The day after the final and the sauna benches have been aired out after one of the biggest surprises in Melodifestivalen's history.
The members of Kaj are tired but happy after getting to celebrate their unexpected victory with loved ones at Melodifestivalen's after-party.
We're starting to rehearse for Basel on Tuesday. There will also be meetings with SVT to plan how to transport the original sauna to Switzerland or if we should build a new one. We probably want an even bigger sauna, says Jakob Norrgård.
"Victory parade for humor"
That the international jury groups did not unanimously give all 12 points to Måns Zelmerlöw and thereby enabled a victory for an unexpected humor entry surprised many.
According to experts, it's because Sweden has been seen as boring and proper in Eurovision contexts, with many streamlined pop entries in recent years. Kaj agrees with the analysis, themselves big fans of Swedish Melodifestivalen.
I think this year's edition has been a victory parade for humor. And we signal with this win that humor should be taken seriously, says Axel Åhman.
"Very close to winning"
The downside of the humor trio's great success was, of course, seeing their main competitor Måns Zelmerlöw in tears after the loss.
We became good friends during the competition and wish him all the best. He was super nice to us all the way and he was very close to winning, it was tight all the way, says Jakob Norrgård.
Axel Åhman says he understands exactly how Zelmerlöw felt.
He's a competitive person and I'm the same way, so I have full understanding for his reaction. We only had everything to win, while he had this enormous pressure on him. It affects, of course.
Concert for 500
After interviews and some recovery in Stockholm, the plan is to return to Finland during the week, where booked concerts of varying sizes await.
We have a concert on the weekend in Närpes, it's in a swimming hall with 500 sold tickets, says Jakob Norrgård.
Axel Åhman chimes in:
Then we have three arena concerts in Vasa too, for 9,000 people.
Do you think the successes will affect you in the future?
We're doing what we can to keep our feet on the ground. We've worked together for 15 years and hopefully built up some self-distance, says Kevin Holmström.
The group consists of Axel Åhman, Jakob Norrgård, and Kevin Holmström, all born in 1993, from the Ostrobothnian towns of Palvis, Maxmo, and Komossa.
They formed Kaj in 2009 and have since released seven albums, written two musicals, and toured in Swedish Finland.
Kaj sings in the Vörå dialect and their songs span genres like pop, rap, disco, and schlager. They also have a side project together, the rockabilly band Vörjeans.
