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Album: Tattoo [Single]
Artist: Loreen
Genre: #Electropop #DancePop
Sub-Genres: #FestivalProgressiveHouse #Pop #SwedenMusic #Eurovision
Label: Universal
Non-Airable Tracks: N/A
Description:
Two reviews in one day? That’s right! Have I gone over the deep end? Possibly! But that won’t stop me from writing about “Tattoo” as a musical masterpiece.
First off, congrats to the Swedish electro-pop queen Loreen for her recent win in the Melodifestivalen 2023 song contest in Sweden. She is now set to represent the country in this year’s Eurovision 2023 international song competition, where she will go up against other artists from all around the world to try and top them all in her performance—something in which she is actually very familiar with.
For anyone familiar with Eurovision as a competition, you may recognize the name Loreen. Besides placing fourth on Sweden’s Idol 2004, Loreen has participated in the Melodifestivalen as early on as 2011. But she is most famous for her song “Euphoria,” which she submitted to Melodifestivalen 2012 and thus advanced directly to the final round of the competition. She then took the top place to represent Sweden in Eurovision 2012, where she dominated the competition, winning 1st place with a total of 372 points from 40 out of the 42 voting countries in the competition. “Euphoria” reached No. 3 on the UK Official Singles Chart, which at the time was unheard of as the highest chart position for a non-UK Eurovision entry hadn’t happened since 1987—over two decades prior to her song’s release. You may recognize “Euphoria” as it even did fairly well in the United States during that time. If you haven’t listened to it, I’d recommend that you stop what you are doing and go to YouTube. Search for “Euphoria” by Loreen. Then come back to this article.
So, in case you hadn’t noticed, I’m a pretty big fan of Loreen’s music.
Storytime: I discovered Loreen back in 2020—what a freaking messed-up year THAT was—during quarantine with “Euphoria,” which inevitably tossed me into discovering what Eurovision even was and introducing me to other world artists I hadn’t even know of at the time.
Up to that point, I had stopped listening to “modern music” as 2016 really turned me away from the music industry, with songs like “1-800-273-8225 (I Don’t Wanna Be Alive)” playing on repeat, same time every single day without fail, on the bus ride home after school.
Every. Single. Day.
Hence, I stopped listening to any “modern” music as I was literally driven to the brink of insanity with the negative energy I was getting from many of the songs, ESPECIALLY THAT ONE.
But once I discovered Loreen’s “Euphoria” and found out about the Eurovision song contest, I dug deeper, finding decent modern songs and artists that were made within the last few years, such as Destiny (a lyrical QUEEN) from Malta and Måneskin from Italy. I temporarily lost track of Loreen’s songs though, only knowing a few from 2017 at the latest.
Imagine my surprise when I was browsing the newest submissions for this year’s Eurovision contest when I saw Loreen’s name pop up again with a brand-new song. Then imagine my surprise growing further when I found out that Loreen has been releasing music since 2017 and even had a single in 2022 that I didn’t even know existed. (Guess whose plans now involve binge listening to Loreen tonight? That’s right—this girl!)
Loreen is a very talented female vocalist with one heck of a voice. She is this haunting, powerful vocal machine who carries a lot of emotion within her tone, and I haven’t noticed many other artists who can successfully pull off singing at the same levels that she can reach. (I certainly can’t, that’s for sure!)
“Tattoo” is no exception. Loreen’s voice is very melodic, powerful, and striking, yet still carries a certain level of softness at times to break away from her compelling lyrics. The song starts out softly, but its energy grows as the song progresses, as does the passion of the singer and the orchestra during the chorus. You feel your spirit uplifted as Loreen shares her deep emotions through the pitch of her voice. The music video is also semi-interesting to watch as well as Loreen has an excellent stage presence that demands attention and captivates her audience.
Don’t believe me? Tell that to the random guy I saw watching her music video on the Sun Tran Street Car literally two days ago.
Would I say “Tattoo” is my new favorite Loreen song? No, I would not. Her 2012 “Euphoria” still holds a special place in my heart. However, I still think this song is pretty good and worth listening to at least once or twice.
As far as the Eurovision 2023 song contest is concerned, I’d say Sweden has a decent shot of winning the competition this year, though there are many talented players on the board despite several countries still determining who they will send over to Liverpool to represent them. I have a feeling that this song will get pretty far in the competition, if not within the top 10 at the end. Specifically, I see Alessandra’s “Queen of Kings” and Loreen’s “Tattoo” going head-to-head in popularity, as both seem to be generating high streaming rates from the general public and are appearing in some social media platforms (like the Tik-Tok app and Insta Reels).
I look forward to seeing how well this year’s Eurovision will stand up to the previous years. Hopefully, many talented artists will do just as well as Loreen did back in 2012.
Sounds Like:
1. Euphoria - Loreen
2. Neon Lights – Loreen
3. We Got the Power - Loreen
Recommended Tracks:
1. Tattoo
Reviewer’s Name: Kaitlyn Liddicoat
Date of Review: 15 March 2023
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