Three Nordic nations will select their 2011 Eurovision Song Contest entry this weekend. We’ve followed the national pre-selections of Norway, Iceland, and Finland throughout January, unfortunately with a lot of labour for very little joy. Let’s be honest here – the quality of songs this year has been absolutely dire, with only a few notable exceptions. It comes to something when across the twenty five songs competing in the grand finals of three countries, we can pick out only four songs that we genuinely love – the same amount of songs that we could pick out in Sweden’s first semi final alone! ‘Games’ need to be ‘upped’! There are a couple more that we like a little bit. But it’s still very much been a disappointing year all in all. And the only thing that is gonna salvage it for us personally, is if our favourites in each country win this weekend. Which, to be fair, is actually thankfully looking like it could happen!
Below we’ve listed the songs participating in each country’s final, and the order in which they’ll compete on the night. We’ve also added our thoughts, and included the performance videos of the songs that we like, and which therefore, we think you should take a listen to!
NORWAY
In Norway, we have three of the aforementioned four songs that we really love in this trinity of national finals. Stella Mwangi, Hanne Sørvaag, and Helene Bøksle. And it looks like Stella is going to be the clear winner. Not only did she win her semi final two weeks ago, but she’s spent just under two weeks at number 1 on Norwegian iTunes, is a big favourite with the fans, and is the runaway favourite with betting agencies. And we’re perfectly fine with that! We’d love Hanne and Helene to be in with a shot too of course, but it’s looking unlikely. Right now, the only song that we can see troubling Stella in any way is ‘Depend On Me’ by Babel Fish – an anthemic and rousing MOR ballad, which is exactly what the Norwegians voted for last year, albeit a ballad in a much different style. It’s not a bad song actually, and we do like it a little, but nowhere near as much as the three solo ladies.
Helene Bøksle – Vardlokk
Sie Gubba – Alt du vil ha
Babel fish – Depend on me
The Lucky Bullets – Fire Down Below
The BlackSheeps – Dance Tonight
Stella Mwangi – Haba Haba
Åste & Rikke – Not That Easy (Ah-Åh Ah-Åh)
Hanne Sørvaag – You’re Like a Melody
ICELAND
It’s a little less clear in Iceland however, where it’s very much a two horse race. In one corner you have Yohanna, the nation’s sweetheart, who’ll be singing the epically enchanting ballad ‘Nótt’ (the last of the four songs that we love this weekend). It’s an extraordinary beauty, this one. Perhaps even more so than ‘Is It True’, the song she won with two years ago and subsequently finished second with at the Eurovision Song Contest (behind Norway’s Alexander Rybak!). And needless to say, it seems to be the fan favourite. In the other corner though, we have ‘Aftur Heim’, which will be performed by Sigurjón’s friends, after the song’s composer and original performer tragically passed away a week before he was due to compete with the song. Some are arguing that it’s the situation surrounding that song which is the main competition to Yohanna, rather than the song itself. However, the song does also have its fans who are disputing that claim, and are saying that it would be a strong competitor even without the unfortunate events that have occurred. As for us, well we’re not fans of the song at all, and we hope that Yohanna romps to victory on Saturday night.
And of the other songs on offer, it’s only really Erna Hrönn Ólafsdóttir’s ‘Ástin Mín Eina’ that interests us. It’s another pretty ballad, but in a completely different league to Yohanna’s, and we can’t see Erna having a shot at winning this contest. We do hope that she tries again next year though. There’s something very likeable about her!
Haraldur Reynisson – Ef ég Hefði Vængi
Erna Hrönn Ólafsdóttir – Ástin Mín Eina
Yohanna – Nótt
Matthías Matthíasson & Erla Björg Káradóttir – Eldgos
Jógvan Hansen – Ég Lofa
Magni Ásgeirsson – Ég Trúi á Betra Líf
Sigurjón’s friends – Aftur Heim
FINLAND
Last, and by every means least, is Finland. Oh Finland! A few weeks ago we were at least rooting for one of the ten songs to win. And in a way, we still are. But the novelty of the ESC Metal of Cardiant’s ‘Rapture In Time’ has worn off a little, somewhat. We’d still like to see it win though, and on the stage at Eurovision. But that’s really only because everything else on offer is so nondescript, dull, or just plain awful (translation: not to our tastes!). And to think, the only entertaining entry they had this year (Jimi Constantine’s ‘Party To Party’) crashed and burned in its semi. What happened, Finland?! Since we’ve started this site, the Finnish final has never been this bad. Which is ironic, because since we started this website, Finnish pop music has never been as good as it has in the last 12 months. Oh well. HEAVY METAL FOR THE WIN!!! (and regular readers of this site will know how much it pains us to write that!)
Eveliina Määttä – Dancing In The Dark
Sami Hintsanen – Täältä Maailmaan
Milana Misic – Sydämeni Kaksi Maata
Paradise Oskar – Da Da Dam
Cardiant – Rapture In Time
Johanna Iivanainen – Luojani Mun
Father McKenzie – Good Enough
Marko Maunuksela – Synkän Maan Tango
Saara Aalto – Blessed With Love
Stala & So. – Pamela
