Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

A bit late but here comes the Erin's Day round up, that sadly I found a bit disappointing and it was a bit hard to choose the favoriters. Or rather the songs I may have liked the most as Erin's (or Nylon Beat's) favorites didn't quite work in new versions by JVG and Maija Vilkkumaa or Elastinen . Which is rather interesting: Erin makes fantastic covers but the others don't quite manage to cover her songs... Hmmm. Erin's original Studio Erin's original Studio Nylon Beat's original Studio Erin's original

Day 2 of season 10 was dedicated to Paula Vesala and her solo songs and the songs of her ex-band PMMP.  Being a female writer with some very rough, meaningful and strong lyrics the male artists took the best out of them this time, even if Maija Vilkkumaa and Erin did a good h´job. My favorites were however again Lauri Tähkä and Samu Haber, with Antti Tuisku making his debut, a very strong one and Elastinen did a good job after last week's flop. Check out the episode one, Antti Tuisku's Day here Studio Paula's original Studio PMMP's original Studio Paula's original Studio Paula's original

Vain elämää series, where top artists gather together in a villa for a week to perform each other's songs and talk over everything over lunch and dinner has reached its 10th season already and it's a All Stars one featuring JVG's VilleGalle, Elastinen, Lauri Tähkä, Paula Vesala, Maija Vilkkumaa, Erin, Antti Tuisku and Sunrise Avenue's Samu Haber . The series kicked off with Antti Tuisku's Day and below are my favorites out of the performances (and Antti's originals) that all outdid the original for a reason or another.... Lauri and Erin turned the songs something else and were for me the outstanding ones by far.  Antti Tuisku Antti Tuisku Antti Tuisku Antti Tuisku

The ever so popular Mamma mia! musical by ABBA is having its Finnish version coming up next May in Helsinki. Laura Voutilainen has landed the role as Donna (played by Meryl Streep in the movie) and she describes it as her dream role and as written for her. She's done musicals before but says this is her first experience in such an acting role. She auditioned for the role by the request by the producers and there was no doubt she'll be perfect.  But the Eurovision connections don't end here: Nina Tapio and Tomi Metsäketo are also in the cast. Nina Tapio has been several times in Eurovision as a backing singer, as well as in the national final and even performed in the opening numbers in Helsinki 2007 Eurovision. Tomi Metsäketo nearly beat Lordi in Euroviisut 2006 but let's see how it goes for him now. He's in the middle of #metoo scandal now and was kicked out last week from a tv production he was supposed to be in several future episodes still in coming we...

Last but not lest in this series: Maija Vilkkumaa. She's been leading Finnish rock stars for years, delivered countless hits and this blogger is a huge fan: Her lyrics are always original, playing with words and double meanings - you can hear she studied Finnish language for sure! Her album sales are over 300.000 and all her albums have sold gold and/or (multi)platinum. She has won 5 Emma awards (aka Finnish Grammy) among others, and she has also written a book and done a lot of television. Her latest album is from 2010 as she has been concentrating on her two kids and marriage but is about to come back this fall.

In our exlusive interviews n Malmö 2013 Finland's Krista Siegfrids mentioned The Rasmus as the one she would like to see represent Finland in Denmark 2014.  This is also been this blogger's wish for years already! However, recently the lead singer Lauri Ylönen said The Rasmus is about to take a break while he is to release a new album with his new band Amanda . This album was supposed to be his second solo album following the success of his debut.... Meanwhile The Rasmus has announced tour dates in Russia this fall! Things are a bit complicated here but The Rasmus/Lauri/Amadeus would a great choice anyways, but only a wish I guess as UMK 2014 will be here again.... But maybe could be at least involved in writing the song? He and his partner PMMP's Paula Vesala wrote for example Johanna Kurkela 's Rakkauslaulu . Anyways, The Rasmus is one of the most succesful Finnish bands abroad. In 2003 their In the shadows was the number one single in Europe that year. Othe...

Lauri Ylönen of The Rasmus fame is one of the songwriters in Katri Helena's new album Valon maa out on November 9, 2011. He has written the beautiful Vieras sisar with his companion Paula Vesala, of PMMP. They also wrote Johanna Kurkela's megahit Rakkauslaulu . Other songwriters of rock generation for Katri Helena include Tuure Kilpeläinen and Jussi Hakulinen.  Listen songs from her new album: Vieras sisar , Sinun sydämesi kanssa and Kerro, kerro kuiskaten .