{"id":33446,"date":"2023-05-14T07:58:46","date_gmt":"2023-05-14T07:58:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=33446"},"modified":"2023-05-14T07:58:48","modified_gmt":"2023-05-14T07:58:48","slug":"swedish-singer-loreenwon-the-eurovision-song-contest-on-saturday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2023\/05\/14\/swedish-singer-loreenwon-the-eurovision-song-contest-on-saturday\/","title":{"rendered":"Swedish singer Loreenwon the\u00a0Eurovision Song Contest\u00a0on Saturday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Swedish singer Loreen<\/strong>won the\u00a0Eurovision Song Contest<\/strong>\u00a0on Saturday night with her power ballad \u201cTattoo,\u201d at a colorful, eclectic music competition clouded for a second year running by the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The diva from Stockholm beat acts from 25 other countries to take the continent\u2019s pop crown at the final of the competition in Liverpool. Finnish singer K\u00e4\u00e4rij\u00e4 was second in a close-fought battle of the Nordic neighbors.\u00a0
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Loreen, 39, previously won Eurovision in 2012 and is only the second performer to take the prize twice, after Ireland\u2019s Johnny Logan in the 1980s. It\u2019s Sweden\u2019s seventh Eurovision victory, matching Ireland\u2019s record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Loreen performs during the Grand Final. (AP Photo\/Martin Meissner)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am seriously overwhelmed,\u201d Loreen said. \u201cThis is so beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said returning to the contest that helped make her a star was \u201clike coming back to a family. We\u2019ve had an 11-year-long relationship. We know each other by now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Britain hosted Eurovision on behalf of Ukraine, which won last year but couldn\u2019t take up its right to hold the contest because of the war. Air raid sirens sounded across Ukraine as the contest was underway, and Ukrainian media reported a strike in Ternopil, home town of Ukraine\u2019s Eurovision entry, Tvorchi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the slogan \u201cunited by music,\u201d Eurovision final fused the soul of the English port city that birthed The Beatles with the spirit of war-battered Ukraine.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sights and sounds of Ukraine ran through the show, starting with an opening film that showed 2022 Eurovision winners Kalush Orchestra<\/strong> singing and dancing in the Kyiv subway, with the tune picked up by musicians in the U.K. \u2014 including Kate, Princess of Wales, shown playing the piano.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tvorchi. (AP Photo\/Martin Meissner)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The folk-rap band itself then emerged onstage in the Liverpool Arena on a giant pair of outstretched hands, accompanied by massed drummers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contestants from the 26 finalist nations entered the arena in an Olympics-style flag parade, accompanied by live performances from Ukrainian acts including Go A, Jamala<\/strong>, Tina Karol and Verka Serduchka \u2014 all past Eurovision competitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now in its 67th year, Eurovision bills itself as the world\u2019s biggest music contest \u2014 an Olympiad of party-friendly pop. Competitors each have three minutes to meld catchy tunes and eye-popping spectacle<\/strong> into performances capable of winning the hearts of millions of viewers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Loreen\u2019s anthem of intense love had been the bookies\u2019favorite and won by far the most votes from professional juries in Eurovision\u2019s complex voting system. She faced a strong challenge from K\u00e4\u00e4rij\u00e4, a wildly energetic performer whose rap-pop party anthem \u201cCha Cha Cha\u201d won the public vote. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel\u2019s Noa Kirel came in third with power-pop anthem \u201cUnicorn,\u201d while Italy\u2019s Marco Mengoni was fourth with his ballad \u201cDue Vite\u201d (Two Lives).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The varied tastes of the continent were on display in a contest that took in the cabaret-style singing of Portugal\u2019s Mimicat, the Britney-esque power pop of Poland\u2019s Blanka, echoes of Edith Piaf from La Zarra for France and smoldering balladry from Cyprus\u2019 entry, Andrew Lambrou.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Australia \u2014 a Eurovision contender despite its far-away location \u2014 guitar band Voyager evoked head-banging \u201880s stadium rock. Croatia\u2019s Let 3 offered a surreal antiwar rock opera, and Austrian duo Teya & Salena sent up the music industry in Poe-referencing song \u201cWho the Hell is Edgar?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Electronica duo Tvorchi paid tribute to Ukraine\u2019s resilience on \u201cHeart of Steel,\u201d coming sixth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Britain\u2019s Mae Muller drew the unenviable final performance slot of the night with her jaunty breakup anthem \u201cI Wrote a Song.\u201d She came in second to last place \u2014 but at least avoided the humiliation of getting \u201cnul points,\u201d or zero points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While votes were cast and counted, Sam Ryder, last year\u2019s runner-up for Britain, performed his new single \u201cMountain,\u201d accompanied by Queen drummer Roger Taylor. A \u201cLiverpool Songbook\u201d segment featured past Eurovision stars performing songs from the city, including John Lennon\u2019s \u201cImagine,\u201d \u201cYou Spin Me Round (Like a Record)\u201d by Dead or Alive and the unofficial civic anthem \u201cYou\u2019ll Never Walk Alone\u201d \u2014 with the audience joining in, as a tribute to both Liverpool and Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About 6,000 fans watched the show inside the arena, and tens of thousands more at a Liverpool fan zone and at big-screen events across the U.K. The global television audience has been estimated at 160 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under spring sunshine, fans flocked in their thousands to a Eurovision party zone in the city\u2019s dockside area ahead of the contest. Many were draped in flags of their favored nations or dressed as their favorite acts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust to come down and see people from all different nationalities, all different cultures \u2014 it\u2019s good fun,\u201d said Australian Martin Troedel, sporting a kangaroo on his hat. \u201cFrankly there\u2019s some quite odd acts, which is what I love about it. You never know what to expect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liverpool embraced Eurovision, and Ukraine, with businesses across the city flying Ukrainian flags and a program of cultural events introducing locals to the art, music and food of the eastern European country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But organizers said they turned down a request by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/strong> to make a video address. The European Broadcasting Union said that would breach \u201cthe nonpolitical nature of the event.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Founded in 1956, Eurovision is a European cultural institution that has produced breakout stars \u2014 ABBA and Celine Dion are both past winners \u2013 alongside performers whose careers sank without a trace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, it has once again become a platform that can launch stars. Italian rock band M\u00e5neskin, who won in 2021, have played major U.S. festivals and opened for the Rolling Stones on tour. Ryder has had a No. 1 album and performed at the Glastonbury festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow, the music industry, the world, knows that if you appear at Eurovision, you could be in for a great thing,\u201d said Steve Holden, host of the official Eurovision Song Contest podcast. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Swedish singer Loreenwon the\u00a0Eurovision Song Contest\u00a0on Saturday night with her power ballad \u201cTattoo,\u201d at a colorful, eclectic music competition clouded for a second year running by the war in Ukraine. The diva from Stockholm beat acts from 25 other countries to take the continent\u2019s pop crown at the final of the competition in Liverpool. Finnish […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":33449,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[80],"tags":[11974,3347,8249,5919,5307,2571,9331,8678,6083,10739,7712,9505,6321,8123,5455,9026,12011,6496,5575,8834,1444,12234,6449,3095,9259,1392,10065,10064,6319,3040,5342,10560,197,6220,9683,3601,5058,12085,1707,8369,8386,837,11082,1975,3805,2815,3927,11774,9028,6978,6687,6838,9176,5882,5818,8840,1378,9209,10063,7418,5180,5555,6714,7231,10885,8033,11255,1254,5251,12851,36,594,7932],"class_list":["post-33446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-album","tag-australia","tag-australian","tag-breakup","tag-britain","tag-celine-dion","tag-city","tag-croatia","tag-dead","tag-display","tag-english","tag-european","tag-eurovision","tag-eye","tag-family","tag-fans","tag-festival","tag-food","tag-france","tag-glastonbury","tag-hell","tag-host","tag-ireland","tag-israel","tag-italian","tag-italy","tag-johnny-logan","tag-kaarija","tag-kalush-orchestra","tag-kate","tag-kyiv","tag-la","tag-liverpool","tag-love","tag-millions","tag-muller","tag-music","tag-nations","tag-olympics","tag-performer","tag-platform","tag-poland","tag-port","tag-portugal","tag-president","tag-princess-of-wales","tag-queen","tag-raid","tag-rap","tag-rock","tag-runner","tag-singer","tag-spring","tag-steel","tag-strike","tag-strong","tag-sweden","tag-swedish","tag-swedish-loreenwon","tag-tattoo","tag-ukraine","tag-ukrainian","tag-ukrainian-president-volodymyr-zelenskyy","tag-union","tag-victory","tag-video","tag-volodymyr-zelenskyy","tag-wales","tag-war","tag-winners","tag-world","tag-who","tag-zelenskyy"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}