Sawt Falasteen - Denmark's Soren Torpegaard Lund to 'stay true' at Eurovision

Torpegaard Lund, 27, will compete in Vienna on May 16th with the song "For vi gar hjem" ("Before We Go Home"), an ode to the world of nightclubs.

It "tells the story of growing up with love and temptation, and actually giving in to it, because that's what we learn from, and that's how we learn to be grown-up human beings," he told AFP on a sunny afternoon in Copenhagen.

Torpegaard Lund says one of his greatest memories is Austrian drag artist Conchita Wurst's Eurovision victory in 2014, when he was 15 years old.

"It made a big impact on me, just growing up as a queer kid," he said, "finding out what my identity was and just putting it out there."

"That was a very cool moment."

Now, he'll not only meet Wurst -- who is one of the show's presenters in Vienna -- but will also fulfil his boyhood dream of being on the Eurovision stage.

"I'm trying to really play it cool, but it is crazy to me that I'm going to be part of this."

- Backlash -

His hip-swinging number in tight leather pants and a mesh top has however raised some eyebrows in normally liberal Denmark.

"Some people in Denmark tried to tone my act down, and I also got some homophobic backlash from Danish people," he said.

"Fag in fishnets", "homo in a box" and "HIV spreader" were among the hurtful comments he received on social media, he said.

"I'm definitely going to channel just staying true to myself," he said.

"I hate to see that it's still happening," he sighed, referring to anti-gay attacks.

"I also loved being able to reply ... just being like, 'you can't touch me'."

"We can be here. You can be here. Everyone can be here at the same time," he said.

Originally from a small town in central Denmark, Torpegaard Lund never took to sports, setting him apart from other kids.

Instead, he turned very early to musical theatre, piano, and singing.

"There was nothing else for me that I could do so I kind of just went on that path," he said.

He attended Denmark's National School of Performing Arts, and has since played the lead role of Tony in a Danish production of West Side Story, among other things.

In February, Danes selected his song for Eurovision, with leading daily Politiken calling it "the right choice".

He is "an artist who is comfortable on stage, extroverted, with a choreography already ready that could easily fit into the Eurovision Song Contest," the newspaper wrote.

- 'Create hope' -

Another challenge for Torpegaard Lund will be to rekindle Denmark's interest in Eurovision, where it has lost some of its lustre after wins in 1963, 2000 and 2013.

"I didn't know that it was kind of cringe," he said.

"It was very, very big in the 1980s and 1990s in Denmark and then it kind of stumbled the last 10 years."

"But I feel like it's definitely having its comeback, and the music industry is realising that it's very cool for established artists to have a platform to show their music."

While focused on his performance, he's also aware of the tensions around this year's competition.

Five European broadcasters, including Ireland and Spain, are expected to boycott the 2026 edition over Israel's participation, and more than 1,000 artists have also urged a boycott.

For the Dane, the priority is for people to pull together.

"In times of crisis, we as human beings have always come together to try to create hope in different ways, and ... celebrate some kind of hope together. And I'm proud of being part of that."

His act of rebellion?

He has refused to translate his song into English, as is customary for smaller languages like Danish, and is proud to represent all of Denmark -- including Greenland and the Faroe Islands -- at a time when US President Donald Trump's appetite for Greenland threatens its territorial integrity.

"I'm proud of representing countries that need to fight for their own right, their own freedom."

M.AbuKhalil--SF-PST