Loreen wins Eurovision for Sweden for second time

On Saturday, Swedish singer Loreen, 39, won her second Eurovision Song Contest victory at Liverpool Arena in Liverpool, United Kingdom. Loreen's Tattoo won 583 points combined from the public and juries of specialists.

Finland and Israel finished second and third, respectively, with 526 and 362 points.

Of 37 countries participating, 26 countries, including last year's winner, Ukraine and the Big Five — France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom — participated in the final. Serbia, the UK and Germany finished last, sequentially, with the latter two winning 24 and 18 points, respectively.

The juries awarded Sweden 340 points, 163 points more than Italy, then second — this total included several scores of 12 points, the most a nation's jury can give. The juries gave Finland, represented by Käärijä's Cha Cha Cha, 150 points, or fifth place. Finland then won the public vote, beating second-place finisher Sweden's 243 points.

Media noted criticism on social media of the jury's influence in the final.

Social media users also accused Tattoo of plagiarising other songs, including Marc Escudero and Ruben Moreno's Flying Free, ABBA's The Winner Takes It All, Adele's Easy on Me, and Ukrainian artist Mika Newton's V plenu.

The UK hosted Eurovision on behalf of 2022 victor Ukraine amid Russia's invasion of the latter. Duo Tvorchi represented Ukraine and finished sixth with 243 points. Shortly before their performance, Russian forces launched a missile attack on their hometown, Ternopil.

Because of their victory, Sweden was set to host Eurovision in 2024.

Loreen won for Sweden in 2012 with Euphoria, so with Saturday's win she became the first woman to win Eurovision twice and only the second artist overall — the other was Ireland's Johnny Logan, who won in 1980 and 1987.

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