After the huge media and social media outcry YLE's UMK producer Anssi Autio has met the press. When Sandhja didn't qualify for the final last night in the first semifinal, it marks only Finland's second run of two years in a row since the semifinals started 11 years ago as we missed the 2004 and 2005 finals (only to come back in 2006 and win it!).
People have critizid everything from singing offtune, to her dress, styling and choreography and staging. And the way she was selected. Saara Aalto and her fans are all over the press again....
This year the UMK voting had 50-50 televote and the civil juries, while last year it was 90-10 and both acts failed to qualify. Last year PKN won the televote, too, while this year Saara Aalto won it but lost to Sandhja in combined result. In 2014 Softengine finished 11th in the Eurovision final having been selected by combined televote/jury vote.
"I wouldn't start blaming the UMK voting system, but maybe we have to check on that" Autio says. "Here everyone is at the same starting point, no matter how big star in your homecountry you may be. This year the visual effects have taken a huge step ahead, even in countries one wouldn't have expected. We have to deliver the plan already in mid-March worked by our director, choreographer and show producer. Then the host production team works on it and answers about 50% of the outcome. From now on the visuality must be better considered also for the Finnish act, within reasonable funds" he says. "And it was SVT who placed us at number one, as they thought it'd be a good opening act. Maybe it would have worked better in the middle of those overly visualized acts?"
May I ask what the Finnish team was doing when the others were talking with SVT about the available effects and props and gimmicks to use? And got what they wanted while Finland, it seems, just came to Globen and wondered whee the others got the goods from? Just saying....
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