FeaturesLiverpool 2023🇸🇪 Sweden

XTRA DECIDES: 🇸🇪 Loreen – Tattoo

XTRA DECIDES sees the team here at ESCXTRA score the Eurovision national final songs, reviewing our winner. Follow us from here through to March 2023 as we make our choices for Eurovision 2023.

It’s the last national final weekend of 2023! Sweden’s Melodifestivalen comes to it’s conclusion with the grand final tonight at Friends Arena, Stockholm. Loreen with ‘Tattoo’ continues to be the big favourite, so unsurprisingly the song wins with the team here.

The Scores

ScoreTwelves
1Loreen – Tattoo 🏆14710
2Marcus & Martinus – Air950
3Tone Sekelius – Rhythm Of My Show770
4THEOZ – Mer av dig751
5Kiana – Where Did You Go700
6Smash Into Pieces – Six Feet Under681
7Jon Henrik Fjällgren, Arc North feat. Adam Woods – Where You Are (Sávežan671
8Mariette – One Day620
9Panetoz – On My Way520
10Maria Sur – Never Give Up501
11Paul Rey – Royals260
12Nordman – Släpp alla sorger140

The Reviews

Lisa
Only Loreen could outdo her own Eurovision entry, that’s heralded as one of the all-time greats. Everything about ‘Tattoo’ gives me those same euphoric feelings I had when first heard ‘Euphoria’. I just knew it was winner material and if ‘Tattoo’ doesn’t imprint on everyone in Liverpool and give Loreen her second Eurovision victory, then something has gone very wrong! This is Loreen back to her peak, taking all the influences from recent single, ‘Neon Lights’ and blending it with a thundering Berber drum beat that pays tribute to her heritage and the stirring vocals that make you believe the story of the lyrics. The use of the upper LED is innovative and brings the audience into the intimacy of the performance and is a ‘wow moment’ that shows why SVT are the slick Eurovision hit factory that they are. Nothing is going to displace this as my most played song of the year!
Isaac
Okay, I loved Loreen like everyone else back in 2012. “Euphoria” was truly stunning. But it has been 11 years, and so if Loreen is going to return with another potential Eurovision winner, with her first still looming large over the contest, has her sound been reinvented enough to give us that same excitement again? And to that, unfortunately I have to say no. “Tattoo” sounds like it fits in sonically perhaps 2 years after “Euphoria”, not a whole decade and so my main gripe with it is that it sounds like it’s returning us back to the 2010s. More crucially, however, it’s not that original. Which stings given how different and yet beautiful “Statements” was (and how other songs in Loreen’s discography are also great in different ways), it feels like Loreen is now retreating to the safety of what works. Now, I do think lots of the musical influences on “Tattoo” are to be complimented, Loreen’s added or adjusted some good things on here like those drum beats and the performance on stage is suitably intense. But the whole package hasn’t fundamentally changed. While it’s not my favourite track in the Melfest final (though in my top 5) it definitely sounds like something that will win Sweden over with ease and that’s great, I think it would be a great Swedish entry. Winning Eurovision however, that’s where I think it doing so would be a step back for the contest, not forward. I’m sure there will be plenty of discourse on this subject in the run up to May given how the predictions for Melodifestivalen are looking but suffice for now to say that I don’t think “Tattoo” sounds different enough or original enough to be excited about it as a potential winner.

What do you think of our decision? Let us know! Be sure to stay updated by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter@escxtra on Instagram@escxtra on TikTok and liking our Facebook page for the latest updates! Also, be sure to follow us on Spotify for the latest music from your favourite Eurovision acts.

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