Sweden won the Eurovision Song Contest early yesterday, as singer Loreen beat out 25 competitors in the finale of the world’s biggest live music event, hosted by the UK on behalf of Ukraine.
A previous victor in 2012, Loreen is the first woman to win the eccentric, much-loved competition twice and only the second person to do so after Johnny Logan won for Ireland in the 1980s.
It is a record-equaling seventh Eurovision crown for Sweden, and means the Scandinavian nation is to host next year’s contest on the 50th anniversary of ABBA’s win — the country’s first — with breakthrough hit Waterloo.
Photo: AFP
Loreen, whose real name is Lorine Talhaoui, told reporters that her victory with dance-pop track, Tattoo, felt “surreal” and “so beautiful,” and had left her “seriously overwhelmed.”
Born in Sweden to parents of Moroccan Berber origin, the 39-year-old’s win for Sweden over 25 other countries competing in the final was celebrated in her homeland.
“It feels wonderful,” she said.
Photo: Reuters
She narrowly triumphed over Finland’s Kaarija after the public and jury votes were combined following an evening of typically eclectic musical acts in Liverpool. Third place went to Israel, with Noa Kirel’s Unicorn, as more than 160 million estimated viewers watched on televisions around the world.
Last year’s runner-up, the UK, selected Liverpool — home of The Beatles — to stage the Europop music festival after organizers ruled it was impossible for victors Ukraine to do so amid Russia’s invasion.
However, the UK sought to keep Ukraine front and center throughout the contest. Central Liverpool was awash in the yellow and blue of the country’s flag, while displaced Ukrainians were among the 6,000 fans packed into the M&S Bank Arena host venue.
“It feels like I’m home,” said Vasylyna Kindrat, who fled Lviv in December last year, as she headed into the waterfront arena.
The 25-year-old added that she was hoping for victory not in Eurovision “but for the war.”
Earlier, British spectators echoed the sentiment.
“We’re supporting Ukraine, our heart is bleeding for them,” said Jenny Birchett, 70, a theater worker dressed in Ukrainian colors.
“We feel it’s theirs, the Eurovision, more than ours,” she added.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak lauded the “fantastic celebration” shortly after Loreen’s win.
“Liverpool, you’ve done the United Kingdom and Ukraine proud,” Sunak said.
Although there was the usual riot of color, camp and unbridled joy, several of the contest’s songs evoked the Ukraine war.
Switzerland’s young singer Remo Forrer conveyed a message of peace with his track Watergun, while Croatia’s extravagantly moustachioed Let 3 performed Mama SC, seen as a veiled attack on Russian President Vladimir Putin and “human stupidity.”
Politics preceded the finale, with a row erupting on Friday over a proposed appearance by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
For fear of politicizing the event, the European Broadcasting Union refused an invitation for Zelenskiy to send a message. That came despite Russia being barred from participating and the overtly political message of some songs, prompting criticism from the British government.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to