After winning the Melodifestivalen, Loreen went from a relatively quiet life to being in the center of the hit hysteria. Now she is the favorite tipped in Eurovision and everyone wants to be her friend. How do you not lose yourself and get hubris then?

Clarion Hotel on Ringvägen in Stockholm has been occupied by costumes. Around scattered bar tables, they mingle with name tags on their chests and in an attempt to sell their services to each other. The sound volume is high. Few are probably aware that our Melodifestivalen winner Lorine Zineb Noka Talhaoui has reached the far end of the room and now stands and stares out towards Skanstullbron and Gullmarsplan completely in her own thoughts.

In recent weeks, the time has not been enough for Loreen. Most of the time is spent commuting between ropes in the inner city and training on Lidingö. The clothes have been changed and the number has been sharpened. In the small breaks that exist, she takes the opportunity to send a signal to friends, siblings and mother.

She cares about being in shape to be strong all the way through the performance. Failing at that point is the worst case scenario. The nerves have gradually begun to make themselves felt. It feels like something is going on now.

Since winning the Globe in March, she has had to give high priority to her commitments to keep up. For the media, she has been virtually impossible to get hold of.

– I’m pretty selective about what I do. I don’t hop on every single train. Many people want you to drive in top gear and do all the interviews, but I don’t  underestimate the body and the psyche. I don’t want to get out of this and feel that I haven’t experienced anything.

Have you come out of the bubble?

– I came out of the bubble an hour after the party at the Annex. It’s sick a lot of attention and so much fuss and I’m so happy I can seriously block a lot of it. It goes against my principles to lose myself in that. I don’t have much to compare with, but I think it’s easy to do. You get an incredible amount of attention, you are raised to the skies, but just as quickly they can pull you down again. I haven’t worked with myself for eight years to fly up there now, then I have thrown all work to hell.

Is there a risk that you suddenly have a bunch of yes-sayers around you?

– Sure. But doesn’t that have to do with maturity? The older you get, the better people you choose around you. That you know what can happen if a certain type of people comes within your zone – I make sure they don’t get there. I am selective with which people I listen to. I don’t take in everything else.

It was a hysterical hype during those weeks. Were you involved in it?

– I was dragged along, I did. But usually when it gets like that a lot, I have a hard time feeling anything at all. It depends on what you mean by hype as well. The whole show and everything that happened after that – that people liked it – it made me happy. Because I knew why I did it. I know why I do certain things and I know what my message is. I often use the opportunities I get to say something meaningful instead of just talking about things you have heard before. For me, it plays a very big role. I’m not going to stand and talk about my favorite color. It’s completely uninteresting. Unless that color has any therapeutic meaning, haha.

Do you long for the day when the whole party is over?

– If you compare my life now and my life earlier, it is clear that I probably had more time to be with myself then. But have you started a carousel like… I probably knew that this would mean a lot of work for me. I was as prepared as possible. Then once you stand there with 200 tons on one shoulder and 200 tons on the other, it is clear that you just… oh god.

Do you feel lonely sometimes?

– Haha, you’re talking to a person who has been sitting in a meditation center for 30 days, silent and completely blocked from everything else. No, not really. You are never alone. I enjoy being by myself, to be honest. Then I have the people who are my family and my friends, and they are there. I have explained to them what the situation will look like. The only hard part is that I’m used to being able to go out and be to myself, sit among people and just watch and I can’t now. Actually. But it’s nobody’s fault, it’s just that. You have to restructure everyday life. But it’s probably because I have integrity, I’m used to being myself. For me, it is very important.

Where does integrity come from?

– I don’t know, I’ve always had it. It has to do with respect, perhaps. To value their own information. If I tell something, open up and share something that is mine, then I want it to be managed properly. If I feel that it won’t I’m not interested. Hence integrity, perhaps. I like it.

Does that mean you have a hard time letting people in on you?

– I see it as having different zones. My closest

Age: 28.

Family: Mother and seven siblings.

Lives: Stockholm.

Current: As a representative of Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest, starting on Thursday 24 May.

I want even more control than just average. I have met the former ambassador, UN ambassadors and a peace activist who rescued both armies and Azerbaijanis from the country. I also work with an organization called Woman to Woman and when I come down I will visit their platform. You can go two ways: you can put your head in the sand or you can do something. What is needed most there, in my opinion, is for the working class to understand that they are being played on. What is positive is that there is an incredible amount of media there at the moment, the eyes are on Azerbaijan now.

• Source: https://www.gp.se/kultur/musik/loreen-st%C3%A5r-stadigt-i-cirkusen-1.721433
• Translation: via Google Translate, the translation may not be completely accurate