Sweden 2023: Loreen with ‘Tattoo’
I'm keen on Sweden's winning chances in general but it's fair that the surrounding package of this exceeds 'Tattoo' as a song. Being from a. Sweden and b. Loreen is lifting much of the load in keeping the odds as short as they are and keeping attention on this. These factors do carry over to the results however and I see little stopping this in the jury vote.
The only issue I have is with the pacing slightly with a sense of a battle between mid-tempo power ballad and 'Euphoria'. It does kick in but did take me a couple of listens to really get into this and see the strengths of it. I do feel this is an issue of me being a bit too close to love it- I do sense the internal battle between creating Euphoria 2.0 and Loreen doing her own thing whereas there's synergy for most others which also applies to the live performance...
As always from Sweden the staging is technically excellent but the star quality of Loreen is essential in humanising the concept. Yes it's pretentious in places but I crucially don't get the sense that this is manufactured. That authenticity we've learned to see as so important comes in many forms and this is one of them. And besides that, when you're good you can just get away with more. We'll have to see what if any changes are/have to be made for Liverpool given concerns raised over the weight of the set. I wouldn't say it's a cause for particular concern- even if not much needs changing I’d imagine SVT would see it more as an opportunity for improvement rather than a setback although this is a downside for Melodifestivalen concluding so late in the season leaving less time to work with.
The reception to this in Sweden has also been phenomenal and a bit of a surprise. Again, it can be argued this is the Loreen hype and excitement kicking in again but it was only 6 years ago they were booting her out the competition before the final. This plays into the formula for melodifestivalen much more than 'Statements' but we still need to accept the outstanding statistics on display (compared to other years not just the poor lineup) as a measure of quality and potential televote appeal. It's still not as certain on that side of the equation but should be in the top 5, and you know what I wouldn't discount a circa 300 pt televote score which would make this impossible to stop given I'd make it around 100 clear of the current nearest challengers with the 'professional music experts'.
The argument that we are collectively over-rating the strengths of this has merit, but likewise we could be worrying over nothing and the public just love it.
The simplest answer last year to the winner conundrum was "Ukraine wins 'cos war" and whilst that may be a solution again the simpler one is that "Sweden wins because it's clearly the best by a distance".
So yeah this is the winner prediction for now and as an aside, Sweden is one of the countries I have the best handle of in terms of predicting their Eurovision result right including before the launch of this site with Tusse the only exception. Him apart, I don't think I've ever been more than a place or so out. Podium at minimum and Johnny Logan and Ireland should be worried.
Personal Rating: 9/10
Competitve Rating: 10/10
Early Prediction: Semi One 1st-3rd, Final 1st-3rd