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EUROVISION

Past Eurovision winners: where are they now?

As Sweden's Loreen basks in Eurovision glory, The Local looks back at the the fates of some of the contest's former winners and reveals that her place in European pop spotlight may not stand the test of time.

Past Eurovision winners: where are they now?

For 56 years now, the Eurovision Song Contest has provided the stage for European artists to propel themselves from the doldrums of musical obscurity to worldwide fame.

Click here to learn more about the fate of past Eurovision winners

This year’s winner, Loreen, wowed European audiences with the intolerably catchy ‘Euphoria’. But whether she can use her success on the night to rise to loftier heights in the music industry is another matter.

Previous winners of the contest have had mixed fortunes when it comes to achieving prolonged success. Many have gone onto achieve record hits at home and abroad, but for some, Eurovision triumph has been little more than a one-hit wonder.

So to get an idea of what’s ahead for Loreen, join The Local as we take a look at some of the fortunes, or indeed misfortunes, of previous Eurovision winners.

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EUROVISION

Sweden among favourites after leaping through to Eurovision final

Cornelia Jakobs, Sweden's entry to the Eurovision Song Contest, burst into tears and jumped onto presenter Mario Acampas, after shooting through to the final on Thursday night.

Sweden among favourites after leaping through to Eurovision final

Jakobs was emotional at the press conference after her victory, telling the story of her progress from an “largely unknown” indie artist to the Eurovision stage. 

“There are a lot of feelings right now in this little body, an extremely large amount of feelings that can’t really fit in, so they’re exploding,” she said, before beginning to cry. “But I’m so happy and overwhelmed by all the support I’ve got from all these fantastic countries.” 

When the time came to pick lots for which half of the final she would appear in, she leapt onto Mario Acampas, the presenter asking questions at the press conference, wrapping her legs around his waist and clasping herself tightly to his torso. 

He then walked her over to the bowl where the lots were lying. 

“I want you to choose the second half,” she said to him. “Imagine that I have a pistol here and on the count of three I’m going to shoot you if you don’t choose.”

He refused to pick for her so she took one herself and got the second half. 

Jakobs, with her song, “Hold me closer”, was the clear favourite to go into the final, and will go through alongside Finland’s The Rasmus, and his song Jezebel, Serbia’s Konstrakta with “In corpore sano”, as well as entries from Belgium, Czechia, Azerbaijan, Poland, Estonia, Australia, and Romania. 

You can see her performance on Thursday in the video below. 

In the final, she will meet the other favourites, which include Ukraine, Italy, and the United Kingdom. 

The final will be shown on Sweden’s state broadcaster SVT at 9pm on Saturday. 

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