Richard made headlines in September after

KAJ are the first Finnish act to represent Sweden at the Eurovision, hailing from the coastal town of Vörå, where Swedish is still the main language.A comedy troupe who met at school, they've been performing together for more than 15 years – and were the surprise winners of Sweden's Melodifestivalen, where the public selects the country's Eurovision entry, earlier this year.

Their song, Bara Bada Bastu, is an accordian-led tribute to sauna culture (Finland has more than three million saunas, one for every two people)."It felt like a natural thing to sing about," says Kevin Holmström. "We really like the sauna. It's universal."The first Swedish-language entry since 2012, the song extols the practice's stress-busting virtues. Is that why Finland is consistently ranked as the world's happiest nation, I wonder?

"It's a chicken and an egg situation," laughs Jakob Norrgård. "I don't know which came first, the happiness or the sauna, but the sauna definitely brings your pulse down."The trio have brought a mock sauna to the Eurovision stage this year, complete with birch branches, hot coals and dancers in skimpy towels. In the lyrics, they ask, "how long can you last?".

"Oh, we can make it last all evening," confirms Jackob. "A sauna party that lasts for hours."

"I like to do it with a lot of intervals," says Axel Åhman. "Two to three hours, going in and out, having something to drink, maybe even snack on a sausage outside, and then go back in – just to make it a calm and long session.""We all feel super safe in that area," French singer Louane told the BBC earlier this week.

"It means when you encounter a blue carpet, you're not allowed to have your phone out to film or take pictures or anything."The result is a much calmer atmosphere in the Eurovision camp. After the tensions of 2024, the class of 25 have even set up a WhatsApp group to cheer each other on.

"It's such a nice thing to have everybody so supporting each other," says Claude, who is representing the Netherlands."Like, if somebody forgot something in their home country, they'd just be like, 'Does somebody have like, a charger?' and the reply would come, 'Oh yes, you can come pick it up at my hotel room'. It's so fun!"