Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

  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

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...

Another year, another year of official singles chart number ones! the rappers dominate the charts many hitting the #1 spot only for a week. the weeks and weeks lasting hits are missing this year except for KAJ's Bara bada bastu with 7 weeks, the others don't go further than 4 at most. Same names scored short runs for their #1s: Averagekidluke (4), Lauri Haav (4), JVG (3), Isac Elliot (3), Mirella (2), Turisti (2) and Ares (2) Obviously the radioplay chart is completely different and you can find it here. It's also worth mentioning ALL number ones are by Finnish artists. The only one to score a number one is Ed Sheeran in the radio play charts in 2025.  Averagekidluke - Diva (week 1) Ares - Menestys on paras tapa kostaa (weeks 2-5) JVG - Rehellisesti (week 7) Turisti - Diana (weeks 8-9) KAJ - Bara bada bastu (weeks 10-15, 21) Lauri Haav - Toisessa elämässä (weeks 16-17) Ares - Onneks (week 18-20) Lauri Haav, Mirella - Aja tai kuole (week 22) ABREU - Äiti Teresa (feat. B...

Emma awards aka the Finnish Grammy nominations have been revealed. The gala takes place in Espoo's Metro Arena on March 7, 2026. Among the nominees both Finland's and Sweden's Eurovision entrants 2025 with several UMK finalists in 2025 or before. Check out the short list below. All nominees can be found here .  Song of the year: Ares - Menestys on paras tapa kostaa Emma & Matilda - Sisko Goldielocks - Made of KAJ - Bara bada bastu Nelli Matula - Hitaammin hautaan Erika Vikman - Ich komme Band of the year: Amorphis Emma & Matilda Joser & Zpoppa JVG KAJ Komiat People's Choice: Bess Eini Erika Vikman Goldielocks KAJ Nelli Matula Portion Boys  among others Pop of the year: ABreu Bess Ellinoora Isac Elliot JVG Olga Schlager of the year: Eini Komiat Mariska Portion Boys Rodeo Artist of the year: Ares Averagekidluke Isac Elliot Lauri Haav Olga Turisti

Finland, once the eternal loser and failure has become a real Eurovision powerhouse in the past few years. Finishing 6th and 2nd in the past few years and qualifying already four years in a row - fifth one coming this year - has also managed to sneak in to help other delegations like Albania last year and  this year Ari Levelä is doing stagings for Austria and Cyprus, Teemu Muurimäki who created the famous green bolero for Käärijä among others will dress up JJ and even UMK show producer (and one of Käärijä's dancers) Matti Myllyaho is involved with Austria's staging. Estonia's entry this year is co-written and produced in Finland, the Swedish entry is by Finns and then we have Finland itself in top-10 in the odds to win the whole thing. In short Finns are behind four entries in the Top-10. And Käärijä will perform in Basel as interval act. Again. That brings us to the curious situation in Finland: the media and people have pretty much forgotten about Erika Vikman and our en...

The infamous three (3) photos are out ( read more here ) for the semifinal one. Apparently there are no major changes the first day for what we have already seen in national finals or music videos but just updated and more polished and adapted performances for Eurovision rules (less people on stage for Sweden) and the bigger stage. Several wardrobe changes though. The day two brings more changes and even unseen before stagings to the first semifinal set. Azerbaijan is all newand apparently works fine. They have also dancers while San Marino has lost them and has instead accordion and tambourine instrumentalists along with the masked singers. Croatia has also come up with a new staging and the one from Cyprus has been a lot talked and speculated beforehand and seems to be delivering. If they only had a song to match, too! ICELAND POLAND SLOVENIA ESTONIA UKRAINE SWEDEN PORTUGAL NORWAY BELGIUM AZERBAIJAN SAN MARINO ALBANIA NETHERLANDS CROATIA CYPRUS