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Musicians Marcus and Martinus
Photo: Iwi Onodera / Getty Images
Urgent, out-of-time synth pop: At the home game in Malmö, Sweden is relying on Marcus and Martinus with their song “Unforgettable” in the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC).
The twins won the Swedish ESC preliminary round late on Saturday evening by a large margin - and thus prevailed against eleven competing entries.
For the duo, the Swedish preliminary round “Melodifestivalen” is not unfamiliar territory.
They competed there last year and ended up in second place behind the singer Loreen, who later won the ESC in Liverpool with her song “Tattoo”.
Unlike the musician Loreen, who comes from Stockholm, Marcus and Martinus come from Norway.
Foreign musicians often compete in the Swedish preliminary competition.
2024 is a special ESC year for Sweden.
Not only is the Scandinavian country hosting the international music competition for the seventh time - something that only Ireland has ever achieved - the event in May is also celebrating an ESC highlight anniversary: 50 years ago, the Swedish pop group Abba won the Grand Prix in Brighton, England with their hit “Waterloo”.
As the host country, Sweden automatically has a place in the ESC final on May 11th.
Germany is also firmly involved as part of the “Big Five”, the ESC’s largest donors.
These also include Great Britain, Spain, France and Italy.
skr/dpa