When someone says the words “Finland” and “Eurovision” in the same sentence, the first things to come to mind are the terrifying red-eyed monsters that earned Finland their only Eurovision victory in 2006. That win came 45 years after their debut in 1961. It’s a shame that our memories have been clouded with the craziness of Lordi, as Finland has sent some of the most beautiful songs that Eurovision fans have heard over the past few years. From songs in Finnish to English to Swedish, we certainly have a lot of love for Finland, for a lot of different reasons!

Finals qualified for since 2008: 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013

Recent History

2013: Krista Siegfrids with “Marry Me”, 24th place with 13 points

2012: Pernilla with “När Jag Blundar”, 12th place (semi final 1) with 41 points

2011: Paradise Oskar with “Da Da Dam”, 21st place with 57 points

2010: Kuunkuiskaajat with “Työlki ellää”, 11th place (semi final 1) with 49 points

2009: Waldo’s People with “Lose Control”, 25th place with 22 points

2008: Teräsbetoni with “Missä miehet ratsastaa”, 22nd place with 35 points

Song Stats

How many times did Krista Siegfrids mimic wedding bells by chanting “Ding Dong” in 2013? 10 times

How many times did that awkward cellist appear during Pernilla’s performance in 2012? 7 times

How many times did Kuunkuiskaajat clap during their performance in 2010? 54 times

How many points has Finland given to the United Kingdom in the Finals? 141 points

http://youtu.be/uclcHNr8cmE

Best Scoring Entry:

2011: Paradise Oskar with “Da Da Dam”, 21st place with 57 points
“Da da dam” may have failed to make the top 20 in 2011, but it is still Finland’s highest scoring entry since 2008. The man and his guitar was Finland’s answer to Alexander Rybak, but lacked a few hundred points to be up to his standard. Our little eco-warrior sang about a lovely bloke called Peter going to save the planet, and mumbled on about telling his mother about the big, planet saving adventure he had planned. We haven’t heard much from Paradise recently. Does anyone know whether he’s saving trees in the rainforest with Peter as we speak?

Memorable lyrics: “Peter is smart, he knows each European country by heart” Good, that’ll be quite useful as Peter can remind you which countries DIDN’T give you points!

Worst Scoring Entry:

Pernilla with “När Jag Blundar”, 12th place (semi final 1) with 41 points

Pernilla’s ballad sung in Swedish “När Jag Blundar” gave Finland it’s worst placed entry since 2008. The live performance left the audience in silence and Eurovision fans have been wondering since May 2012 what on Earth went wrong?! Maybe Europe would have preferred a song in Finnish or English rather than Swedish, or found the performance with only a cello for support quite boring. Whatever the reason, Pernilla deserved to qualify and the fact that we didn’t see this beautiful ballad in the final was one of the biggest misjustices at Eurovision!

Memorable lyrics: “Nå’n som hjälper en och flyga då man glömt hur man gör” (Someone who helps you fly when you’ve forgot how to do it) Funny, I’d always imagined flying to be like swimming. Once you’d learned, you’d never forget…

This is what Team Wiwi have to say about Finland’s recent entries:

Deban: ‘Leave me alone, I wanna go home’ (Finland, 2007) sums up my attitude to Finnish entries since they debuted in the contest in 1961. Clearly the underachieving country before it’s victory in 2006, Finland is no stranger to nil points. Strange entries from Finland have appeared on the ESC stage. In 2011 there was a man strumming a guitar humming “Da Da Dum.” And then the even stranger Pernilla Karlsson singing a Swedish folk song the following year. Seriously?? Did she really think she’d advance to the final? However, things turned around this year. Krista Siegfrieds championed the rights of LGBT people in Europe with her catchy pop tune ‘Marry Me’. She staged the contests’ first ever lesbian kiss (Yes, she beat t.A.T.u to it), and released the most club friendly album of the year. Singlehandedly, she raised her country’s profile with a musical gimmick that sheds light on marital injustice. Still, although I’m in no hurry to return to Helsinki, I’m ready for a high calibre of Finnish entries.

Bogdan: Quick, name a Finnish artist that you absolutely love. Exactly, that’s the problem with Finland. I don’t know why, but Finnish music has never really took off on the international music stage – unlike Swedish or Norwegian music, for instance. With perhaps the exception of the one-hit-wonder band The Rasmus, I’m afraid few people outside Finland ever listened to Finnish music. Yes, Finland has once won Eurovision, but with all respect to Lordi, their victory was based on the shock factor in a weaker ESC year, not on the song itself. So, Finland’s very poor record at Eurovision (it has placed last nine times and scored “nul points” three times) is a reflection of the country’s underdeveloped music industry. Unless they come up with another shock entry in order to steal the show (which Krista tried last year, but failed miserably), I don’t see it winning again soon.

Wiwi: I’m really struggling to say anything, and I had to go on Wikipedia to remember who had represented Finland in recent years. Once I did I was reminded that the country’s acts are pleasant enough, even if they are all overshadowed by Lordi and their freaky costumes. Judging the acts from 2008 to 2013, my least favourite is definitely the 2008 entry Teräsbetoni. Lordi stole all the gothic rock heat, and this derivative number left me bored, bored, bored. But at least I now know where Max Jason Mai got his inspiration for his hair and costumes! My favourite act is probably Krista Siegfrids with “Marry Me”. The song is, as one Eurovision blogger suggested in Malmö, “trash.” But Krista wrapped that trash up in a whole lot of fun and her enthusiasm was infectious. All I remember about Paradise Oscar is that he had an amazing LED screen with a big ‘ole earth. It was very “Heal the World” and totally beautiful. Sadly the song just got old.

Zach: Poor Finland seems to be the forgotten Nordic country when it comes to Eurovision, they managed to pull out a win in 2006 but their entries are always hit or miss, sadly with more misses than hits in my opinion.

For their best I’m going to say Krista. The song was undeniably catchy, Krista had the most amazing attitude, and overall I enjoy listening to the song. Yes her vocals could have been better, but I thought for sure she would have at least made the top 15. Her votes just seemed to disappear in the Final unfortunately. I also enjoyed Pernilla in 2012, such a sweet pretty song.

For the worst, it’s definitely Paradise Oskar. His voice was really off putting to me, and the song was cheesy in a bad way. He seemed nice, but unfortunately, his song was not. Boring, cheesy, not good vocals, three strikes and he’s out. Their 2008 entry was pretty out there as well, I don’t remember it at all.

You can read more of our country profiles by clicking here.

 

Katie Wilson contributed this story from the U.K. Follow her on Twitter at @katiewillfly and like our Facebook page to keep up with the latest Eurovision news and gossip.

Photo credit: Sander Hesterman (EBU)

10 Comments
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Ewan Spence
10 years ago

Really? Because it does’t fit the schlager mould (and, masks aside, Lordi’s song did every thing musically you’d expect from an MF song, they even gave you a keychange) you’ve decided Finland’s legitimate victory is scary, a mistake, and should be clouded over? For a Contest that many believes helps fight inequality around the world, that’s a shocking attitude to exhibit.

Let’s start with HIM, Kalmah, Children of Bodom, Nightwish, Insomnium, Stratovarious (yegads, Staratovarius, surely you can go for Hunting High and Low? – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-4Gm6VG4O0 ).

Kristín
Kristín
10 years ago

Errrm…excuse me…Finland has a great reputation for music, all over the world….just not for Eurovision”friendly” music. May I remind you of Nightwish, Children of Bodom, Finntroll, Sonata Arctica, HIM, Apocalyptica etc? 🙂
But I love Finland..I think my least favorite was Two 2 tango, by Jari Sillinanpaa in 2004, and my all time favorite (this century) is Leave me alone..it was raw, edgy, an angry woman´s anthem, and Hanna was absolutely amazing! 🙂

Alex
Alex
10 years ago

I just watched the Eurovision performance of Nar Jag Blundar again… yeah, they really could have used the dancer. Pernilla’s vocals weren’t quite as on point as they needed to be to get away with the extremely minimal staging and lazy camerawork.

The following national final performance, though, is really quite amazing, and still gives me shivers when I watch it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FLCoWW9UMc Before the contest started, Finland was my favorite of all countries that year – I even liked their entry more than Sweden’s!

Julian
Julian
10 years ago

Leningrad Cowboys could be interesting. I see them with a cover of Euphoria… their style.

Arianna
10 years ago

omg same here Stephen!!!! HIM also came to mind for me 🙂 They do have a fantastic pop scene though.. they just like to keep it tucked away in Finland it would seem lol. Anna Abreu, Chisu, Jenni Vartiainen, Antti Tuisku, Jannika B to name a few 🙂 Loved När Jag Blundar though.. It was really pretty, even if it was a sleepy song.

Alex
Alex
10 years ago

Worst was Paradise Oskar. Cheesy, boring. It’s a bit puzzling how that one had the best finish. Best song easily goes to Nar jag blundar. They made the Eurovision performance so boring, though. The camera work was bad and they got rid of the dancer from the national final, which was a huge mistake. Best performance probably goes to Krista. Waldo’s People are close, though, and they absolutely did not deserve last place that year. They were one of my favorite performances that year, maybe top 3! I do feel sorry for Finland. Since 2007 they’ve really been in a… Read more »

D
D
10 years ago

I’ve always been a big fan of Finland in the contest, however, sadly, they normally do not do too well, excluding Lordi of course (which also happens to be my least favourite Finnish contestant). I loved Finland in 2009, 2011, 2012, and 2013. With Krista being in my top 10 for the 2013 contest. I always look forward to the Finnish national selection and can’t wait to see what artist they send this year.

Carols
Carols
10 years ago

Pernilla was amazing.

Stephen Colville
Stephen Colville
10 years ago

“Quick, name a Finnish artist that you absolutely love.”

Nightwish.

Z24
Z24
10 years ago

The thing is that Finland is the country by excellence on music not normally suited for Eurovision: Metal. I’ve read that apparently somewhere between 50% to 60% think Metal as the main finnish music. I loved 2006 to 2008 and 2010. It was true Finnish spirit. Very powerful and uplifting songs. Not for clubs, but that’s not the point. Finland needs to exploit that resource. They’re good at it, and it may pay off in the long run. 2011 to 2013 (Apart from 2012) They felt too plain, too generic. Not to be prejudice, but they should draft away from… Read more »