Sweden's Loreen Wins Eurovision Song Contest for Historic Second Time: 'So Much Love'
Loreen last won Eurovision back in 2012, and did it again this weekend with the song "Tattoo"
For the first time ever, a woman has become a two-time Eurovision Song Contest champion as a performer.
Sweden's Loreen took home the win at Saturday's Grand Final in Liverpool, England — with her ballad "Tattoo" earning 583 points across the board.
For the musician, whose real name is Lorine Zineb Nora Talhaoui, the 2023 win marked her second all-time win in the competition, after she previously left victorious in 2012.
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It isn't the first time an artist has won the competition twice, as Ireland's Johnny Logan did so in 1980 and 1987, but Loreen made history as the first woman performing in the competition to win twice.
Loreen, 39, came out on top of 25 other countries. Behind her, Finland's K??rij? earned 526 points and Israel's Noa Kirel took home 362 points. And now, as a result of her victory, next year's competition will likely take place in Sweden.
Last year's winner was Ukraine's Kalush Orchestra, and while the competition is historically held in the home country of the previous year's winner, Ukraine was deemed unsafe to take on Eurovision this year amid the Russian invasion. Because of that, the U.K. held the competition on Ukraine's behalf.
"The only thing I feel right now is so much love. Not in my wildest dreams did I think this was going to happen," Loreen said after her win, per Billboard.
Now with seven all-time Eurovision wins, Sweden ties Ireland for the most in the competition's 67-year history. ABBA was the first Swedish group to win back in 1974 for their song "Waterloo."
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This year's competition featured several special guests, including Kate Middleton, 41, who contributed a short instrumental piano performance to the opening sequence film.
Middleton joined last year's winners Kalush Orchestra as they performed their winning entry, "Stefania" at the Maidan Nezalezhnosti metro station in Kyiv, Ukraine. Composers, arrangers and musical directors Joe Price and Kojo Samuel put the performance together, and it was recorded earlier in May at the Crimson Drawing Room of Windsor Castle.
British musicians Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber, Sam Ryder, Ms. Banks, Ballet Black, Bolt Strings, and Joss Stone also were involved in the ensemble performance.
Both King Charles and Queen Camilla also appeared at the competition this year, visiting the M&S Bank Arena in late April to check out how things were coming together. Charles, 74, and Camilla, 75, met BBC executives, production staff and apprentices and took a backstage tour. They also unveiled the year's stage for the first time.
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