Everything You Need To Know About ‘Tattoo’ By Loreen Written by Ben Robertson on February 24, 2023 | 3 Comments

The Artist

Lorine Zineb Noka Talhaoui, better known simply as Loreen, is the most hotly anticipated artist in this year’s 28-strong Melodifestivalen line up. The 39-year-old was born to Moroccon Berber parents in Stockholm but spent most of her time growing up an hour away in Västerås, on the banks of Lake Mälaren.

Idol was her breakthrough into the Swedish music scene, finishing 4th in a year where Darin (of Eurovision 2013 interval act fame, amongst being a huge star outright in Sweden), went on to win. There was music after Idol, but Loreen’s career moved more into TV, working as a producer and director for SVT show Frufritt but also for commercial channels TV3 and TV4.

We in the Eurovision community were first introduced to Loreen through Melodifestivalen. In 2011 she came with the song ‘My Heart Is Refusing Me’, ending up knocked out in the Andra Chansen duel against Sara Varge. However the next year came ‘Euphoria’ and a victory with juries and televoters both at Melodifestivalen but also in the Eurovision Song Contest to win by 123 points.

After that date, Loreen has released two albums, in 2012 and 2017. 2017 is a year where many Loreen fans were left dumbfounded, when the Eurovision winner returned to compete and yet failed to progress to the Melodifestivalen final, losing out to Anton Hagman’s guitar track in a head-to-head battle to qualify. Loreen reflected on that performance with Schlagerprofilerna this week, commenting on her “very frustrated, angry energy” that came across in the performance. That song ‘Statements’ was a “counter reaction against the political system”, in particular the rise of the Swedish Democrats to be Sweden’s second largest party.

Loreen admitted that her ego was hit from that, but also that it was good that “sometimes you land back on Earth.” Many would imagine that, after falling from such high expectations to not even reach the final, Loreen might never return to competitive song action. So why is she here now?

The Song

“Well let me start by saying it is the song, I fell in love with the song, that’s where we started.”

Those are the words of Loreen speaking to The EuroTrip podcast prior to this week’s heat of Melodifestivalen. While Loreen is named as one of the songwriters of this track, she didn’t come into the picture until later, and the song was already an “embryo” when ‘Tattoo’ landed in her inbox.

“I remember very clearly it was about 10 in the evening. G:son and the gang sent me the song. I just felt something before I heard the song, I pressed play and it was a very special feeling, almost like falling in love.”

That song was created by a list of Melodifestivalen composers of the highest order. Peter Boström has 24 entries to his name of which six placed on the podium, including Loreen’s Eurovision winner ‘Euphoria’. That song was written together with Thomas G:Son, the new Melodifestivalen Hall of Fame member with 69 Melodifestivalen songs behind him including three winners. These veterans worked together on the track with the latest crop of songwriting talent. Jimmy Jansson is one and he broke the record for most entries in one Melodifestiavalen season in 2020 and Jimmy “Joker” Thörnfeldt who has had his hand in 21 competition entries the last three years after previously working internationally with Jennifer Lopez and One direction amongst others.

And a big shout out too has to go to Cazzi Opeia, the face who brought ‘I Can’t Get Enough’ to the Melodifestivalen last year with a killer production, and also went on to compose the winning entry for the American Song Contest ‘Wonderland’.

Songwriter collaborations don’t often get to be this exciting.

In terms of describing the song, the best place to start is with ‘Euphoria’. No, it is not the same as our 2012 winner, but I know everybody reading ESC Insight has an understanding of that track, and structurally there are few songs as well known that are similar. The intro is longer and it does take a long time to get going. When Loreen sings a verse of ABBA-esque melodic tendencies the mood is captivating. This is no ballad but there a trance like state to lure the listener in as the verse is repeated (it is half the length the second time around) before a rousing pre-chorus takes us to the song’s crescendo.

Here is where the BPM kicks in, and at over 150 beats per minute, we have the fastest tempo song of all the year’s Melodifestivalen entries. The chorus is somewhat arresting and builds frantically thanks to the world-class production that pushes the limits of where pop songs are in 2023. But I’m assume you have all heard this yourself from the one-minute clip.

Beyond that point the key word is dynamics. Not just any dynamics, “Loreen dynamics” as she describes it. In an interview with The Culture Fix, Loreen explains that the mood of the song is “a bit mysterious and powerful at the same time”. The effect of these dynamics gives me another point to reference ‘Euphoria’, expect the song to fade to quiet after the punchy second chorus similar to where the snowfall in 2012 offered. These changes in volume and power throughout the three minutes gives two contrasting parts to the song, Loreen may start off in what she describes as a “mystical small room” but eventually, the song breaks out and shows the power within.

And while this may have always been a three-minute Melodifestivalen entry for the songwriters, it wasn’t always like that for Loreen. While she admitted that she “understood that this [song] is for this forum”, at the same time it took weeks before she was formally asked to enter Melodifestivalen. Her first answer was no, and that answer she repeated until it was time to tell everybody else involved, the songwriters, SVT, the production team and so on, that she wouldn’t do it. “At that moment it’s a yes” explained Loreen, adding that she is a “slow person” who needs time to come to a decision.

“The thing that happens when I hear music is I see things in pictures. The moment I heard ‘Tattoo‘ I saw the scene, the scenery, the vibe, the colour, the narrative, and from there I started to build. If I don’t see a picture with a song, the song is not for me. I give the visual part a lot of energy.”

As you may expect, the stage show for Loreen is one that is unmissable for Eurovision fans on Saturday night.

The Staging

The most notable part of Loreen’s staging are the two 4×4 metre LED screens. One of them sits as a platform in the middle of the Melodifestivalen stage, while the other hangs from the ceiling directly above it. The opening shot of this song sees the two LED screens separated by only a couple of feet, with Loreen contortioned in-between the two screens like a sandwich filling. Together mixed in with Loreen in that sandwich is sand, which covers the LED floor and gives a striking organic effect to the light emitted from the screens.

Loreen going through the motions rehearsing in the Malmö Arena (Photo: Alma Bengtsson, SVT)

That sand helps frame the colour palette through to the chorus, by which point the LED screen has lifted so Loreen can kneel and actually have some breathing room for her power vocals.

As the beat hits in the second chorus another piece of technology grabs the attention, the haze machine. Creating a swirling cloud effect on the stage behind Loreen, it only helps to add to the wildness of this performance, producing a feeling that is much more movie set than Malmö Arena. As the song continues to crescendo Loreen uses her inner powers (ok, her hands) to help guide the LED screen upwards further. Fully standing and free of entrapment by the song’s bridge, look out for symbols flashing rapidly across the LED screens above Loreen. As far as I can tell, these symbols are from Loreen’s own Berber heritage (though I haven’t seen this confirmed), and on Loreen’s most recent Instagram post from Wednesday she added a hashtag for this symbol, ⵣ, which is the general symbol for the Berber people, and features on their flag.

The last minute takes the focus more to Loreen as she explodes one more time and the background flashes with those Saharan sand colours once more. One thing I have to note is how calm but how well the wind machine adds to this number, while not at hurricane levels it only further enhances the song’s organic nature, and to the star quality that Loreen exudes.

The producer of this epic piece of cinematography is Tobias Rylander, a lighting designer with, he claims, an “ingenious vision of visual expression.” So much he has not only achieved, he has changed the game of. Never before in Eurovision Song Contest history have we seen something that is so artistically daring while being magical and mesmerising for the viewers at home. That said, it is also an intense number and with far less connection with the camera than a normal Eurovision number would have.

The LED screens appear manipulated at times by Loreen (Photo: Alma Bengtsson, SVT)

Where We Go From Here

The path for Loreen now, if expectations are correct, is that she will win Saturday’s Melodifestivalen heat and from there progress to the final in Friends Arena. So high are expectations at the time of writing that Loreen is now expected to go through to the Eurovision Song Contest as the favourite to win and bring Sweden their 7th victory in Liverpool.

But I will be the first to say this is a high-risk, high-reward entry. This is a piece of art on stage far more than a piece of music, despite its pop tendencies, and I am well aware that Loreen is uncompromising with how to present her art for the purpose of competition.

Loreen and wind machine are a striking combination on the Melfest stage (Photo: Alma Bengtsson, SVT)

“I don’t feel pressure of winning,” said Loreen to The EuroTrip Podcast. “The most important thing is not to compromise on my performance and my creativity because I have a vision. It is going to be powerful, and it’s going to be spiritual and it’s going to be diverse, crazy.

Let’s see if it is crazy enough (or conversely not too crazy) to clear Melodifestivalen’s fourth heat. Win or lose after that point all of the Melodifestivalen songs will be available to stream and view at your pleasure. I suspect the community will be watching this one again and again.