Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

  Before going into new faces and new sounds after last week's warm up let's have a quickie to see what the Eurovision veterans have been delivering the past few months including Hokka of Blind Channel fame as Joel Hokka left the band and formed a new one, simply called Hokka. JOOST, KÄÄRIJÄ, TOMMY CASH - I MISS US ERIKA VIKMAN - FATHER (I WILL NEVER CONFESS) WINDOWS95MAN - NEED YOUR HEART HOKKA -  HEART SAID NO

  Let's kick of this year's #FinPop2026 series with Kaj's answer to Tommy Cash's Espresso macchiato, you do need also an ice cream don't you? Then we have two new fresh names along with already seasoned Karim B who's still waiting for the Big one, maybe UMK 2027? KAJ - GELATERIA MIMI MENDINE - R.I.P. SAMUEL SHIPWAY - INFERNO KARIM B - ONGELMA

It's been three years Käärijä cha cha chaed his way to Finnish people's heart and not only: sold out European tours where locations have been updated to larger ones, three years in a row performing at Eurovision song contest final in one form or another (plus Cha cha cha played this year making it four), hundreds of gigs and festivals, millions of streams and countless collaborations with local and foreign artists. Not bad for an unknown guy from Vantaa who didn't quite speak English. In Finland he has two Top-5 albums, one has sold triple platinum. Ten top-10 singles, 23 Top-50 singles. 17 singles with other artists. New album comes out in October 2026.  Sold out Veikkaus Arena (Eurovision 2007 arena) saw a show described by critics (and music lovers)  as one of the best Finnish productions ever. A bit messy as he delivered all his hits with guests and the genres go from TRAFIK! to I miss us.... Understandable. But enjoyable. Bojan and Joker Out were the warm up act.  Se...

  The 2020's have been very good for Finland, the best era of the whole Eurovision history by far. Four out of six our best placements ever have been in the past six years.  1. Lordi - Hard rock hallelujah - 1/37   2006 2. Käärijä - Cha cha cha  2/37  2023 3. Blind Channel - Dark side  6/39    2021 4. Linda Lampenius x Pete Parkkonen -Liekinheitin  6/35    2026 5. Erika Vikman - ICH KOMME   11/37    2025 5. Softengine - Something better  11/37    2014

  There was a saying that hell will freeze over before Finland wins Eurovision but then came the monsters from hell and stormed to record breaking victory that night exactly 20 years ago in Athens.... And even cows did fly! (At least I saw a cow balloon the day after hanging in a three infront of my window anyways....) I remember being at home alone, as I always do watch Eurovision alone and as I was a lot more inside in the bubble back then I had had my spies in Athens telling me Finland had won the semi-final. So expectations were high and all along I had said since Lordi won the national final that they would either win or be a total flop. After the Swedish vote I remember my excitement turned into calmness: We will win. And oh boy did we win! The Finnish commentators Jaana Pelkonen and Heikki Paasonen with Asko Murtomäki lost it completely somewhere around the third 12 points. You can watch the voting here , starting around 2h10) 8 points from Slovenia..... (We got first point...

Finland's Linda Lampenius x Pete Parkkonen and Liekinheitin stormed to the top of odds as soon as the song was released and has stayed there unbothered with a huge margin ever since. The runner ups have stayed at large in odds; France, Denmark and Greece mostly, only Greece having a tiny spurt just before rehearsals and then Australia climbing to second place after semi-final 2.. The news of Linda playing  her precious Gagliano violin from 1781 live only boosted the chances odds going from 30 to 36, and later the day before final up to 43.  Also the fan clubs back Finland, apparently with the second biggest margin ever. This poll has had its hits and misses but usually gets it somewhat right. Mostly, Not necessary the winner. EuroJury pretending to be the indicator for the jury vote has had it apparently pretty much right mostly, the winner placing in Top-2 in most occasions. Also INFE poll was won by Finland with a huge margin. The biggest fan site, more or less, also backs F...

What can I say about the show to start with? The hosts? Okeyish, mostly kept to their role, the attempts to be funny mostly were a bit meh and what an earth was Michael wearing?! The graphics were rather unpleasant when the songs were introduced. The postcards kinda nice but weird, an evolution of those in Turin but better. The opening act was nice and pure Eurovision, the interval act also typical Eurovision the little I watched it being busy scrolling Twitter but that Australia/austria thingy was a big yawn really. And it seems Italy and Finland took over Twitter at least in my wall.  But the stage! I love the stage! It looked great to most everyone and some shots were just stunning. One of the best stages for many years! Of the acts Croatia stunned me the most and Belgium looked great, too, as for the songs Israel really steps out in the recaps.  And then the finalist, here in order they were announced except Finland (announced second) that makes the headline of course. Aft...

Finland's Yle is once again broadcasting a lot of Eurovision related things and most remarkable we get to celebrate both Lordi's win and homecoming concert in 2006 again as well as the Eurovision song contest 2007 in Finland in Yle's channels. Is it an omen for 2026 win? Saturday May 9: Lordi's Market Square massacre aka homecoming concert (Yle tv1 15.20-16.50).  This was an Event : Helsinki city center was so crowded with over 80.000 people that they urged in tv people to stay home already hours before as they couldn't get anywhere near where they could see the stage anymore..... President Tarja Halonen was present, too. Quite a spectacle to watch if you haven't seen it yet! In Yle Areena online you can watch the before mentioned Eurovision song contests 2006 and 2007.  Sunday May 10 : Turquoise carpet live on Yle Areena (17.55-20.10) Tuesday May 12 : There's a pre-how before the semi-final (Yle tv1 21.30-22.00)  hosted by Jasmin Beloued         ...

What can I say? Not much judging these short videos. But I say a few words anyways by the first impression that can be very misleading anyways. Moldova is a bit let down, not at all so powerful and energetic as I expected. Vocals seem to be off, too. Sweden . Same as Moldova. Which makes me think these vids are on purpose a mess. Croatia seems very busy and a bit too serious and angry. I have said before and I repeat myself: angry women don't do well in Eurovision . Greece .... Oh well, looks rather chaotic and his voice a bit weak. But then again it's a rehearsal. Need to see the whole package but doesn't look like a winner despite all. This said my favorite performance of them all is the Greek national final preview with only one hanging mic. That was fab and let Akylas show all his charm. Now he disappears into his visuals.  Portugal stands out with the pretty staging, calm song and good voices. They're so sailing to the final! Georgia was on my list to qualify b...

Jaana Pelkonen retuns to Eurovision bubble being the Finnish spokesperson 2026 nicely after 20 years when she was commenting the 2006 edition won by Lordi with Heikki Paasonen, and then hosting the show in Helsinki 2007 with Mikko Leppilampi.  But not only. She has hosted the Finnish national selection seven times, and has been the Finnish commentator also in 2005, 2008, 2009 and 2010.  After the national final in 2011 she left the bubble and went to the parliament instead after being selected in 2011 and again in 2015 when she was the 5th most voted MP in the whole country. After two rounds she stepped out of politics and returned to show biz in 2020.  Maybe, just maybe she'll repeat the magic..... 

So it started. You can follow Eurovision Reddit here that is the only source of real information of the rehearsals so far.  As I have nothing to say as I've seen nothing I spare my comments until I do. If there's some other comments or media worth adding to I will do so right here.  Their new dresses are designed by Teemu Muurimäki as usual btw. And Pete's trousers are not too tight anymore to effect his vocal cords as the headlines screamed earlier.  This is what The Social media Guy wrote about Linda Lampenius x Pete Parkkonen's Liekinheitin and Finland: 16:40 - He's ready to sing and she's ready to string 🎤 🎻 Linda Lampenius stands alone on the deserted stage of what was once an orchestra. Now, it’s been littered with the overturned chairs and sheet-music stands of Linda’s former musician colleagues. But what could possibly have happened here? Shall we head to the confessional box to find out? There, we find Pete Parkkonen, and he’s been in touch with the ...

The Finnish trio KAJ that won Swden's Melodifestivalen and placed 4th at the Eurovision song contest 2025 has been collecting awards and milestones over the past year.  Bara bada bastu topped the charts both in Finland and Sweden, as well as Spotify's Viral Global chart. Last year it also topped the OGAE poll and won Eurovision song of the year at OUTmusic Awards. The Finnish music publishers awarded it as The Song of the Year and also gave an Export award to KAJ. They have won also an award by the Finnish language teachers union SUKOL and many more among them The Finnish-Swedes of the Year and even an award for promoting sauna culture.  In the Finnish Grammys, Emma Awards Bara bada bastu won The Song of the Year and they also won The band of the Year and the Export award. Now they have won in the Swedish Grammys aka Grammies also The Song of the Year award. Previously they won in Sweden's Rockbjörnen award the Band of the Year and the Breakthrough of the Year awards. I sup...

  Here it is, already traditional Blogilkar's Eurovision Home Jury results. This year we had a total of nine people in the jury from teenagers to 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s, most every one just people who do watch Eurovision but aren't any fanatic fans, just tv viewers who don't remember who won two years ago or sometimes even last year, don't have a clue about the polls and odds but just score the songs to their liking. We used 1 to 10 scores. Tie breaks were settled by highest marks and if still a tie by my preference. Here we go! 1. FINLAND - LINDA LAMPENIUS X PETE PARKKONEN - LIEKINHEITIN    87 2. ITALY - SAL DA VINCI - PER SEMPRE SI   69 3. SWITZERLAND - VERONICA FISARO - ALICE    68

  After touring the US and doing Coachella (!!!) with Joost Klein Käärijä's next step is to reconquer Sweden (and not only) with Basshunter and Ja eller nej. Yes or no? Late May he will have his very first arena concert and most likely Basshunter will join all his countless collaborators so far from BESS to Hooja, from Baby Lasagna to Joost Klein and Bojan/Joker Out, Rekami (the other fresh single with video shot infront of the famous Cha cha cha murales  Mun mestoi ), Lord of the Lost and who knows who else shows up

  I have no idea what these (AI things) are but oh Lord do these versions work?  (This said I am still against Ai use) What a great song this is in the end and works in every way! Just like Hard rock hallelujah from swing to acoustic to choir and everything in between back in the day. 

    I wasn't planning on doing personal reviews this year either but here we go after all. Truth to be said I have listened the entries 0-2 times before sitting down now to comment them. Let's go! The usual Blogilkar's home jury will reunite later and the results revealed in due time. meanwhile, my thoughts and comments on the entries of Eurovision song contest series is right here.  Croatia - Lelek - Andromeda ** We have had similar entries in Eurovision before from Latvia and Poland with variable results. Great vocals and harmonies, good melody... but I am a bit tired of these. I would like to like this a lot more than I actually do. Right now I have it in final at the bottom five but we'll see.  Finland - Linda Lampenius x Pete Parkkonen - Liekinheitin ***** I guess I have said all already in previous posts about them and UMK. Seeing them #1 in the odds with a huge margin week after week is quite incredible. I guess I just sit back and enjoy the ride. Itäs going t...

Finland's national selection for Eurovision song contest 2026  or UMK (Uuden musiikin kilpailu) took place in Tampere tonight and was won by pre-contest favorites Linda Lampenius and Pete Parkkonen and their Liekinheitin. Or rather they swept the floor with the other ones by winning both jury and televotes with a huge margin.  Special guests were last year's UMK winner Erika Vikman (11th in ESC) with last year's Eurovision winner JJ, Finland's Eurovision 1985 represent Sonja Lumme and quartet of leading Finnish rappers Elastinen, Ares, Turisti and Averagekidluke .  Out of 491 submitted entries a panel of 9 members along with five audience groups selected the seven entries for the final. Linda Lampenius & Pete Parkkonen emerged instantly the runaway favorites to win the selection gaining more Youtube views in 24 hrs than any other UMK entry ever and also reaached one million streams in record time. They also became international favorites pushing Finland to #1 in od...

Finland's national selection for Eurovision song contest 2026  or UMK (Uuden musiikin kilpailu) takes place in Tampere tonight in Tampere arena to sold out crowds.  Special guests are last year's UMK winner Erika Vikman (11th in ESC) with last year's Eurovision winner Austrian  JJ, Finland's Eurovision 1985 represent Sonja Lumme and quartet of leading Finnish rappers Elastinen, Ares, Turisti and Averagekidluke. It's worth remembering JJ's staging and even outfit was made in Finland last year with UMK team.  The show is hosted by Jorma Uotinen, Sami Sykkö and Jasmin Beloued. Read more about them here . Out of 491 submitted entries a panel of nine members along with five audience groups selected the seven entries for the final. Linda Lampenius & Pete Parkkonen emerged instantly the runaway favorites to win the selection gaining more Youtube views in 24 hrs than any other UMK entry ever and also reached one million streams in record time. They also became inter...