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David Mdzinarishvili / REUTERS
Loreen of Sweden performs her song "Euphoria" after winning the Eurovision song contest in Baku, Azerbaijan.
BAKU, Azerbaijan -- Sweden's Loreen won the Eurovision Song Contest in Azerbaijan on Sunday before an international TV audience of 100 million, days after angering Azeri authorities by meeting rights activists critical of the host country's human rights record.
Opposition groups have used the Eurovision spotlight, intended by Azerbaijan to promote the country as a destination for tourism and business, to demand democracy and the resignation of the government. Dozens of peaceful protesters have been arrested this month in the Caspian coastal capital, Baku. Activists say some buildings in the center of the city were torn down to make way for the Eurovision arena and residents were forcibly evicted without proper compensation.
The 28-year-old pop singer won with the song "Euphoria" in the annual competition of 42 countries, delighting viewers and the contest's professional judges and dancing barefoot as she sang.
"This is about all of us! Thank you so very much!" Loreen told a news conference.
She said the first to congratulate her were her family and her crew. Her mother joined her briefly at the news conference.
"Time has stopped," Loreen said about her feelings after she was announced as winner.
Russia's entry, rural folk group Buranovskiye Babushki (Grannies from Buranovo) came in second and Serbia's Zeljko Joksimovic was third in the 57th year of a contest famous for heavy-duty kitsch.
David Mdzinarishvili / REUTERS
Loreen, right, of Sweden lifts the trophy and flowers after winning the Eurovision contest.
The competition took place in a specially built "Crystal Hall" on the shores of the Caspian.
Loreen has met with activists who accuse the government of forcing people from their homes for the building of the hall, an accusation Baku denies. Azeri authorities accused her of making political statements that had no place at a musical event.
'Historical and magical'
Hundreds of people started pouring into a roundabout in central Stockholm, dancing in a fountain, honking horns and waving flags and playing the winning song.
"This is historical and magical! I think I'm going to die. This is the best thing that has happened to Sweden in 13 years!" said 20-year-old Tanja Tuuliainen from Stockholm, wearing a Swedish flag and drinking a bottle of champagne with her girlfriends on the edge of a fountain in downtown Stockholm.
Sweden's entry last won the Eurovision competition in 1999.
Celebrants were bathing in their underwear in the fountain, where Swedes traditionally celebrate major sporting event wins.
Hundreds were singing "We're going up up up up up!!!", repeating a line from Loreen's song.
David Mdzinarishvili / REUTERS
Loreen of Sweden holds the trophy and flowers after winning the Eurovision song contest in Baku, Azerbaijan, early Sunday.
The Eurovision Song Contest has been a launching pad for international careers. Swedish pop group Abba became famous after winning in 1974 with "Waterloo" and Canada's Celine Dion took top honors in 1988 for Switzerland.
To promote talent over politically and geographically motivated bloc voting, professional judges now account for 50 percent of a performer's score.
The other half comes from telephone and SMS votes received by each contestant, with fans unable to vote for their own country's entry.
As winner, Sweden will host the next Eurovision contest.
Related content:
- Britain's Eurovision contestant -- Engelbert Humperdinck!
- Video: Russian grannies win TV singing content
- Human rights protests in Azerbaijan drown out contest
- ITV News: More on Eurovision Song Contest
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
Leave a Comment:
Why did they give her a trophy that looks like a giant dildo?
Hehe, it's a old style microphone, edge on.
(but it does look like it in this picture)
must be a sad life to see microphones as dildos. do yourself a favor, lay off the porn and get a real life.
Because that's all her jodeling was worth.
Let's move on to some news, please. Enough of this nonsense. Next
Ya, it's not news if it isn't stupid and Ameri-con, right Sub?
Enough with your stupid comment, next!
------
Congrats Loreen, job well done. stupid poster above just can't appreciate.
Grats to the Swedes also.
I heard she is also a good golfer; this way she can practice her....strokes!
Congrats to Loreen on a job well done with a terrific song. The world,outside Scandinavia,is eagerly awaiting your debut CD.
Thanks Rich,
Your comment makes sense, not like most of the posts so far. My sister and her family lives in Sweden, so I'm kind of sensitive to negative posts!
Good luck and blessings to Loreen in her future career. Words in translation are not as important as the sense of the song and the music. I listen to a lot of music I can't understand, but love anyway!
Just asking..she sang before an international TV audience of 100 million, do they translate the words in all those countries watching?
Each country has commentator who can add quick word or two usually before or after performance. Show hosts speak English with some French. A lot of contestants sing in English, but songs are not translated during the show.
Well, Finland and Estonia are the only countries that subtitle all the performances into local languages on air. However, like the winning entry, most of the songs are in English, so it's not a problem...
I'm in Sweden and don't speak Swedish (long story).. BUT, they make comments in Swedish here in Sweden but there is often English used on the program. I had a Danish and British friend on Skype as well... so I heard quite a collection.
Why isn't there a link to her performance?
http://www.youtube dot com/watch?v=Pfo-8z86x80&list=PLDF5F719736FA59A7&index=11&feature=plpp_video
You know what to do with the "dot com". The filter here won't let me type the real address.
I watched the whole 3.5 hour show on the Eurovision website. I loved it!
You can still watch whole show on www.eurovision.tv follow link to "video" they post whole thing after the show.
The point of this story goes far beyond the 'how big is that mike?' comments - it's that Azerbaijan is atrocious in its human rights records. She took a stand for us, and for every human being world-wide. Congrats.
Here's a tip for news for CNBC: The Azerbaijan government tried to get Loreen disqualified the night before the final because she met with local human rights organizations, the opposition and a women's center. She did amazing performance on the stage as well...
As someone who watched the final, I felt there were songs that were better. The songs that I felt should have done better than they did were the ones from Bosnia & Herzegovina, Iceland, Estonia and Serbia. In addition, the babushkas from Russia were pure and perfect shtick. Turns out they came in second place (Sweden was a semi-runaway winner). That said, there weren't a lot of songs which caused me to stand up and take notice of them, unlike last year, when 3 songs grabbed my attention.
I congratulate Sweden for winning.
Why isn't she blond?
Because Sweden has an immigrant population. And she happens to have Moroccan parentage and was born in Sweden.
Wake up! This is the 21st century. There are very few countries in the world, especially developed countries, where the population is homogeneous.
Compared to other countries there are more blond hair here in Sweden, but thet doesn't mean EVERYONE is blond... I would GUESS maybe 30% blonds... MAYBE
Here is Loreens video of the winning song/performance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nJcmLMb5to&hd=1
That performance was her winning entry in Sweden's Melodifestivalen back in March which enabled her to be the Swedish representative song in the Eurovision Song Contest. Her actual Eurovision performance in the Grand Final can be viewed at
Looks painful