They’re the Swedish superstar songwriting team who won Eurovision 2015 with “Heroes”.

And this year Joy Deb and Linnea Deb teamed up with Saara Aalto to create fan favourite “Monsters”.

But despite winning UMK 2018, the duo won’t be in Lisbon to see Saara sing “Monsters” on stage. That’s because budget-conscious YLE doesn’t have the money to pay their way.

Linnea Deb let her feelings off her chest in an interview with Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet:

“Imagine a film festival without the director or scriptwriter in place!”

She says it’s a “skewed” move by the broadcaster, considering Eurovision is a song contest.

“It was important to have us in Finland for UMK but now we’ve been thrown out. It’s so boring that authors have zero weight in a contest based on our work.”

UMK Producer Anssi Autio regrets that there’s “no way” for YLE to send the songwriters to Lisbon:

“I want to emphasize that we would very much like to have them there. Songwriters should definitely be there more than managers or promoters. But this is a collaboration with Warner Music Finland and Saara’s team, so we have to take into account who’s included in our delegation.”

It seems the decision may have been out of YLE’s hands. Autio adds:

“We’re already paying for so many people and it’s not entirely up to YLE who’s included in the delegation.”

LINNEA DEB AND JOY DEB RULE OUT WORKING WITH FINLAND IN THE FUTURE

Though the duo are best known for their work on Melodifestivalen, the Debs have submitted songs for other selections.

Unfortunately in the future, UMK won’t be one of them.

“No, we’re not going to work with YLE again,” Linnea confirms to Aftonbladet.

As well as Eurovision, the Debs have also written for international artists, including Fifth Harmony and JoJo.

UPDATE: Broadcaster YLE has now confirmed the Debs will be in Lisbon with Saara.

YOU CAN GET MORE FINLAND NEWS HERE

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Kalle
Kalle
5 years ago

Anssi Autio, the producer of Eurovision for YLE stated the following: “I regret that neither myself neither YLE were clear on this point. Saara has always emphasized that it is important for her that just the right people are with her in Lisbon. I totally agree with her. The organization of Eurovision has set limits on how many members a country’s delegation can consist of. In most cases, therefore, Finland was not including the songwriters in the delegation.” “I am glad that we decided to go with this solution this year, and I regret yesterday’s statements that made it seem… Read more »

L'oiseau
L'oiseau
5 years ago

Well, the first reaction was to laugh at this. But on second thought, this is exactly what you get when music is seen simply as a marchandise or instrument for something else, alieniating the creative minds that actually created the song. This is exactly what Salvador was talking about last year. In the minds of YLE and of the music company “Fast food music” doesn’t need aknowledgement of the authors, because it doesn’t matter who is in the kitchen perparing the hamburger, as long the hamburger makes the quick buck it is supposed to do, in this case deliver in… Read more »

Kyna
Kyna
5 years ago
Reply to  L'oiseau

the truth has been spoken *applause*

L'oiseau
L'oiseau
5 years ago
Reply to  Kyna

🙂 Thanks!

hi!
hi!
5 years ago

Where in this article were the debs demanding 5 star accomodation and jets? What they truly want is to be in that arena as Monsters, the fruit of their efforts, is playing. They don’t want to be in their living rooms watching the song they wrote getting performed – they want to be in the arena and savour those three minutes. Throwing words like greedy and selfish and stuff like that is your opinion, but a bit of empathy to the songwriters should be shown as well.

Yaa
Yaa
5 years ago

What I would really like to know is whether Croatia will bring the song writter with them in Lisbon! Much more drama!

Denis
Denis
5 years ago

The comments are a bit troublesome. Calling them greedy for asking to be there? they shouldn´t be asked, they should just be there. Period. Is it not a song contest? Did they not compose and write the song? writers should be more important than managers or record labels, they don´t bring anything to the delegation.
Why do you think SVT focuses so much on the writers by naming them and giving them Close-ups? Because it´s thier work being performed

Finnish fellow
Finnish fellow
5 years ago

** INFO **

The “Deb-Team”, YLE & Warner Music Finland are talking about the songwriters budget to join the finnish team and they are most likely going to Lisbon. It’s not YLE’s fault, they usually don’t include the songwriting team on their budjet any year.

So yeah, they are not threatening that they won’t work with YLE again if they don’t get to go to Lisbon, but it’s a clickbait by tabloids.

stojko
stojko
5 years ago

One would consider it good publicity to have the composers of a Eurovision winning song in their delegation.

On the other hand all these Swedes writing for other countries could just set up an Association and demand from the swedish ministry of culture to fund all these trips to the contests. Just a small recognition for spreading swedish culture to the world. Princess Victoria? Anyone?

Kiravision
Kiravision
5 years ago

How shameful. Eurovision is a song contest not a singing contest. Sure the artist is the one who gets most of the credit but flat out leaving the songwriters out is just rude and thoughtless,and reflecs poorly on everyone on finnish esc team. Songwriters and composers work hard and often don’t get the appreciation they deserve, this being such case. They aren’t asking for a special treatment but to be treated in a way they deserve. The only reason why they are able to make a public statement and get attention for this is because they are well established andd… Read more »

KYLLITO
KYLLITO
5 years ago

The Deb’s need a kickstarter or gofundme fundraiser. They need to be there. This makes me mad at Finland!

Gron
Gron
5 years ago

This is unacceptable. They wrote the song. And to some of you that are telling that they should pay with their own money this is not right, not because they don’t have money but because they deserve to be there more than promoters and managers. Bad move finland. Debs come back to Sweden. They are savages.

Esc_britain
Esc_britain
5 years ago

They spent too much on Saara’s UMK selection. They could’ve just sent Monsters internally. Also, I’m sure the writers could buy their own accomodation and flights, stay from Tuesday to Sunday, no need to go to rehearsels.

Cesar
Cesar
5 years ago

If both of them want to be in Lisbon so badly, why don’t they pay for their airplane tickets and hotel rooms? I’m sure YLE wouldn’t mind having them around. Mind you, I don’t think they should work with YLE or anyone else, after the SHAMELESS steal of David Guetta’s song.

europe are you ready?
europe are you ready?
5 years ago
Reply to  Cesar

When you’re still bitter about something that happened nearly 3 years ago…

Fabian
Fabian
5 years ago

Never expected that a Scandinavian country would have budget issues when it comes to the delegation team…

ElTramposoEspañol
ElTramposoEspañol
5 years ago
Reply to  Fabian

Finland isn’t Scandinavian, it’s Baltic

Makkara
Makkara
5 years ago

Finland isn’t Baltic, it’s just Nordic

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
5 years ago

I have a similar reaction to the one with Estonia and the dress. Better pre-planning for the contest should have solved this.

Jon
Jon
5 years ago

Well, Saara is not a child. She could have made other choices and not pretend to be a victum

Thiago
Thiago
5 years ago
Reply to  Jon

Okay… Saara is not Beyonce. She doesn’t get to decide who goes and doesn’t. Warner Brothers owns her and makes all decisions. It’s how record labels operate.

Nkk
Nkk
5 years ago

Imagine they win the Marcel bezencon award about best composition and no one is there to receive it hahahaahaha

ImpressiveInstants
ImpressiveInstants
5 years ago

Oh well… budget issues show how Eurovision i not YLE’s priority.

Jon
Jon
5 years ago

Or Saaras priority

Vladimir P.
Vladimir P.
5 years ago

Saara has nothing to say about this?

Jon
Jon
5 years ago
Reply to  Vladimir P.

Agree! Well, what has she done to correct this situation?

L'oiseau
L'oiseau
5 years ago
Reply to  Vladimir P.

Of course not. She is just an actor with no agency…

Echo
Echo
5 years ago
Reply to  Vladimir P.

Saara has always been a diva and a me only me matters -person all through her caree, so she done nothing and why should she, now she can shine on herself. I used to be her fan but got fed up Saara’s diva acts finaly..

Mark Beckenbreur
Mark Beckenbreur
5 years ago

My winner. After Eurovision in Concert when I saw it live.. Finland an France left me in awe. One of them is going to win))

Mel
Mel
5 years ago

Well obviously, because this wasn’t about passion for the art, it was a business transaction… YLE had a budget with which they purchased a song from the Debs, but they didn’t consider the fact that simply from a PR point of view, if for no other reason, they should have also included room in the budget to fly out the songwriters, even if they already paid them for the song. YLE is blaming Saara btw, saying it’s because her team is too big. They probably have a bit of a point there (she IS flying out both her current spouse… Read more »

ESC Croatia Fan
ESC Croatia Fan
5 years ago

Times for the rehearsals were revealed, they’re starting from 29th April

Roy Moreno
Roy Moreno
5 years ago

Let’s all go back in time for a minute Eurovision 1988 in Ireland Celine dion is the winner for Switzerland She is going on stage for the trophy and Johnny Logan is there to hand it, sweet tradition of the contest He gives the trophy to the writer of the song, not Celine The writer gives it to Celine as she is the singer Johnny took it from Celine and handed it back to the writer I do think that the singer deserves a trophy and to be called a winner But the writers and composers should definitely be called… Read more »

Joe
Joe
5 years ago
Reply to  Roy Moreno

Johnny Logan is a mensch.

Jonas
Jonas
5 years ago
Reply to  Roy Moreno

Some years they did have a separate trophy for the singer. I think Dana International got a crystal bowl or something.

Johnny Logan should have minded his own business. He rightfully gave it to the songwriter, who in turn rightfully recognized that it was indeed the power of Celine’s performance that won the contest for them that year. Sharing is caring.

esc1234
esc1234
5 years ago

Where are the trolls making fun of “poor” countries not showing up on parties such as greece Cyprus etc? There you go, take the “wehavenomoneybutwethinkweareritch” realness

P. S Its better not to show up to parties than giving everything for the real deal, THE CONTEST.

GiavK
GiavK
5 years ago
Reply to  esc1234

You are so right!Tell it to all the so called fans who are obsessed with the whole budget issue and completely forgetting that in the end this is a song contest and if a song is good it will win even with zero budget.Creativity doesn’t have to do with money

esc1234
esc1234
5 years ago
Reply to  GiavK

Couldn’t agree more

Malin
Malin
5 years ago
Reply to  esc1234

Well those who make fun over such things are not real escfans in my opinion.

GiavK
GiavK
5 years ago
Reply to  esc1234

I really hope that if you ever go to Greece or Cyprus people there treat you like sh*t to ascertain you that they are bad people
You seem to judge people this way and it’s pathetic

Bad character
Bad character
5 years ago
Reply to  GiavK

Don’t worry I have been many times. Trashed the place all over. Lol

Bad character
Bad character
5 years ago
Reply to  GiavK

Give them a bit of money and they’d lick your shoes. I love that.

DODO
DODO
5 years ago
Reply to  Bad character

The whole world praises Greece and Cyprus for their hospitality . Maybe you have to reconsider . One bad experience is not enough to express yourself this way . And maybe you should learn how to behave because if what you say is true you are no different than them . #BYEFELICIA

esc1234
esc1234
5 years ago
Reply to  Bad character

You are something more than your username. Greece has beauty,history, sun, beaches, and you have nothing cause you are a looser.

Eurovisioon
Eurovisioon
5 years ago
Reply to  esc1234

They could’ve go there, but they preferred staying home to rehearsal, yianna said it her own. Also the broadcaster has enough money to let them go to the prepartys.It has nothing to do with the crisis

Malin
Malin
5 years ago
Reply to  esc1234

Bad Character, please be respectfull. ESC should be fun and unite us. Even if you feel power to say this things, it doesn’t show that you care about ESC

Love, love, prace, peace

L'oiseau
L'oiseau
5 years ago
Reply to  esc1234

Sorry, but Cyrpus is not poor at all, much less “dirt” poor. Maybe the broadcaster is not wealthy because it is a very small nation and doesn’t have the same resources as ARD, BBC or A2, which is an entirely different matter.

Mattheus
Mattheus
5 years ago

where are those people talking about “rich” and “poor” countries?
The “rich” Finland with budget limits? lol

Jon
Jon
5 years ago
Reply to  Mattheus

Well, Saara maby don’t care if they follow. More spotlights on her.

Echo
Echo
5 years ago
Reply to  Jon

What you said was unfortunately the true decision not to take songwriters Lissbon has done Saara Aalto according to the YLE release. She is a diva.

Jake
Jake
5 years ago

For as much hate that Portugal, RTP and Salvador get — their national selection starts with the songwriters and last year, Luisa stood shoulders to shoulders with Salvador and Salvador even gave a shoutout to the arranger of the song on stage in his victory performance….this is what he means by “real music” — songwriters should be the basic building block of what happens on a Eurovision stage — its the reason why songwriters are listed below the song in graphics before each performance. I can see this backfire for YLE and Finland among juries, especially with songwriters/musicians. This is… Read more »

M_K
M_K
5 years ago
Reply to  Jake

While I do get your point, I really, really can’t imagine that most jury members follow these stories.

Mattias Sollerman
Mattias Sollerman
5 years ago
Reply to  Jake

Or like in MelFest where all the songwriters are presented before each act and get their own camera time. Their presence in the green room is part of the concept, when the song and artist win, so do the composers. In some cases the songwriters become bigger characters than the artists.

Elin
Elin
5 years ago

.. and that’s what they are used to, so I understand that they are dissapointed…

Hada
Hada
5 years ago
Reply to  Jake

Honestly I think the EBU should require the composers to be there and hand a trophy to the winning composers as well as to the performers themselves. There’s a lot of talk about wanting to improve EUrovision and wanting to take it to the next level etc., that’s where you start.

Fast Food Music Lover
Fast Food Music Lover
5 years ago

I’m pretty sure they can afford to buy the tickets themselves.

M_K
M_K
5 years ago

If they can’t, they might want to consider suing Jennifer Brening after all. If they got 10 kronor for every album copy Jennifer sold, it might be just enough for a bus ticket to Stockholm airport.

Pavel
Pavel
5 years ago
Reply to  M_K

If they got 10 kronor for every album copy Jennifer sold, they got 10 kronor

Yannis
Yannis
5 years ago

I’m pretty sure that they deserve more to get delegation passes than any other member of YLE! Imagine seen the table of Finland in green room with the singer and dancers and a bunch of YLE’s member who don’t need to be there!!!

mussa
mussa
5 years ago

YLE pays Saara Aalto’s spouse and ex spouse tickets and hotel in Lissbon but not song writer’s, I don’t think this is right!

Noel Hoffmann
Noel Hoffmann
5 years ago

YLE haven’t money? It is Finland and isn’t Ukraine or other poor country. 😀
Btw, I think things are not going to happen as they expected.

Pavel
Pavel
5 years ago
Reply to  Noel Hoffmann

European broadcasters are sustainable financially and consider Eurovision as a BS waste of money.

Jonas
Jonas
5 years ago

Outrageous. The should absolutely be there. No way is it out of YLE’s hands, they are the broadcaster participating, and as such have more weight than some random record company. As everyone has pointed out, this is a “song contest”. It is such a shame that songwriters have been getting less recognition in recent years – that’s why it was so nice to see Luisa get her moment in the sun last year. The winning songwriter used to get the trophy before the reprise, but now they are totally airbrushed out and the winning performer is hailed as the ultimate… Read more »

Noa S
Noa S
5 years ago
Reply to  Jonas

Did you just seriously with a straight face call WARNER MUSIC “some random record company”?

Mattias Sollerman
Mattias Sollerman
5 years ago

Feel bad for Saara. I’m sure she would have wanted them to be there.
Would have been nice if they had Linnea as backing singer. She already did a pretend children’s choir once before…

L'oiseau
L'oiseau
5 years ago

Sorry, but this is soooo ironic and laughable…

Denis
Denis
5 years ago

I think songwriters don´t get the credit they deserve in ESC. It is still unknown. Like everyone rightly prasies the artists winning but how many prasies those who wrote the winning song? Can anybody even mention who wrote the song?
Shame that they constantly gets written out of the delegations and are less important.

In the show business world writers are rightfully praised and celebratred. so why not in ESC?

Elin
Elin
5 years ago
Reply to  Denis

Well, wiwibloggs could give the songwriters credit at least, don’t you think so? One problem mait be that the songwriters are from an other country.

L'oiseau
L'oiseau
5 years ago
Reply to  Denis

Luisa Sobral – composer, winner 2017
🙂

Roy Moreno
Roy Moreno
5 years ago
Reply to  L'oiseau

Agree with the above and would like to mention Jamala as well :3
Jamala – writer, composer – winner 2016
Everything about 1944 is about Jamala and comes from Jamala <3

Denis
Denis
5 years ago
Reply to  Roy Moreno

Well its´easy when it´s the same person. But that is rarely the case..

Åsa
Åsa
5 years ago
Reply to  Denis

I totally agree with you. It’s a song competition, and they’re the creators of the song, so they should be mentioned, interviewed, credited and celebrated. Perhaps Wiwibloggs could do a little bit to that cause and start to interview some of the songwriters?

Elin
Elin
5 years ago

Man kanske inte vill skylta med att det är svenskt bidrag som Finland skickar.

; )

Hada
Hada
5 years ago

What the hell? They’re the first ones that should be in Lisbon besides Saara! They’re the ones who made the song for the *song* contest, they’re the ones who had to compete to get their song selected. There’s even a “competition” between songwriters for a Marcel Bezençon Award! If they don’t have enough money then they should leave someone else in Finland, not the songwriters.

Anja
Anja
5 years ago

Seems that the “party” for Finland has already started. Wait to see Finland non qualifying this year and the real fun will start… I’m sorry for Sarah…she started the period being the hot favorite to win even before the revealing of the songs, and now we ended up having more talented divas with real class in the contest with higher chances for a good result.. C u next year Finland!

Pavel
Pavel
5 years ago
Reply to  Anja

Saara not qualifying will have bad consequences (mostly for her and her team), but YLE will have to go back to a competitive UMK selection

Marcus (Day One)
Marcus (Day One)
5 years ago

I’m guessing Saara was internally picked because her record label offered to pay for everything.
Since spending all the money on UMK, the songs and promotional tours it’s likely Warner music doesn’t want to pay any extra.

And it sounds like YLE doesn’t have any say in the delegation since it’s not paying.

Oh well I really don’t think it’s necessary to have the songwriters coming. It would certainly be nice but they wouldn’t bring anything to the delegation so they wouldn’t be considered cost effective to a budget conscious delegation.

Roy Moreno
Roy Moreno
5 years ago

Wouldn’t bring anything? Maybe just the song?
If it weren’t for them, Monsters wouldn’t exist and Saara would have another song, perhaps getting a lower place on the scoreboard
I do get your point, as they won’t do anything in Lisbon, but it is their song representing Finland, not just Saara
The writers of the songs of the Eurovision SONG Contest should and must come as well to the event

Pavel
Pavel
5 years ago
Reply to  Roy Moreno

”No Fear” from 2016 was better than ”Monsters” anyway

Echo
Echo
5 years ago
Reply to  Pavel

At least No Fear is written By Saara herself Monsters is bought Sale in Sweden mediorca song I agree.