Sweden wins Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool, Finland feels robbed

Sweden has won the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool. Singer Loreen won with her song Tattoo, about the pain of a broken relationship. This makes her the first woman to win the festival twice. In 2012 she was already first with the number Euphoria.

Loreen received the most points from the professional juries, 583 points in total. Käärijä from Finland came in second place with 526 points, who received more points from the public than Loreen, favorite of the judges. Third place was for Israel. Noa Kirel got 362 points.

Loreen calls the victory overwhelming and is happy and grateful:

During the act, Loreen crawled through sand, with an LED screen below and just above her. The Eurovision veteran is the second person to win the festival twice. Johnny Logan won twice as a singer for Ireland in the 1980s, and then again as a songwriter.

In Finland, dat met Käärijä’s Cha Cha Cha achieved the best score since winning metal act Lordi in 2006, some feel robbed. They point out that Käärijä received the full twelve points from the audience from eighteen countries. Loreen did not receive that maximum score from the public from any country. She did receive it from various professional juries – including that of Finland itself.

Sweden’s Aftonbladet writes that “Käärijä would have won the race in any other year”, but was no match for Loreen.

The Dutch jury also gave 12 points to Sweden. Singer S10, who participated on behalf of the Netherlands last year, awarded the points:

It is the seventh time that Sweden has won the music competition. With this score, the country equals Ireland’s record. Thanks to Tattoowhich has been in the European charts for weeks, the festival returns to the country exactly 50 years after ABBA’s first win.

26 countries competed for the points. Of the finalists, Germany finished last, with a total of 21 points.

Belgium finished seventh with 182 points. That is the second best result ever for a Flemish entry. Each year, the Belgian candidate is chosen alternately by the Dutch-speaking VRT and the French-speaking RTBF. Belgium won the festival once, in 1986, with the French-speaking Sandra Kim.

The Dutch Mia Nicolai & Dion Cooper stranded in the first semifinal last Tuesday. With 7 points became the Netherlands 13th out of 15 countries performing that night.

Yet the final also had Dutch touches. The number Bridges van Estonia was co-written by the Dutchman Wouter Hardy. The Dutchman Jesse Wijnans danced in Finland’s performance and the guitarist of the band Joker Out from Slovenia is half Dutch.

And 2019 winner Duncan Laurence sang during a joint performance at the vote count.

The United Kingdom organized the event on behalf of Ukraine, last year’s winner.

This is how Loreen sang the winning song last night: