The 67th Eurovision Contest was held on Saturday, May 13, 2023, and the broadcast immediately made Eurovision history by becoming the most-watched final with over 11 million viewers.
Liverpool hosted the iconic song contest. As the 2022 winner, Ukraine would have been the 2023 host country, but due to the ongoing war with Russia, the second-place winner hosted instead. Several tributes to Ukraine were made throughout the week, and the final evening opened with Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra performing their 2022-winning song ‘Stefania’.
Kalush Orchestra returning to the #Eurovision stage after their triumphant win last year ??? pic.twitter.com/ROQeubiWaF
— Eurovision Song Contest (@Eurovision) May 13, 2023
Top place finishers included Israel’s Noa Kirel in third place with ‘Unicorn’, Finland’s Käärijä in second place with their viral hit ‘Cha Cha Cha’, while Sweden’s openly bisexual artist Loreen took home the first place title with her song ‘Tattoo’.
The Swedish singer rose to the top of the scoreboard with a combined total of 538 points for Sweden. The 39-year-old artist dominated the jury vote and, even though Finland won the popular vote, Loreen maintained her winning margin and earned the trophy for Sweden.
With a record-equalling seventh victory, Sweden are the winners of the #Eurovision Song Contest 2023 ??? pic.twitter.com/qyxLF77iao
— Eurovision Song Contest (@Eurovision) May 13, 2023
Loreen, who came out as bisexual in 2017, first won Eurovision in 2012 with her iconic pop song ‘Euphoria’. After her 2012 performance, the song was number one in music charts across 16 European countries and became the most chart-topping Eurovision song at the time.
Loreen is the first woman and second person to hold two Eurovision titles, along with Ireland’s music legend Johnny Logan. Her win means that Sweden is now tied with Ireland for having the most Eurovision wins, with each of the two countries holding seven titles.
While Ireland sadly did not make it to the finals this year, Wild Youth’s song ‘We Are One’ placed 12th during the semi-finals. After taking a few days for themselves the band thanked everyone for their support sharing: “We’ve taken a minute to just breathe after Tuesday. But we just wanna say…Thank you for nights we won’t forget. We can’t wait to come back. Our family, friends, girlfriends who have been by our side through highs and lows. I’m sorry we couldn’t get through to the final. But we tried our best, thanks to the @eurovision for this opportunity.”
In addition to Loreen’s win, LGBTQ+ Eurovision fans enjoyed the whole 2023 competition which was full of glorious queer moments.
During the semi-finals, Iceland’s Diljá won hearts for waving a Pride flag and doing handstands after performing her song, ‘Power’. Openly gay Luke Black from Serbia gained more adoring fans with his dramatic piano turned pop medley, ‘Samo mi se Spava’. And Alessandra from Norway shared that her song ‘Queen of Kings’ was about taking pride in her bisexual identity.
Next year, Eurovision will be held in Sweden and, coincidentally, it will mark the 50th anniversary of ABBA’s win for Sweden in 1974.
© 2023 GCN (Gay Community News). All rights reserved.
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