Meet the man behind 'Euphoria' - Thomas G:son

Thomas G:son, whose real surname is Gustafsson, was born in Sweden in 1968 and has been writing songs professionally since 1998. He made his Eurovision debut in 2001 as part of Sweden's songwriting team for the song Listen To Your Heartbeat which was performed by the group Friends. The song finished fifth and started a string of Eurovision entries for the songwriter.

G:son has written nearly 70 songs for various national selections across Europe and to date, he has reached the Eurovision Song Contest 13 times, writing songs for Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Georgia and more recently, Cyprus. How did all this come about? "They [the delegations] contact me, usually with a plan," he explained. "For example, Cyprus contacted me ahead of the 2017 contest, they already had a singer and wanted me to write a song. I thought why not? It's fun." 

Does Thomas have a favourite year which springs to mind? "Every country is a bit different, they are all easy-going people. Athens with Carola [2006] was a great time." Carola represented Sweden for the third time and performed Invincible which was co-written by G:son, finishing fifth in the Grand Final. 

It would take Thomas G:son more than ten years to perfect his craft and in 2012 he finally struck gold with Euphoria performed by Loreen which won the Eurovision Song Contest by a landslide. The song became a major hit reaching number one across Europe. He revealed that the first demo of the song was completed in May 2011. "I remember the exact date, it was 18th May 2011. I sang the very first version. I must say that Euphoria is one of the greatest moments in my career. It was a long journey to make it happen but it was a really memorable thing," he said. 

Even though he's won the Eurovision Song Contest, G:son keeps coming back for more. What motivates the songwriter? "My goal is to write songs that I like and have a good time. I will still write songs if I think it's fun," he explained. He certainly seemed to be enjoying his time in Kyiv so for now, it looks like the music will continue to play, even if the country he writes for may change. 

Thank you to Thomas G:son for taking the time to speak to Eurovision.tv.