Tomorrow night sees the third and final UMK heat take place in Finland. And so here are the last batch of six songs and artists hoping to represent the Finns at this year’s Eurovision.
Out of last week’s lot, it was Mikael Saari, Annica & Kimmo, and Cristal Snow who progressed to next week’s final.
Here’s what we’ve got competing for the last three slots in that final;
Lieminen: Pehmeiden Arvojen Aaalijat
(Lieminen, P. Siitonen)
A very charming disco-funk-pop track that brings to mind this breakout hit from the Spanish Eurovision selections back in 2008. Not what we’d normally choose to listen to, but BY GUM we’re really enjoying it. A dark horse for the UMK 2016 win perhaps? We reckon Europe would react quite well to this.
Tuuli Okkonen: Don’t Wake Me Up
(Michael James Down, Primoz Poglajen, Dimitri Stassos, Tuuli Okkonen, Johnny Sanchez, Sara Ljunggren)
Easily the best of the week’s songs, and possibly of the whole UMK selection this year. A dramatic mid-tempo synth ballad that’s pure pop. We’re looking forward to seeing how the cinematic production is represented through the performance. And on the assumption that it will translate well, we could see this doing very well at Eurovision for Finland. This is one we’ll be listening to post-contest for sure.
Gušani Brothers: Poom Poom
(Irfan, Gušani Brothers)
Slightly ridiculous yet rather enjoyable. It’s like something you’d expect to hear in a Romanian national selection – a popcorn production paired with Latino stylings and sounds. It’s kind of basic though – in that it’s unfortunately let down by a weak chorus. A slightly better chorus and this may have been an obvious Eurovision finalist.
Barbe-Q-Barbies: Let Me Out
(Janne Saksa, Niki Westerback, Tracy Lipp)
A rock group singing an attitude laden tune. Not our bag, but if past UMK selections have taught us anything it’s that this sort of music is most definitely the Finnish voting public’s bag…
Pietarin Spektaakkeli: Liian Kuuma
(Pietari Kiviharju, Antti Hynninen, Totte Rautiainen, Pietarin Spektaakkeli)
A quirky retro number that harks back to sixties rockabilly on one hand, and Scandi-Indie on another. Different to anything in this year’s selection, yet utterly forgettable despite this. It sounds like it’s here just to make up the numbers and tick another box on the musical genre diversity form that YLE will have felt compelled to complete.
Sandhja: Sing It Away
(Sandhja, Milos Rosas, Heikki Korhonen, Petri Matara, Markus Savijoki)
A mish-mash of different musical styles – with disco, soul, and of course POP being the most prevalent. It’s up-tempo, it’s infectiously upbeat, and Sandhja herself does indeed SING IT away. As for the competition, it combines the adorable pop sensibilities of Tuuli’s song, with the jovialities of the song by Gušani Brothers. But hopefully it will stand out on its own, as it would make a welcome finalist next week.
Our preferences for the Top 3? We’d take Tuuli, Sandhja and surprisingly Lieminen thank you very much!
