Favourite KAJ hopes for fun and steamy Eurovision

Comedy act KAJ, which has soared out of obscurity to become the favourite in the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest, says it hopes its steamy-but-not-in-a-sexy-way sauna song will make people laugh.

- JOHANNES LEDEL

With war raging in Gaza and Ukraine and economic and political uncertainty sweeping the world, people "need to have some fun", the trio, who hail from Finland but are representing Sweden in Eurovision, said in an interview.

Kevin Holmstrom, Axel Ahman and Jakob Norrgard - whose first initials spell KAJ - met as children growing up in Vora, a small mostly Swedish-speaking town in western Finland.

They formed KAJ back in 2009 and have since produced seven albums but readily admit that describing them as obscure until recently is "accurate".

Now, their song Bara Bada Bastu (Just Have A Sauna) is the bookies' favourite to win the 69th edition of the contest in Basel, Switzerland, on May 17. Their breakthrough has surprised the group.

"You're doing this for 15 years, doing the same thing, trying to evolve, and now suddenly it's like this big breakthrough. It's quite hard to understand," Holmstrom said. They describe Bara Bada Bastu as a "fun pop song".

"It's about relaxing with your friends, going into the sauna and having a nice time and coming out on the other side feeling great," Norrgard said.