Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

While waiting for the entries for UMK2023 aka Finland's national selection for Eurovision song contest let's look back at some of the best non winning ones from yesteryear. Euroviisut 2000, what a mess! Nightwish was the clear televote (well, telephone) winner getting the double of votes the runner up got), the jury winner was Nylon Beat while Nina Åström, sadly a random nobody before and after Eurovision won placing jury 3rd and people's 2nd won with A little bit . A cute little harmless tune. Anna Eriksson placed jury 2nd and people's 3rd and 2nd overall 4 points short of Nina with a real Eurovision banger. Oot voimani mun   (You are my power) would have been composer Petri Laaksonen's third Eurovision entry. Instead it became a huge hit and Finland's only winner so far in the OGAE Second Chance song contest. Oh, and Nina finished 18th with 18 points in the end and was never heard again.

Vain elämää series, where top artists gather together in a villa for a week to perform each other's songs and talk over everything over lunch and dinner has reached its 10th season already and it's a All Stars one featuring JVG's VilleGalle, Elastinen, Lauri Tähkä, Paula Vesala, Maija Vilkkumaa, Erin, Antti Tuisku and Sunrise Avenue's Samu Haber . The series kicked off with Antti Tuisku's Day and below are my favorites out of the performances (and Antti's originals) that all outdid the original for a reason or another.... Lauri and Erin turned the songs something else and were for me the outstanding ones by far.  Antti Tuisku Antti Tuisku Antti Tuisku Antti Tuisku

Last but not least, here are the nominees for the Female Artist of the Year. One real veteran, one recordbreaking looking for a trple, two who have gone solo from succesful duos and one that whose talent has blossomed in Vain elämää and will do amazing things in the future... I guess it's predictable this goes to Vesala, as Sanni winning it again would be a bit boooring. Kaija Koo might surprise but most likely not. I'd give this to Suvi Teräsniska, she has proven to be not only loved by public but also being a Talent in Vain elämää. Amazing singer and voice. Go Suvi! Erin (ex-Nylon Beat) returned to her successful solo career after three years of silence and two kids. Her solo debut back in 2011 sold triple platinum and had several hits, the second one sold platinum and gave her more hits and this one released last month has already Sydäntä särkee and Kohta hänen . Maija Vilkkumaa has been involved in writing this album. Kaija Koo 's success continues with so...

Also Germany has revealed the seven acts that have made it through to the final in March. One more act will be added through a new talent casting. But whoever the newcomer is has a tough job to beat the million sellers that have set their eyes on Eurovision stage in Copenhagen.  First of all Unheilig , over 2 million albums sold, several ECHO and other awards and 19 platinum albums collected in German speaking countries. Their hits include Geboren um zu leben , So wie du warst , Lichter der Stadt and Stark . If we can't get Rammstein to Eurovision this somehow makes up to it... Oceana scored a pan-European hit with Endless summer while she can also ad Cry cry to her CV of hits.  The Baseballs are/were maybe bigger abroad than at home, like in Finland and Sweden where they scored #1 album and several hits and at least in Finland they are a household name thanks to their frequent visits and performances in top TV-shows with Umbrella,   Hot 'n cold and Last in ...

Vain elämää dominates still the charts and another song from the show hits the #1 spot before the end of 2012. This time it's Erin covering Cheek's Mitä tänne jää . This is their live  duet version and Cheek's original .  There are still six songs from the show in Top-20 plus last week's #1 one by Cheek & Jonne Aaron, both from the show but the song isn't. The album is firmly at the #2 after becoming the most sold album in Finland of the 2000's selling already 6xplatinum. The follow up album takes the #1 spot this week!  Meanwhile the stars of the show Katri Helena, Jari Sillanpää, Erin, Cheek, Neumann, Kaija Koo and Jonne Aaron have given sold out concerts in Barona Arena in Helsinki on December 28 and 30, 2012. The tickets sold out in less than an hour....

The incredible (and deserved) success of Vain elämää continues. The album has become the most sold album of the 2000's in Finland with over 160.000 albums sold so far! That's 8xplatinum! And that's not all, this Friday sees the release of a follow-up 2-cd Vain elämää jatkuu including rest of the songs performed in the series. And after Christmas the stars Katri Helena, Jari Sillanpää, Cheek, Erin, Kaija Koo, Jonne Aaron and Neumann will give a sold out concert in Barona Arena in Espoo. Meanwhile the single songs are dominating the single's charts.... This follow up includes Kaija Koo's cover of Katson sineen taivaan , Jonne Aaron's L'oiseau et l'enfant and Katri Helena's Valkeaa unelmaa . A must have!

Vain elämää domination continues still. The compilation album sits firmly as #1 in the albums and Cheek takes the lead in the singles with his collaboration with Jonne Aaron, his Vain elämää fellow, with Anna mä meen. Cheek is also #2 with Puhelinlangat laulaa (Katri Helena), #4 with Tinakenkätyttö (Kaija Koo),  #13 Rakastuin mä luuseriin (Erin/Nylon Beat) and #14 Kaduilla tuulee (Jari Sillanpää). Erin takes Cheek cover Mitä tänne jää to #5, she's also at #10 with Vapaa (Kaija Koo), while Jonne Aaron is at #15 with Kylmä ilman sua (Kaija Koo) and Jari Sillanpää has another Cheek cover at #17, Liekeissä . And at #18 we still have one, Erin again with Vasten auringon siltaa (Katri Helena). That's 10/20 for Vain elämää songs/singers this week. 

Vain elämää TV-series takes over the charts this week. The album firmly stands at number one and also Cheek's album is climbing again at #13, so is Katri Helena's compilation at #18.  The real take over happens in the singles/download chart as Cheek's Puhelinlangat laulaa climbs to #1. This is of course a Katri Helena cover.  Erin takes Cheek cover Mitä tänne jää to #2 and Cheek is with Jonne Aaron at #3 with Anna mä meen . Again Cheek covers Kaija Koo's Tinakenkätyttö at #5. Kaija Koo covers Vapaa by Erin is at #8, so is Kylmä ilman sua by Jonne Aaron. Cheek is again at #12 covering Erin/Nylon Beat with Rakastuin mä luuseriin followed by Jari Sillanpää cover Kaduilla tuulee at #13. Jari Sillanpää covering Cheek's Liekeissä is at #15, Erin covering Katri Helena's Vasten auringonsiltaa at #16 and Cheek covering Neumann/Dingo's Levoton tuhkimo at #17. And still more: Cheek is also at #19 with  Syypää sun hymyys and finally at #20 we have Jonne ...

This falls's real success and hit in Finnish TV has been Vain elämää , the format also known as De beste zangers Van Nederland in the Netherlands and Så mycket bättre in Sweden where it has also been a huge success. Second season will be done but in the first one Katri Helena, Jari Sillanpää, Erin (ex-Nylon Beat), Cheek, Neumann (of Dingo), Kaija Koo and Jonne Aaron (of Negative) have definitely gained new fans and we have been given some fantastic covers of their songs by the other artists. The compilation album featuring three of the songs by each artists sold platinum on its release and has given a real boost to the artists albums as well. So far twelve songs have entered the iTunes top-30 and six have entered the official singles top-20.  And what is a really nice, several Eurovision songs have got their reinterpretation as well! Katri Helena covered Jari Sillanpää's 1998 Euroviisut runner up Valkeaa unelmaa . Kaija Koo covered Katri Helena's...

Namely cancels her tour that was due to start next month. She hasn't cancelled any concerts for 20 years now. The reason is she the whooping cough she had this summer and still hasn't quite recovered and after doctor's advice she had to take this decision. Next year she will be celebrating her 50th anniversary in the music business and on top of it. With two Eurovisions to her credit and over one million albums sold already back in 1994 she is the most successful Finnish female artist by far. At the moment she's actual on TV as one of the singers in Vain elämää (originally De beste zangers van Nederland, also Så mycker bättre in Sweden) along with Jari Sillanpää, Neumann of Dingo, Cheek, Erin (ex-Nylon Beat), Kaija Koo and Jonne Aaron of Negative. In last week's episode they sung Erin's songs and Katri Helena did Vanha nainen hunningolla . Translates freely to "Old woman gone bad". Excellent job! In the first episode she sung Valkeaa unelmaa by ...

This is from 1999 when the Nylon Beat girls were hot, hot, hot. Later at least Antti Tuisku has covered the song that translates to Black Christmas, referring this time not to no-snow Christmas but the mood... Nylon Beat - Musta joulu

And still some more videos. Remember you can vote for your favourite here . Erin - Vanha nainen hunningolla Neljän Suora - Valtava maailma Bajo Cero - Hierro Risto - Lyö Erin seems to have made it much better than her fellow-ex-Nylon Beat Jonna when she scored a big summer hit with her debut solo single. Neljän Suora is up and coming young band that is making it bigger with each album (three so far) and a sort of pop-dance band. Bajo Cero is a multicultural group and that's all I know about them. And about Risto I know even less but the video is ... ehm... interesting?

Jonna Geagea of Nylon Beat fame releases her debut solo album on October 20, 2010 titled Katso mua (Look at me ) and the video sees her performing in a strip club doing some pole dancing to famous actor Juha Veijonen. This is also Jonna's first videoclip in five years - we all remember those fantastic Nylon Beat videos, don't we? "People have a wrong idea of strippers. They're really good dancers of a certain genre. It's beautiful when a woman moves smoothly" Jonna says after visiting a strip club to get ideas and learn a trick or two. Shame she didn't save this for Euroviisut 2011....

Ok, here we go. Let's start with the ladies. As we have a lack of male pop singers in Finland and I wanted to make things even several names in the ladies category were left out and I went for these: Jonna Geagea , ex-Nylon Beat. She has just released her solo single Taasko se alkaa? and has previous Euroviisut experience both as solo as Nylon Beat. She's about to release her real solo debut album, what would be better promotion than Euroviisut? Milana Misic , the eternal promise. And it is the 50th anniversary of the first Finnish entry in Eurovision, sung by her mother. Isn't it time for her to make it for real? Here she covers her mother. Kristina Wheeler , hopefully in collaboration with Chisu. She had two small hits from her debut album, has done a lot of charity work in Africa and such things that sound good in an international festival and could use Euroviisut as well to finally make it. Here's Sunny day . Saga Bloom , last year's fan favourite in the inte...

Many familiar names in this part from Idols Katri to 2000's megaduo NYlon Beat, always lovely Johanna and the solid Plogman, Finlanders, Hector and Mamba with not so familiar Mikko Siltala and Jukka Hallikainen whose song sounds very very familiar.... Eurovision connection somehow? Who knows? 191. ONKO VIELÄ AIKAA? - KATRI YLANDER 192. ANNA MULLE - NYLON BEAT 193. POPMUSEO - NELJÄ RUUSUA 194. VANHA SUOLA JANOTTAA - CHARLES PLOGMAN 195. VALON TOIT - FINLANDERS 196. LÄHES ONNELLINEN MIES - HECTOR 197. MEILLE VAI TEILLE - MAMBA 198. JOS MEILLÄ HUOMISTA EI OIS  - MIKKO SILTALA 199. OLLAAN HETKI HILJAA - JOHANNA KURKELA 200. EN TEKISI TOISIN - JUKKA HALLIKAINEN

Euroviisut favourite by Johanna Kurkela is just outside the top-200 with  Petri Munck's megahit, yet another Kari Tapio and Paula Koivuniemi song. Koop Arponen and Kristian Meurman from Idols or/and Euroviisut are in as well. Girlbands Nylon Beat and Tik Tak are featured, too. 201. OLET UNENI KAUNEIN - JOHANNA KURKELA 202. YHDEN TÄHDEN HOTELLI - JORMA KÄÄRIÄINEN 203. LEVOTON PRINSSI - PETRI MUNCK 204. MILLOINKAAN EN LÖYDÄ SAMANLAISTA - KARI TAPIO 205. ROCK HALLELUJA - PAULA KOIVUNIEMI 206. EVERY SONG I HEAR - KOOP ARPONEN 207. SANOJA - NYLON BEAT 208. SISÄLTÄ KULTAA - JANNE TULKKI 209. SAMANTEKEVÄÄ - TIKTAK 210. TUMMAT, SYVÄT VEET - KRISTIAN MEURMAN

More poppier than schlager this set with Samuli Edelmann and Kirka from Euroviisut, Kaija Koo and Paula Koivuniemi gain with superpopular Juha Tapio and late Nylon Beat and then the usual Tangomarkkinat artists and dancebands.... 241. JOS MINUT KESYTTÄISIT - CHARLES PLOGMAN 242. ARVAAMATTA TUULI KÄÄNTYY VASTAAN - JUHA TAPIO 243. ET VOI SATUTTAA ENÄÄ - KAIJA KOO 244. PÄÄTÄ JO - MARKO LÄMSÄ 245. NAINEN - PAULA KOIVUNIEMI 246. SUN KANSSA - NELJÄNSUORA 247. SYYTÖN - NYLON BEAT 248. TAIKAA - KIRKA 249. LEVOTTOMAT - SAMULI EDELMANN 250. KOVAA JA KORKEALTA - MIKKO MÄKELÄINEN

The überpopular The Baseballs have covered Nylon Beat 's Viimeinen   for the special edition of their album.and it is also featured in a TV-ad for a cider.  Listen it here .  The girls also recorded it in English as Last in line . Viimeinen was a number one hit for Nylon Beat in 1999. Seven of their albums sold platinum making them the most succesful duo in the Finnish music history. They also have two Euroviisut participations in their CV ( 1998 and 2000 ) and Jonna the blond one solo in 2004.

Nylon Beat kicked of their short come back last night in Tampere by giving a surprise concert before their weekend's stadium gigs with Toto. Also, their new greatest hits cd Maailman pisin luokkaretki (World's longest school trip) is out featuring their biggest hits and a couple of remixes. (foto by Iltalehti)

Well, hold your horses, it will last only 2 nights and it's a one off comeback, the girls swear. After four years for the first time on stage together as NB they will warm up the audiences for Toto in their stadium concerts in Oulu and Tampere on August 17th and 18th. A very good occasion to release a greatest hits album as well. Maybe not such a wise thing for Toto as it seems most come to see NB instead of them - one can only hope people will stay and see Toto and not leave after NB! NB's success in Finland is something quite remarkable: eight gold and seven platinum albums (as many as ABBA btw) and over 500.000 albums sold over a period of 8 years. They spent over 150 weeks in the Finnish Top-40 and mastered so many big radio hits that it takes over an hour to perform only the "musts" on those two nights. They will add a few other songs they like themselves and that's it. Nylon Beat participated in Euroviisut 1998 with Um ma ma (3rd) and in 2000 with Viha ja r...