Eurovision Royalty: Carola

Carola Häggkvist is a Swedish singer and performer. She competed at Eurovision three times: in 1983, finishing third; in 1991, winning the contest; and in 2006, finishing fifth. To this day, Carola is a superstar in Sweden.

In 1983, Carola entered the contest with "Främling"(translation: "Stranger"). Look at how adorable she is, with her floppy hair and THAT OUTFIT. She didn't win Eurovision that year, but her debut album, also entitled Främling, sold over one million copies and is the biggest selling album in Swedish history.

And here she is with John Travolta.

She spent a few years touring the world to promote Främling, collaborating with the Bee Gees, and, in 1990, attempted again to represent Sweden at Eurovision. In 1991, Carola's "Fångad av en stormvind" (translation: "Captured By A Lovestorm") was selected.

Another perfect wardrobe choice, and excellent execution of the wind machine here.

After an extremely close race between Sweden and France, and a recount of the votes, 25 year-old Carola was declared the winner!

The next decade was filled with more touring, recording a lot of gospel albums, and starring in Swedish musicals. In 2006, Carola decided to return to Eurovision with "Invincible."

Although it only placed fifth in the final, it was a show-stopping performance. She is just Eurovision perfection. And she somehow gets more beautiful with age. Carola reminded European viewers that she's still a powerful competitor, and Sweden is not a country to ignore in this contest. Finland took home the prize in 2006, and in the following years, Scandinavian countries would go on to win three more times.

She is a goddess of the wind machine, beautiful and bronzed. She's like the Swedish version of Whitney Houston, except better because she doesn't have a crippling drug problem. For Swedes, Carola can do no wrong. She sets the bar for Eurovision. She is a legend. She is perfect.*


*Except once in an interview, she did say some not nice things about gay people. But she later recanted her statements, and said she was misrepresented. So we're going to choose to ignore this. And she is perfect. Done.