If there is a country that identifies with Eurovision, it is Sweden. And this year he has shown it again by achieving his seventh victory in the festival that has been held in Liverpool, the British city that has hosted the contest due to the impossibility of doing it in Ukraine, last year’s winner, because of the war for the invasion of Russia.
Sweden has prevailed again at the festival with the singer Loreen -she already won in 2012 with ‘Euphoria’- and her song ‘Tattoo’the great favorite for weeks, although for this she had to defeat other candidacies that were also well positioned, especially Finland, with whom he has had a face to face during these months in the rankings of bookmakers.
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Sweden has won with a total of 583 points, followed closely by Finland (526). Israel (365), Italy (350) and Norway (268) have closed the Top 5. Spain has been in an unfair seventeenth position, with 100 points. Blanca Paloma has achieved a ninth place with the votes of the jury (95), but the televoting has only given her 5, the lowest score from the viewers.
Sweden’s seventh Eurovision win: tie with Ireland
With Loreen’s triumph in Eurovision 2023, Sweden wins Eurovision for the seventh time and equals Ireland as the country that has triumphed the most times. The first time the Nordic country won was in 1974 with ABBA and ‘Waterloo’, and then came the victories of Herreys (1984, with ‘Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley’), Carola (1991, with ‘Fangad av en stormvind’ ), Charlotte Nilsson (1999, with ‘Take me to your heaven’), Loreen (2012, with ‘Euphoria’) and Mans Zelmerlow (2015, with ‘Heroes’).
Loreen, second Eurovision win in just 11 years
Sweden’s victory in Eurovision 2023 This is the second triumph for Loreen, the singer who already won the festival in 2012 with the famous song ‘Euphoria’. Loreen swept that edition and became the most supported festival winner in history behind Alexander Rybak (Norway, 2009). ‘Euphoria’ smashed records on music charts around the world and Loreen became a music star, as well as an idol in the social sphere who has always been an example of activism in favor of human rights, against racism and in support of the LGTBI+ community.
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But Loreen’s career started much earlier. Lorine Zineb Nora Talhaoui, Loreen’s real name, is a Swedish singer-she was born in Stockholm in October 1983-of Moroccan origin, since her parents come from Morocco.
Loreen started in the world of music when she was introduced to the show Idol in 2004, getting a fourth place in the final. After a few years trying her luck in other television formats, Loreen tried to represent Sweden in Eurovision for the first time in 2011. She appeared at Melodifestivalen, the preselection of this country (what in Spain would be the Benidorm Fest) with the theme ‘My Heart Is Refusing Me’. She didn’t win, but the song was a bestseller.
‘Tattoo’, the winning song of Eurovision 2023
Written by Jimmy Jansson, Jimmy “Joker” Thörnfeldt, Moa “Cazzi Opeia” Carlebecker, Peter Boström, Thomas G:son and Loreen herself, ‘Tattoo’ is, as she herself has explained, a song about love and the difficulties that a person goes through a relationship, be it friendship or with a partner. “I walk through fire and rain just to be close to you”, she explains about those problems that have to be overcome so that everything goes well.
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In her staging, Loreen expresses these difficulties by singing between two platforms, one above and one below, against which she struggles to make her way between one and the other, which are increasingly separated.
Eurovision 2023 qualification
1- Sweden 583
2- Finlandia 526
3- Israel 362
4- Italia 350
5- Norway 268
6- Ukraine 243
7- Belgium 182
8- Estonia 168
9- Australia 151
10- Czechia 129
11- Lithuania 127
12- Cyprus
13- Croatia 123
14- Armenia 122
15- Austria 120
16- France 104
17- Spain 100
18- Moldavia 96
19- Poland 93
20- Switzerland 92
21- Slovenia 78
22- Albania 76
23- Portugal 59
24- Serbia 30
25- UK 24
26- Germany 18