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Germany: Käärijä wins Songcheck episode two!

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In the second episode of Songcheck, the songs from the second half of the first semi-final were evaluated, as well as Spain from the Big5. The winner of the second episode was Finland’s Käärijä.

In Songcheck, the entries are rated by panel judges as well as the audience, the latter of which votes via a special application.

The results of the second episode were as follows (former the rating of the audience, latter the rating of the panel)

  1. Finland – 11.5 + 9.9 – 21.4 points
  2. Sweden – 8.5 + 8.0 – 16.5 points
  3. Czech Republic – 7.1 + 7.9 – 15.0 points
  4. Moldova – 5.6 + 7.1 – 12.7 points
  5. Israel – 5.7 + 5.9 – 11.6 points
  6. Spain – 5.5 + 5.8 – 11.3 points
  7. Netherlands – 5.0 + 5.8 – 10.8 points
  8. Azerbaijan – 5.7 + 4.4 – 10.1 points
  9. Switzerland – 3.6 + 6.4 – 10.0 points

After the completion of the second episode, the overall results regarding the first semi-final have been formed as follows:

  1. Finland – 11.5 + 9.9 – 21.4 points
  2. Norway – 8.6 + 8.3 = 16.9 points
  3. Sweden – 8.5 + 8.0 – 16.5 points
  4. Czech Republic – 7.1 + 7.9 – 15.0 points
  5. France – 6.4 + 8.1 = 14.5 points
  6. Italy – 8.1 + 6.3 = 14.4 points
  7. Croatia – 8.5 + 5.4 = 13.9 points
  8. Latvia – 6.8 + 6.2 = 13.0 points
  9. Moldova – 5.6 + 7.1 – 12.7 points
  10. Malta – 6.8 + 5.8 = 12.6 points
  11. Serbia – 6.0 + 6.4 = 12.4 points
  12. Israel – 5.7 + 5.9 – 11.6 points
  13. Spain – 5.5 + 5.8 – 11.3 points
  14. Netherlands – 5.0 + 5.8 – 10.8 points
  15. Portugal – 4.6 + 5.9 – 10.5 points
  16. Azerbaijan – 5.7 + 4.4 – 10.1 points
  17. Switzerland – 3.6 + 6.4 – 10.0 points
  18. Ireland – 3.8 + 4.0 – 7.8 points

https://youtu.be/rJHe-iZ5HSI

Songcheck continues with the songs from the first half of the second semi-final.

Source: eurovision.de

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all news regarding our favorite contest!

Finland: Käärija reacts to Eurovision 2023 songs!

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Käärijä has reacted to some of the songs competing in Eurovision 2023.

In the video uploaded by the official UMK Youtube account, the Finnish representative reacts to the songs from Austria, Sweden, United Kingdom, Germany, Croatia, France, Spain and Greece.

Although Käärijä’s comments about his fellow competitors were positive in general he has some favorite songs from this group which he would give 12 points.  According to Käärijä, the songs from Austria, Sweden, Germany and Greece are his personal favoruites from this group.

You can watch Käärijä’s reaction in this video:

And you can also watch our reaction by the Eurovisionfun team to Käärijä’s Eurovision song Cha Cha Cha

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for more news about Finland in Eurovision 2023!

Estonia: Finland wins the first show of Eurovisiooni laulud 2023!

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The Estonian Public Broadcaster ERR, has started yesterday the TV preview show for this year’s Eurovision. Which is called Eurovisiooni laulud 2023.

Every Thursday for the next six weeks, Estonian TV viewers can watch some of the songs that won the ticket for Liverpool.

The first episode was aired last night with a four-person panel consisted of the two presenters of the show (Grete Kuld and Tõnis Niinemets), but also Elina Born (Estonia 2015) and Robin Jukental (Estonia 2010), who are guest judges.

The panel heard and rated the first six songs which are:

  • “Heart of Steel” – Tvorchi – Ukraine
  • “Promise” – Voyager – Australia
  • “Évidemment” – La Zarra – France
  • “Dance (Our Own Party)” – The Busker – Malta
  • “My Sister’s Crown” – Vesna – Czechia
  • “Cha Cha Cha” – Käärijä – Finland

The winner of the night was Käärijä with “Cha Cha Cha” and it was named as the best entry among the six entries evaluated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJHe-iZ5HSI

The next episode of Eurovisiooni laulud 2023 wil be broadcast next Thursday 30/03 on ERR’s Estonian channel ETV.

Stay tuned EurovisionFun for all the news regarding Eurovision 2023!

 

 

Finland: Mr. Lordi discusses Käärijä’s chances at Eurovision 2023!

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Hard rock band Lordi are the only Finnish Eurovision winners so far.  Moreover, their winning song and costumes make them one of the most iconic Eurovision acts from Finland.  Hence, there is no doubt why Finnish press appreciates what the band has to say about their Eurovision representative.

Lead singer Mr. Lordi talked to Helsingin Uutiset about the band and of course there was time to talk about Käärijä and his song Cha cha cha.  Mr. Lordi expressed mixed feelings about the Finnish song for Liverpool:

I can’t stand rap. Hip hop is from Satan. I’ve never liked that music, I don’t understand it. However, there is a very heavy background and a melodic chorus, which I really enjoy.

In the end, Mr. Lordi thinks the overall result is positive and he thinks Käärijä can give Finland a good result.  According to Mr. Lordi, what makes Käärijä stands out is the “heavy sound” of the song because Finland gets the best results when it goes in this musical direction:

It’s always good when a heavier song from Finland is entered in such a competition, because we have expertise in such music. Finnish people know how to make heavy music, it works better than softer songs. Lordi, Blind Channel and Käärijä: stuff from the heavier department.

However, Mr. Lordi does not want to anticipate a victory for Finland.  According to him, Käärijä can win the Eurovision Song Contest.  Nevertheless, he adds that making predictions is pointless because there are many variables in the competition.

Lordi represented Finland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 held in Athens with the song Hard Rock Hallelujah.  They won the song contest in a landslide

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for more news about Finland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023!

Source: Helsingin Uutiset

Poland: Blanka visiting Finland & meeting with Käärijä!

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Blanka, the Polish representative for Eurovision 2023, visited the Finnish capital of Helsinki and spent time with this year representative of Finland, Käärijä!

The Polish entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 was in Finland after being selected to represent Poland at Eurovision 2023. During her time in Helsinki, Blanka went to the Warner Music studios in the Finnish capital, and was in the recording studio with the publisher behind her Eurovision entry “Solo”. While at the Warner Music studios, Blanka met the Finnish representative in this year’s contest Käärijä.

 

Δείτε αυτή τη δημοσίευση στο Instagram.

 

Η δημοσίευση κοινοποιήθηκε από το χρήστη Blanka Stajkow (@blikeblanka)

Enjoy our Reaction videos about Poland and Finland in Eurovision 2023:

What do you think about Poland’s and Finland’s entry? Tell us in the comments!

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all the news regarding  Eurovision 2023!

 

 

 

Finland: YLE in talks to move UMK 2024 to a bigger stadium!

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The Finnish national final for the selection of the country’s participation in Eurovision, UMK, was undoubtedly one of the most successful and talked about national finals this year, both within Finland (where 2.1 million viewers tuned in) and among fans of the contest.

UMK’s success in recent years has led Finnish broadcaster YLE to decide to move the show to a bigger stadium from 2024 onwards. As Ville Vilén, Head of Creative Content at Yle, explained:

“The popularity has grown to such proportions that moving it [the final] to a larger space has become topical.”

YLE is in talks to find a stadium, the capacity of which will allow it to sell four to six times more tickets than Logomo, its current venue, which has a capacity of just 1500 spectators. YLE is therefore looking for a suitable stadium in the Turku, Tampere and Helsinki areas.

Finland will be represented in the contest this year by Käärijä, the artist who brought the country to the 3rd place in the betting odds and who has been met with huge support from fans of the contest, with the song Cha Cha Cha. You can enjoy it below:

https://youtu.be/rJHe-iZ5HSI

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all developments!

Source: Eurovoix

Finland: The International Juries of UMK 2023!

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A little while ago, the Finnish broadcaster announced the 7 countries that will make up the International Juries for the UMK 2023 final. These are:

  • Australia
  • Germany
  • Poland
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • United Kingdom
  • Ukraine

The international juries that will have a 25% say in the results of UMK 2023 have been announced.

The running order of the 7 artists who will compete in the UMK 2023 final is as follows:

  1. Robin Packalen – “Girls Like You“
  2. KUUMMA – “Ylivoimainen” (Overpowered)
  3. Käärijä  – “Cha Cha Cha“
  4. Keira – “No Business on the Dancefloor“
  5. Benjamin – “Hoida mut” (Take care of me)
  6. Lxandra – “Something to Lose“
  7. Portion Boys – “Samaa taivasta katsotaan” (We look at the same sky)

Yle also revealed some information about the commentary of UMK 2023. There will be commentary in eight different languages (Finnish, Swedish, English, English, Russian, Northern Sami and Inari Sami), sign language commentary provided by Miguel Peltomaa and for the first time there will be commentary in Ukrainian provided by Galyna Sergeyeva.

The national final is scheduled to take place on February 25th. UMK 2023 will be held in Turku with Samu Haber as the host, while the winner and Finland’s representative at Eurovision 2023 will be determined 25% by the international jury voting and 75% by the public vote.

Here you can enjoy the Eurovisionfun team on the reaction video for the UMK 2023 entries:

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for more updates on the UMK 2023!

Robin Packalen: “My performance will be dangerous and not like the music video” | Exclusive Interview

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Robin Packalen is participating in this year’s national final of Finland, UMK 2023 with the track “Girls Like You” and a few days ago he spoke exclusively to Eurovisionfun and specifically to Apostolis and Alvaro, about his participation and his plans for the national final.

Although only 24 years old, Robin has been in the music industry since the age of 13 and is now considered one of the biggest names on the Finnish pop scene! On how he made the decision to take part in UMK 2023, he said:

“I am happy that this year I am taking part in the national final! Almost every year I had an offer to participate but there was always something else in my career and I couldn’t! At this moment I think the time has come and of course I have the right song”

Regarding the participation of “Girls Like You”, he told us the following:

“The song was not written exclusively for the competition! Last year I was in Los Angeles for the creation of the next international album and as soon as I heard the song I said that it is the best I have created! I didn’t want this song to be just another single and that’s how the idea of UMK came about!”

“If I were asked to describe myself with one song it would be ‘Girls Like You’, both in terms of sound and lyrics!”

Regarding his choice to participate with a song in English , he said that he wanted to try something different as he believes that he has offered for many years what he had to give to his country and now it’s time to try his luck to a bigger audience, that of Europe!

This year’s Finnish national final will take place in the city of Turku, which is also the birthplace of the young singer and of course he couldn’t help but express his joy to compete in his “home” and maybe have a small lead, as he said jokingly.

About his stage appearance Robin revealed to us:

“My appearance in the national final will be “dangerous” and will have nothing to do with the aesthetics of the video clip! On the stage there will be props and a lot of acrobatics, which I have been doing since I was a child!”

His favorite Finnish entry states that they are Blind Channel (Finland 2021), with whom they collaborated recently and have the same producers, while as his favorite entry of the competition he preferred a recent favorite of his, “Slo Mo” from Channel.

At the end he sang a part of his participation:

Watch the full interview of Robin:

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Would you like to see Robin representing Finland in Eurovision 2023? Tell us in the comments!

Kuumaa: A Eurovision winner in Finnish? Why not? | EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW!

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Kuumaa has recently won the Finnish Grammy Award for Band of the Year.  Moreover, their UMK competing song, Ylivoimainen, has reached the Spotify Top in Finland.

Eurovisionfun had the pleasure to talk with the guys from Kuumaa.  Johannes, Jonttu and Aarni took some time in their agenda to sit and answer our questions.  In this interview they discussed with us how is their UMK journey going on and how they are taking one step at the time this road to eventually represent Finland in Eurovision.  Here are their answers.

Eurovisionfun: What motivate you to represent your country in the Eurovision Song Contest?

Kuumaa: Well first we’ll focus on the UMK competition and if it will lead to the Eurovision Song Contest, we’ll have to see. Right now we are going to try and chew (and enjoy!) one bite at a time!

Eurovisionfun: What are you planning to bring to the UMK stage next February?

Kuumaa: We are definitely trying to channel our live gig energy and bring it to the big stage. This is the perfect chance to try and transform our club gig energy and joy of performing to the biggest stage performance in the band’s history. We are so excited and honored to take on the challenge of UMK!

Eurovisionfun: For the audience outside of Finland, how would you describe your band?

Kuumaa: KUUMAA is a band that has been built on friendship and the joy of making music. For us, the band is above all a group of friends. We are all united by ambition and the thought of taking things seriously but not being too serious. We have a lot of fun together and humor is one of our core values: if working together is fun, it’ll most likely lead to good things.We are also very self-sufficient as a band: Johannes (vocals) is mainly responsible for our lyrics, Jonttu (drums) is involved in the production side and Aarni (bass) is in charge of our visuals. Composition work is done together with our executive producer Jonas Olsson.

Eurovisionfun: Last year a song in Ukrainian language won the Eurovision Song Contest and the year before it was a song in Italian. Do you think a song in Finnish could win the Eurovision Song Contest?

Kuumaa: Finnish is a beautiful language, why not! However we believe that the song, live show and artist combined as whole will determine who wins, not only the language.

Eurovisionfun: Do you see yourselves releasing a single in English in the near future?

Kuumaa: As of now making music in our mother tongue feels like the right thing to do and it’s hard to imagine KUUMAA in English. However: never say never!

Eurovisionfun: Do you have any memories from the Eurovision Song Contest? Are you fans of the show?   

Kuumaa: We’ve followed the Eurovision Song Contest for a long time. Johannes had admired the power and community spirit of the contest since he was a child. Jonttu remembers taking party in an ESC night hosted by drag queens and Aarni got to stay up late for the first time when the legendary Lordi won the competition in 2006.

Eurovisionfun: What are your favourite Eurovision songs in general and from Finland?

Kuumaa: We’ll forever be fans of the amazing Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät who represented Finland in 2015.

Eurovisionfun: Apart from your own work what artists and genres do you like to listen?

Kuumaa: The 1975 is a big inspiration to us, we love the surprise element that their whole existence entails in music, performance and visuals. From our artist colleagues in Finland we’d like to give a shoutout to Chisu and Olavi Uusivirta who are both such inspirations as music makers and performers.

Eurovisionfun: What message would you like to send to the audience with your song Ylivoimainen?

Kuumaa: The song is an energetic pop song with a hint of danger. Ylivoimainen came together very intuitively and it represents an universal energy that is easy for anyone to catch on to. The tension of the song arises from the fact that the narrator is ready to do anything to get what he wants. The feelings of longing and love have been put aboard a tuned Ferrari so to say. The friction between these things is interesting.

Eurovisionfun:. Finally, to close this interview, what message would you like to give to the Eurovision fans?  

Kuumaa: Whether we are in the running or not, we are so excited to see what the lineup for the contest will look and sound like. The beauty of Eurovision is how music brings people and countries together. Long live music!

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for more updates on the UMK 2023!

Finland: Eurovisionfun Reacts to UMK 2023 Songs! (video)

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We’re just under a month away from Finland‘s national final for Eurovision 2023, Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu, and all seven entries have been announced, completing the puzzle of this year’s national final for the country.

The Eurovisionfun team couldn’t help but see and comment on Finland’s 7 participants  for the upcoming Eurovision contest! Enjoy Matamis Apostolis, Barboutis Paschalis and Gialetzi Stella in a reaction video with detailed commentary for this year’s UMK 2023 entries!

The seven songs of Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2023

Just a few days ago, the release of the seven songs that will compete to win Finland’s representation at Eurovision 2023 was completed. The seven entries are as follows (click on the song title to listen):

  1. Keira – “No Business on the Dance Floor”
  2. Benjamin – “Hoida Mut”
  3. Robin Packalen – “Girls Like You”
  4. Lxandra – “Something to Lose”
  5. Käärijä – “Cha Cha Cha”
  6. KUUMAA – “Ylivoimainen”
  7. Portion Boys – “Samaa Taivasta Katsotaan”

We remind you that after the release of the seven songs, all that remains is the holding of the national final, which is scheduled for February 25. UMK 2023 will be held in Turku hosted by Samu Haber.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel to be the first to enjoy interviews, reaction videos and Live streams for our favorite contest!

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding Finland’s participation in Eurovision 2023, in Liverpool!