Sweden with the singer Loreen and the song Tattoo wins the 67th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It is the second affirmation for the forty-year-old artist who in 2012 defeated the competition with the song Euphoria. In second place Finland with the singer Käärijä and the song Cha Cha Cha. Third Israel with Noa Kirel and Unicorn. Marco Mengoni finished just off the podium, in fourth place, with his Due Vite, a piece that won the prize for best composition. This is the second recognition for Italy after that of Mahmood in 2019, who in 2019 had won it with the song ‘Soldi’.
Mengoni on stage with the LGBTQI flag
Mengoni was among the protagonists of the final evening also because he wanted to bring the LGBTQI flag designed by graphic designer Daniel Quasar to the stage, together with the tricolor, to make the famous Rainbow Flag even more inclusive. Five more colours, white, pink, blue, brown and black, positioned to the side. The new colored strips are dedicated to the black community, the transgender community, HIV patients and those who died carrying on the battle for rights.
The Princess of Wales cameo
The evening opened in the name of Ukraine, which after the victory of the Kalusch Orchestra last year in Turin, should have hosted the event. But the current situation of the country, still at war, has not allowed it. And so, in an ideal connection between Kiev and Liverpool, chosen as an alternative venue for the event, the Kalush Orchestra, spokesperson for the Ukrainian drama, opened the final with Stefania, the piece that led them to victory a year ago, and with a film in which British artists such as Andrew Lloyd Webber and Joss Stone participated. Princess of Wales Kate Middleton also cameos on piano. In support of Ukraine also the Czech Republic with Vesna, with the song My sister’s crown, a feminist anthem that invites you to never give up, but also a song with a political background with a humanitarian message of support for the Ukrainian population, underlined by the refrain sung in Ukrainian.
Mahmood canta “Imagine”
Eurovision then paid homage to the city that hosted it with the Liverpool Songbook, during which some artists who have been protagonists in past editions retraced the history of the city’s music. Among these was also an excited Mahmood who performed in a revisited version of Imagine, the great classic by John Lennon. The artist, in his third Eurovision appearance after representing Italy in Tel Aviv 2019, finishing second with Soldi in Turin last year together with Blanco with a sixth place thanks to Chills, is the first Italian to be invited as a guest out of competition in an edition abroad.
