Sweden, represented by singer Loreen with her song “Tattoo”, won the Eurovision Song Contest for the seventh time on Saturday in the final hosted by the United Kingdom on behalf of Ukraine in Liverpool.
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Loreen, first in the competition in 2012, is the second artist after Johnny Logan to win the Eurovision Song Contest twice for Ireland in the 1980s, and the first woman to achieve the double.
26 countries competed for the final of the 67th edition of the competition. This puts Sweden at the top of the list of countries with the most victories, 49 years after ABBA won with “Waterloo” and Ireland.
Finland, with singer Käärijä, came second, Israel third, and France, represented by Quebecer La Zarra, 16th. France haven’t won with Marie Myriam since 1977.
Loreen succeeds the Kalush Orchestra of Ukraine, who triumphed last year with “Stefania,” a song that blends hip-hop and traditional Ukrainian music. The Eurovision Song Contest was held in the United Kingdom, where it took second place last year due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
This year it was represented by electronic duo Tvorchi, who took sixth place with “Heart of Steel”, a song inspired by the resistance during a month-long siege of the Azovstal factory in Mariupol, which was applauded by the audience.
Minutes after her stage performance, Tvorchi posted on Instagram that Ternopil, her hometown, was under attack from Russia. Ternopil “was bombed by Russia as we sang on the Eurovision stage about our strong hearts, our indomitability and our will,” they wrote. “Europe united against evil for peace,” they added.
Several songs invoked, each in its own way, the war. As for Switzerland, the young singer Remo Forrer launched a serious-toned message of peace with “Watergun”.
– Berber –
Big winner Loreen performed “Tattoo,” a pop anthem about unconditional love.
The Swede was the bookmakers’ favourite. However, this renewed participation was anything but natural for her until she heard this song.
“When I heard +Tattoo+ I felt a mixture of pleasure and terror even before anyone spoke to me about Melodifestivalen (the Swedish selection that determines the Eurovision Song Contest entry). I understood that something was happening,” she confessed to the daily Dagens Nyheter.
And then she bowed to iron discipline to reach the bombastic number one strand.
The 39-year-old artist, whose real name is Lorine Talhaoui, was born in Sweden to Moroccan Berber descent. The eldest of six children, she grew up in a suburb of Stockholm, where she now lives. One of his sisters, Markiz Tainton, is a chef and appears regularly on television.
“I have nomadic roots, I’m Berber, but I’m also Swedish. I want my cheese grater and people to call me before they get to my house,” the singer added to this paper, while her origins have been repeatedly mocked by the paper far right.
– neon bolero –
Finland found itself in a completely different niche with singer Käärijä’s frenzied “Cha Cha Cha” and his fluorescent green puff bolero.
Like last year, Russia was excluded from the competition.
This edition was organized in Liverpool, but on behalf of Ukraine. All over the Beatles’ city were the colors of Ukraine, blue and yellow.
This edition of the Eurovision Song Contest “belongs more to them than to us,” told AFP Jenny Birchett, a 70-year-old Brit dressed in the colors of Ukraine.
“When I arrived in Liverpool yesterday,” “I cried” because there are blue and yellow everywhere in the city, explained Lana Bilko, a Ukrainian longtime resident of the UK.