2023-05-14 01:50:04
Sweden, represented by singer Loreen, won the Eurovision Song Contest for the seventh time on Saturday evening, equaling Ireland’s record, in the final hosted on behalf of Ukraine by the United Kingdom, in Liverpool.
• Read also: Discover the song that Quebecer La Zarra will perform at Eurovision
With her title “Tattoo”, Loreen, already crowned in 2012, is the second artist to win Eurovision twice following Johnny Logan for Ireland in the 1980s, and the first woman to achieve the double.
“Surreal”, “wonderful” reacted the singer “totally overwhelmed”. She did not rule out a new participation. “It’s all regarding creativity,” she told a news conference.
Sweden’s biggest newspaper, Dagens Nyheter, called his victory on Sunday an “incredible feat”.
“Loreen touches audiences like few others,” the headline continues, describing her as “approachable,” “with a look and voice that is impossible to ignore.”
The Aftonbladet daily paid tribute to “Queen Loreen” following her victory, which will bring the Eurovision Song Contest back to Sweden in 2024, the year of the fiftieth anniversary of Abba’s victory with “Waterloo”.
AFP
26 countries were in competition for the final of the 67th edition of the contest.
Finland, with singer Käärijä, came in second, Israel in third and France, represented by Quebecer La Zarra, in 16th place. France has not won since 1977 with Marie Myriam.
Loreen succeeds the Ukrainians of the Kalush Orchestra, who triumphed last year with “Stefania”, a song mixing hip-hop and traditional Ukrainian music. Eurovision was held in the UK, which came second last year, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
This year, it was represented by the electro duo Tvorchi, who finished sixth with “Heart of Steel”, a song inspired by the resistance during a month of siege at the Azovstal factory in Mariupol and applauded by the audience.
Minutes following their stage performance, Tvorchi posted on Instagram that Ternopil, their hometown, was attacked by Russia. Ternopil “was bombarded by Russia as we sang on the Eurovision stage regarding our strong hearts, our indomitability and our will,” they wrote. “Europe, united once morest evil for peace,” they added.
Several songs evoked, each in their own way, the war. As for Switzerland, the young singer Remo Forrer launched a message of peace in a serious tone with “Watergun”.
The big winner, Loreen, performed with “Tattoo”, a pop anthem regarding unconditional love.
The Swede was the favorite of the punters. However, this new participation was for her anything but obvious, until she listened to this song.
“When I heard +Tattoo+, even before someone spoke to me regarding Melodifestivalen (the Swedish selection which determines the contribution to Eurovision), I felt a pleasure mixed with terror. I understood that something was happening,” she confided to the daily Dagens Nyheter.
And she then bowed to an iron discipline to achieve the bombastic number one strand.
Real name Lorine Talhaoui, the 39-year-old artist was born in Sweden to parents of Moroccan Berber origin. The eldest of six children, she grew up in the suburbs of Stockholm, where she lives today. One of his sisters, Markiz Tainton, is a cook and regularly appears on television.
“I have nomadic origins, I am Berber, but I am also Swedish, I want my cheese grater and people to call me before arriving at my house”, added the singer, to this newspaper, while her origins have been repeatedly mocked by the far right.
Finland was in a completely different niche with singer Käärijä’s frenetic “Cha Cha Cha” and his fluorescent green puffy bolero.
Like last year, Russia was excluded from the competition.
This edition was organized in Liverpool, but in the name of Ukraine. The colors of Ukraine, blue and yellow, were hoisted everywhere in the city of the Beatles.
This edition of Eurovision, “it’s theirs more than ours,” said AFP Jenny Birchett, a 70-year-old Briton, dressed in the colors of Ukraine.
It gives “the feeling of being at home,” Vasylyna Kindrat, a 25-year-old Ukrainian from Lviv who had to flee her country in December, told AFP before the final.
“When I arrived yesterday” in Liverpool, “I cried” as blue and yellow are everywhere in the city, explained Lana Bilko, a Ukrainian who has been living in the United Kingdom for a long time.
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