BANG Showbiz English
Sweden’s Loreen has won the Eurovision Song Contest.
The 39-year-old singer scored a mammoth 583 points for her song ‘Tattoo’ as she repeated her 2012 triumph in Liverpool.
Loreen becomes just the second artist, after Ireland’s Johnny Logan, to win the long-running contest more than once.
She narrowly defeated Finland’s Kaarija – who finished second with 526 points for his song ‘Cha Cha Cha’ – while Israel, Italy and Norway rounded out the top five.
Taking to the stage after her triumph, Loreen said that her victory was “overwhelming”.
The star said: “I’m so happy. I’m so thankful. Thank you for this. This is for you. Thank you.”
The victory means that the event will be returning to Sweden next year on the 50th anniversary of ABBA’s famous triumph with ‘Waterloo’ in 1974.
The UK’s entrant Mae Muller could only muster 24 points as she finished second from last with her entry ‘I Wrote A Song’ as she was unable to emulate Sam Ryder’s second-place finish from last year.
2022 winners Ukraine finished in sixth place on a poignant night where the war in the country was remembered as Britain staged the event on the nation’s behalf.
The horrors of war were felt on the night as Ternopil – the home city of Ukraine’s act Tvorchi – was hit by Russian missiles just moments before the electronic duo took to the stage.
Meanwhile, the night featured many surprises as Catherine, Princess of Wales performed on the piano to accompany Ukraine’s 2022 winners Kalush Orchestra as they opened the show with their song ‘Stefania’.
A moving rendition of Liverpool FC anthem ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ by Dutch singer Duncan Laurence and a choir of past Eurovision winners saw many in the M and S Bank Arena reduced to tears as footage of Ukrainians singing along at the Golden Gate in Kyiv was shown.
