On 23 February Finland’s Eurovision 2018 singer Saara Aalto released “Queens” — the final of her three UMK songs. Next Friday she’ll perform that number, along with “Monsters” and “Domino”, in a high-octane final where voters and an international jury must narrow three to one.
But we can’t wait until then to hear what you have to say. So please tell us: Which Saara Aalto song is your favourite for Eurovision 2018?
“Monsters”
This uptempo dance number has a dark title yet is full of light — its message of perseverance and pushing past haters and hangups comes with a delightful tropical feel. Best of all it showcases Saara’s voice even amid all the clangs and electro bangs. Eurovision 2018 competitors beware…
The “Monsters” lyrics make it clear that Miss Aalto has had a self-reckoning. Any and all tricks once used to pull her down have lost their power. She’s found her self — and her supporters — and is feeling invincible tonight. As she sings, sometimes you have to hit the bottom to start moving toward the top.
“At my worst I found my army strong/ all the demons are gone/ You can try and scare me now, but I ain’t scared no more/ I ain’t scared no more.”
“Domino”
The song addresses that overwhelming feeling you get when you’re deep in love. The force can be all-mighty and all-powerful, and might just knock you down like the domino in the title.
“When I’m with you I’m hit and I’m falling oh,” she sings. “I’m gonna fall like a domino, like I’m hit by a wrecking ball.”
Saara’s track comes with a very special music video, which plays nicely on the theme of dominos.
Dominos are, of course, somewhat identical. So the director replicated that by using motion controlled cameras that let them duplicate Saara. Smeared in gold glitter and reflective materials, she’s shining bright and she’s shining right.
“Queens”
Saara shows off a variety of looks in the “Queens” video. Her ever-changing hair colour — she’s going blonde, ginger and even rocking her natural dark locks — help convey the colour of the song and shoot.
Her mix of light and dark could easily pass as the four queens in a deck of playing cards but Saara is not playing. She sits upon a throne with shirtless male guards flanking her. Saara Aalto is a queen and she knows it.
Lyrically, “Queens” follows the same scaffold as “Monsters” with Saara putting the past behind her. The spade is in the ground and she is building her own world. She’s making rules so she can break them — and she ain’t scared. All hail!
Try some common sense as well.
I love all three songs & I think all three would do well in Lisbon. So if I was Finland, I would choose the song that allows for the best staging. Is that Monsters?
you would be correct
Probably Monsters is better choice for Eurovision but i prefer listen more Queens.
i prefer listen more monsters
Spelling anyone?
OMG. Reading your comment was painful. Try some PUNCTUATION next time!
I loved Queens more as a song, but the video really didn’t do anything for me – Monsters was a more coherent package for me. But for me, Queens was a much better song and showed off her voice a bit more. It’ll be easier to mess up but if she pulls it off it would sound absolutely amazing I think. Domino got way too repetitive and I think there’ll be enough ballads, or at least slower songs, this year that it could get lost.
Saara!!! The winner.
YAASSS PEKKA
It’s quite obvious that Monsters should be the one
Honestly, I’d rank the songs in the order they’ve been released.
My favourite is “Monsters”. Then comes “Domino” and at the end “Queens”.
Hope “Monsters” go to Lisbon!!
People saying ‘generic pop’ like it’s a bad thing! It’s the foundation of Eurovision.
I love Queens. it’s so saara and i can imagine the staging being a bit like when she was on x factor, maybe like her ‘oh so quiet’ one
Couldn’t agree with you more… I think Monsters is the biggest hit but Queens is so saara and I think she released it last because she wants fans to get behind it.
You don’t have good taste
Monsters is the obvious choice here..and this is the best song in ESC 2018 so far!
Saara has such a wide talent of performing that’s kind of disappointing that all of her songs are within the same genre. I expected one pop banger, one big ballad and one eastern-influenced alternative, for instance.
That said, all songs are in a plus side, but only Monsters is something I see on my playlist. Considering Saara’s strong vocals and sense of staging, I am confidant that she will do well in the contest no matter which song they pick.
I’M SAD. this is not finlands year, the chorus of monsters is not strong enough. DAMMIT FINLAND. YOU HAD ONE JOB.
You have one job, and that’s to SUPPORT YOUR COUNTRY
God I hate the hater comments on here. I wonder whether some of you want 42 Salvador Sobrals to perform at Eurovision. What f__ing fun that would be! Snooze.
Oh I entirely agree. But I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that word. Was it fricking? 😛
agree! 😀
Well all of them are very unoriginal, being built almost entirely on elements used in many, many other songs. It’s assembly line music recycling clichés. Moreover I am getting more and more tired of that synthetic overblown sound, but I get that it is more lucrative to produce music that way: you can use the same presets for multiple songs, and you don’t have to pay real musicians for playing on them. A sad result of music being made for the sake of making money, rather than for the sake of making something artistically credible. It goes for the lyrics… Read more »
That said, “Queens” is probably the most interesting one after all, so I will go for that.
You described very well how things work these days on the music industry. And I’m totally up for a song about growing potatoes in Uzbekistan! Even if I have no idea if this would be a sad or an uplifting one.
Finland is now #4 on the odds, out of the Top 3. The third release definitely hurt her chances, at least with the bookies.
I can`t decide. All 3 songs sound great for ESC and I`m sure they would all make the final. Depends on her live performance which song will be the best. I wish her good luck!!
The obvious choice is Monsters, but I doubt that the song will sound as good live without autotune.
Have you heard her sing live? She doesn’t need the freaking autotune xD
ALINA- You go girl
Skimur – Have you even heard her live????????? obvs not.
Domino would look better on stage I feel.
you feel wrong
I guess this year’s Finnish recipe for success is sending some insipid, generic, overrated Swedish pop trash. You know, maybe PKN ended last, and Norma John missed qualification by two spots (thanks, juries…), but their songs didn’t sound like a result of lab experiment to write something that will appeal to the stereotypical Eurovision fans.
If I had to pick anything, it would be “Monsters”, but without much conviction.
Queens or Monsters. I hate that “I ain’t scared no more” hook. It sounds cheap and cringy but Queens is interesting and sounds the most modern.
Well I ain’t scared no more amor
Monsters.
All the songs are generic pop. I think they will be in the final but not in top10.
Queens is my favourite song!
Are you mad?
They’re all pretty much the same song though.
I like Saara but I think the songs are very generic pop songs which have been done millions of times before.
…and Estonia is Awful…
This is Finland’s page for them to shine. Take your Estonia elsewhere
Finland and Belarus have the best Song this year. Italy and France have the worst Song. Go Finland??
Belarus is crap. At least Italy and France have substance. Finland has an amazing artist, but their songs underwhelmed many people, and that has shown in the odds.
Yeah!! GO FINLAND!!
None, I will vote for Finland when they send heavy metal band 😀
Why?
None.
Where’s your ears?
Queens, but happy with Monsters. Just not Domino 😛
Sam here!
She is so overrated, I dont want any of the songs for Eurovision and i certainly dont want her either..
That’s okay. She does not want you either.
Am I the only one who loves Queen? It’s really catchy and it’s a really fun entry.
I like Monsters as well, but Domino is just meh.
Monsters is the strongest song and my favourite
But I do think Domino will be the strongest live and will be likely to score the highest at Eurovision.
1. Crap. 2. Crappier. 3. Crappiest.
AY JO – THATS SHALLOW COMING FROM SOMEONE BEHIND A COMPUTER SCREEN
Monsters Monsters and… Monsters!
YAASSS – Your earbuds have good taste!!
For me all the songs fell short from the hype but Monsters is the obvious pick out of the three. Saara will slay the vocals, so with good staging and choreography I would expect it to at least qualify for the final. I definitely don’t think it’s a Top 5 song, though.
Domino is your generic G:son leftover ballad and Queens for me is just a flat-out bad song. I think both of them would bomb in the semi.
To be honest, I am disappointed 🙁 She has great voice but all three songs are really overproduced… She doesn’t sound authentic at all.
I feel the same. They all feel like a waist of her voice.
*waste.
Her waist is perfectly fine. 😛
Domino ofcourse. Im sure that this song would get votes from both jury and viewers and do very, very well. Monsters is a little risky (vocally aswell, all vocals have to sound live), bit with an epic staging it could go far. Queens would be a NQ.
I like them all !
Same ?
I think that it would be much better if they chose “Domino”. “Monsters” sounds like a song which would do well with the televoting, but I can’t see juries enjoying it at all. They would probably put it at lower places. But “Domino” could do well with both televoting and juries I assume.
I am sure the live version of “Domino” will be much better than the other two, so they will send it eventually.
I agree
You have a good point. I have no doubt that “Monsters” would do better on televoting, but maybe it would be easier to convince the audience to love “Domino” than to make the juries fall for “Monsters”.
I hoped her third song would have been in Finnish but for me, Monsters is the best choice.
I agree, it will allow her to rise like a phoenix
I agree Buddhist
I wholeheartedly agree with you Muslim <3
Yaaassss Hindu!! I agree! :))
Domino.
Monsters is great, but the stage presentation will be hard and probably messy. Domino, on the other hand, has that Sound of Silence type of epicness.
Yes it does have the “Sound of Silence” epicness, which is precisely the problem – “Domino” can never be “Sound of Silence”.
For that reason, go with something more memorable for what it is on its own. Go with “Monsters”. 🙂
Domino is probably a better written and composed song, but Monsters is far more of an ear worm. Moreover, the Scandinavian level production, vocals and message would make it respectable enough for juries to give at least their lower points to.
Honestly, Monsters isn’t too different in tempo and overall style to Bulgaria 2016….
Sound of silence didn’t have epicness in the first place, the only good thing about it was Dami Im, who is an outstanding artist, but the song was pretty meh.The same can be said about Domino.
Agreed.
Dami Im was let down by a meh song yet still managed to shine. Saara Aalto is not the vocalist that Dami is, either. Give her the song that she can deliver.
Agree with you Weisbrot
I voted Monsters, but I kinda changed my opinion now that I’ve listened to all of them again. The second time I was thinking about ‘what song would I play again in few years with all other Eurovision songs’ and it was Queens, so I would vote for Queens now.
Domino is best option for Finland. But I think Monster will win. I don t see Finland in TOP 10 in final.
I get the feeling that “Monsters” t-shirt will sell very very well. 🙂
I voted for domino , im preatty sure it will sound better live then the other two poppy trash songs….
Sorry to let you down but youre in the minority.
Exceptional voice but mediocre pop songs which none of them could bring the trophy to Helsinki.Monsters is the best song by far between them but don’t be surprised if she will be disqualified in May.Besides it’s a tradition in Eurovision every year for a big favorite of the bookmakers to be out of final.
I honestly expected something way better from Saara. Notwithstanding, the three songs are of good quality, only Queens is a song I wouldn’t listen to very often, but it’s still good. For me it’s between Monsters and Domino, even if Domino is way better. I’m not really convinced by the style of the songs though…
Weird singer, three cheap generated songs. No final for Finland this year.
A little bit of weirdness is a must in Eurovision. All the 3 songs are better than any of those national entries we already know. Not a surprise the weakest of them come from the Big5. If Latvia sends Laura Rizzotto to Lisbon, it will be either Riga or Helsinki in 2019.
There are more possibilities of Riga 2019 than of Helsinki 2019, which are now doomed.
Take your opinion where the sun doesn’t shine @ Bravisssimo
3 poor quality songs that wiwibloggs continue to hype up, followed by Monsters winning and 2 1/2 months of this site pimping Monsters as a potential winner. Finland will be lucky to qualify with any of these.
All 3 are amazing in my opinion ??
I would choose either Queens or Monsters