Tonight we saw the second heat of Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu, the Finnish preselection for the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest. Six acts competed for the second spot in the final in Espoo on February 1st. Who would follow the band Softengine who already was sent to the final last week? At the end Hanna Sky was the lucky one while for MAKEA UMK is over.
The Finnish preselection Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK) started its second round tonight. Just like last week six acts competed for one spot in the final which will be held in Espoo on February 1st. One act would be eliminated while the remaining four acts will get another chance to qualify for the final in a second chance round next Saturday. You can read more about tonight’s participants in our Get to know article.
The songs:
1. MAKEA – Painovoima (Gravity)
MAKEA kick off tonight’s show. The song is an interesting opener as it combines three styles. It starts very quietly like a ballad. The intro is sung by the female lead singer Kadi. Soon she is interrupted by a rap and hiphop part. In the chorus Painovoima turns into a powerful rock song. Kadi is dressed in a sexy black dress with a semi transparent skirt while the rapper wears black pants, a blue shirt and a cap. The blue backdrop is matching well with the outfits. Vocally they give a very solid performance.
2. Lauri Mikkola – Going down
Next on stage is Lauri Mikkola. He delivers a very confident performance to the song that can be described as a midtempo ballad with a powerful instrumental arrangement. On stage Lauri is accompanied by two female backing singers and four male musicians at the piano, the drums, the bass and the e-guitar. Lauri is dressed in a red suit that fits well to the red/black backdrop, even if it comes across the screen a bit flashy.
3. Clarissa feat. Josh – Top of the world
Top of the world is so far tonight’s most modern effort and the first uptempo song in this line up. The song has a nice beat and is danceable. The first part of the song is sung by Clarissa on her own, later she is joined by Josh. Both vocals are on the edge of being solid. The bridge is mostly instrumental with lots of dance elements. Young Clarissa wears a short black dress with a pink part around the chest. Josh comes across a bit like a Tooji look-a-like, not only because he wears a hoodie sweater. On stage the duo is accompanied by three dancers who also do the backing vocalists.
4. Mikko Pohjola – Sängyn reunalla (On the edge of the bed)
Sängyn reunalla is one of two songs in Finnish language tonight. This is the kind of song which makes you close your eyes and just dream away – a simple, but very melodic midtempo ballad. The first part of the song is unplugged. Mikko is just accompanied by a guitar. To underline this simplicity the performance is shown across the screen in black and white. With the second verse the female backing singer is joining Mikko at the front of the stage and with the second chorus the other instruments and a catchy beat set in. Mikko is completely dressed in black, just like the other three musicians on stage. The female backing vocalist wears a classic white blouse combined with a long black skirt.
5. MadCraft – Shining bright
Next up is MadCraft who deliver a very confident performance of their entry. Shining bright is a very catchy uptempo rock song which reminds a bit of Andorra’s 2007 entry Salvem el món. All band members are dressed very casual and colourful, especially the lead singer of wears a multicoloured jacket with bermuda shorts in the same pattern. The vocals come across a bit flat, but in a song like that it is not that important as the band members show how much fun they have on stage. In the middle of the song they animate the audience to clap their hands. At the end they seem to succeed as they receive the biggest applause so far.
6. Hanna Sky – Hope
Hope is tonight’s last entry. The song starts with some ethno elements. It is certainly an interesting piece of music as it combines different styles. Beside ethno elements it is a midtempo ballad that also features some gospel elements in the chorus, but overall a clear structure seems to be missing. Hanna who is dressed in an extravagant blue dress delivers a flawless vocal performance. She is accompanied by three female and two male backing singers. One of them also does some dance moves in between.
The show:
After a short welcome by the hosts Anne Lainto and Ile Uusivuori we went straight to the songs. Each of them was introduced by a short postcard about the artist. They expert jury consisting of Aija Puurtinen, Toni Wirtanen, Redrama and Tomi Saarinen sat just in front of the stage and gave a short judgement after every performance. In the end their opinion would count 50% of the whole voting.
The results:
The votes were delivered by a 50:50 contribution of public voting and the jury. Each jury member marked each song between 1 and 10. After the addition of their votes Hanna Sky was on first, Mikko Pohjola on second and MAKEA on last place.
The public vote was not revealed in detail. It was just announced that Hanna Sky is the lucky one to proceed directly to the final of UMK on February 1st. Mikko Pohjola, Lauri Mikkola, Clarissa ft. Josh and MadCraft will get a second chance to qualify for the final next Saturday. We have to say goodbye to MAKEA who came last tonight.
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