The trends that made Sweden take Eurovision in stride

Pride Monthis here and it’s time to talk about the trends that made Sweden take Eurovision in stride, and what does it have to do with the comeback of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck?

From the moment the songs that will compete in the Eurovision 2023 were announced, Sweden emerged as a favorite in the betting charts (received 50%) and left the other competitors far behind (second place about 25%, and the next in line in the area of the few percentages only).

What was there that made the singer Loreen receive the sympathy of the audience and the judges and leave sand and dust to all the other contestants?

The number of trends squeezed into these three minutes is quite impressive and may shed light on the large gap that Sweden gained over its competitors already at the betting stage and maintained until winning the grand final.

Let’s dive in and review them one by one from simple to complex:

Diversity and inclusion: Loreen was born in Stockholm to Berber Moroccan parents (remember this detail because we will return to it later).

Nostalgia: Since Covid entered our lives, I’ve been telling you about how much stress causes us to flock to the realms of nostalgia, which improved Loreen’s chances of winning when she competed for the fourth time this year for Eurovision. Loreen won first place in Eurovision 2012 with the song Euphoria. Since then she tried her luck again in the Swedish Eurovision Song Contest without success in 2017, and again this year. There is no doubt that this time nostalgia contributed its share to winning.

Escapism: the song itself opens mystically and immediately magnetizes us. Loreen’s clothing also adds to the atmosphere and there is a feeling that you are entering the land of fantasy as if she was pulled from the Lord of the Rings. To the same stress caused by the coronavirus, a war between Putin and Ukraine, inflation, and an economic crisis were added. Is it any wonder that we seek refuge in fantasy stories?!

Back to the roots: this trend is expressed in several forms throughout the song: Loreen opens the song lying between two platforms. The dominant color there is a sand color that reminds us of her heritage and where her family came from – the Sahara desert, her clothes are also sand-colored, and if you still doubt the explanation – you can pay attention to the sand scattered on the lower platform on which she is lying.

taken from the official video of the Eurovision song contest youtube

Another place where the trend is expressed is the 4 elements: fire that you see during the video, earth (sand), air (wind that entertains her hair), and water (perhaps when the background changes to blue from the intense colors of the desert and fire – see the bottom screenshot in the image).

Take a look at the next image below, you’ll be able to spot the symbol that looks like a tattoo (like the name of the song). During those seconds of the video, a number of such symbols that look like tattoos alternate on the upper platform screen. These are actually different symbols of the Berber tribes in Morocco – Loreen’s country of origin, which, among other things, are tattooed on the skin of the tribe’s people.

taken from the official video of the Eurovision song contest youtube

But are these the tattoos Loreen sings about? No.

It turns out that the tattoo is a metaphor for a great love that ended because the meeting between the two happened at the wrong timing, but that love was burned on her heart like a tattoo, and she is just waiting for the moment when the stars in the sky align so that they can return:

I don’t wanna go But baby,
we both know
This is not our time
It’s time to say goodbye
Until we meet again
Cause this is not the end
It will come a day
When we will find our way

Violins playing and the angels crying
When the stars align then I’ll be there

So there’s a reason the song jumped in the betting charts, who among us can’t identify with such a tattoo?

Two years ago, I explained the timing of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s hyped comeback. It is very romantic to think that the stars have aligned for them back then, but in the article, I explained that there are tectonic shifts that have brought them back at this specific timing: it is true that there have always been stories about old loves returning, but in the little empirical research I conducted (this is not yet a figure that the national statistical bureau check), I discovered that there was an increase in the stories reported in the media (which in my estimation means that in practice there are more). In one article the psychologist rationally explained that it was too early in life infatuation – that it was impossible to jump to stage 5 of life when they were in stage 3, and so parted ways as each continued on a ‘marriage plus children’ path with other partners, and divorced later on.

The coronavirus also brought with it a wave of divorces, as I detailed in that article, which to understand is worth knowing the concept of “together alone” coined by Sherry Terkel – technology has made it possible for many worn-out couples to continue to be together, to maintain relationships and a functioning family with envy-inducing studio photos uploaded to social media, without that they really “had” to spend time together. Everyone was on their cell phone. The feeling of the prolonged lockdown changed all this and couples were forced to spend time together and get to know the person they live with.

So, apart from nostalgia, the coronavirus also caused many to have an emotional awakening, to understand what is really important to them, and to stop pretending to be in an unhappy marriage. And so, many find themselves identifying with the message of the song, and whether they have already taken a step on the way there or not, they identify with the burnt tattoo that returned Jennifer Lopez to the loving arms of Ben Affleck. ,

Or as the slogan of the last Olympics explains it beautifully, illustrates the zeitgeist perfectly well, and will be a great closer for us today:

United by Emotion