” she laughs.
In a sign of how difficult it is to define the contours of a political neutrality shown while simultaneously waving the flag of a war-ravaged country, organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest stirred controversy by refusing to give the Ukrainian president Sending a message to Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the final.
But even without this message, the competition is a homage to Ukraine, emphasized the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
Like last year, Russia is excluded from the competition.
With the Canadian Press