KAJ (/ˈkaɪ/ KY, Finland Swedish: [kɑjː] ⓘ) is a Finnish Swedish-speaking music and comedy group from Vörå in Ostrobothnia, Finland. The group is part of the Finland-Swedish cultural sphere and primarily performs in Swedish with lyrics in the Vörå dialect. The group consists of Kevin Holmström, Axel Åhman, and Jakob Norrgård, whose first name initials form the band's name.
KAJ's music spans multiple genres, including pop (K/J-Pop, latin), rock, rap, opera, disco, and schlager, often incorporating humour and satire. The group also has a satirical rockabilly alter ego called Vörjeans, which parodies raggare subcultures. The group has published lyrics for over 100 songs.
They represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 with the song "Bara bada bastu", finishing fourth with 321 points.
Background
Axel Åhman and Jakob Norrgård first met through football in Vörå, where they became close friends. Later, Axel met Kevin Holmström at a motocross track in Röukas, Vörå, where they helped push Axel's stalled Suzuki out of the woods. Kevin and Jakob met at a school disco in Maxmo, as they both had Axel as a mutual friend.
The trio later attended the same school, strengthening their friendship, and eventually formed KAJ in 2009.
Musicals and awards
KAJ has produced two musicals at Wasa Theatre: Gambämark (2018) and Botnia Paradise (2021).
In 2013, KAJ were the recipients of the inaugural Leif Sjöström [sv; fi] prize awarded by Harry Schaumans stiftelse [sv]. That same year, their song "Heimani i skick" won the award for Best Amateur Production in Film/TV/Video at the Finland-Swedish Nöjesgalan. In 2014, KAJ were awarded the Svenska Natten medal for their promotion of Finland Swedish dialects. In 2015, the group was awarded the title of Honorable Ostrobothnians of the Year. In 2021, KAJ won the Ostrobothnian distinction for Rural Face of the Year, awarded by Aktion Österbotten [fi] and Österbottens förbund [sv]. Following their Melodifestivalen win, KAJ were named the 2025 Sauna Promoter of the Year (Swedish: Årets bastufrämjare) by Svenska Bastuakademien [sv], which it was awarded on 14 June. KAJ were named Finland-Swedes of the Year (Swedish: Årets finlandsvenskar) by the Swedish Assembly of Finland, and were also awarded the Swedish Assembly of Finland’s Medal of Merit (Swedish: Folktingets förtjänstmedalj) on 6 November 2025.
Chart performance
On 16 March 2025, KAJ's song "Bara bada bastu" reached number one on the Swedish radio chart Svensktoppen with 192 points, marking the group's first time topping the chart. The song also topped Digilistan on 22 March 2025, after three weeks on the chart, climbing from second place the previous week. The song also topped Spotify's global viral 50 chart in March 2025.
Melodifestivalen and Eurovision 2025
In 2025, KAJ participated in Sweden's Melodifestivalen 2025 with the song "Bara bada bastu", qualifying directly to the final. They eventually won the final with 164 points, and represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 in Basel, Switzerland. The entry was the first entry sung in Swedish sent by Sweden since 1998. The last time an entry was sung in Swedish at the Eurovision Song Contest was in 2012, with Finland-Swedish singer Pernilla Karlsson representing Finland with "När jag blundar". Before their performance, there was speculation that KAJ would have to change some of their lyrics according to Eurovision rules, because using the Finnish expletive perkele was prohibited. However, when the group performed in the first Eurovision semi-final on 13 May 2025, the lyrics were unaltered, with Kevin Holmström singing "perkele" in his verse.
Following their performance in the first semi-final, KAJ qualified to the grand final on 17 May, where they were placed fourth (out of 26 entries) with 321 points.
Humour and music style
Kaj's songwriting spans constantly shifting genres and genre parodies, mostly within the pop and rock spectrum, including rap and electronic dance music, but also country, folk music, Latin rhythms, musicals, and an opera parody. The humour is woven into several layers with playfulness and wordplay which the Swedish Cultural Foundation once called "linguistic virtuosity". The lyrics often deal with very everyday phenomena. Playing with the contrast between the conventions of musical genres and the content of the lyrics is a common humorous technique, as are funny self-produced music videos.
Kaj's humour is described as folksy, kind, and friendly, which from the beginning has given them an audience ranging in age from preschoolers to retirees. The assessment that the humour is kind is often positive but has also appeared in negative criticism. The group often both praises and questions the subject matter of the song. By not taking a stand, the audience can like the song regardless of their opinion on, for example, Friday tacos or common opinions in their home town. The fact that the musical Gambämark can be interpreted politically with relative ease is an exception in Kaj's production.
Kaj has often been called old-fashioned. They themselves have embraced the concept of being old-fashioned and described their grandparents as major sources of inspiration. They have also written many songs about their home town and what it was like in the past in a way that one would not normally expect from young people. It was not until the album Karar i arbeit (2024) that the group felt that the prefix "little" in "little old" was starting to fall away, and that they were now writing about their own adult lives.
Small clashes between the Swedish and Finnish languages are sometimes mentioned, such as the swear word hurri in the song Kom ti byin (2016) when crossing the language border between Swedish- and Finnish-speaking areas. In both the song Tango taas (2012) and the musical Botnia Paradise (2021), situational comedy arises when the main character is poor at speaking Finnish. In Hupparipäivä, originally from the Yle Christmas calendar 2014 with lyrics in poor Finnish, including some made-up words, the group pokes fun at themselves on the same theme.
