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Awards
Sweden wins Eurovision
By CMU Editorial | Published on Monday 28 May 2012
So, Sweden were the winners of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest over there in Azerbaijan, with a song called ‘Euphoria’, written by Thomas G:son and Peter Boström and performed by a lady who goes by the name of Loreen.
The Swedish singer’s victory will no doubt have pleased organisers of the Azerbaijani edition of the big song competition, who issued a statement criticising Loreen ahead of the event after she met with protesters in the country who used the big contest to highlight various human rights concerns. Not least allegations that some residents in the capital Baku had been forced out of their homes so they could be knocked down to make way for the big venue that hosted the Eurovision show.
The authorities in Baku said it was inappropriate for Loreen to use a musical event to make political statements, but the singer noted: “Human rights are violated in Azerbaijan every day. One should not be silent about such things”.
Though after winning the show, the Swedish songstress refrained from making additional political statements (despite having said in a brief interview during the voting period that she would), instead thanking her fans and those who voted for her, saying: “I wouldn’t have been able to do this without you. Thank you so much”.
Loreen is signed to Warner Music in her home country, and ‘Euphoria’ has already topped the charts there, as well as enjoying chart success elsewhere in Europe. Björn Lindborg, General Manager of Warner Music Sweden, told CMU: “Loreen is a unique talent and the Eurovision Song Contest has provided a great platform from which to launch her career as an international star”.
But how did good old Engelbert Humperdinck do for Britain? Well, he didn’t come last, that much is true. Rather, his twelve points secured him the second to last spot. The veteran crooner didn’t seem too upset though, telling reporters: “I’ve had highs in my career and Eurovision has been a wonderful experience. I want to thank everybody, especially my fans around the world, for their support”.
Organisers of the British entry into Eurovision had hoped that picking Humperdinck to represent the UK at the big contest, rather than a younger set of pop wannabes or has-beens, would help boost the country’s chances, because Humperdinck still enjoys a sizeable following in some of the Eastern European countries that increasingly swing the vote.
But such sneaky tactics failed on the night. Perhaps next year we should break with recent convention, and just enter a song that’s not shit. Though I thought Jedward’s song for Ireland, ‘Waterline’, was pretty good Europop, and they only managed nineteenth place, some way behind last year’s eighth place ranking for the duo’s first Eurovision attempt ‘Lipstick’. So, on second thoughts, perhaps we should follow second place Russia’s lead and have a load of old women singing along to a noisy dance track. Or maybe just lay the opening five minutes of any episode of ‘Loose Women’ on top of some dubstep.
As this year’s winner, of course, Sweden gets the honour and incredible financial burden of hosting next year’s Eurovision show. They might have to bring Abba out of retirement to fund it.
