Ukraine wins the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 and Chanel is third

On Saturday night, a majority of voters among the nearly 200 million viewers who watched the 25 performances of the Eurovision Song Contest decided to kick Putin's butt from their sofa at home.

It was as simple as picking up the phone and sending an SMS.

The golden opportunity was offered by a festival that many take as a joke, but which served as a platform for the candidacy of a country martyred by bombs.

Kalush Orchestra appeared in Turin with a song that spoke of Stefania, the singer's mother, finally converted into a metaphor for the motherland.

“The power of music”, shouted Laura Pausini.

It is not clear if it was that, the glitter or the choreography.

But the festival

Ukraine was able to take a breather on Saturday and scored its first victory since entering this ordeal.

“Please help Ukraine.

Help Mariupol.

Help Azovstal,” the singer pleaded, causing chills throughout the entire audience.

In his country, a large part had to see his performance in bunkers and underground shelters.

Like the announcer himself who broadcast the gala.

The group had two days' leave to come to Turin.

When they return to Ukraine, they assured yesterday, they are ready to fight on the front lines.

The country's president, Volodomir Zelensky, congratulated them.

“Our courage impresses the world.

I'm sure victory is close."

More information

Eurovision 2022: performances and best moments, in pictures

The debate between the fans and the press room, a blurred dimension with no solution of continuity, was very heated these days.

Was it necessary to give the award to a band for the emotional component of the political context?

The impression spread among the oracles of the contest -there are true specialists- that the Kalush Orchestra, the Ukrainian group, was perhaps not the best artistically.

His song, a tongue-and-groove mix of hip-hop, electronic music and national folklore, isn't that much was chanted on stage or among the delegations.

However, the opportunity to launch a message of European unity from a stage with a huge television audience was irresistible.

And maybe the rest didn't matter.

Because Eurovision has almost always been to music what Las Vegas is to architecture.

Although some years fabulous bands like the Maneskin denied it,

winners of the last edition.

So, after 70 years of shrillness and

and, above all, with the one that is falling, it may not have been the best year for delicacies.

The pity is that it happened in the same edition in which Spain had more possibilities of recovering its Eurovision prestige.

The Chanel

blew up the stage (already battered from the first day that its most important part stopped working).

The Spanish, who had to act in an uncomfortable tenth place —in the first part of the

, where memory already fails when it comes to voting— nailed every detail of her

and dusted off a sleepy audience by

, the sweetened ballad of the Italians Mahmood and Blanco minutes before.

The artist is overflowing with talent and strength when the lights come on.

And she on top of it put the right ingredients of the Latin and Spanish part of her to dazzle a world that melts today with reggaeton and her surroundings.

No shortcuts.

Straight to the

What would she say?

Thus she set up a venue with 8,000 people who, in the same way that they did not give them tickets (at 200 euros), were not going to grant their applause for free.

Chanel, during her performance in Turin. Luca Bruno (AP)

Chanel fell into grace from the first day.

"Mommy arrived," she sings at the start of

.

But here, precisely, she arrived very marked by the typical mob of

.

She was even accused of tongo and she had to deal with the legion of fans of the Tanxungueiras and Rigoberta Bandini, who had already shared the spoils of the Benidorm Fest -the contest that gave the passport to Eurovision- without getting off the bus.

No one wanted her at first, but no one doubted her again when they saw her on stage in Turin.

The formula was perfect.

Latin smash hit (even the Romanian flag bearer ventured to sing in Spanish), exotic beauty (for half of Europe), effort and work.

No political turras on stage and just a pinch of controversy over language and more or less feminist.

To this must be added the quota of folklore and stereotypes, embodied in the suit of lights by the designer Palomo Spain and in a red fan (the day will come when it will not be necessary to invoke paella and sangria to travel abroad).

And so, always going about her business, the Catalan-Cuban shut up half the country.

It is clear that the career of a pop artist who has no ceiling begins.

Chanel, the Spanish candidate, completes her performance of 'SloMo' to standing ovations. Jens Büttner / Getty

The Ukrainian Kalush Orchestra pick up the glass microphone after winning Eurovision 2022. Luca Bruno (AP)

Sam Ryder, with the pop song 'Space Man', UK participant. Jens Büttner (Europa Press)

The Serbian singer Konstrakta, stage name of the homeland Ana Duric, and the song 'In corpore Sano'. Luca Bruno (AP)

'Hold Me Closer' is the theme song by Cornelia Jakobs, representing Sweden. Jens Büttner/Getty

The rock band The Rasmus, representing Finland, with the song 'Jezebel'. Jens Büttner (Europa Press)

Romanian singer and dancer Andrei-Ionuț Ursu, artistically known as WRS, with the song called 'Call me'. Luca Bruno (AP)

The powerful voice of Nadir Rustamli and the song 'Face to Black' represent Azerbaijan on stage in Turin this Saturday. Luca Bruno (AP)

Zdob si Zdub & Fratii Advahov, representatives of Moldova, with the song 'Trenuletul'. Jens Büttner / getty

'River', the song by the Polish interpreter Ochman. Jens Büttner / getty

The representative of Armenia, Rosa Linn, with the ballad 'Snap'. MARCO BERTORELLO (AFP)

Stefan is the representative of Estonia with the song 'Hope'.ALESSANDRO DI MARCO (EFE)

The Icelandic band Systur, on stage at the Eurovision final, with the song 'Með Hækkandi Sól'. YARA NARDI (REUTERS)

Monika Liu in charge of representing Lithuania in the 2022 Eurovision final with her song 'Sentimentai'. Jens Büttner / getty

Jérémie Makiesse, representative of Belgium, with his song 'Miss You'.

Jens Buttner / Getty

Sheldon Riley, from Australia, with the song 'Not The Same'.ALESSANDRO DI MARCO (EFE)

'Die Together' is the theme of the Greek representation Amanda Tenjford.

MARCO BERTORELLO (AFP)

Malik Harris, the twentysomething German rapper, with his song 'Rockstars' sung in English. MARCO BERTORELLO (AFP)

The Ukrainians of Kalush Orchestra, at a moment of the Eurovision gala 2022 with the song 'Stefania'.

Luca Bruno (AP)

The young singer S10, representing the Netherlands, with 'Die Diepte'. Jens Büttner (Getty)

Alvan & Ahez, in charge of representing France, with their song 'Fulenn'.

Jens Buttner (Getty)

The host country with the duo formed by Mahmood (on the left) and Blanco, with the ballad 'Brividi'. Luca Bruno (AP)

Marius Bear, the young singer representing Switzerland, competes with the song 'Boys Do Cry'. MARCO BERTORELLO (AFP)

The Norwegian duo Subwoolfer and the song 'Give That Wolf a Banana', with all its components masked. MARCO BERTORELLO (AFP)

Maro, the Portuguese singer, with the ballad 'Saudade, saudade'. MARCO BERTORELLO (AFP)

The Czech trio Lights Off performing 'We Are Domi'. MARCO BERTORELLO (AFP)

Chanel Terrero, representative of Spain, at the parade of flags at the start of the gala from Turin. MARCO BERTORELLO (AFP)

Italian singer Laura Pausini begins the show performing several of her best-known songs.

MARCO BERTORELLO (AFP)

Best position in 27 years

The third place of the Spanish, the best since 1995 (with Anabel Conde), once again places Spain among the countries that paint something in Eurovision and that do not take extravagant experiments or end-of-year functions for a walk.

It is not clear what it could be used for, but TVE will surely know how to make it profitable in the form of audiences and it will be an incomparable springboard for it.

The last victory was in 1969, with

Salomé

An encore, because the previous year Massiel had won with

.

Since then, just beyond Anabel Conde's second place (1992), Sergio Dalma's fourth (1991) or Rosa's seventh, that of

.

More information

This has been the performance of Chanel in the final of Eurovision 2022

The first place on Saturday was close until the end, with the British singer the British tiktoker Sam Ryder and his theme

, squeezing until the last second.

The buzz among the delegations in Turin pointed out that the singer, a star of said social network, had the game won in advance by enjoying a huge audience of digital fans cultivated in recent years (15 million followers).

In addition, for the most conspiracy theorists, Tik Tok was one of the sponsors of the festival.

The gala at the Pala Alpitour, an ice hockey palace built for the 2006 Winter Games, went off without a hitch.

The decoration was transformed with each song and only the fountain remained unchanged, a fundamental element of Italian artistic decoration.

It was the turn of the singer from the Czech Republic to open the ceremony, who very well had to do it for someone to remember a single note of her dance theme —modular synthesizer through—, because then 24 more performances would come before the public vote.

There was everything.

For the Finns of The Rasmus ―their singer became a sinister version of Captain Pescanova― the festival reminded them how cruel the passage of time can be out of the spotlight.

The French Alvan and Ahez, for their part,

they marked a song in Breton with techno-Celtic rhythms that did not achieve much.

A sound consolation, at least, for those who were left wanting to see the Tanxuguerias.

The three presenters more than complied.

Laura Pausini (impossible to keep track of her costume changes), multiplied and monopolized the conduct of the gala.

The Lebanese singer Mika performed very well (he was moved after the performance of the Ukrainians) and also the star presenter and king of the

Italians, Alessandro Cattelan.

But the original idea is that it would have been presented by Raffaella Carrà, promoter of the recovery of this festival in a country that until recently lived with its back to Eurovision.

The rules indicate that next year the contest should be held in the winning country of this edition.

And Zelensky himself announced that it would be so.

But it is difficult to think that the country is in a position to organize an event of this type.

Not even wanting.

It is possible, at least, that the two hours disconnected from the horror in front of the television have been worth it.

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