Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Softengine scored the best Finnish finish in the Eurovision since Lordi's win with their Something better in Copenhagen 2014. They released their debut album, got good critic abroad and for a while it seemed they would actually make it and become world known band. Then September one of the guys left the band and they continued as foursome, releasing singles and promised two EPs to be released. One came, the other never. Then May 2017 another guy left and they were three... Then we haven't quite  heard of them until now: lead singer Topi Latukka has released his debut solo single (but the band still exists). In Finnish. Pehmeitä pintoi is a far cry from bands rocky pop and flirts with today's radio friendly trends and thus remains rather anonymous sadly.... The year after Satin Circus was in UMK and instantly became a fan favorite with Crossroads . They already gained popularity before UMK but sadly Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät run over them for all the wrong reasons...

Annica Milán and Kimmo Blom both are already television talent search veterans and have been in Idols, The Voice and Kimmo also did #UMK15 as Angelo De Nile. Together they have also done musical theater and performing together since some time.  Annica tried her luck in The Voice 2013 where she was kicked out in the battle stage by Suvi Aalto, Saara's sister. Before that did Idols 2008 and didn't reach the final seven. In between she has won a random talent contest Palatsin tähti 2011.  Kimmo has been singing in many bands, and particiated with Boys of the Band in Euroviisut 2010, and then as mentioned before as Angelo De Nile in UMK last year. He has been backing singer to many heavy bands, played Freddie Mercury in The Show must go on musical, He has also written songs to countless artists over the years.  Apparently they are alos romantically involved so are we witnessing the birth of rock Al Bano & Romina Power here? Maybe..... 14/20

It may have taken four years and a total makeover back to Euroviisut-like national selection but UMK finally can be considered a success in many levels. YLE has collected a lot of praise from fans and other people for the show, mostly because it brought back the Eurovision to it, and the word itself, "Eurovision" was no longer in the banned list but was repeated in many ways all through it. The average viewing figures were 657.000, peaking at nearly 750.000. Still a far cry from 1,2-1,6 million it used to be the good old days. But good. The videos and clips in YLE's UMK15 webpage were watched some 1,5 million times.  Most of all UMK has been a success in Twitter. During the final there were 22.000 tweets and every broadcast Saturday #umk15 has been a top trend beating other popular variery shows clearly, from Voice to Kingi. #umk has now become the all time top-6 hastag with its 44.000 tweets during this year's shows. Finally 146.166 votes were given in the final...

22.53 Ok, here we go..... NO COMMENT 22.45 Stop televote! And then we have Softengine! :-) Nice acoustic Something better before moving on to Sirens . The band has matured nicely and they are good indeed. Great performance even if so dark you couldn't really see a thing...... Another recap as the lines are stillopen for the rest of the votes. The 90% of them..... 22.30 Time for results. The juries. Eurovison style voting. First Martat. Solju gets 12. Rainbow people next. PKN gets 12. Kids. Satin Circus 12 and zero for PKN. Kids are the truth and the future! Finnish Swedes next, with Krista's bf. Satin gets 12. Music writers next. Opera Skaala gets 12 and the snob Satin. Media people now. Satin 12 points and they snobbed PKN. Fans next. Satin 12 :-) And last jury is taxidrivers. 12 for Satin! 22.26 Time for Emma Salokoski. With an interesting dance act with lyrics of the song painted on their bodies...... 22.25 It's official: there will be #umk16! 22.21 ...

You have spoken, my dear readers. Satin Circus is your favorite to represent Finland in Vienna in May. They have recently released an acoustic verison of Crossroads . The poll is now closed and here are the results: (1.) 1. Satin Circus  47% 2. Siru  36% (2.) 3. Solju  34% (3.) 4. Opera Skaala  28% (4.) 5. Shava  15% (5.) 6. Angelo De Nile  9% (6.) 7. Jouni Aslak  9% 8. Ida Bois 8% 9. Eeverest  7% (7.) 10. Norlan El Misionario  6% 11. Pihka ja Myrsky  4% (8.) 12. Järjestyshäiriö  4% 13. Aikuinen 4% (9.) 14. Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät  4% 15. Hans on the Bass  3% 16. Heidi Pakarinen  2% 17. Vilikasper Kanth  1% 18. Otto Ovar  1%

The time is running out and this weekend will give us (at least) six new entries, when Irealnd, Moldova, Finland, Hungary and Slovenia have their national finals. Sweden has its fourth and last semifinal and Spain releases its song. Are you excited yet? As usual I will update this with results and the rest in due time.  Friday, February 27, 2015 Ireland - Eurosong - FINAL 22.35 CET. Watch it here . Read more here   RESULTS Austria - Wer singt für Österreich - Show 2 20.15 CET. Watch it here . Read more here Saturday, February 28, 2015 Moldova - O melodie pentru Europa 19.00 CET - Watch it here . Read more her e   RESULTS Finland - UMK15 - FINAL 20.00 CET - Watch it  here . Read more  here  and  here    RESULTS Hungary - A Dal 2015 - FINAL 20.25 CET - Watch it here . Read more here   RESULTS Slovenia - EMA15 - FINAL 20.00 CET - Watch it here. Read more here   RES...

Now that we have the final line up both Iltalehti and Ilta-Sanomat launched their polls and it's embarassing to see for everyone but PKN.  Ilta-Sanomat is Finland's second newspaper with circulation nearly 120.000. In its poll 14.000 votes were given and PKN scored 45%. Second was Satin Circus with 17% and third Solju with 9%. They didn't reveal the other ones but that's already 71% so the remaining 29% is spead among the other six. Iltalehti, Finland's 6th biggest with circulation of about 78.000 but second biggest online right after Ilta-Sanomat (both over 300.000 daily) had 15.700 voters for its poll and it's even worse.... They revealed the whole list and it's below: 1. PKN - Aina mun pitää 56,1% 2. Satin Circus - Crossroads 14,4% 3. Angelo De Nile - All for victory  6,9% 4. Solju - Hold your colours  6,2% 5. Opera Skaala - Heart of light  4,9% 6. Shava - Ostarilla  3,3% 7. Norlan El Misionario - No voy a llorar por ti  3,3% 8. J...

The much talked about kansalaisraadit or citizens/popular/civil/whatever they would be called in English juries have been revealed. There will be eight of them, made up a certain category of people. Theiy don't have much to say anyways as their weight is 10% only of the final outcome. I suppose they mean 10% all of them together and not 10% each of them leaving only 20% for the televote..... Ok, I'm just kidding. Anyways the juries are: Taxidrivers, kids, rainbow people, media, Martat (or grannies), music makers, Finnish Swedes and fans. It seems their sole purpose is to be an entertainment factor so I suppose we will start with them the results before the televotes come in.....

Third consegutive SuperWeekend in the Eurovision week, from Friday to Sunday with three Baltic finals and national selections going on in Finland, Sweden and Hungary and starting in Austria. Friday, February 20, 2015 Austria - Österreich sucht den Song-Contest-Star - First show 20.15 CET. Watch live here . Read more here   RESULTS Saturday, February 21, 2015 Lithuania - Eurovizija - FINAL 20.00 CET. Watch live here . Read more here   RESULTS Estonia - Eesti laul - FINAL 20.35 CET. Watch live here . Read more here   RESULTS Finland - UMK15 - Third semifinal 20.00 CET. Watch live here . Read more here   RESULTS Sweden - Melodifestivalen - Third semifinal 20.00 CET. Watch live here . Read more h ere . RESULTS Hungary - A Dal - Second semifinal 20.25 CET. Watch live here . read more here   = RESULTS Sunday, February 22, 2015 Latvia - Supernova - FINAL 20.20 CET. Watch live here . Read more here ...