Going from anonymity to sudden notoriety by becoming the great favorite to win the 2025 Edition of Eurovision, the Kaj comic group hopes to make the multitude of the final laugh, on May 17 in Basel. This Finnish trio was chosen to represent Sweden with a crazy title, Bara Bastu BaraA praise of the sauna.
With the war that is enraged in Ukraine and Gaza and the economic and political uncertainty that reigns in the world, people “need to have fun,” they immediately declare in an interview with AFP.
Kevin Holmström, Axel Åhman and Jakob Norrgård, whose initials form the name of the group, are known since childhood in Vörå, a city with a Swedish majority in western Finland. This group trained in 2009, which has since produced seven albums, has enjoyed a small notoriety in their country of origin, particularly in the community of what they come.
“A fun pop song”
Their recent and meteoric popularity shortened them, even “shocked,” admit to the AFP. Bara Bastu Bara (Come to the sauna), a lovely song, seduced the traigators who have this musical-colomic trio to win the final of this 69th edition. In front of Austria and France, third of the forecasts with Mother From Louane.
“We have been doing this for 15 years, that we do the same, that we try to evolve, and there, suddenly, a great advance. It is quite difficult to understand,” said Kevin Holmström.
They describe their song as a “funny pop song”: “It is a matter of relaxing with friends, going to the sauna, having a good time and getting out of it,” said Jakob Norrgård.
The sauna, the Nordic institution
Axel Åhman, smoked glasses screwed in the nose, approves. “I think it is a song that adapts perfectly at that time. This is a time when people need to have fun. They need to be together. Just join the sauna and have fun. I like to think that this is what we need at this time,” he said, sitting in the middle of his two colleagues to form the acronym for the group.
The trio won its Eurovision ticket by winning the melodifestivalen tele-hook, Ultra Swimmed in Sweden, who determines the country’s representative every year in Eurovision. On the stage during the competition, the dancers, accompanied by the accordion and dresses with woodcutter shirts, roasted sausages around a fire before appearing in towels in a false sauna, hitting their backs with thin bpedmers, as the tradition dictates.
The group says that it even used the sound of the water that splashes the hot stones of the sauna stove to create one of the sound effects of the song.
“As we are from Finland and we would contribute to the Swedish national final, we wanted to offer something different, something that represents our origins,” says Axel Åhman.
The culture of the sauna is omnipresent in the two Nordic countries, and in view of their lives in Finland in a Swedish community, the trio says he feels completely attached to the two cultures.
Risk
It will be the first time since 1998 that Sweden will be represented in competition with an original song. The Scandinavian country has already won the competition seven times only with Ireland, its last victory dating from 2023 with the pop song, and more conventional – Tattoo of the artist Loreen.
Because Kaj’s crazy style clearly contrasts with the popular pop performances offered by Sweden in recent years. At the risk of making a failure? “We hope it will be well received. We have received many positive comments from all over,” said Jakob Norrgård. “I think the Swedes were ready to send something new this year.”
In Basel, its goal is to transform “the entire stadium into a sauna”. “They were asked for more steam and more lasers. This is what we expect.”
Source: BFM TV
