Sweden’s Eurovision act: It would be nice to have Abba supporters on our side

Sweden’s Eurovision Song Contest act Marcus & Martinus have said they hope to have Abba fans “on our side” as this year’s event celebrates the 50th anniversary of the pop group winning the competition.

Twin singing duo Marcus and Martinus Gunnarsen will first perform Unforgettable during Tuesday’s semi-final, although they have an automatic place in Saturday’s final because Sweden are this year’s hosts after Loreen won the 2023 competition in Liverpool with her song Tattoo.

Asked by the PA news agency about Abba’s famous win in 1974 with Waterloo, Martinus said that “it would be way easier to win” if the pop group was on stage with them at the Malmo Arena.

“We have to focus on our number,” he added. “We’re going to do what represents us, but of course, it would be nice to have Abba supporters on our side.”

Martinus also said that they had not had a message from Abba so far.

Sweden and Ireland are level for the most wins in Eurovision’s history at seven each.

Asked about the pressure of being on the cusp of potentially making history, 22-year-old Norwegian-born singer Martinus said: “We’ve been artists for 12 years now so we kind of, I feel like we’re very experienced in these moments where it’s a lot of pressure on us.

“We’ve been touring in Europe, we have had our own arena tour. We’ve been doing a lot of stuff and yeah, we know it’s a lot of pressure on Sweden this year.”

He also said that they were “more excited than nervous” as they were “comfortable” on stage.

But Martinus said the “nervous thing is actually when we’re done and just going to sit in the green room and just wait for the results, that’s like, the worst thing”.

The duo rose to fame at the age of 10 when they triumphed in the Norwegian singing talent show Melodi Grand Prix Junior in 2012 and have gone on to be recognised at Spellemannprisen, the country’s music awards, as well as coming top of the charts.

Talking about being Norwegian but representing Sweden, Martinus called the fellow Nordic country their “big brother”.

“I think Norway is very proud of us, especially when you have two Norwegian guys representing Sweden, which is one of the biggest countries when it comes to Eurovision,” he added.

“So the Prime Minister (Jonas Gahr Store) wrote on Twitter to us and said he was proud, and I think if the prime minister is proud of us, I think yeah, the whole Norway should.”