Global Courant 2023-05-14 04:04:03
Sweden has won the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest, marking a historic double for its victorious artist Loreen.
The Swedish star had previously won in 2012 with ‘Euphoria’, and she repeated the feat on Saturday evening with ‘Tattoo,’ which earned 583 points.
An estimated global audience of close to 200 million watched as she collected the prize on stage in Liverpool, UK.
Finland came second, with Israel in third place.
Host country UK’s Mae Muller came second last out of 26 with 24 points, while last year’s winners Ukraine came sixth. Bottom of the board was Germany with 18 points.
Loreen had been the clear favorite going into the evening’s event. She is the only female artist to have won the Contest twice. (Ireland’s Johnny Logan won it twice in 1980 and 1987, and again as a songwriter in 1993.)
The Grand Final interval act began with a performance by last year’s UK runner-up Sam Ryder. He was accompanied by Queen drummer Roger Taylor.
An all-star cast of former Eurovision performers joined to perform a Liverpool-inspired playbook.
Italy’s Mahmood kicked off with John Lennon’s Imagine, followed by Israel’s Netta. Iceland’s Daoidi Freyer joined in with his own bespoke version of Liverpool girl band Atomic Kitten’s ‘Whole Again’. Sweden’s Cornelia Jakobs went next with former Spice Girl Mel C’s ‘I Turn to You.’
The UK’s 1993 runner-up Sonia, also a Liverpudlian, reprized her number from that era, ‘Better the Devil You Know.’ Finally, another former winner Duncan Laurence of the Netherlands led the crowd in a stirring rendition of the Liverpool anthem ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone.’
