Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Finland really, really turned into dark side again when Blind Channel took a very clear win with their violent pop  Dark side in the UMK21 final. That was no wonder as the signs were clear in the social medias all throughout the day and evening, but the amount of televotes was: 479 vs. Telfon Brothers feat. Pandora's 150. over 54% of the total. Still not as much as The Roop got in Lithuania though. This said, YLE did a great job. Each staging had an idea and was well done. Teflon Brothers feat. Pandora was a bit over the top (and vocally clearly the weakest) and one could not think the Darude example when Look away was wonderfully staged in UMK and won, and then it was literally down scaled and watered down for ESC.... All the others gave their best and worked, including Danny with his funeral symbolism and minimalism and Ilta's beautiful staging and touching performance. Oskr and Aksel clearly ate each others votes and if only one of them was in running he would have ended ...

Finland is among those few countries where it is business as usual for Eurovision song contest 2021 or in short: last year's entrant has no free ticket to the contest in 2021 but the national final goes on as usual. But with a twist, last year's winner Aksel is there, apparently chosen through the open call for songs but as the songs this year are seven instead of six, one can put one plus one together and get Aksel as result. Right? Why not be open about it? Last year UMK provided a mega hit that wasn't the winner but the runner up Cicciolina by Erika Vikman and she's back performing the opening number with the host Antti Tuisku, Finland's number one pop star. On top of that supermegapopular pop rock band Haloo Helsinki makes a comeback after their break of a couple of years to relaunch their career.. As for hits the 2021 edition has already given us three hits as Teflon Brothers feat. Pandora (#2), Blind Channel (#5) and Ilta (#5) are all in Top-13 in the for th...

Something that has never happened before in the official Finnish charts history happened last week (and this week, too) when in the Top-6 we had three UMK entries. This week Teflon Brothers feat. Pandora keeps its n.o 2 slot where it debuted two weeks ago while Blind Channel drops to n.o 10 from last week's n.o 5 while Ilta rises to n.o 5 from last week's  n.o 6 debut. No sight of the other entries in the Top-20. All the entries have made the Radio Play charts though. Two weeks ago Teflon Brothers feat. Pandora entered at 41 but  dropped out of Top-100 last week only to re-enter this week at 69. Debuts of two weeks ago Danny (70) and Laura (96) did not. Last week we witnessed the debut of Ilta at 47 but this weeks she drops to 82, Oskr debuted at 72 and Aksel at 100 last week but are now out.  Surprisingly Blind Channel is the only one having already three consecutive weeks, going up to 58 from their 67 debut week and bettering it to 57 this week. I didn't think that one ...

The artists may have leaked already last night, as usual, but today they were confirmed in a short presentation on Yle's social media channels and even live on TV1 at 1pm local time. The songs will be aired one per day starting from tomorrow. The final will take place on February 20 without live audience, and the winner will be determined by televoters (75%) and international jury (25%). The host os the show will be revealed only in February.  TEFLON BROTHERS X PANDORA - I LOVE YOU (Jaakko Salovaara-Axel Ehnström-Mikko Kuoppala-Heikki Kuula-Jani Tuohimaa-Anneli Magnusson) Teflon Brothers is a rap, pop, dance trio made of Pyhimys, Heikki Kuula and Voli. They started back in 2006. They have released six albums and 27 singles, often featuring guest vocalists and having humorous lyrics. Their biggest hits are Seksikkäin jäbä (#3), Maradona (Kesä '86) (#1), Pämppää (#1), Hubba bubba (#2), Aksel Kankaanranta got his breakhtrough being featured in Jättiläinen by Pyhimys who has...

People have the power to vote for their favorite video of the year at Emma Gaala, aka the Finnish Grammys. Here are the nominees, who's your favorite? Alma - Karma (directed by Pyry Pelkonen and Jens Alexander Zitting) Arttu Lindeman - Läikkyy (directed by Jan-Erik Olin) Kaija Koo feat. Cheek - Nää yöt ei anna armoo (directed by Hannu Aukia) Nikke Ankara feat. Julma H - Pahoi poikii (directed by Jaakko Jokela) Sanni feat. Paperi T - Oo se kun oot (directed by Ezra Gould) Stam1na - Kuudet raamit (directed by Tuomas Petsalo) Teflon Brothers feat, Mariska - Lähiöunelmii (directed by Hannu Aukia) Tuure Kilpeläinen ja Kaihon Karavaani - Autiosaari (directed by Patrick Lindholm) Vesala - Älä droppaa mun tunnelmaa (directed by Malin Nyqvist) Ville Valo - Olet mun kaikuluotain (directed by Ykä Järvinen) As a bonus the most talked about video of the past days:

Some years ago MTV and Eurovision were living in a parallel realities never even getting close. Then slowly some Eurovision entrants or wannabes started popping up in the nominees or even winning awards (maNga, Marco Mengoni, Lena, Dima Bilan...) This year is no exception, as many as six Eurovision stars are nominated in their home countries to be the one and only for the race for the ultimate award: in Italy we have Francesca Michielin and Emma , in France Amir , in Belgium Laura Tesoro , in the Netherlands Douwe Bob and finally in Poland Cleo , who battles it out with wannabe Margaret .  In Romania this year's runner up Vanotek is nominated. Special mention for Spain's Alvaro Soler who would be pefect for Eurovision.... who knows? In Finland it might be in pack for Antti Tuisku this year crowning his newfound megasuccess. The other nominees are Eveliina who has taken the spotlight from her girlfriend Sanni a bit (last week the girls were in the singles top-...

The nominees for the best video. The winner will be voted by the public in this category. Four out of ten are also nominated for the best song.... Among them UKM host Roope Salminen, tongue twisitng SAARA, JVG and now also JVG's VilleGalle in another video....  And way too much Finnish humour rap here, too. Thank heavens there's Chisu at least!

The Finnish Grammy, Emma, will be handed out once again in March. The nominees are out and here are the ones for the Best Song. The industry has been taken over by humour rap. Sigh. Do you agree? Who is your favorite? Among them we have Sanni and JVG from Vain elämää series, Stig from UMK, and also Roope Salminen, the UMK host last year and also this year. And the tongue twisting SAARA.

Another year has passed and it's time to look back who managed to score a #1 hit in the official Finnish charts.... Once again the chart is dominated by foreign DJs and Finnish rappers and most every act has "feat." in it. But hey, one Eurovision entry is one of the biggest hits of the year: Vicky Rosti's Sata salamaa covered by Antti Tuisku in Vain elämää series. Also another cover from that series made it to number one: VilleGalle and Sanni doing Pave Maijanen's classic Lähtisitkö . And another Eurovision link is UMK host Roope Salminen having one of the summer hits.  Only 18 songs made it, and Finnish ones beat the foreign ones 10-8 :-) Check all their videos after the jump.... Oops, I forgot there are 53 weeks in 2015! This one's the new number one 53/2015:

I will be here from 19.30 CET to blog UMK+ and then UMK 2013 the final. Various polls and Spotify listenings and such show that it's still an open race: Diandra? Mikael? Krista? Arion? Or even Great Wide North? Stay tuned! 19.30 Here we go. The UMK+ from backstage of Barona Arena in Espoo has started. Yesterday's and today's snowing has made the surrounding pure and white but inside the atmosphere is surely far from frosty! Let's see if there's something interesting happening backstage.... Meiju Suvas is interviewed and she recalls her Euroviisut participation in 1983.... How time flies! Then we have Mikael Konttinen talking about his ladies.... Next Pernilla, the reigning UMK queen. Apparentlly some new music is coming from her. And she wants Mikael Saari to win...Then we move into the arena and green room and Elina and her girls get to sing a new version of Ring, ring with new lurics and we move on to Arion.... And yes, the green room is in the middl...

YLE has revealed the running order for the UMK 2013 final and info on the voting. Strangely there will be no superfinal and it will be 50-50 with the jury and televote. That's good news for Arion and Great Wide North, clearly so far the jury's favorites while fan and televote favorites Diandra, Mikael and Krista may be punishd by them if they decide they don't like them... are we heading for a compromise here à la 2000? If you don't remember what happened then, check your history books.... Arion – Lost Elina Orkoneva – He’s Not My Man Lucy Was Driving – Dancing All Around the Universe Krista Siegfrids – Marry Me Last Panda – Saturday Night Forever Mikael Saari – We Should Be Through Great Wide North – Flags Diandra – Colliding Into You The interval acts will be Teflon Brothers featuring Euroviisut veteran Meiju Suvas and last year's UMK participant Stig. Mikael Konttinen (Euroviisut 2008 fan favorite) will bring his popular musical talk show t...

A special treat awaits in the UMK final in Barona Arena, Espoo in February. Hanna Pakarinen, Pernilla Karlsson, Kaisa Vala, Emma Salokoski, Johanna Iivanainen and Suvi Teräsniska will perform together in a number inspired by YLE's program Mikaelin naiset . In this program Mikael Konttinen, also Euroviisut veteran himself chats with female artists about a song they have chosen and has meant something special to them. In the end they perform it together with Mikael and his grand piano. I wonder what will they sing in UMK? Another confirmed guest will be Teflon Brothers featuring Meiju Suvas and Stig.