Tonight in a semi-final show, six acts advanced to the final of Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2014 (Finnish selection). In the show there were in total of eight participants fighting. All of them acts that did not manage to win the first and second heat of the selection.
Mikko Pohjola, MIAU, MadCraft, Hukka ja Mama, Lauri Mikkola and Clarissa feat. Josh Standing are the new finalists that will join heat one winner Softengine and Hanna Sky, winner of the second heat. In a thrilling semi-final show, Finland made one more step in their selection for the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest.
The songs:
1. MadCraft – Shining bright
The Helsinki pop punk band was first to go on stage. The group appeared very confident performing their entry but there was nothing that stood out. The style of the song was an uptempo rock song which reminded us a bit of Andorra’s 2007 entry performed by Anonymous.
All band members were dressed very casual and colourful, especially the
lead singer, who was dressed in a multicoloured jacket and a bermuda shorts in the
same pattern.
2. Hukka ja Mama – Selja
The second act of the night saw some folk and countrystyle on stage. Singer Martina appeared with the most bizarre head gear of the
evening that made her a serious contender for the Barbara Dex Award if this had to be in Copenhagen in May. Guitarist Lasse was wearing a red jacket, bowtie and beige pants.
They had a sofa on stage with them and
were also joined by two guitarists and a drummer. They gave a very happy performance which was warmly received by the audience present.
3. Lauri Mikkola – Going down
We were then up for a typical Eurovision well rehearsed performance. Lauri appeared with a short sleeved white slim fit top and black trousers. He sang his mid-tempo entry with great passion. On stage he was accompanied by two guitarist, a drummer, a pianist and two female backing vocals. His voice was very good and pitched well the long notes.
4. Jasmin Michaela – Kertakäyttösydän
Next on stage was charming Jasmin who presented a rhythmic ethnic entry. She was dressed in a Spanish style red dress. Apart from backing vocals she was also accompanied by two female dancers. Though her vocals were nothing special she appeared to enjoy every minute of her performance. Her moves complimented well with this latino song.
5. Dennis Fagerström – My little honey bee
Dennis was the fifth competitor dressed in white shirt and black tie. He was accompanied by two male backing singers, a bassist, drummer and keyboardist. His vocals were average but he appeared to invite everyone to sing the chorus of the song. The writers of this song follow closely the Eurovision Song Contest and some of them wrote a couple of entries for other countries. Infact the tune they created in this song, is very European.
6. MIAU – God/Drug
It was time for the weird girls who went on stage to sing their electronic rock song. The three ladies were dressed in bizarre costumes.They had two dancers on either side of the drummer at the back of
the stage. Vocally they were very good and looked cool for the whole performance. They call their music as indierock and this was surely some new rock from Finland.
7. Mikko Pohjola – Sängyn reunalla
We were next for a simple and sweet performance presented in the Finnish language. Mikko was accompanied by a guitarist a female backing
vocalist and a percussionist. In the first part of the song, the screen was in black and
white. With the second verse, the female backing singer joined Mikko
at the front of the stage. The second chorus added more power to this performance which made it catchy and eager to listen to it again.
8. Clarissa feat. Josh Standing – Top of the world
We ended the run through with a very modern disco tune. The first part of the song is sung by Clarissa on her own,
later she is joined by Josh. Both vocals were very solid with the bridge being mostly instrumental with lots of dance elements. On stage the duo is accompanied by three dancers
who also do the backing vocalists. The five performers finish their presentation in line together.
The show:
Once again the show was hosted by Ile Uusivuori and Anne Lainto who explained the format of the selection. Each act was presented by postcards showing them rehearsing and speaking of their experiences and their road to UMK.
Jurors Tomi Saarinen, Aija Puurtinen, Toni Wirtanen and Redrama were
sitting directly in front of the audience and passed their comments after each performance. In the interval act UMK judge Toni Wirtasen performed with rapper Brädin.
The voting:
The finalists were selected by a mixture of jury and public vote. Unlike previous shows the public was able to vote on-line for its favourite from the begining of this week.
The final of Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2014 will take place next Saturday where the two winners of the two heats and the six fresh qualifiers will compete for the Finnish ticket to Copenhagen.
Last year Finland was represented by Krista Siegfrids with the song Marry me. She managed to rank 9th in the second semi-final and ended up in the 24th place with only 13 points in the final.
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