Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Just a few hours before the final Iltalehti's readers have said their opinion: Stig will win tonight's UMK and represant Finland in the Eurovision song contest 2012 in Baku. He got over half of the votes (52%) while his runner ups Pernilla Karlsson and Kaisa Vala got only 12,8% and 10,0%. The fans are apparently for Pernilla Karlsson, Iconcrash and Kaisa Vala, while Stig is second to last in their poll. In Oikotimes poll Pernilla and Kaisa are in the lead and Stig last. The results are similar elsewhere. Will Finns stick to their own mind and send a domestic hit that will bomb in Baku big time or search for something else? We will know later tonight.... Stig used to be Stig Dogg and do this sort of thing before: Stigidilaatio , Kullii , Häsleri , Rakkauden Bermudan kolmio.....  if you don't know Finnish for once you can be very happy about it! All this considered Laululeija isn't that bad after all, is it?

The long and confusing Finnish national final concept called UMK aka Uuden musiikin kilpailu comes to an end tonight in a live show from Helsinki's Ice Hall. I don't know if it's going to be a full house aas at least in last night's programme they said go and get your ticket and come see the show live as tickets are still available. There will be 14 cameras, the sage looks pretty enough and YLE apparently has put an effort for the final with guest stars like The Rasmus world premier of their comeback single I'm a mess, the "biggest show ever seen by a Finnish artist" by Anna Abreu, last year's Euroviisut winner Paradise Oskar will perform, too, and even the current #1 in the single's chart Robin is there. Six songs made it this far and even if I may not agree with the results I do have a favourite, Kaisa Vala. I also like Mica Ikonen. Many Eurovision fans favour Ville Eetvartti and Pernilla Karlsson. Then we have Iconcrash and Stig. I just don'...

The last qualification round of UMK came from Helsinki Ice hall where we had the stage, the greenroom but empty hall giving a very strange feel to the whole thing. Anyways after the interview with The Rasmus , the round up how the 540 songs came 40, then 12, then 8 and finally only six tonight they started telling us who the online voters had sent to the final: Mica Ikonen, Pernilla Karlsson, Ville Eetvartti while Kaisa Vala was in danger of dropping out. Then Iconcrash and Stig to the final and Freeman joins Kaisa Vala on stage tonight and faces the judges. They performed again after Anna Abreu was interviewed. She will have her biggest show ever on UMK stage. After the Madonna's SuperBowl performance it was reported she was mad about her as her planned show was very similar to Madonna's and now needed to be redone to avoid copycat label. (Yeah right!). So then to the judges Anna Laine, Jorma Hietamäki, Vallu Vaipio, Anna Puu and Tomi Saarinen. They praised Kaisa Vala, the w...

Tonight there will be the last qualification round for the seven entries left in UMK aka Uuden musiikin kilpailu, ex-Euroviisut. First they were 540, then 40, then 12 and tonight they will be only six. Televoters will take five of them to the final, and the judges will send there also one of the two leftovers. So, one will be so close, 24 hours, from the final but will be left out. I would kick out either Freeman or Stig (for the simple fact he can't sing) but I'm afraid both will go on tomorrow's final. My favourites are Kaisa Vala as she is the most intteresting, fresh new artists here, and Mica Ikonen for the simple stage presence and voice!The songs still in the run are: Freeman & Uusi Fantasia - Noitanainen Iconcrash - We are the night Kaisa Vala - Habits of the human beings Mica Ikonen - Antaa mennä Pernilla Karlsson - När jag blundar Stig - Laululeija Ville Eetvartti - Lasikaupunki

So, tonight's UMK is over and we have a result. This week I don't totally agree with the judges but hey, that's life. Aura Pineda is out. The judges thought she's a good singer and she is, and the song is a good schlager hit which is it but somehow it wasn't honest. Indeed she said in interview she "wants to sing all sort of music" in a way that it sounded like she's not that into the song herself. Could be. Surprisingly also Leola was kicked out. They praised the solist and the song and wondered if she would go solo anytime soon. Even if the song came alive on stage like never before it lacked originality reminding many Finnish current artists (Irina meets Stella for example). So, welcome back nest year! Iconcrash did it. They thought they were ambitious stadium rock. A good song. Freeman also did it but they were very disappointed Uusi Fantasia band was not with him but five backing singers. He better bring them along (after all it's labeled ...

So far the show has been a rating disaster and people have showed little interest, even amongst the fans it seems. Tonight again six acts will perform to the judges who will then drop two of them. They are Aura Pineda, Freeman, Iconcrash, Kaisa Vala, Leola and Ville Eetvartti . As this is a recorded show the real thing happens elsewhere at the same time: the eight qualified ones + the wildcard voted online from Martina, Jessica Wolff and The Spyro will perform in Club Dom in Helsinki live infront of a live audience and judges. And here is the change: apparently when this airs on February 17 the public can vote five acts directly to the final, and the judges will add one more. So far there has been no talk about public voting at this stage so is this an attempt to try to make the show more interesting and viewer friendly? The show starts tonight at 20.00 CET and you can watch it live on YLE Areena . I will of course post after the show my comments and thoughts.

Weeks have passed and the 40 songs in the running to become UMK semifinalists have been online, listened and judged by the fans and curious alike and it's time to draw some conclusions. Martina caught the first attention but while she's doing reality-tv in the jungle the field is left open to everybody else and take the spotlight but... Honestly I haven't seen anyone doing any headlines anywhere. Nor have I heard any of the songs on radio (except some Eurovision on line radios)... But if we put togerher some online fan polls, YLE's own fan barometer we can get the idea Jessica Wolff is the favourite now closely followed by DCX . Then we have Iconcrash , Martina and Pernilla Karlsson and ARTo neck to neck. And then Malin Kojola , especially liked by the foreigners and Jari & Taika , especially liked by the YLE's own fan barometer voters. Thrown in Fatima and Freeman & Uusi Fantasia and we have the top-10.  Time will tell how many of thee will make the Y...

Iconcrash has been around already almost a decade and has released three albums so far. We are the night is a catchy song that I can't quite put into any category. Somehow it's pop but could easily turn into a hardrock song as well. The band has gained some popularity in Russia and Belarus and has toured also in the United States, United Kingdom and the Baltic countries. Their biggest hit todate is Stockholm . This blogger thinks this UMK entry is better!