Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

The prevotes have been counted and Emma emerges as a clear winner. The voting was open for a month and closed earlier today and was revealed in the #umk17 pre-show online. These votes will be added to the televotes on Saturday and together they will provide 50% of the result, the rest being given by the ten international juries .  It looks like we are going to get a fine looking show on Saturday, with proper staging for the acts. Watch out especially for Gunther & D'Sanz who make it the right kind of kitch, Norma John's simple but effective drama, Emma's fireshow and Zuhlke's pole dancers.... And then there's Club La Persé.... Are you getting excited yet? I am! 1. Emma: Circle Of Light 30,4 2. My First Band: Paradise 15,0 3. Zühlke: Perfect Villain 12,5 4. Günther & D'Sanz: Love Yourself 8,4 5. Norma John: Blackbird 8,3 6. Club La Persé: My Little World 6,9 7. Alva: Arrows 5,9 8. Knucklebone Oscar & The Shangri-La Rubies:...

YLE is publishing rehearsal clips from the #UMK17 final that takes place Saturday in Metro Arena in Espoo. Have a look (and vote in my poll on the right side when you still can!) and see what to expect! Emma - Circle of light Alva - Arrows Günther & D'sanz: Love Yourself Errr.... It seems YLE has taken the videos down....??!!  :-( (5pm local time) Oh, apparently wrong version went on and will be replaced with the right ones.  Stay tuned! to be updated....

Less than a week to go and we will know who will win #UMK17 and become the Eurovision song contest entrant for Finland this year. Since the beginning there have been two major fan favorites: Emma and Norma John , two completely different approaches to the contest. One Eurovision by numbers, almost manufactured to perfection to fit the form, one the complete opposite. Curiously, these two were also this bloggers first instant favorites that have been later with further listenings joined by Lauri Yrjölä , Anni Saikku and My First Band . The others don't impress me that much to be honest. I had a little fun with the various polls on the internet, be they newspaper or fan websites or blogs oincluding my own little poll here on the blog (where you can still keep voting). All numbers are percentages. And indeed Emma and Norma John alone take the half of the votes in combined chart.  In the Finnish votes alone My First Band and Gunther & D'Sanz benefit from the huge boos...

68/120 Alva (Nygård) is the youngest artist this year at 16. Her song is written by Arto who has tried to get to UMK for years as a singer. He spotted her in Youtube, as things go at modern times we live in. If Alva is your favorite, please vote for her in my poll on the right. or here for real  She describes her song as young soul and herself as stubborn and energetic, outspoken and happy. The UMK team has already labeled her as little Krista (Siegfrids). She's interested in music, fitness, theater and dance. Sounds very Krista-esque indeed.  Our little international* panel all gave her midtable votes from 4-7 with one 2 from Markus and Robert giving the best vote (8) and thus it was no one's favorite nor last. Like Valentina summed it up "nothing special" and Jack "the chorus gets a bit annoying but it's not a bad song".  This blogger agrees with most everyone. This song is a prime example of "nice" but nice is never good e...