Monsters / Saara Aalto / Finland | Review

The seventh airing of Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu - the music competition that selects Finland's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest - featured three songs performed by Saara Aalto. She was internally selected by the Finnish TV broadcaster YLE to represent the country this year with the winning song, Monsters, decided by public votes and the points from international juries.

In recent years, Finland has frequently found itself stuck in the semi finals - in fact the past three years have seen truly diverse offerings stumble at this stage. Nevertheless, the country certainly couldn’t be accused of not making the effort; despite their poor form they frequently send the most disparate recording artists – look at the contrast between Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät in 2015 and Norma John last year.

This year they hope to buck this non-qualification trend with Saara Aalto, an established Finnish personality who is now well-known to European viewers through her participation on the UK's X-Factor. She also has previous history with Eurovision, appearing in Finland's national finals of 2011 and 2016, when she was runner-up on both occasions. Along with her X-Factor exploits, a case of always the bridesmaid...

As for Finland's earlier contributions, their entries have rarely been awful but often battle to hook enough viewers. The Finnish crew seem to be aware of this, as Monsters is a highly global-sounding production - co-written by the composers behind Sweden's winning Heroes in 2015 - the kind of uptempo contemporary recording that could be heard on radios and in clubs the length and breadth of Europe. Of the three bidding entries, this was probably the most prudent selection. It's an impressive tune that seems to have broad appeal. However, I do worry that it may join the list of ‘decent but mediocre’ entries which would see this presumably deserving song knocked out at the semi-final stage.

On the plus side, Saara is a strong vocalist and she’s an accomplished enough performer to sell the drama of Monsters in Lisbon. At the moment, however, Finland's biggest problem is with the staging. Her national final performances were way too busy and convoluted, sucking much of the life out of the songs and diverting the viewers' attention from less than satisfactory performances.

If the success of Monsters depended on the official music video, then it would win Eurovision hands down. Based on the national final presentation, I'm not so convinced. At the moment, the live version has all the hallmarks of a borderline qualifier.

Photo: Ville Paul Paasimaa [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Finland 

Artist: Saara Aalto

Song: Monsters 

Semi-Final 1 | Second Half

Official Music Video

Eurovision 2017: Review: Finland: Blackbird

Finland: Norma John - Blackbird

Ever since their famous win in 2006 - courtesy of Lordi - Finland's fortunes at the Eurovision Song Contest have proven to be problematic. The last ten years have witnessed four non-qualifications and a last place showing - so, can Norma John and their Blackbird improve the Nordic country's circumstances?

Quite possibly. Finland appear to have identified the potential of entering somewhat atypical songs into the Contest - even if the strategy has not always paid off.

This year could be different. Although Blackbird is as far away musically from Hard Rock Hallelujah as one can imagine, this wistful ballad has nevertheless installed itself as one of the early favourites.

It's not surprising. It's sung with impeccable vocals by Leena Tirronen who transports the listener on an emotive journey describing how the most mundane of things can be a painful reminder of lost love. Although emotional, her voice successfully supplants the usual melodramatic mood with a much darker yet delicate quality.

This extends to the song's clever piano arrangement which, on a musical level, manages to carry the emotion to just the right intensity, avoiding the pitfalls of some similarly selected ballads which have proven to be much too soporific.

Of course, the past shows that ballads have managed to keep us awake enough to secure a victory, but they are usually of the "power" variety. Blackbird is much more pensive, quiet and understated. It's unlikely to appeal to the party crowd, but then Calm After the Storm and Silent Storm probably didn't either, but it did those songs little harm.

Suffice to say then, you can bet on seeing Norma John somewhere in the mix. It's a quality entry after all and, with a good tail wind, should comfortably qualify from its semi-final. What happens to it after that is down to the draw, of course. With too many ballads around it, the song could struggle. What it really needs is a position among the overtly power-pop offerings where it is allowed to show how it stands out from the crowd.

Even then, it's unlikely to be this year's winner, but expect to see it gobble up some major points.

8.5/10.

Eurovision 2016: Review: Finland: Sandhja: Sing It Away

Sandhja will be singing away in Stockholm

When rockers Lordi won the Eurovision Song Contest for Finland for the first (and only) time in 2006, it finally felt as if the country had graduated to become one of the elite of the competition.

However, that promise has wilted somewhat over the past decade with only Softengine's 2014 effort making any kind of impression.

In the intervening years, Finland has tried pure pop, indie rock and even punk rock to try and win over voters, but all to no avail. This year their entry is provided by Sandhja who will take the funky dance-floor filler Sing It Away to Stockholm.

UMK was once again the local platform used to determine the country's finalist but, as it turned out, Sandhja was not the most convincing of winners. Scoring only enough votes with the public to secure third place, it was the ten juries  - composed of various sections of Finnish society - which elevated her to the winner's podium.

Could the Finnish public's unwillingness to vote for Sing It Away be the fact that this type of performance has been heard numerous times before without overwhelming success? After all, Finland is the land of the guitar and the rockers who wield them isn't it, not a country you immediately identify as clubland.

To give Sandhja her due, she knows how to use a stage - commanding it throughout the three minutes of the song. This professional approach gives a little more gravitas to a song that feels as if it has been dragged kicking and screaming out of the early 1990s - remember Ride on Time by Black Box?

It has exactly the same flavour as that song and should put Semi-Final 1 in a party mood when it kicks off the show in May. Whether it is memorable enough after seventeen more songs have followed is very questionable. Semi-Final 1 is tough enough anyway this year; Sandhja and her crew will really need to stand out if her retro dance tune has any hope of qualifying.

What do you think?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Don't forget to follow our Facebook and Twitter accounts!

Eurovision 2014: Finland: Something Better

Finland: Softengine

Eight acts lined up for the Finnish Eurovision national final in Espoo last Saturday evening and once the jury and public votes were combined, the five-member rock band Softengine triumphed with the song, Something Better.

Most years, you can depend on Finland to bring something a little different to Eurovision. Lordi instantly comes to mind, as well as last year's representative Krista Siegfrids and that kiss.

The 2014 entry looks set to continue this tradition, when some teenage Britpop will take to the stage during the second semi-final. Eurovision traditionalists will, no doubt, detest Softengine's thrashing rock song and dismiss it as nothing more than a gimmick. But, the competition has survived into the 21st century and Scandinavia now appear to be leading the way.

Something Better is just that. It brings some much needed credibility to Eurovision, even if it is offered up by a bunch of kids. It's catchy in the sense that it's memorable, but there is no sugar coating here. It's as far removed from your 'normal' Eurosong as you can get, though still commercial enough to capture the ear of a discerning Eurovision audience.

This one just may be this year's sleeper. It's fresh, energetic and enthusiastic. More importantly, it's performed in the second half of the second semi-final, which should give it a distinct advantage in qualifying for the Grand Final.