Tonight, YLE and Finland held their selection to find the song which they hope will continue their, albeit brief, revival in fortune.
In all, there will be 3 semi-finals with 2 songs qualifying from each. The songs which don’t qualify will go into a ‘second chance’ round, from which 2 will qualify from the final. This means that of the 12 songs participating, only 4 won’t make the final. It makes you wonder why they are bothering with the semis at all!
Hanna Marsh – Broken Flower. This song, which Hanna co-wrote with Lennart Östlund is a mid-tempo, guitar led country style offering. The theme is also a bit country, being about a lonely woman seeking a better life for herself. It’s the kind of song which has been in several Finnish finals without making much of an impact. It’s nice enough to sing along to with it’s unchanging pace. She wore a white dress while her backing singers wore black.
Kari Papio – Valaise yö. This is a good, old-fashioned Finnish ballad. It’s hard to see it qualifying from the semi-final if it goes on to represent Finland, even if it’s performed in English, but it builds well and Kari is an experienced performer and sold the song well.
Movetron – Cupido. Movetron are a well established Finnish act. It’s in the typical electro-pop Movetron style. The song was written by Jukka Tanttarin & Timo Isomäk, 2 members of the group. Päivi Lepistö completes the line-up. This may prove to be a fans favourite but whether it has the wide ranging appeal necessary is another question. They were accompanied on stage by some strangely dressed backing singers.
Crumbland – Pleasure. Recent Eurovision’s have seen rock songs achieve success, most notably of course with Finland’s own Lordi. ‘Pleasure’ is a variation on the style, being a grunge song of the type made popular in the nineties. As you would expect, heavy guitars lead the way, especially in the chorus. It was popular with the studio audience. Crumbland are a 4-piece band who formed in 2001 and released their debut album last year.
After a very short interval act which was mostly talk, the results were announced. Through to the final are…..Kari Papio with 46.7% of the televote, and Movetron with 20.3%. Hanna and Crumbland will have to wait for their ‘second chance’.
