Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

I already posted the Official singles chart #1's here , and it's time to check out the Radio play charts that often featured very different songs. And as the singles chart was all Finnish but the Wham's Christmas #1 the situation is not different here: Only one song, in the last week, too, made it to #1 and that was Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars! Only 12 songs made it to #1 as most of the year they kept going up and down and switching places at top. UMK Sara Siipola scored #1 here, as did UMK veterans BESS and Benjamin together, and BESS with Elastinen as well. Also another UMK veteran Robin Packalen scored his biggest hits in years. And if Mirella dominated the Singles chart being on top for 25 weeks here she did with two songs for six weeks. BESS was the Queen here with her 16 weeks on top! Elastinen feat BESS - Pimee (weeks 1-4, 7, 9) Jenni Vartiainen - Lanka (weeks 5, 10-12) Bee - Viimeisiä sanoja (weeks 6, 8) Mirella - Timanttei (weeks 13, 19, 21-22) Sara Siipola - Paska...

Still nothing official about the foreign guests in Sanremo 2016 festival but it seems Laura Pausini, Eros Ramazzotti, Andrea Bocelli with or without Ariana Grande will be joined by Rihanna, Bruno Mars and Alvaro Soler .....  Just a bit over a month to the start of the festival we should get some information soon, but then again.... sometimes the foreign superstars have been in "maybe" state until the very beginning of the festival... What comes to co-hostesses it seems the trio is seected: comedian and imitator Virginia Raffaele (oh yes! She's as fabulous as Luciana Littizzetto really. Sad for those who don't speak Italian though.....), actress and hostess Laura Chiatti , and Vanessa Incontrada , a Spanish who has made a career in Italy hosting the shows and as actress. Chiatti is the most uncertain at the moment but Raffaele and Incontrada seem done deal. Sounds good to me. For some reason I imagine Incontrada co-hosting Eurovision 2017 in Turin with F...

Israeli Justin Timberlake. So he is called. He is the third youngest artist this year, and one of the most inexprienced as he just came to the spotlight a few months ago when participating (and winning) a talent show in his homecountry Nadav turned 16 only last November. But he and his team has managed to create him a full package: a catchy song Golden boy , and an image to match, even with a slogan from the song that went viral after the song was released: Before I leave, let me show you Tel Aviv . For the first time Israel also drops any Hebrew parts in the song and goes full English version. The song itself is a real cocktail of old and new, Mediterranean and global styles in three minutes but strangely it all works!

Anis Basim Moujahid (21) aka Basim is of Moroccon origin (like Loreen). He's a household name in Denmark and started his career already at the age of 15 in X Factor. Two albums and one EP later he emerged as the winner in the Danish national final and will fly the Danish flag in his hometown with Cliche love song .  Robert: Since the Danish final of March 8, I've been playing quite some songs from this years Danish preselection. Bryan Rice , Danni Elmo , Sonny and Emilie Moldow to mention the ones I prefer most. Basim won the final with the modern, Bruno Mars like, Cliche love song . For me, its an ok song, and maybe the song with the best chances to get a high ranking on the night of the final. So, I can live with the choice the Danes made. However, if the Danes would have chosen Emmelie de Forest again to defend her title like the Germans did with Lena a few years ago, I would have been very happy. Her latest song Rainmaker is really good and that one would have be...

MAKEA (translates to SWEET or COOL) singing Painovoima (or Gravity). An act that makes it debut in every sense in UMK 2014. It's their first release, and apparently their only song (so far) and it looks like they got together for UMK. Artificial? Hmm... perhaps. Labelled as urban pop with influences from hip hop, electro and rock it's rather radio friendly indeed, so who know if we are witnessing the birth of something big? The band resides between Turku and Helsinki and is made of Kadi (vocals), Olli (rap), Jura (guitar), Jussi (bass) and Josu (drums). Their influences include Bruno Mars, The Black Eyed Peas and Rage against the Machine. Their Facebook is here so like them, and vote for them in my poll on the right hand side.

They are finally back, Blue. The new album Roulette will be released in the end of January 2013 and the first single is Hurt lovers , that's also on a German Schlussmacher movie soundtrack. The album includes collaborations with names like RedOne, Ne-Yo and Bruno Mars. Obviously it also includes their Eurovision song I can . This is band's fourth studio album and it's been ten years since the release of the previous one.

Lady Gaga enters with Born this way   the singles chart right away at #1 pushing Petri Nygärd down to number one after three weeks at the top. Bruno Mars with Grenade is steady at #3 and Just the way you are enters at #17! In albums he enters at #3 while late Kari Tapio's greatest hits stays at #1. His other compilation is at #14 going down

Bruno Mars hit the charts with this Just the way you ar e scoring an US #1, followed by the second release Grenade , another #1! He also co-wrote Cee Lo Green's Fuck you , another #1 so this Hawaiian must be like the hottest thing around now. And god, isn't it refreshing to hear something but rap from the States for awhile???