And the Winner of Eurovision 2017 is…Portugal! (And Would Someone Please Get This Man a New Heart? We’re Not Kidding.)
After hours of performances from 26 finalists, the winner of the biggest and goofiest singing competition on Earth was a 27-year-old crooner from Portugal. With more than 200 million people across Europe watching (making it the closest thing we have to a World Cup of music), the hipster-looking Salvador Sobral–a guy who is on a heart transplant waiting list. If a donor can’t be found by the end of the year, he may not make it.
Seriously. You can’t make this stuff up.
Sobral won the crown by singing “Amar Pelos Dois” (“For Both of Us”) in his native Portuguese. It’s the first time in the 53 years of Eurovision that Portugal has won.
Sobral’s first fame came with competing in Idolos, Portugal’s version of American Idol, but couldn’t handle the attention, even though he finished third. He quit singing, enrolled in a psychology course and started taking drugs. Lots and lots of drugs. Especially ‘shrooms.
Eventually, though, he cleaned up and got back into singing before moving to Spain to study jazz and voice.
Oh, and someone with an Australian flag ran onto the stage and mooned everyone.
#Eurovision #Eurovisionmooning
some heroes actually wear capes pic.twitter.com/uF473SBkyL— Elviraaa (@uhm_excuseMe) May 13, 2017