Sweden wins seventh Eurovision, Ukraine places sixth
Loreen стала переможницею Євробачення 2023. Фото: REUTERS/Phil Noble
On the night of May 14, the 67th Eurovision Song Contest took place in the UK's Liverpool. The competition was hosted jointly with Ukraine, as the last year's winner was the Kalush Orchestra band.
The contest got the next winner and country host. 26 countries performed at the stage, including 10 from the first semi-final, 10 from the second, five hosts of the contest (the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, and France), and the winning country, which was Ukraine.
The show was opened with Ukraine's Kalush Orchestra performance of its hit "Stefania."
Розпочалося шоу із вибухового виступу гурту Kalush Orchestra з хітом "Stefania." The highlight of the video was the cameo appearance of the Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton.
Among the presentation of the finalists, ex-contestants Go_A, Tina Karol, Verka Serdyuchka, and Jamala, who shouted "Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes!" at the stage, reminded of the bright moments from their Eurovision performances.
The honor award in the form of a crystal microphone went to Sweden.
Kalush Orchestra passed the award to Sweden's Loreen. Photo: REUTERS/Phil Noble
Singer Loreen, the winner of Eurovision 2012, performed this year with the song "Tattoo," winning the second victory for herself and the seventh for Sweden.
According to the voting results of the national jury, Sweden received 340 points. The audience gave her 243 points.
During the press conference, Loreen said she was overwhelmed with gratitude and pride.
"I am incredibly grateful to all of you… I am very proud of all of us," she said.
She also said she performed a lot in Ukraine, and what is happening in our country saddens her.
I have been to Ukraine a lot, had many shows, I love its people. And it hurts me to look at what is happening now, I am very sorry.
Finland, Israel, Italy, and Norway entered the top 5 finalists list.
TVORCHI performed at number 19 with the song "Heart of Steel." Ukraine received 54 points from the jury and 189 from the audience. The Ukrainian group took 6th place.
Only the jury from Czechia gave Ukraine the highest score of 12. Ukraine received 10 points only from Italy.
Only the representative of Ireland, Johnny Logan, managed to win Eurovision more than once before Loreen.
It was Sweden who was confidently bet on, giving the second place to the frantic Finn Käärijä and the third to TVORCHI.
Due to Russia's war against Ukraine, holding the competition in Ukraine is risky due to security threats. As the winner of the honorable second place, the UK, thanks to the performance of its singer Sam Ryder, got the right to hold the contest. In total, Great Britain hosted the competition for the fifth time, but for the first time in the last 25 years.
Ukraine participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 17 times and won three times. Ukraine made it to the top five finalists 5 more times: Verka Serdiuchka (2nd place), Ani Lorak (2nd), Zlata Ognevich (3rd), Mika Newton (4th), and Go_A (5th).
