Finland’s fourth largest city, Vantaa, has decided to gift Eurovision 2023’s runner-up Käärijä with a rent-free apartment for one year!
The rapper, whose real name is Jere Pöyhönen, grew up in Vantaa and recently discussed publicly about his desire to move back one day. The City’s decision to gift him an apartment seems a strong ploy to make that dream a reality!
Käärijä received the keys to his new apartment the Deputy Mayor of Vantaa, Tero Anttila, and a local politician and MP, Sari Multala, at a ceremony on Tuesday. He was also awarded the Vantaa Medal in recognition of what they called his “outstanding services to the City of Vantaa”.
In the City’s press release, Käärijä went as far as to say,
“Home in Vantaa always feels so much more like home.”
This accolade comes after the City’s earlier announcement that a mural in Käärijä’s honour has been commissioned. A potential site to the west of the main Tikkurila station, near the town hall and market square, has been preliminarily chosen for the mural. This location was chosen as it is in the heart of the city, and will be easy for any Käärijä fans to find, should they make the pilgrimage to Vantaa to see it.
At Eurovision in Liverpool, Cha Cha Cha won the public vote and finished in 2nd place overall in the Grand Final with 526 points! The song also has over 75 million streams on Spotify at time of publishing.
