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Swedish teen breaks hearts at Idol opening

A 16-year-old boy from Gothenburg who grew up in Nigeria and says he was beaten by his father, has tugged on heart strings around Sweden, with a clip of his stunning debut performance on Sweden's Idol programme going viral on Tuesday.

Published: 18 August 2015 13:04 CEST
Updated: 18 August 2015 14:13 CEST
Swedish teen breaks hearts at Idol opening
Toluwabori Shoyebo, who has gone viral in Sweden. Image: TV4
Sweden's Idol is always a closely watched and closely fought battle and has helped launched the careers of Swedish stars including Eurovision winners Måns Zelmerlöw and Loreen.
 
After more than ten seasons, the show continues to draw in ratings, with more than 920,000 people gripped to their sofas as the latest series got under way on TV4 on Monday and teenager from west Sweden shocked the programme's judges.
 
Toluwabori Shoyebo, who grew up in Nigeria before moving to Sweden in 2012, explained that his aunt had brought him up but said that he had followed his father to Sweden three years ago.
 
“When I moved here, he was a completely different person. Not the father I knew. He hit me a little bit,” he said in fluent Swedish.
 
The 16-year-old (15 at the time of filming) went on to perform the song No Other Love by US group Common Kings in English, leaving the judges visibly stunned.
 
 
Former singer and producer Laila Bagge Wahlgren stretched out her arms to show that Shoyebo – who likes to be called Bori – had given her goosebumps.
 
“Welcome to Sweden! Welcome to Idol! We need you! You are a star!” exclaimed veteran Swedish philisopher and producer Alexander Bard.
 
Shoyebo had tears in his eyes when he was told he had secured a spot in the next round.
 
By Tuesday a clip of his performance posted by TV4 was the most-watched new online video in Sweden, with more than 16,102 shares by 1pm.
 
“I've never been so happy! The music is sort of my therapy,” he told Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet.
 
“Bori has a great talent and I think his background story moves people,” Johanna Lindroth, a press spokesperson for TV4, told The Local when asked about his instant success.
 
She added that the singer “doesn’t have the time to do an interview at the moment”, hinting that he is set to progress further in the competition.
 
But the new star has a long way to go before reaching the series final, which will take place in December.
 
While Sweden's last two Eurovision winners took part in previous series of Idol, it is not the official vehicle for choosing contestants for the international contest.
 
Melodifestivalen (a TV series with a similar format), which starts in the spring, will decide which Swede will represent their country when Stockholm hosts Eurovision 2016 following Måns Zelmerlöw's victory earlier this year.
 
However Johanna Lindroth said felt Shoyebo could be a great contender, should he be selected to take part in programme.
 
“Why not? He is only 16 years old and a great talent already.”
 

INTERVIEW

‘My song is about resilience’: The Ukrainian in Sweden’s Mello song contest

Maria Sur, 17, arrived in Sweden in March after a journey of hundreds of kilometres through Ukraine and Poland from Zaporizhzhia, her home town. She tells The Local's Yuliia Kyzyk of what she hopes to gain from taking part in the Melodifestivalen song contest.

Published: 27 December 2022 14:22 CET
'My song is about resilience': The Ukrainian in Sweden's Mello song contest

THE LOCAL: After weeks of war, a long journey, and emigration to Sweden, you still found the strength to participate in charity concerts in your first month here in Sweden. Tell us about your journey to Melodifestivalen. 

Maria Sur: The next day after I arrived in Sweden from Ukraine, I started looking for opportunities to work. It was obvious that whining and suffering would not help anyone, so I had to do something that would give me strength and help other people.

Since my passion is singing, I decided to continue working on it. I literally wrote to a lot of popular Swedish singers to find a way of making my dream come true and eventually, one of them helped to take part in my first charity singing festival for Ukraine.

As a result, we collected €8 million to help Ukraine. A few days after the festival, I got spotted by Warner Music Sweden. After a meeting and talk about my goals and skills, we started cooperating with them, and after a few months of hard work, we decided to take part in Melodifestivalen.

Maria Sur had been a participant in Ukraine’s version of The Voice. Photo: Maria Sur
 
Before the start of the Russian invasion, I was already working on a singer career in Ukraine. I took part in national singing competitions, and I was quite successful. It seemed like the best time in my career was approaching. I lived, dreamed, and acted, and then one day someone just came and took it all away. Everything just broke down. And suddenly I found myself in a situation where I needed to start all over again.

Now I live for today. Now I know that no one in the whole world can know what awaits us all tomorrow. Of course, I continue to dream, it helps, but I can no longer plan, or live in illusions. And it’s scary that young people like me think this way. That we live one day at a time.

My first goal at Melodifestivalen is to do a really quality performance that I will be proud of. I want to feel after the performance, “I did everything I could. I did the best I could. It was honest. People felt it.”.

That is more important for me than results. 

Maria Sur on stage in Ukraine’s version of The Voice. Photo: The Voice Ukraine

THE LOCAL: Your song for Melodifestivalen is called “Never give up”. What is the message your song has for listeners?

Maria Sur: “Never give up” is a song about my way, about my personal fight. This is my motto. You have to go forward no matter what. This is about my experience before the war, when I fought for a long time to end up singing on a big stage in Ukraine. And this is about my road now, when despite the war, separation from relatives and home, I still go on. With this message, I want to encourage Ukrainians and everyone in the whole world who needs to know it, to continue fighting on his own path. I don’t want to be pitied or win sympathy. My song is about resilience. My story is sad, but it is about strength.

Maria Sur (centre), surrounded by the team backing her at the Swedish arm of Warner Brothers. Photo: Maria Sur
 

THE LOCAL: Russia’s full-scale invasion caught us Ukrainians sleeping. What were the first weeks of life in the new reality in Ukraine like? And how do you see your journey as a refugee shortly afterwards?

Maria Sur: I remember February 24th clearly. Early in the morning, I had online lessons at school, I was going to go to an English class, and in a few hours it became obvious that the war had started. It was very unexpected for me personally. We hadn’t had any conversations in our family about it before it happened. 

I remember very well how many people I saw panicking, at the same time air raid sirens were sounding continuously and everyone ran to the basement. My family could not believe that all those things were happening. We were convinced that everything would be over in a few days. That is why we didn’t want to leave Ukraine. 

My family always stick together. However, in two weeks it became clear. We must leave my city, Zaporizhzhia. For three days we could not pack for the journey. Whenever we attempted to do it, we sat down and cried. Eventually, Dad stayed at home, and Mom and me were forced to go. 

I remember the train station in my city at that time – huge queues, a lot of people and everyone crying, saying goodbye to each other. The trains were completely packed with children and women. It was impossible to cross the carriage of the train because of the hundreds of people inside.

My city is located in the southeast of Ukraine, so we were evacuated to Poland by travelling almost through the whole of Ukraine. It took a very long time. At the border with Poland, they did not want to let the train pass, because it was completely full of people.

So we were sent back to Lviv, a city in the west of Ukraine. Still, a few days later we got to Poland. Later in March we flew to Sweden to my aunt. 

Maria Sur is interviewed on stage by the Norwegian TV host Fredrik Skavlan. Photo: Zap Group
 

How you have changed in the months that have passed since the war started? 

Maria Sur: I have grown up very quickly. I started to appreciate things that I used to ignore. I started to support my parents and my friends. I look differently at things such as happiness. For instance, I was happy when I got the news that I had been selected for Melodifestivalen. But it was not the same joy as I felt before the war, especially since, five minutes previously, I had talked to my dad, who is now in Ukraine, and told me everything that is happening there now.

Despite everything, we must go on living. If we have this chance to live, we should take everything from it to the maximum. That’s what I’m trying to do, and that’s what I’m singing about.

Today, we must not stop talking about the war in Ukraine, we must continue to organise charity concerts, as well as make music to support people.

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