Finnish broadcaster YLE have unveiled the full line up of 15 artists that will compete next year to represent Finland at the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest. Not only that, but they’ve also uploaded all of them so that you can have a listen to each one! Naturally we’ve ploughed our way through them, made judgements on each, and can present our review of the 15 songs below.
They all have a tough job following Finland’s Eurovision entry from last year; the amazing ‘Lose Control’ by Waldo’s People!
Amadeus – Anastacia (Risto Asikainen / Ilkka Vainio)
We quite like this one. It’s got an oh so subtle dance beat going on in the background, ethnic strings, a chant like chorus, and it flows really well. This one to win please – it’s the best out of what turned out to be a very bad bunch.
Boys Of The Band (BOB) – America (I think I love you) (Kimmo Blom)
DIRE! A song about other rock songs.
Bääbs – You don’t know tomorrow (Riku Kärkkäinen / Tommi Forsström)
This is an interesting one. It sounds like it’d be a grower. It’s got a good string riff throughout, but musically it’s all over the place. And melodically it’s just not there. But it’s got a key change and a dramatic finish, both of which earn it an extra point or two from us!
Eläkeläiset – Hulluna humpasta (Kristian Voutilainen / Onni Waris)
It sounds like a poor man’s version of Israel’s Eurovision entry from 2007. Which was awful enough in itself.
Pentti Hietanen – Il mondo è quì (Lasse Heikkilä / Petri Kaivanto / Stefano De Sando)
A bit of opera here sung in Italian. Not that bad either. But again, just nowhere near as strong as it needs to be. Latvia did something similar at Eurovision in 2007 but it was roughly about 47.5 million times better.
Osmo Ikonen – Heaven or hell (Osmo Ikonen)
A really poor attempt at trying to recreate Maroon 5’s ‘This Love’.
Heli Kajo – Annankadun kulmassa (Heli Kajo)
A pleasant enough retrospective jaunt through music. But ultimately rather bland.
Veeti Kallio – Kerro mulle rakkaudesta (Veeti Kallio/ Pekka Ruuska)
Dull dull dull.
Antti Kleemola – Sun puolella (Antti Kleemola / Mikko Karjalainen)
A bit of a sweeping, almost epic ballad. Lots of piano. This was one of the few that we managed to listen to until the very end. And actually, probably wouldn’t object too much if we had to listen to again. But that’s hardly a glowing review is it?! And he left a key change out where there was ample room for it.
Kuunkuiskaajat – Työlki ellää (Timo Kiiskinen)
These girls looked like they were gonna be fun! And they are. Just not the sort of fun we were hoping for. It’s silly, yet traditional. It sounds vaguely schlager, but not enough for us to like it. The best comparison is that it sounds like a more upbeat version of ‘Femme Fatale’ – the Cypriot entry of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008.
Nina Lassander – Cider Hill (Janne Hyöty / Paul Oxley)
A nice ballad.
Linn – Fatal moment (Sebastian Holmgård /Linn Nygård)
This is all a bit Evanescence/Within Temptation. The chorus is frightfully weak though and lets the song down completely.
Maria Lund – Sydän ymmärtää (Valtteri Tynkkynen / Maria Lund / Heikki Salo)
A sort of throwback to fifties music. We can imagine it looking great on stage, given the upbeat tempo of the track and especially Maria’s striking prettiness. But on record it doesn’t appeal to us at all.
Monday – Play (Tuomas ”Gary” Keskinen / Salla Lehtinen)
The chorus is ok. But nothing else about this is in any way good whatsoever.
Sister Twister – Love at first sight (Elin Blom, Jonas Olsson)
A likeable enough pop/rock number. The chorus is quite catchy. It’s all very Sinead Mulvey and Black Daisy!
What a truly terrible bunch of songs! It was like wading through treacle. Very disappointing for Finland. There are only about three that we actually like. It needs to be either Amadeus or Sister Twister that go to Eurovision. That would be very good.
You can listen to the songs (at your peril) here
