Finland – Morgan is one of the most loyal readers (and now writers) of this blog. Here is his take on the Finnish national final “Euroviisut 2011″ (The songs were published yesterday) : Anyway as every year I hear around the net “not so good this year from Finland” which if you think about it implies retrospectively that the year before it wasn’t that bad… Actually, I draw a fine line of what is good and not good based not on music talent only but also on the average esc level… Maybe old Euroviisut which gave Lordi to Eurovision can be missed (Lovex being the best act in all esc 07 season) on a pure music level, but on an average esc level there is no doubts whatsoever that this is another great year for Finland
the level is definitely up the esc standards : in the most pop esc styles, most of the songs are better than let’s say “Je Ne Sais Quoi” which is the worst anyone can do in the esc type (here I’m thinking mostly of “Strong”, “Luojani mun”, “Seis!” and “Dancing in the dark”). Also many of the pop entries are definitely close to the schlagery pop but end up being much stronger musically : in other words, they are nothing but irrelevant pop songs which you like to listen to but they are actually not poorly and fastly written (here I’m mostly thinking of Paradise Oskar or Jimi Constantine)…
As usual in Finnish NF, whatever the format is, a lot of songs mix the amazingly musical Finnish language to various music types not considered typically nordic and the outcome is simply enchanting : Marko Maunuksela & Milana Misic prove it quite well…
The webcards are definitely among the lesser good entries, as usual nowadays… Only Cardiant fit well the level of the show, but both Father McKenzie and Saara Aalto bring the level down in very cliché song. Interestingly enough, the worse song in the bunch is “Täältä maailmaan” which in itself is not a bad song, but it’s extremely boring. The fact the worse song is actually pretty well written proves the overall level is good.
Good, but is it excellent? This time we turn to the top of class : Jonna, Stala & So. and Automatic Eye. Three different songs : pop rock would characterize all tree though. Definitely strong songs I can see myself having in top at the end of the season (though we never know) but all three will have quite a challenge imo, being good live. All three songs are definitely instant hit to ou ears, but they’re not quite the performance type of entries. Rock is often static, Automatic Eye risks playing the teenage card and an off-beat song like Jonna’s could turn into a joke entry. If any of them finds the good balance live they would get my first place…
So far, I have this as a ranking from an audio point of view ;
04 – Jonna – Puppets
15 – Stala & So – Pamela
01 – Automatic Eye – I’m not the one who’s sorry
02 – Marko Maunuksela – Synkän maan tango
09 – Milana Misic – Sydämeni kaksi maata
08 – Jimi Constantine – Party to Party
07 – Paradise Oskar – Da da dam
03 – Johanna Iivanainen – Luojani mun
05 – Cardiant – Rapture in time
13 – Tommi Soidinmäki – Seis!
11 – Eveliina Määttä – Dancing in the dark
14 – Saara Alto – Blessed with love
06 – Soma Manuchar – Strong
10 – Father McKenzie – Good enough
12 – Sami Hintsanen – Täältä maailmaan
The Eurovision Times thanks Morgan for his work. If you would like to write an editorial or contribute other things, just send an e-mail to eurovisiontimes@live.com
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I enjoyed reading Morgan’s editorial. I still haven’t made my mind about the songs in Finnish, but I find that the English ones are rather generic and uninteresting. Atm, I can only think of 3 that stand out: ‘Pamela’, ‘Blessed with love’ and ‘Good enough’. I’ll come back to this subject after having given the songs a few more tries.
thanks for reading dear ! I hope togravus sees this too… Of course i’m open to any criticism but I did read all over the net many complains from fans about the level of this, and when we know the fans favorites I’d be doubtful of the truthfulness of such accusations… there isn’t maybe a musical genius entry, but on an esc level this is dfinitely more than descent
Hi Morgan, I haven’t had the time yet to listen to the Finnish hopefuls but promise to let you know what I think of them as soon as I have done. Anyway, I find it quite difficult to imagine a worse bunch of songs than the Romanian one.
or Ukraine !
I listened to the first semi-final now and my favourite is:
Johanna Iivanainen – Luojani mun
Won’t surprise you Morgan I guess
tell me when you’re done, first semi is the greatest it has Jonna, Marko and Automatic Eye, but I really do love “Pamela” too, and Oskar/Jimi/Milana Misic are great in semi 2
“pamela”is a catchy tune i think!
Now that I have paid closer attention to the Finnish hopefuls, I agree that this group of songs is not bad at all, especially when ones compares this material to the one offered by the Swiss, the Romanian and (notably) the Ukrainian NFs. The songs written in Finnish are generally more appealing to me, with the exception of ‘Täältä maailmaan’ by Sami Hintsanen. The best three options are ‘Synkän maan tango’ by Marko Maunuksela, ‘Sydämeni kaksi maata’ by Milana Misic and ‘Luojani mun’ by Johanna Iivanainen. The first two are a surprising mixture of different styles that were cleverly woven into these songs. The latter is a more traditional and classic piece of music that I usual tend to fall for. ‘Seis’ by Tommi Soidinmäki comes next, it is a rather nice song, albeit less classy than the previous ones, still I like to hear it and those backing singers sound great.
These four are followed by the sweet Saara Aalto who has gone for an uplifting ballad. It’s a simple and unpretentious song (‘Shallow waters’ by Sara Sayed was better, but it was left behind) that relies heavily on her vocal performance. Will she nail it? If she does, I believe that ‘Blessed with love’ may be a strong contender. ‘Pamela’, despite not being my usual cup of tea, grew on me and I do not dislike it at all, I hope it works well live. The final three songs that made an impression were ‘Good enough’, ‘Puppets’ and ‘Da da dam’. They are competent acts. The remaining songs are an anonymous and indistinctive bunch, atm.
Glad to hear your opinion of the songs… I don’t think all the Finnish songs should op the chrtin comparison to “Puppets” and “Pamela” which are clearly on top of my list… I mostly agee with Marko and Milana, both being so great to listen and I don’t think you should rule out Automatic Eye so fast, their song is so well written and so “surprising” even though it’s got a very generic overall style… the way the chorus just stops gets me excited every time… I really think that my top 5 can go either way for any of the 5 songs depending on the live, even if musically I prefer the three ones in English…
I can see why you like ‘Puppets’ and ‘Pamela’. I have listened to Automatic Eye’s song several times but it never grew on me, it’s just dull. I am waiting for the live performances; just like you said, they may change our ranks. I have no idea as to whom will win.
hey!!!well i agree with your points of view.i strongly believe that stala and so is by far the best of all!!!!!!hope to represent finland!Good Luck gyus!!!!!:)
I have finally found the time to listen to the Finnish songs. As every year, the Finnish selection is miles above the Romanian and Ukrainian ones, and it is much better than the Belgian bunch of songs too. I am not so sure about Switzerland because among all the rubbish they had there were many songs I really loved (Nekish, Sima, Fräkmündt, Sabina di Buono, ADZ, JO and Ansoticca to name just a few).
All Finnish song are progessionally produced and there is only one I really dislike:
1. Milana Misic – Sydämeni kaksi naata 12/12 – Goes straight to my ESC hall of fame, following some other Finnish ladies singing in their native language in the last couple of years: Vuokko Hovatta, Riikka, Heli Kajo. It is exactly the kind of song that makes me follow the NFs every year. I don’t know where I could find something similar beyond ESC.
2. Marko Maunuksela – Synkän maan tango 10/12 – I love tango and I love the sound of Finnish. If I add the clever blending of different styles, this one goes very high on my list. Might even end up with a 12/12 because the song seems to be a grower.
3. Jonna – Puppets 10/12 – fresh, contemporary and intelligent
4. Paradise Oskar – Da da dam 9/12 – nice singer songwriter stuff
5. Stala & So. – Pamela 8/12 – It’s an ok song but Finland used to have better hard stuff in their NF in the past.
6. Automatic Eye – I’m Not the One Who’s Sorry 8/12 – It’s fun but it’s quite repetitive too. I guess they ran out of ideas after 1:40 …
7. Johanna Iivanainen – Luojani mun 7/12 – It’s lovely … but it’s a tad boring too
8. Tommi Soidinmäki – Seis! 7/12 – Nothing special but a good dance tune
9. Jimi Constantine – Party to Party 7/12 – I know … it’s rather silly (especially the lyrics) but I enjoyed it nevertheless.
10. Sami Hintsanen – Täältä maailmaan 6/12 – Damn, this is sooooo ESC 30 years ago. Love it for nostalgic reasons only.
11. Cardiant – Rapture in Time 6/12 – Quite generic rock but still listenable.
12. Soma Manuchar – Strong 5/12 – Generally generic pop, but there are two or three nice ideas which help the song a lot.
13. Eveliina Määtä – Dancing in the Dark 4/12 – Generic pop again. I love her voice though.
14. Father Mckenzie – Good Enough 3/12 – Comes very close to my definition of ‘bland’ and ‘superfluous’.
15. Saara Aalto – Blessed with Love 1/12 – This is just soooo everything I don’t like (composition, lyrics, voice) but I see (hear) why people might find this nice / pleasant etc.
Milana Misic is also growing much on me, and is also struggling to get in my top 3, all in all we pretty much quite closely agree with you (lol i know i enjoyed Jimi Constantine too) to me Jonna’s “Puppets” remains the top one to watch, but yes Riika and Heli need someone to follow up and if it’s a girl, it’s between Milana and Jonna imo
Togravus, I fully agree with your top two songs and I would love to see one of them getting the final nod. It’s harder for me to understand your assessment of ‘Blessed with love’ and ‘Good enough’, but I am glad we do not agree on every song.