She has been called too cool for Mellodifestivalem, too hip for hits and too good for Eurovision. Five years after the win with Euphoria, Loreen is still on the hit scene in Skellefteå. Why?

SVT THE LAST NOVEMBER. The press conference for this year’s Melodifestival is being prepared. The podium is lit, journalists are invited, sandwiches are wrapped and the starting field is complete. Complete except for a question mark. The question mark is in his apartment on Östermalm in Stockholm in a dimly lit living room. The air is heavy with equal parts incense and savagery. For several hours Loreen has been sitting and meditating, next to her sits the Jack Russell dog Lilleman watching. After days of pondering and meditating, Loreen picks up her phone and makes a quick call. She says “I do it” three times before she puts the phone on the table and exhales. With a few hours to go to the press conference, Loreen is ready for the Melodifestivalen, the Melodifestival she was said to have destroyed a few years ago with her monumental performance of Euphoria.

– I have said no so many times, but this chorus appeared and all of a sudden Christer Björkman had heard about it. I was surprised that he liked it, it is very o-mello. It was not finished either, it was really just a chorus.

How dare you line up again?

– It was very tough to make that decision. I was afraid it would be perceived as some kind of “the queen is back” thing. You should not compete in music, it goes against my principles. The SVT people who know me from before said that I was freezing when I would step up at the press conference. But I do not want my ego and my fears to stand in the way of this sound and a bold performance that can reach people.

There is an obvious contradiction in Loreen: too cool and believable for the Melodifestivalen, but still a recurring participant. With Statements, she makes her third Mellodifestivalen appearance, complemented by Idol participation in 2004. She does not want to compete in music, but seems to be drawn to music competitions like Sanna Nielsen’s to raise the key.

When Loreen is interviewed in Lilla Baren at Riche in Stockholm and throws in salmon, she returns between bites to how she wants to reach out, how her songs are not just for herself. She does not fit in the periphery, in a crowded indie universe.

– I want this song to be a blow to all rhinestones and surfaces; to perform this particular song, in front of so many people, this time with Trump, the refugee wave and the climate problems. I really did not want to line up again, but could not say no in the end. What I want to convey in the song must be conveyed at any price, otherwise it must be. The song is called Statements.

What is your statement that you want to convey?

– “We do not need no statements”. When you hear the title, you think that there will be a clear statement, but I mean that we do not need any more statements. Instead of putting responsibility on everything and everyone around you, you should take the power back into yourself. It’s a self-critical song that way.

The word that always occurs when reading about Loreen is “fuzzy”. That, together with the fact that she turned the knobs for what is a Melodifestival performance a few degrees, has made her music often described as as alternative and psychedelic as her passion for Sufism, Ashtanga yoga and shamanism. Her name has been mentioned in the same breath as Björk and Kate Bush, but her greatness lies rather in the ability to, like Madonna, package all alternative ideas in a shiny glossy pop song.

The Melodifestivalen’s permanent secretary, Christer Björkman, believes that Loreen is in fact the ultimate Eurovision artist:

– Loreen has fundamentally changed the Melodifestivalen. I do not agree with the view of her as “o-mello”. The contemporary artist of the new age understands the television format and has realized that what you show in the box is as important as what you sing. She has realized that what you have to do is an exciting music video, albeit live. I would say that she is the ultimate Eurovision artist.

Minsk, Belarus in 2012, just a few weeks after Loreen’s Eurovision win. A theft booking by dictator Lukashenko, with a German booking company as the bulwark, means that Loreen is on stage in a country where neither she nor human rights organizations have much to say. After the show, Loreen goes to the Swedish embassy, ​​closely followed by cars with serious men and automatic weapons. After climbing the back door through the window into the embassy, ​​Loreen films an interview with two activists who have been kept hidden at the Swedish embassy.

– I’ve never been more scared in my whole life. And then I was still in Afghanistan the week before. After the interview, I went straight to the airport, flew home and kissed the ground when I landed. I understood that those people have no respect for human life at all.

While the coffee cools, Loreen talks about artists who have made a difference: Nina Simone, Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon, artists who do not have much in common with the Melodifestivalen, but artists who reached out to people.

– We who are artists or creators become some kind of politician because we have the opportunity to reach out to people. I listen more to an artist than a politician in any case. I probably would not have been doing music if I had not been allowed to do things like that in Minsk. There is nothing worthwhile about music without it. Then I could have done something completely different.

How much energy did the tour take after the Eurovision win?

– I played so damn long with Euphoria around the world. It lasted for almost three years. In parallel with that, you should try to create something new as well. I was in the studio as often as I could, but what happens inside does not always reach people outside. It got crooked because I did not sit down and make a record, but it became more … play, play, play and then cuddle in the studio and record. In the end, I had to pull the handbrake late and kill Euphoria. I needed to move on to be able to do something new.

How angry is your record company that there has not been a sequel to Heal?

– I have been lucky to have a record company that listens to me. I kind of have no choice, I can not choose to just drop one hit. It is also not an alternative for the audience, people understand if you go and sing something you do not mean or feel. If I go up and sing a Britney Spears song, no one will believe me. I have pushed myself to do things I do not want to do, but I notice myself that it is crap when it happens. And others notice it too, it shows.

What happens if you end up last then?

– If I end up last and it does not go as I want, then my ego will take a beating, shit. But if I’m happy with what I’ve done, no one else needs to like it, then I’m happy anyway. I start by setting my own behavior.

Are you difficult to work with?

– A female creator with integrity class is said to be troublesome, unlike a man who is seen as a goal-oriented visionary. To me, an artist who is a yes-sayer is not an artist. As simple as that. You have already won Eurovision.

What do you want to achieve when you take the stage in Skellefteå?

– Best case scenario is that I get to a performance that is bold, that it becomes clear what I am trying to convey. I want to pull my pants down on myself and show who I am.

• Scans: http://gallery.lovely-loreen.com/thumbnails.php?album=706
• Translation: via Google Translate, the translation may not be completely accurate