Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

  Here we go again with this more schlager-ish set of songs including already familiar ones Mikko Harju and Jesse Kaikuranta with their latest efforts, newcomer Henna and finally Annika Eklund, a fan favorite from Euroviisut 2006  with her Syksyn sävel entry. Enjoy! Henna Uoti - Suden sydän Jesse Kaikuranta - Kotimaa Mikko Harju - Voittamaton Annika Eklund - Suora lähetys

And let the speculation continue! Still many many weeks to go before Yle announces the Umk 2022 acts but fandom and media still tries to figure out the names from random clues like who does Umk instagram follow recently and so on. Meanwhile the good news is the event in Turku is almost sold out! For previous speculation volumes check them out here and here . Let's see if any of the names has been guessed :-) Konsta Hietanen Former child star, actor, footballer, father of five and singer-songwriter Konsta made a comeback in the spotlight by winning Tähdet, tähdet entertainment show and at the same time landed a role in the most popular sopa opera. He's been trying to start also his singing career so what would be better place than Umk? Listen Hullu Kaija Koo Best selling, multi award winning Kaija Koo has re-invented herself at least three times over the decades. The only thing she hasn't done in her career is Eurovision as solo artist so what about that? She's done bac...

It's September and the Eurovision 2018 season is officially on. I will feature in coming days names that could be in UMK18, if only...... I say if only, as most likely we won't see any of them in there for UMK is profilied as a newcomers contest instead of being our own Sanremo or Melodifestivalen. In short: a major contest all the big names want to take part not only to win but to boost their record sales and score hits. But one can dream, right? I have thrown in some not so known names for variety. Let's go.... Vol.11 Check out the previous posts by scrolling down. JVG came to success in 2011 with Häissä , a song that topped all various charts and was easily the biggest hit of summer 2011. Since then they have released five albums and 14 Top-5 singles and have won five Emma (aka Finnish Grammys) awards. Their latest album Popkorni was released this month without any pre-advertising or information and as a digital one only. It occupied the whole Spotify Top-10 i...

UMK 2013 fan favourite and runner up Mikael Saari joins the hip hoppers Black Bitches in Sä oot kaunein . The bitches are smooth and groovy and Mikael's vocals are once again perfect. Let's stay in Finland with Jesse Kaikuranta . He's got a new album and the first single is Vielä täällä . Both videos feature also the colors of autumn! Also Lauri Tähkä has released his second solo album and Saat syttymään is the first release off it. Big sound and catchy as hell, as usual. Jontte Valosaari had a top-2 hit with Jos mä oisin sun mies featuring Elastinen . The song stayed in top-20 18 weeks from late 2012 onwards. Enjoy!

In this weeks videos we have Matt Zarley with his OUTmusic Awards winning single of the year Change begings with me from the OUTmusic awards winning album of the year. A perfect Eurovision song it would have been.... Compact Disco has released Flying with you that recaps nicely the images from their Eurovision year from Amsterdam to London to Baku and more,  a real nostalgy trip! Melanie Zammit would have been an interesting choice in Malta but she didn't even make the final with Loverdose :-( And finally ever so succesful Jesse Kaikuranta scoring yet another hit with Näytän sulle rannan .

Here are the 20 most played songs in Finnish radios in 2012 (and their highest chart position). The full top-100 is here . The top of the list is filled with Finnish songs but in the end it's 51-49 for the foreign songs in top-100 1. Pariisin kevät: KESÄYÖ (1) 2. Loreen: EUPHORIA (1) 3. Train: DRIVE BY (1) 4. Chisu: KOHTALON OMA (1) 5. Jesse Kaikuranta: VIE MUT KOTIIN (1) 6. Jesse Kaikuranta: JÄRJETÖN RAKKAUS (1) 7. Elokuu: SAATILLA (2) 8. Nickelback: WHEN WE STAND TOGETHER (1) 9. Chisu: KOLMAS PYÖRÄ (1) 10. PMMP: RAKKAALLENI (1) 11. Juha Tapio: RAKASTAN NIIN KAUAN KUIN MÄ VOIN (2) 12. Laura Närhi: HETKEN TIE ON KEVYT (4) 13. Erin: ON ELÄMÄ LAINA (6) 14. Kelly Clarkson: STRONGER (WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU) (1) 15. Elokuu: SOUTAA HUOPAA (1) 16. Chisu: TIE (2) 17. Samuli Putro: OLET PUOLISONI NYT...

There rarely as much criticism towards something like there was for the first edition of UMK, the revamped Finnish national final. It was pretty much a flop in every possible way and it seems YLE has learned a lesson and studied well what went wrong and done the possible changes. Last year there were 40 artists online, but this year they decided to pick up the 12 semifinalists directly and giving all of them more focus. They also learned this kind of program needs more live shows and concentration on the songs and artists. This time there will be three live shows with televote and eliminations. There will be also a guest star on each show; Anssi Kela in the first one, Jesse Kaikuranta in the second and Elonkerjuu in the semifinal. But the pre-recorded shows start already December 27 followed by January 3 and 10, 2013 where we will get to know the artists and songs better. So far you can listen to snippets of the demos here .  Here are the running orders for the l...

Emma (the Finnish Grammy) nominations have been revealed and there are many familiar names. The award ceremony will take place on March 1, 2013 in Barona Arena, Espoo. You can see the full lists here . Below I have picked some nominations and familiar names to readers of this blog. Jesse Kaikuranta picked up five nominations, Robin six, Cheek four and even Eva & Manu two! UMK hopeful Idol winner Diandra even got one and Pernilla's brother and writer of När jag blundar several with his band Elokuu and as a producer! Song of the year :  Frontside Ollie - Robin, Kesäyö - Pariisin kevät, Kran turismo - Raappana ft. JVG,  Olet puolisoni nyt - Samuli Putro, Soutaa huopaa - Elokuu, Vie minut kotiin - Jesse Kaikuranta Male artist:   Cheek, Jesse Kaikuranta, Jukka Poika, Samuli Putro, Stig Female artist:   Anna Eriksson, Anna Puu, Johanna Kurkela, Laura Närhi, Paula Koivuniemi Band:  Apulanta, Elonkerjuu, Nightwish, PMMP, Stam...

As I predicted the Voice of Finland runner up Jesse Kaikuranta won this year's Syksyn Sävel with his Järjetön rakkaus beating veteran names like Yö, Laura Voutilainen and Mariska. This continues his string of success ever since his debut single hit the #1 this spring and his just released album debuted at #1 as well.  Helsinki's Fair center hosted the show last Saturday night and you can listen all the songs and get to know the singers by scrolling down this blog :-). This year the profits of the voting were donated to cancer research and during the night over 543.000 euros were collected. The press, or rather media also chose their favourite and it was also Jesse! No other awards or placing were given. You can watch the performances here .. 

Jesse Kaikuranta is one of the hottest names in the list. He broke through in the first The Voice of Finland where he came second but has since clearly outsold the winner Mikko Sipola . His debut album was released this week and is one of the most awaited albums of the year. His first single Vie mut kotiin went straight to #1 in iTunes (and #11 in official singles chart and #1 on radio chart) and has been one of the biggest radiohits of 2012. Järjetön rakkaus is following the suit and is already a big hit and reached #6 in iTunes and #3 on radio charts). Here's the video . And here's Minä ja hän . He's debut album went straight to #1 in iTunes upon its release last week. This blogger thinks he's one of the most interesting new artists around and he's my favorite for win this year!

MTV3 restarted Syksyn Sävel contest last year after a long break (1968-2001) and it was won by Jari Sillanpää . Now this old competitor of Euroviisut but with much more hit potential and commercial output returns again with several familiar and popular names. Among them Laura Voutilainen and Euroviisut veterans Aikakone and Marita Taavitsainen (also previous Syksyn Sävel winner ). Mariska is rather hot name in the business and charts right now and so is Jesse Kaikuranta who's had a string of radio hits after his The Voice of Finland participation (he finished in top-4). And Yö is one of the biggest bands in Finland ever so with their fan base it might be a safe bet to predict their victory? Tuuli is the female "teen sensation", a response to immensaly popular Robin ... The final will be held in Helsinki on November 17, 2012. Mariska: Kuolema on kalamies Yölintu: Appelsiinilehtoon Yö: Syyt syntyjen Tuuli: Enää ei oo kiire Topi Saha: Pappi, lukkari, talonpoik...

Jesse didn't win Voice of Finland but it is already clear he's the One out of it. After his smash hit on radios, Vie minut kotiin here comes the Jenni Vartiainen cover   Minä ja hän that he did in the show and by popular demand is now here and probably on his debut album that's in the making. Can't wait!

Logomo in Turku was packed tonight when the semifinal of this spring's success Voice of Finland took place. Many familiar names from Euroviisut and UMK took part but only one made it so far: Saara Aalto . She's the only female among the final four after the results of the combined judge-spotify-televote results were announced. She will battle it out next Friday with Jesse Kaikuranta , Kim Koskinen  and Mikko Sipola .  This blogger is surprised to find himself supporting Jesse for the win after his outstanding original performances over the weeks. He's got his own look and thing going on and it's great he made it this far against all odds. Kim and Mikko are "working class" favorites against Saara's incredible sophisticated talent and Jesse's quiet originality. Can't wait to see how this ends! And one can only wonder how Nelonen or channel four makes this show so much better than this spring's other musical reality shows UMK and Idols. S...