Saade success renews Swedish Eurovision faith
After years of disappointment, Sweden’s Eurovision Song Contest fans had cause for celebration on Saturday after Eric Saade finished third in Germany.
As millions of Swedes performed their annual well honed ritual of tuning into a show that has brought only misery for so long, Saade’s third place marked the best result for 12 years.
To cap a good night for the country, the winning song, Azerbaijan’s “Running Scared” was written by two Swedes, Sandra Bjurman and Stefan Örn and a whole back-up production team, from stylists to make up artists was drafted in from here.
Saade’s placing was seen as a huge success and sparked off a night of partying in Dusseldorf for the team.
“It was my personal goal, to win back Sweden's honor,” said Saade to Expressen.
“We managed to make the top three, and all of Europe loved us!”
At one point Saade’s song “Popular”, written by Arash Labaf, which had won the semi final on Thursday, was leading the voting, but as the night dragged on it became ever more clear that the Azerbaijani pair Eli/Nikki would sweep the prize. Saade though was magnanimous in defeat.
“It was nice to be beaten by Azerbaijan, it is a fantastic song by a Swedish songwriter. It was a victory for Sweden all round this year. For me personally, statistically speaking, the runner-up and third placed act who get to release their other singles across Europe will be successful. So for me this was the best thing that could happen, but I still wanted to see a Sweden victory.”
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As millions of Swedes performed their annual well honed ritual of tuning into a show that has brought only misery for so long, Saade’s third place marked the best result for 12 years.
To cap a good night for the country, the winning song, Azerbaijan’s “Running Scared” was written by two Swedes, Sandra Bjurman and Stefan Örn and a whole back-up production team, from stylists to make up artists was drafted in from here.
Saade’s placing was seen as a huge success and sparked off a night of partying in Dusseldorf for the team.
“It was my personal goal, to win back Sweden's honor,” said Saade to Expressen.
“We managed to make the top three, and all of Europe loved us!”
At one point Saade’s song “Popular”, written by Arash Labaf, which had won the semi final on Thursday, was leading the voting, but as the night dragged on it became ever more clear that the Azerbaijani pair Eli/Nikki would sweep the prize. Saade though was magnanimous in defeat.
“It was nice to be beaten by Azerbaijan, it is a fantastic song by a Swedish songwriter. It was a victory for Sweden all round this year. For me personally, statistically speaking, the runner-up and third placed act who get to release their other singles across Europe will be successful. So for me this was the best thing that could happen, but I still wanted to see a Sweden victory.”
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