Following Loreen’s second Eurovision victory in Liverpool last month, the contest will be returning to Sweden in 2024. Broadcaster SVT has no doubt begun work on crafting next year’s show, but they may not need to look too far for a showstopping interval performer. Swedish pop icon Zara Larsson has already volunteered to take part.
Larsson’s comments come as a contrast to legendary group ABBA, who have ruled out appearing in person at the 2024 contest. Next year’s show will mark the 50th anniversary of their Eurovision 1974 victory.
Zara Larsson volunteers for Eurovision 2024 interval act
Speaking to Attitude magazine, Larsson was asked if she was a fan of the show. Without prompt, she announced she would be very much up for taking to the Eurovision stage next year as part of the interval performance:
“I’m a huge fan of Eurovision and Melfest, which is just Swedish culture. It really is. Everybody’s watching it, because it’s so fun. It’s just the show of the year. It’s so fun watching, and I would love to be part of the interval act next year. I don’t know if I would be up to compete in the competition. But I watch it every year with my whole family and my friends.”
The “Lush Life” hitmaker went on to note her pride for Loreen and how much effort Sweden puts into Eurovision:
“It’s a huge event and I’m so happy for Loreen. I feel very proud to be a Swede. We take that s**t so seriously. It would be quite weird if we didn’t win, or at least get some of the top placements, because we love it.”
We may very well see a Zara Larsson x Loreen collaboration at some point in the future. When asked if she would ever consider teaming up, the “Never Forget You” singer stated she would love to join forces with the two-time Eurovision champion:
“I would definitely. She’s very calm, down to earth. She’s a very special artist and she’s always had such a clear vision of what she wants to do, and how she wants to do it. I love the fact that she’s not your typical Eurovision act, or Melfest act. She’s very artistic and a little left… experimental. Loreen uses her platform to showcase what she likes and what she’s about, which is very smart. The crowd is big and she sticks out from the rest of them, just being herself in that competition. I think it’s really cool.”
ABBA rule out appearance for 50th anniversary
One act we likely won’t see in person at Eurovision 2024 is ABBA. The Swedish foursome, who gave the country its first ever Eurovision victory in 1974 with “Waterloo”, have made it very clear they don’t plan on reuniting for their 50th anniversary.
During an interview for BBC Newsnight, Benny Andersson said when one member of the group isn’t on board then they all don’t partake: “I don’t want to. And if I don’t want to, the others won’t. It’s the same for all four of us. Someone says no – it’s a no.”
Fellow band member Björn Ulvaeus also noted that a Eurovision appearance was a no from him too. He added that any anniversary can still go ahead even if they’re not there: “We can celebrate 50 years of ABBA without us being on stage.”
This still leaves the potential open for ABBA’s virtual avatars to be used instead. The group have been running ABBA Voyage, a virtual concert residency in London, over the past year. The show features digital recreations of Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad.
Whilst the supergroup themselves may not be up for a Eurovision performance in 2024, they could pass the task over to their digital counterparts to get the anniversary celebrations going.
Do you want to see Zara Larsson included in the Eurovision 2024 interval act? And are you sad that ABBA won’t be making an appearance in person? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
She was all smiles on Allsång på Skansen last night, but once those cameras went off so did the smile.
Previously she laughed about participating in Eurovision and said she’d try only if she is bored. Now she tries to push herself for free promo? Np thank you!
Some esc fans are just the worst sometimes!! The only reasons they are hating on Zara in the comments is: Cyprus stole Zaras music video in 2021 They are angry bc Loreen won Jealousy with Sweden and their success in music? Zara is the biggest music export since ABBA, it makes all the sense to have her as interval act! She is too big for Melfest and have only talked positively about esc. People hating on her needs to grow up! Can’t wait for Sweden to put on the best show ever next year and Zara changing peoples minds because… Read more »
As someone noted below, she previously said she’d do Eurovision when she’s bored. Practically, it’s a Mika 2.0 situation.
Girl’s running out of relevance and wants to relaunch her career, and it’s either swallowing her pride and do ESC or snatching a collab with Bad Bunny or Peso Pluma
She said she would do Melfest if bored, waaayy different dude! It’s the entry to esc remember? She’s the biggest music export since ABBA, it makes all the sense to haver her as interval act!
All these dislikes in the comments says a lot about Wiwibloggers. They hate Swedens selection no matter what they bring up
That Justin Timberlake performance in 2016 was so random, so maybe something better this time..
What about that former representatives of Sweden at Eurovision gather together and sing Waterloo. That would be great!
Sweden is a ESC powerhouse, so bringing back great acts would be easy
SWEDEN!!! SWEDEN!!
Thank you LOREEN for bringing Eurovision to Sweden again! Amazing win.
Zara Larsson would be a great interval act! I like it when the host country shows off homegrown stars rather than American singers like JT or Madonna.
For everyone saying Zara should take part in Melfest, we all know she’s too big for a national selection. Zara is busy headlining tours around Europe, promoting her singles and being an international star. It would be like Robyn entering Melfest when she was at her peak in the 00’s, it simply doesn’t make sense for her career right now.
She isn’t doing great job promoting them. I barely know 1
If she wants to go to Eurovison, she can submit song to Melodi2024
She’s way to big for Melfest! She’s the biggest music export since ABBA, it makes all the sense to have her as esc interval act.
After seeing Rita Ora perform, I get why she’s interested.
Oh, NOW she wants to be part of the contest…
YES!
Sweden winning was a great moment! The best song won! Zara could be a great interval act
https://wiwibloggs.com/2020/12/23/zara-larsson-wont-do-eurovision-but-loves-the-movie/259817/
She’ll only compete in Eurovision when she’s “bored”, but she won’t mind using its 200m audience to promote her new stuff. We’ve already had Mika crawling on all fours back to the Eurovision table when it suits him, now we’ll get the same with Zara?
If you badmouth the contest, stay away from the contest. I’d respect you more for it.
She’s been this arrogant always, thinking she’s some huge star who won’t demean herself to Eurovision.
She literally started her career in Sweden’s Got Talent!
Well people in this comment section should be the last people to talk about rudeness and arrogance hahaha
She started in Talent bc she was unknown. She is now way too big for Melfest. What’s so hard to understand? She is literally saying she would love to perform at esc. Or are you saying she should represent San Marino or something?
She only praised Eurovision. She talked about entering Melfest, don’t put words in her mouth. And she’s is too big for Melfest. She’s the biggest music export since ABBA. Get real!!
Oh, how noble of Zara Larsson to agree to sacrifice herself and promote her music in front of 200 million viewers. No kidding. As for ABBA’s decision, my respect for the band is far-reaching. I feel like ABBA is showing disapproval of EBU and SVT’s projected victory to Loreen, so she would bring the contest back to Sweden after 50 years since its first victory. I love that Loreen was put in place, especially knowing she did not win a single pack of 12 points from the audience. Maybe this will teach Azerbuijan’s cousin Sweden some proper manners even more… Read more »
Do you have any proof that Sweden won by cheating? You do know that personal feelings don´t count as a source
I see only a sore loser in Devito
Of course he has no proof or evidence cause there are none. Sweden won according to the rules of the contest. For some that is incredibly hard to accept it seems. But easier to believe conspiracy theories for some reason
Proof and evidence in mind Denis; Could you bring some info about these statements you said previously, I asked for your answer three (3) times, but have yet to receive any answer from you?
https://wiwibloggs.com/2023/05/22/eurovision-2023-songs-in-europes-charts/277550/#comment-1380739
Evidence of whatThat a few similar notes and sounds here and there means its proof they stole something?
Yeah I am not going to respond to that because its ridicolous. If everyone claimed somdthing is stolen because of few similar structures no one would create music. You see,unless it is proven by court that it sounds exactly the same as a different song it is not serious. And yes the same, not similar.
I was asking more information from you, about the accusations you(!) had made, not the ones I brought up.
This makes your statement now and further seem a bit questionable from now on, if you’re not able to provide anything about the claims you were saying. This would mean you just made up lies, if you’re not even willing to respond on claims you started.
Which claims?
Quite frankly I don’t care about you, your claims or the theories of others . I can not be bothered. Its to insignifiant to be worthy of a response you see
The ones you yourself made in the comment that I linked above. Why’d you comment if you don’t care about me (very odd statement to pull out of nowhere without context?), or the copyright laws, when you clearly have an opinnion about the subject?
It does seem like you’re bothered.
I guess there was a comparison about finish entry. Many songs can sound similar to other songs without it being plagiarism. If Swedish entry sounded like something, then of course it’s the same for every other song from any other given country. Just look at the Ed Sheeran trials
No point in trying to reason with SORE LOSERS. They are still hurt over the fact that Käärijä did not win. Hilarious.
Also just found out this year is Sweden’s 500th year anniversary.
Yes and you know what? 500 years ago Finland was a part of Sweden…
If a country has a good song, it gets points. Period. You can cry all you want about Sweden, if they continue to send good songs they will continue to have a lot of points from public and juries. And you know why? Because lambda viewers don’t care about hysterical fans crisis. They just watch to enjoy the show and vote for what they like.
Perhaps Sweden will lose a bit of popularity but I guarantee that with songs like Hold Me Closer or Tattoo, they will still score at least 150 pts with the public.
This has never been true, it doesn’t matter how good the song is if it’s not viewer-friendly too, and we all know how narrow-minded and obtuse ESC viewers can be a lot of the time…
That’s never been true and several good songs being left behind at the SFs this year while Unicorn got through is proof of that
Zara is the biggest music export since ABBA. It makes all the sense to have her as interval act. You are just bringing out all the hate for Sweden bc of this years results…
Thank you, next
Sweden winning was epic! And Sweden will host a great ESC next year
Amen! I’m not exaggerating when I say the only reason I invested in following the contest, is because I really was mind blown with ESC 2016 production and overall quality.
Thee win was deserved, but far from being epic, in fact, it was an extremely boring voting.
But yeah, it’s going to be a great show, we already have experience with SVT, 2013 and especially 2016 were very high quality.
What are you talking about? We literally could not tell who would win until the very last public vote was revealed for Swedenz. Very epic, in fact. Boring? You need to think again….
It was suspense, yet still boring. It was clear that it will be Cha Cha Cha vs. Tattoo.
“I’m too good to compete in Melodifestivalen with some Idol -contestants and Youtubers, but free promo is why I’d love to throw myself to that Eurovision stage!”
She is so full of herself.
Ironically, though, she rose to fame in Sweden after being runner-up in Talang, an Idol-like show
A talent show when she was not even a teenager yet. She did perform in Melodifestivalen as an interval act in 2017. She says she loves watching. Many people loves watching it. Not everyone wants to compete.
No she won Talang, not runner up!
SHE DID NOT LIE!!?? She’s too big for Melfest, and as you know that is the only way to represent Sweden. She is the biggest music export since ABBA. It makes all the sense to have her as interval act!!
I think it’s very unlikely the abbatars would perform in ESC. Why would they show everyone in Europe what the voyage show looks like for free? That would risk fans stop going to the show in London.
I hope to see a medley of a bunch of Swedish exports performing together, like Zara Larsson, Tove Lo, Icona Pop, Lykke Li and others. Preferably performing ESC songs.
If they do an ABBA medley, it would be iconic if Käärijä sang “The winner takes it all”! ? (Or heaps of runner-ups singing the song together)
I agree with all your saying, but he couldn’t do that song vocally if his life depended on it
I have always been a fan of ABBA and of an age to witness first hand their victory in 1974 and the success that followed. However this grumpy old men attitude of we won’t appear in 2024 is annoying me. I didn’t expect for one moment they would appear on stage all singing and dancing but for the fans of 50 years who helped put them were they have become would it be so hard for just one minute to walk on stage in their home country take a bow and say thankyou! Oh how i wish Kaarija had won.
ABBA have been used by Sweden to manipulate this years contest. Better if they not show up. My first time watching that i remember was 10 years before ABBA’s win.
Finland should have won this year.
Sweden won! Get over it. Käärijä was all fun and performance, but the song is terrible.
Oh please! It’s not Sweden who is bringing up abba and if they would have… Noone would vote for Sweden for that reason alone. Grow up! This 50 year anniversary thing was mainly created by people who wanted Finland to win. This as a way to accuse Sweden of buying votes from juries. Reminds me of Putin or Trump propaganda turning everything around and attacking the victim of this conspiracy fairytale.
They did not end on good terms so what did you expect? They can barely stand each other. No one is obliged to do anything to please others.
I like them not being reunited. Unlike many groups they realise their heydays are long gone and celebrate what they had. If only Rolling Stones did the same
All this jealousy…. Please just stop. Sweden won.
What i’m actually curious about is the presenters , i’m betting on Farah Abadi & Oscar Zia
I hope its Petra Meade again
Me too! Måns and petra were the best hosts that I can remember.
Petra Mede works for TV4 now. But is unable to host anything due to back issues
Her physical back? Oh dear, health problems can be quite a B.
Yes. She was forced to pull put from hosting Dancing With the Stars cause od her back. She injured it way back when she was a dancer
Melodifestivalen’s presenters haven’t been great over the past few years. Hoping they come to their senses and give us the Lindgren!
I would like Petra Maede and Oscar Zia to host it. Both of them are funny and cool.
Zara, what are you doing this weekend?
‘Why, yes, I am available to host ESC 2024’
It’s a no no for me too. I loved her when she was younger but she became arrogant and full of herself. Plus if I remember well she said some years ago that she didn’t have any interest in the contest. It’s too easy now that her career slowed down (even though she still has a nice one of course) to come as an interval act and get the views. I could accept her in the contest if she actually takes part to melodifestivalen as a contestant and as the possible representative of her country.
I was thinking exactly the same. Its amazing what the chance to perform in front of a 160 million viewers can do when you have a product to sell but think the contest is not for her like she commented previously.
She has done huge performances before (Euro Cup football 2016, EMA 2020 to mention a few) so she is not new to it…but sure don’t really think she should be an interval act if she hasn’t even competed in the competition before.
Or if she applied to San Marino, even better
She took example on you about the arrogance. Read again some of your comments and you will understand what is the real arrogance. Mr Arrogance Belgium 2023.
She never needed Melfest. Her songs go nr 1 in Sweden anyway. Demanding she should go there is crazy! She’s Swedens biggest music export since ABBA. It makes all the sense to have her as interval act. She’s bigger than Rita Ora. Her live performances are on Eleni foureira level. She never disrespected the contest. The only reason she ever said no to Melfest or talked about Interval act in Esc is because reporters keeps asking her about it. The has only talked in positive terms about esc!
She does not need to participate in Melfest, she’s enjoying chart success and she;s well known.
Obviously like every established name out there, she would love to promote her music in the interval part of the show. I wouldn’t mind if she does one of the semifinals as Rita Ora did.
Abba will definitely perform but as Abbatars to coincide with the global tour of their residency.
ABBA won’t, they announced that they won’t perform.
She’s so arrogant and annoying
Also known as a woman with confidence
So women with confidence are annoying? You shot yourself in the foot here, mate
When English is not your first language, and in an attempt to be cool you make a nonsense comment… next time think twice before posting Dawid.
If she feels too good to participate in Melfest and prove herself like any other Swede that wants to grace the Eurovision stage (and no, her interval medley from 2017 doesn’t count) then no. Just no. I personally don’t need her on my Eurovision screen. Artists who only show their interest when there’s “nothing” (oops Madonna) to lose rub me the wrong way. I’d rather have some true local Swedish cultural interval act that I don’t understand but intrigues me to find out more, than just another celebrity who wants the big viewership. Same way Rita Ora was a throwaway… Read more »
Take a nap grandpa
Honestly, it’d be cooler if Sweden showcased its local scene as interval acts, i.e. Miriam Bryant, Victor Leksell, Adaam, Yasin, etc.
Forgot Hov1 and Bolaget too