Eurovision Legends

Having started her career in the Swedish version of pop idol 2004, it took Loreen 7 years before the big breakthrough came. What happened in between and what does she have in common with Leila K.
What was her relation to Melodifestivalen before 2011 and what has this competition meant for her career?
Hear Loreen tell the story of her trip to Baku, memories from Melodifestivalen, art installations on stage, why Danny said no to ‘’Euphoria’’ and why she is back to the contest after already winning it and failing to qualify to the final.

Legend: Loreen
Song: Euphoria (Sweden 2012)
Host: Emil Löfström
Contact: [email protected]
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In 2016, a Ukrainian trained opera singer sang a song about the deportation of Crimeans in 1944, which could easily also be interpreted as a thinly veiled comment on the recent Russian annexation of Crimea.
It is sometimes hard to remember that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has been going on for almost a decade now, but Jamala did try to warn us already back then and sadly she was proven all too correct when Russia invaded the entire Ukraine in February of 2022.
She has currently fled the country, but before the contest in Turin Emil managed to get a rare interview with the Ukrainian hero, hiding in an undisclosed location.
She tells us about her victory in Stockholm, her jobs as a juror on various - often controversial - Ukrainian national finals and of course about the ongoing war. Emil and Marcus also add their own comments on the situation.

Legend: Jamala
Song: 1944 (Ukraine 2016)
Host: Emil Löfström
Sidekick: Marcus Björkander
Contact: [email protected]
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Many countries in Eurovision seem to have their own "super-composer", and in the case of the Netherlands this person is Hans van Hemert. He wrote the Dutch entries of 1972, 1974 and 1976, and he has made many more attempts, which we of course get to listen to in this episode. It gets really crowded in the virtual podcast room today, as Hans and Emil are joined by Frenk Reemer, brother of Sandra Reemer, Astrid Colle, daughter of Sandra's duet partner Andres, and a whistling parrot.
Hans takes us back to the glorious 70's and tells us about his main inspirations, which are ABBA and kid's songs. We also get to hear about how he made a fool of himself when meeting Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. We get to hear the intimate details about the relations between Mouth & MacNeal, Sandra & Andres and other famous artists that he has worked with.
Hans is still active, so what did the song that he submitted in 2022 sound like? We have the demo!
Legend: Hans Van Hemert
Songs: Als het om de liefde gaat (The Netherlands 1972), I See A Star (The Netherlands 1974), The Party's Over (The Netherlands 1976)
Host: Emil Löfström
Contact: [email protected]
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Udo Jürgens was already a big star when he first competed in Eurovision for his Austria in 1964. He didn't win, but got the biggest hit after the contest, both with his own version and with covers in various languages. He was back again the year after, and this time he almost competed for another country as well. It took some heavy convincing to get him to return for a third time in 1966, which was when he finally won the contest.
Emil has a nice chat with Udo's son John Jürgens, who tells us about his father's early years in Austria during the second world war, how he rose to fame as a composer and artist and sang his songs not only in German but also in English, French, Spanish, Italian and Japanese. We'll also learn about his relation to the contest, and John also tells us about both the positives and the negatives about growing up with such a famous father.

Legend: Udo Jürgens
Expert on the subject: John Jürgens (aka John Munich)
Songs: Warum nur, warum? (Austria 1964), Sag ihr, ich lass sie grüßen (Austria 1965), Merci, Cherie (Austria 1966) & Tausend Fenster (Austria 1968, Karel Gott)
Host: Emil Löfström
Contact: [email protected]
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An argument in Los Angeles led to the creation of the perhaps most modern song to have taken part in Eurovision until that time, but the road that led Eva Santamaria there was quite a surprise. Hear what she has to say about the orchestral arrangement of the song, about it becoming a feminist anthem, and about who did what with who in Millstreet (hint: "sexo")!
She was one of the favourites to the victory before the show, but who did not want her to win? Eva's memory is almost as good as her ability to laugh, but how come she almost sang the wrong song on stage and what happened with the choreography just days before?

Legend: Eva Santamaria
Song: Hombres (Spain 1993)
Host: Emil Löfström
Interpreter: Ruben Balesteiro
Contact: [email protected]
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