A fifteen-year-old dream has finally come true! What a journey it has been, what amazing people we have met, and what immense support we’ve felt all the way.
From listening to Vocal Spectrum on repeat on our way to school, to singing our first tags in the hallways of Kungsholmens Gymnasium, to visiting our first Zero8 rehearsals in 2009, to competing at our first SNOBS, to singing at our first Internationals in 2010, to sailing and singing around the world in 2011, to winning the Collegiate Championship in Portland 2012, to earning our first big medal in Las Vegas 2014, to struggling to stay together in 2019, to finding ourselves again in 2022, to returning as a full quartet in 2023, to becoming your 2025 International Champions.
We wouldn’t want to change a single step along the way. The journey that brought us here and the people we met along it are what really matter.
There are so many people we want to thank — people without whom we would not be who we are. School first brought us together, but Doug Harrington was the one who shaped us into a quartet. He poured countless hours into us and taught us what it means to sing as a barbershop quartet. Zero8 became our home, a place where we were allowed — and encouraged — to grow, both as singers and as people. To all our brothers in Zero8: we love you, and we look forward to every Thursday night there will ever be!
If Zero8 is our home, then Ringmasters have been our guiding stars — our role models. Watching and learning from you, being inspired by your brilliance, and having you as our quartet big brothers has been invaluable. Rasmus, Emanuel, Jakob, Martin, and Dider: thank you for sharing the secret sauce!
Rasmus has shaped us more than any other living being. Your coaching, warmth, honesty, playful arranging, and god-tier leadership have become one of the founding pillars of Squeezy.
Leading up to Midwinter in Orlando 2013, we were introduced to the newly crowned Rising Stars of Sweet Adelines: GQ. Together, we toured schools with Christian Diaz as our host and guide, spent long nights singing for and with each other, and danced the night away in Miami. We were absolutely starstruck by your talent — the epitome of music-making. You’ve inspired us since that first day in Daddy Dean’s house and will continue to inspire us for the rest of our lives. To close the chapter of our competition run alongside you is an absolute honour.
To all our previous members — Alex, Jonathan, Larsson, and Pontus — thank you for being part of our journey. We couldn’t have made it without you. And thank you to Oscar, Jakob, Jonas, and Mikael, who have stepped in along the way.
To Sam Wey: your friendship is beyond words. We celebrate this victory with you. Thank you for being part of us — through thick and thin. We love you!
Congratulations to everyone who competed this year, both at Internationals and around the globe. We are all what makes barbershop go ’round. To Gimme Four, First Take, Full Effect, and GQ: we are honoured to be medalists alongside you. And to all finalists: what a SHOW we put on Saturday night. Such musicality, diversity, and love poured out of every group. That’s why we sing.
Thank you Barbershop Harmony Society and everyone who worked to make this convention so incredible. We will remember it for the rest of our lives.
To finish these finals the way we did felt absolutely surreal. Lemon Squeezy has never experienced a hit quite like Saturday night — and we’ve never had more fun on stage in our lives. Ending 15 years of competition with music that feels 2000% us, and a performance that truly felt like our best ever, is so much more than we ever could have hoped for.
Lastly, to our families — Per, Inger, Anders, Elisabet, Ali, Ensi, Daniel, Jackie, Carro, Ella, Pauline, and Astrid: thank you for your unconditional support. We made it!
Becoming International Champions is the end of an era, but only a small step in a much longer journey. Our goal has always been to keep learning, keep rehearsing, and to become better singers — and better humans. We still have so much to learn, and oh so much more music to make. It’s a DREAM to be your 2025 Champions, and we’ll do everything we can to be proud ambassadors of barbershop. WE LOVE YOU ALL! 💛
Now there’s only Senior’s left.
Lemon Squeezy out.