Eurovision 2023: Sweden’s Loreen responds to “surreal” historic win
Swedish Eurovision winner Loreen has responded to her “surreal” historic win at the competition last night (May 13).
Sweden were the bookies favourite to win ahead of the final in Liverpool, with Loreen’s song ‘Tattoo’ having odds of 4/9 on bet365 to win on the day of the grand final. The song has proved a hit, climbing to the top of the charts across Europe and reaching number three on the UK charts – the highest chart position for a non-UK Eurovision entry since 1987.
The win made Eurovision history, with Loreen becoming the first woman to win the competition twice, following her victory in 2012 with the track ‘Euphoria’. The only other contestant to do this was Irish singer Johnny Logan, who won the contest in 1980 and 1987.
After the jury votes, Sweden stood in first place at 340 points; after the public vote, this increased at 583. Finland and Israel came in second and third place respectively. A total of 26 countries performed in the grand final on the night.
Responding to the win, Loreen said: “This feels amazing. I’m started to melt! It was surreal in the beginning I’m like ‘what just happened?!’ …It’s sinking in, it’s so beautiful and I’m so thankful.”
“It’s so much bigger now and I’m so happy about it…I love this community…and it’s going to grow, even bigger!”
Sweden have now won the competition seven times, tying them with Ireland as being the most successful Eurovision participants.
You can see her full interview and performance here:
This year’s instalment of the contest took place in Liverpool. While Ukraine won last year and would normally host under the rules of the competition, the ongoing political conflict meant it was held in the UK, who were runners up last year with Sam Ryder.
However, the opening segment of the finale was dedicated to Ukraine, with their 2022 entry Kalush Orchestra opening the contest with an emotive rendition of their winning song, ‘Stefania’.
The opening also saw the band joined by musicians and famous figures from afar. During one segment of the song, it cut to a clip of Ryder playing guitar on the song from on top of Liverpool’s Liver Building.
Other contributions via video included ones from Joss Stone, Miss Banks, Andrew Lloyd Webber and the Princess of Wales, who played piano on the song.
Ryder then later returned to the stage after the finalists to perform his latest single ‘Mountain’ with Taylor making a surprise appearance on drums. Ryder last joined Queen on stage for a rendition of ‘Somebody To Love’ at the Foo Fighter’s Taylor Hawkins tribute concert.
Elsewhere, the show featured a segment where previous Eurovision contestants paid tribute to Liverpool’s music history during a song medley as well as a special video message from ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus who paid tribute to Eurovision and its importance in ABBA’s career.
Another popular moment of the night came with Iceland’s 2021 Eurovision entry Daði Freyr performing during the medley segment, with fans loving his “epic version” of Atomic Kitten’s ‘Whole Again’.
The UK’s entry, Mae Martin, closed the finalist’s performances with her entry, ‘I Wrote A Song‘. The UK finished second from last with 24 points and Mae has since responded to the disappointing result with a statement.
Meanwhile, some fans were unhappy with Sweden winnnig, with many wanting Finland’s Käärijä to win with his dance-inspired song, ‘Cha Cha Cha’. You can check out more of the fan reaction to the results here.
Keep checking back on nme.com for more Eurovision updates
The post Eurovision 2023: Sweden’s Loreen responds to “surreal” historic win appeared first on NME.
Elizabeth Aubrey
NME
