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...

50,5/120 "If everyone loved themselves world would be a better place". Right. Günther & D'Sanz's entry was instantly labeled as an anthem for masturbation, with 70's porn star moustache as a bonus. Their aim is to start a Love yourself revolution in #UMK17. And they don't plan to win only #UMK17 but the whole Eurovision as well. Well, we'll see. When the artists were announced these guys got the most attention in media with My First Band. If this is your favorite vote for it in my poll or here Günther (Mats Olle Söderlund) is a Swedish singer and ex-model. His Ding dong song topped the charts in Sweden in 2004. In 2006 he took part in Melodifestivalen with Like fire tonight and finished 6th in the semifinal. One album, Pleasureman , has been released.  D'Sanz (Daniel Sanz) is from Spain and lives in Finland. He took part in the Voice of Finland earlier this year but lost in knock out only to be saved by another coach and then ...

Samantha Fox is back with a new single Tomorrow and a new album is coming, too. She gained fame as page 3 girl and huge booms, turned into a singer and scored 3 top-10 hits in 1986-1988: Touch me , Do ya do ya and Nothing's gonna stop me now , and made it big also with a Dusty Springfield cover I only wanna be with you . She has already participated in the UK selection in 1995 with Go for the heart as a girlband Sox, and also teamed up with Melodifestivalen participant Gunther in a remake of Touch me in 2004. Other twists of career include coming out as lesbian (actually in Finland it was when it was discovered in sauna with her female manager and... well, never mind!) and new born Christian. Her latest album, release is from 2005 when Angel with an attitude was released in Canada. She has also had time to do a Bollywood movie and various reality TV shows like Celebrity Wife swap. In the making is also a Blondie cover Call me with another star with boobs and 80's rival ...