Who are KAJ? Meet Sweden's Eurovision 2025 entry
With a catch track about the joy of saunas, this year's Swedish entry has already been tipped as favourites to win.
Sweden's Eurovision 2025 entry KAJ have already been causing some heat ahead of the big show – and are the bookies' favourites to win the contest this year.
With 39 million streams already on Spotify, their infectious earworm Bara Bada Bastu has reached number one on the Swedish radio chart, and has become a firm favourite across the countries.
KAJ are only the next in a long list of Swedish Eurovision icons, including the legendary ABBA, and of course Loreen, who has won the contest not once, but twice – making her the first woman to achieve this feat.
If KAJ were to be successful this year, that would mark Sweden's eighth Eurovision trophy and give them a new record of the country with the most wins, a title they currently share jointly with Ireland - no pressure, boys!
But first they need to pass the first semi-final in Basel, Switzerland in order to fight for the trophy in Saturday's Grand Finale.
With all that in mind, lets take a closer look at the band, and their catchy track.
Who are Sweden Eurovision 2025 entry KAJ?
KAJ are a comedy band made up of members Kevin Holmström, Axel Åhman and Jakob Norrgård.
The band's name KAJ made up of the first letter of each of their names.
All three bandmembers have known each other since childhood, with Axel and Jakob meeting at a football club and Kevin meeting Axel at a motocross track.
The three of them then went to school together and eventually formed the band in 2009, when they were just 16 years old.
They've since released seven studio albums and produced two musicals – not too shabby!
The members were all born in a Swedish-speaking municipality in Finland, and therefore sing all their songs in the Swedish language as opposed to Finnish.
KAJ took part in Sweden's pre-selection contest Melodifestivalen 2025 and won with 164 points, earning them the honour of representing Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2025.
How old are KAJ?
Kevin Holmström is 31 years old, whilst Axel Åhman and Jakob Norrgård are both 32 years old.
What nationality are KAJ?
All the members of KAJ are Finnish and are from Vörå, Ostrobothnia, Finland.
What have KAJ said about representing Sweden at Eurovision 2025?
The band expressed their humility and gratitude at being selected to represent Sweden.
Kevin Holmström said: "It's a complete shock and I am so happy right now but I can't believe it. It's so nice that our humour and our friendship has brought this to us. This much joy to us and this much joy to people all around."
"We are really Finnish in that way, we don't expect miracles or great things, we just roll on and see what happens, and look at this," added Axel Åhman.
What is Sweden's Eurovision 2025 song called?
KAJ will be representing Sweden in Eurovision this year with the song Bara Bada Bastu.
The song was written by the three band members alongside Anderz Wrethov, Kristofer Strandberg and Robert Skowronski.
Bara Bada Bastu will be the first Swedish-language song that Sweden have sent to Eurovision in 27 years - "about damn time!" said the band.
Where did Sweden come in the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest?
Sweden placed ninth in the final with a total score of 174 points; 49 points from the public and 125 points from the juries.
They were represented by identical twin brothers Marcus & Martinus with their pop song Unforgettable.
The Eurovision Song Contest 2025 semi-finals will take place on Tuesday 13th May and Thursday 15th May, airing at 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
You can also check out the full list of Eurovision winners and how many times the UK has won Eurovision.
Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Authors
Phoebe Kowhai Barnes is a Freelance Writer who covers pop culture and entertainment programmes for the Radio Times. She previously worked as the Senior Assistant Editor at The Tab where she managed its local department. She obtained a BA (Hons) in English Literature from University of Nottingham.
