Swedish singer Loreen celebrates her victory at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. This is the second time the singer has been crowned at the event. (Source: OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)
(CNN Spanish) – It’s no déjà vu: Sweden’s Loreen is the all-new winner of Eurovision 2023 with Tattoo. The Swedish singer, who also won 11 years ago, is the first woman to lift the competition’s trophy twice.
Loreen traveled to the event as one of the big favorites, not only on social media but also in betting. Although he led the jury’s vote with 340 points, he was startled by viewers when Finland took first place with 376 viewer votes.
However, the spectators sealed Sweden’s victory with 243 points.
Sweden is also tied with Ireland and is the country with the most Eurovision wins with seven awards. France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom follow with five, and Israel with four.
This is only the second time the same artist has won the event twice. Irish singer Johnny Logan was the only artist up until this Saturday to have won the Eurovision Song Contest twice, in 1980 and 1987.
Loreen, meanwhile, won Eurovision 2012 with the song “Euphoria”.
Of course, tele-audience voting is always a source of unease, and this year it was the supporters of Spain’s Blanca Paloma who protested the five points she received from viewers.
Liverpool and Ukraine united
Although Ukraine, conducted by the Kalush Orchestra, won Eurovision 2022, the country was unable to perform at the event this year due to the ongoing war with Russia.
In October, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced that Liverpool will host Eurovision 2023.
“It was concluded that the event could not take place in the winning country for security reasons,” reads an EBU press release.
Although Ukraine was not on site, she was present throughout the televised gala. From the audiovisual performances prior to each presentation highlighting Ukrainian cities, to the event’s motto: “Together for the Music”.
In addition, the delegations of all voting countries reiterated their support for Ukraine.
Finland’s Käärijä performs the catchy ‘Cha Cha Cha’ during the Eurovision 2023 grand final. (Source: Dominic Lipinski/Getty Images)
The “quirky” moments and other highlights of Eurovision 2023
Every year, the Eurovision Song Contest leaves viewers with unforgettable moments and comments like “What just happened?”.
And while some presentations may cause some confusion for some, for fans of the event, that’s what the Eurovision Song Contest is all about: a show.
This year, the appearance of British actress and presenter Mel Giedroyc (those who have seen The Great British Bake Off on Netflix will remember her) caused big laughs on social media. Giedroyc appeared behind fellow actress Hannah Waddingham, who…Whipped butter? It’s a moment that stole viewers’ tweets.
Finland’s performance was so distinguished by its music and staging that it became trending on Twitter in several countries.
Germany, Croatia And Moldova They were also distinguished by the specificity of their actions.
He British singer Sam Ryder, which peaked at number two last year, presented her new single “Mountain” with a stellar performance. Roger Taylor, the legendary drummer for British band Queen, was also responsible for downloading the percussion for Ryder.
Political messages (from the audience) at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023
Although the Eurovision Song Contest is a platform where politics has no place, there was one performance – out of competition – that caused a stir on social media: Italian Alessandro Mahmoud, who interpreted John Lennon’s “Imagine”.
Users on Twitter criticized the choice of songs given Israel’s participation in the competition.
A user He said: “Playing the Imagine song is beautiful, the message is great, but you can’t try to broadcast it after having Israel perform at the same time that country is bombing Gaza.”
During the performance of Israeli singer Noa Kirel, who sang “Unicorn”, comments on the Israel-Gaza crisis piled up.
Israel and Gaza have endured a week of violence with airstrikes that have killed at least 33 Palestinians in Gaza and at least two people in Israel. According to Egyptian officials, Israel and Islamic Jihad reached a ceasefire agreement on Saturday.
The Ukrainian delegation appeared during the gala with a sign reading Ternopil. Russian airstrikes were carried out in the western region of Ukraine.
The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine tweeted that “at the exact same time that Europe is celebrating music, unity and light at the Eurovision Song Contest, Russia is firing cruise missiles at Ukraine, which is facing darkness”.
In a television message, Eurovision also denied the participation of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on the grounds that “one of the pillars of the competition is the non-political character of the event.” This principle prohibits the possibility of political or similar statements.