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FINLAND: ARTISTS WE SHOULD HAVE IN #UMK18 IF ONLY... Vol.11: JVG, JANNA, JESSE KAIKURANTA, LAURA NÄRHI


It's September and the Eurovision 2018 season is officially on. I will feature in coming days names that could be in UMK18, if only...... I say if only, as most likely we won't see any of them in there for UMK is profilied as a newcomers contest instead of being our own Sanremo or Melodifestivalen. In short: a major contest all the big names want to take part not only to win but to boost their record sales and score hits. But one can dream, right? I have thrown in some not so known names for variety. Let's go.... Vol.11 Check out the previous posts by scrolling down.

JVG came to success in 2011 with Häissä, a song that topped all various charts and was easily the biggest hit of summer 2011. Since then they have released five albums and 14 Top-5 singles and have won five Emma (aka Finnish Grammys) awards. Their latest album Popkorni was released this month without any pre-advertising or information and as a digital one only. It occupied the whole Spotify Top-10 in the next 24 hrs... Listen to Tarkenee (below), Tuulisii,  Matti & Teppo, Takajeejee, Voitolla yöhön, Huominen on huomenna
Janna's parents are well known musicians, and her mother Maarit an Euroviisut veteran. Her first releases were in English and published in Asia and Europe as well, but the only trace of that career on Youtube is her last single Strip down. Four years later she came back in Finnish and scored a megahit with Sä et ole hullu (below). Läpinäkyvää, Tytöt lähtee tanssimaan, Paljon onnee and Anna mä puhallan have followed. Sadly she's lately been more in public thanks to her short and stormy marriage and nasty divorce.... 
Jesse Kaikuranta was one of the biggest success stories from the first edition of The Voice, even if he didn't win. #1 debut single Vie minut kotiin (below) and #1 platinum album followed. Two albums later and other songs like Järjetön rakkaus, Näytän sulle rannan, Minä ja hän, Vielä yksi laulu. his star may not be shining so brightly anymore and UMK could be a relaunch for his talent. Even if I recall him saying he's not interested in Eurovision.... Never say never :-)
Laura Närhi became famous as the lead singer of Kemopetrol. They released five albums between 2000-2011. Laura has released two solo albums and five Top-10 singles: Tämä on totta, Mä annan sut pois (below), #1 Hetken tie on kevyt, Tuhlari and Siskoni. Check out also Supersankari, She's one of those "unknown known ones" and could use a platform like UMK to make her a household name....


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