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FINLAND: #UMK17 REVIEW: LAURI YRJÖLÄ - HELPPO ELÄMÄ

84/120
Lauri Yrjölä scores a surprise second place in our little panel. Lauri is a singer-songwriter and guitarist. He has material enough for his debut album to be released, if everything goes well, and if he has time from playing with Isac Elliot, Sanni, Antti Tuisku and other top names, and in the bands Year of the Dog and Ottilia. But maybe it's time to step to the spotlight for real and #UMK17 is a good test for that. He's a late bloomer as he took guitar into his hand and started with music only when he entered high school. 
His song is about contracts; how it is to search for easy life (aka Helppo elämä) but how it in the end gives you nothing. Being the only song in Finnish in competition he says he wants his arrangement and sound international but his lyrics in Finnish to make it more authentic, so he can truly sing them from his heart. And should he win, the song stays in Finnish!
This is not his first time in UMK, he was already in Mica Ikonen's band back in 2012. His Eurovision favorite is Calm after the storm and of course ABBA.


If Lauri is your favorite vote for him in my poll on right or for real here

So, our little international* panel placed this second. He wasn't anyone's number one but his lowest score was as high as 5 from 3M. All the others gave mostly 7,5-8. Valentina thinks it's always a pleasure to hear native languages but suspects the song is a bit weak to make great impact in the voting. Jack finds it cute and harmless and doubts he's going to Kyiv even if he likes the song a lot, especially because it's in Finnish. And it recalls a bit Latvia 2016, he thinks. Marco also praises Finnish and would welcome Lauri with open arms to Kyiv, but also has doubts the song is strong enough to pick up votes.
This blogger agrees with most said above. I like the song a lot, I like the sound, I like the long words he belts out so clearly. Vas-tuun-tun-not-to-muu-den :-) Now learn that, Euroboys! I'm curiously waiting for the staging and if they nail it, I wouldn't mind seeing him in Kyiv.  
It could as well happen if he get all Isac Elliot (his bestie) fans voting for him. And while at it also Sanni's and Antti Tuisku's and so on. But so far I haven't seen any real push from Isac, except the cameo in the video. Isac, what are you waiting for? Help your friend!

Current ranking and reviews:
2. Lauri Yrjölä – Helppo elämä 84


*Valentina (SanMarino), Jack (UK), Michele (Sweden/Italy), Markus (Germany/UK), Marco (Italy), Francisco (Spain/Venezuela), 3M (Malta), Robert (Netherlands), 3K (Finland) and Blogilkar (Finland). Most jurors have years of experience inside and outside Eurovision as artist, producer and delegation members. Some are just active fans while 3K are a group of teenagers, non-Eurovision fans who follow it as randomly as any normal people, :-) 
All of us gave votes from 0-10 to each entry, so the maximum votes is 120. 

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