Halle Bailey lives her musical dreams in Disney’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ live action remake

DUBAI: Moroccan Swedish singer-songwriter Loreen made history when she became the first woman to win the long-running Eurovision Song Contest for the second time in May.

For Loreen, however, the real joy came from having millions around the world connect with her winning song, “Tattoo,” and its message.

“The performance had these certain values. I’m speaking about hope, I’m speaking about constructive solutions, I’m speaking about the woman, I’m speaking about nature. I’m speaking about my heritage. And all of these things are very positive and it was very interesting to me to see, ‘Okay, let’s see how the world will connect with this.’

“Will it resonate with the world? Or no? Are we collectively positive and constructive? Or which way is the world heading? For me, when I won, I’m like, ‘Yes, the world is heading (in) the right direction,’” said Loreen in a recent interview with Arab News.

Loreen first won Eurovision in 2012 with her song “Euphoria.” Almost 10 years later, when she was offered the opportunity to enter again, she admitted to feeling hesitant.

“My initial reaction was no, because you know … at the end of the day, as a creator, we know, all of us know, that you can’t really compete and use it because people always have different tastes, different opinions. So as a hypersensitive creator, it’s at times painful to be in a competition. So, when I got the question, my first initial reaction was no because I didn’t know what God wants me to do with this,” said Loreen.

“I’m a thinker, I need to understand my purpose. I need to understand what is the point of me being on the stage. What can I give you?” 

But after some contemplation and looking for the right signs and conversations with trusted people around her, Loreen decided to go for it. “Life was pointing me in the right direction,” she said.

She said the road to a prestigious contest like Eurovision is not easy. It took six months of non-stop preparation and living and breathing the song and the performance. “It’s like method acting,” she quipped.

And apart from getting into shape physically for the performance, Loreen also wanted to imbibe the meaning of the song mentally and spiritually.

“Since there is a narrative, you have to live that narrative, because that’s what you’re sending out. This is my spiritual path because I’m from Morocco. So, I have a spiritual way of seeing things. I knew that I had to live and read and think in this performance and what I want to send out in terms of hopes and all these values. So, for half a year, I didn’t do anything but live in this performance,” she said.

Loreen, who was raised by her Moroccan mother, who had her when she was only 16, says she is proud of her Middle Eastern heritage.

“After the (Eurovision) performance, they call me the Desert Storm Loreen. That is my new nickname,” she laughed.

“But in the whole performance, there are a lot of elements that is a tribute to my heritage. Like even the dance moves, the way we move, the henna, the sand, and this is because I want that part of the world to feel included knowing that, you know, ‘Look at me, I came from nothing. And I built this up from nothing.’ So, it’s possible. And you don’t have to figure it out right away. You just have to make sure you dream. Allah will take care of the rest.”