darude sebastian rejman release me umk finland

“Release Me” — and release the first Finnish hopeful. Last week, we saw the reveal that the legendary Darude will represent Finland at Eurovision, after an internal selection by YLE.

As with last year, we’ll be getting the songs week by week. Tonight, the international DJ — who’ll be joined by Sebastian Rejman on vocals — has dropped the first Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu hopeful. The track is called “Release Me” and you can listen to it below!

Darude feat. Sebastian Rejman — “Release Me”

The production here is rich — and the lyrics pack a punch too. This ain’t no love song y’all, as Sebastian pleads for his lover to let him go. “I don’t want to waste our precious time / ‘Cause we’re not getting any younger now” — that cuts deep!

But with the vocals Sebastian’s got on show here, we wouldn’t want him out of our lives either.

There’s moments where the track threatens to overshadow the vocals though, particularly towards the climax. Of course, we won’t know how that will come across live until UMK itself.

Visually there’s also a lot to feast on, and it’s great to see the effort being put in here too. Last year we saw the visual effort put in to Saara Aalto’s tracks, and the Finnish team haven’t let us down here either. Whether it’s a silk performer, or a cheeky reference to Darude’s “Sandstorm”, there’s always something going on.

Right now, it doesn’t feel like a Eurovision winner. There’s definitely positives in the track though, and it’s a good sign of what could be to come from this Finnish collaboration. We’re expecting great things from the next two tracks!

What do you think of Darude & Sebastian’s “Release Me”? Do you think that this could be the Finnish song for Eurovision 2019 straight away? Let us know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

Read more Finnish Eurovision news here

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L'oiseau
L'oiseau
5 years ago

Actually, I expected worse. The melody is nice and the beats restrained. The song has a good structure and hits the right bottons. I actually like Sebastian’s vocals and also his persona. He has gravitas and could do well on live I am guessing that this singer we will not have a classic EDM song, after all.

Elvira
Elvira
5 years ago

It’s okay but I don’t like the vocals that much

esc stan
esc stan
5 years ago

huh the chorus does sound like Agnes’ song
shook

Alex
Alex
5 years ago

Well this was quite simply underwhelming. I’m still hopeful the other 2 songs are better, but I don’t think they’ll be all that good. I think next year Finland should just send what they’re best at, and that is of course metal. Let’s not forget that Lordi, Finland’s only winner, are a metal band. Surely from the thousands of bands they have, there’s at least one, whether known internationally or not, that makes great music, which they could send to the contest.

Puff
Puff
5 years ago
Reply to  Alex

The other songs will be better because Darude confirmed they are more “Darude”-like. This song was more different from the bunch, this was more ballad-like.

mememe
mememe
5 years ago
Reply to  Alex

In what way Finland is best making metal music? Possible most metal bands per capita does only tell that people are active. Metal music is not at all so popular in Finland as people want to believe. Iron Maiden, Metallica and so on are not from Finland. Metal music is like punk music, it has very limited fan scene. Its not mainstream music at all. I have no idea what Finland should do after Darude. Maybe Finland should go back to own qualification and let people vote winner.

Héctor
Héctor
5 years ago

I don’t see this qualifying. Hope the other remaining songs are better.

Nicolas
Nicolas
5 years ago

This year is horrible. Eurovision is losing its soul with this sort of crap english pop songs without any interest.

memememe
memememe
5 years ago

Very awful singer. Finns have long history that artist select her/his friends to perform. Mediocre song but that Rejman as singer is huge mistake.

Thomas
Thomas
5 years ago

Ok! Very nice start! I think that this song lacks from having a rather weak/no identable bridge.
But the song itself is better than Saara’s efforts from last year.

Roy Moreno
Roy Moreno
5 years ago

What if Darude attempts to be the modern Secret Garden?
Less lyrics, more music
I’m not a fan of the song (lyrics and vocals) but the instrumental is quite good

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
5 years ago

There is some good harmony going on here. The Chorus of the song is a big risk for the singer though – going over the break into falsetto on that clash note could be a set-up for a live disaster. Beyond that, I agree with Mr. Vanilla Bean, this does feel like a “warm up”. Certainly the music video indicates there is more to come, so let’s wait and see.

Prease
Prease
5 years ago

This is awful, mmmm let’s hope the try a little harder

Mr. Vanilla Bean
Mr. Vanilla Bean
5 years ago

Honestly, so far, they’d be better of with Agnes’ “Release Me”. But maybe this is just the warm-up, as opposed to last year’s constant decline.

West
West
5 years ago

It’s a good song, one that I wouldn’t mind listening to on my iPod. Wouldn’t vote for it if it went to Eurovision though. Now I’m even more curious to hear other two songs – will they be at least as good as this one? Better?

MarkoH
MarkoH
5 years ago

Loving this!

oli
oli
5 years ago

Welcome to 2019 Eurovision! This is a song you can find in the top of the charts nowdaways. Super modern and current. I love love love it!

Jake
Jake
5 years ago

This isn’t what has sent Finland up the bookies chart?!?!? And you can’t refrain Release Me this and not expect to have everyone think you’ve slowed down Agnes’ song in BPMs so ironically given its come from the DJ that gave us Sandstorm.

Henry
Henry
5 years ago

Bland

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
5 years ago

I like it. Big step up from Saara Aalto’s offerings. Excited to see what comes next!

Matthew
Matthew
5 years ago

I actually think it’s quite powerful, and I get it is DJ Darude’s song, but he can’t overpower the vocals like that in the verses, it’s not that it makes it a bad song or a worse song, but that’s not appropriate for Eurovision, it won’t catch viewers like it needs to.

Jo.
Jo.
5 years ago

It really does remind me of Agnes’ song.

Sabrina
Sabrina
5 years ago

I felt this one quite restrained for an EDM entry. If the intention is to make people dance, go full throttle. I believe they’ll do that in at least one of the 3 options.

Fast Food Music Lover
Fast Food Music Lover
5 years ago

I know it’s EDM but you don’t need to drown the vocal like that.

Zack
Zack
5 years ago

Really enjoy the song, would of been better if they did something after such a nice buildup instead of saying release me to a stagnant beat for a while, hopefully the other 2 are more winner material rather then just good songs.

Bob
Bob
5 years ago
Reply to  Zack

Would of? Really?

Zack
Zack
5 years ago
Reply to  Bob

Sorry don’t really care too much about grammatical mistakes in a comment. If it isn’t something for work, I generally could care less

Juslin
Juslin
5 years ago

Why so negative? I love it! Way better then Monsters last year…

Joshua
Joshua
5 years ago
Reply to  Juslin

Oh, that’s for sure…

EDM Fan
EDM Fan
5 years ago

Need to sound more like Sandstorm, but still modern. If Finland wants to win they need to embrace the meme like SunStroke Project did. I hope one of the songs will be called “Song Name?”.

Joshua
Joshua
5 years ago

The quality is really high, but I’ve got the impression the other songs will be even better. Still, a very valid song.

Katariina
Katariina
5 years ago

This sounds very bland and boring. The chorus also really does sound like the Agnes song (not just because of the shared title). Hopefully the next two songs are better but I doubted Darude since he was first announced so we’ll see.

Lolek
Lolek
5 years ago

Great track for the clubs! I’m undecided as to how it would fair at eurovision. I’m going to wait to hear his other tracks!

OohHoney
OohHoney
5 years ago

It’s like eating dry toast with nothing on. Bland.

Peter M
Peter M
5 years ago

It’s good but the chorus is very weak.

J.S.M
J.S.M
5 years ago

It lacks backing vocals to make the main vocals more powerful, at the end the hook is a bit repetitive. I like the mood though. Hopefully one of the next two songs is just a little better, then it’ll be perfect – last year, Saara’s firstly presented song was chosen by the way

Finnish Eurofan
Finnish Eurofan
5 years ago

Sounds like borderline qualifier to me, if this wins and gets to the grand final, result would not be good, typical Finland again in bottom 5 kinda result.

poe-tay-toe-chips
poe-tay-toe-chips
5 years ago

To me, this certainly isn’t winning material…and I feel like this doesn’t strike me as anything other than generic.

Here’s to hoping the next two sound more interesting

RandomEuroFan
RandomEuroFan
5 years ago

Love it but wished it had a tad more power in the main melody and Sebastian’s vocal. It could change in the live performance though. Looking forward to the next two songs.

Rich Uk
Rich Uk
5 years ago

I really like the production. This is a good first song. Excited to hear the other two.

Marcelo
Marcelo
5 years ago

As a fan of EDM, I really love the song. But I still hope for the two songs remaining to be way better.

DenizNL
DenizNL
5 years ago

I love it. I am glad Finland takes Eurovision more serious than ever now.

Weißbrot
Weißbrot
5 years ago

I actually really like it. But if they want to win, they need something more special and impressing. Looking forward to the other songs, this one is a good start.

Floprina
Floprina
5 years ago

Not feeling the first one I’m afraid. If it’s not Levina copying David Guetta, it’s Darude copying Agnes

hellohi
hellohi
5 years ago

boobies video

Petersu
Petersu
5 years ago

Release me~ Release my body~ Oh sorry. Wrong song.

eurovision6
eurovision6
5 years ago

Not impressed, hope the other two songs are better