To Do

Happy Independence day Finland! 

UMK 2024 Song Review - Sara Siipola

The hype is very real around Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK), the Finnish national selection for Eurovision and the race to Malmö continues with a ballad this time!

Sara Siippola - Paskana

Sara Siipola is fairly a new name in the sky of Finnish female artists. She kind of popped out of nowhere making a record deal with Sony Music in 2019 and releasing her first singles which were fairly successful. She also released her debut album "Kaunis Kun Itken" two years later and last year she was seen in popular music tv-show "Tähdet, Tähdet".

Still never heard of of her before and the artist announcement did nothing to me.

Paskana is power song that gives no hope. It's very raw lyrically and vocally.

It's a modern ballad with immediate hook. The song itself is not a traditional power ballad but does instrumentally push its boundaries. The electronic beat has 80's sound which also reminds many of the Russian girl duo t.A.T.u's sound. R'n'b beat separates it from an average ESC ballad and makes this super easy to listen.

Sara's voice can be compared to Amy Winehouse's being capable of interpreting the painful text brilliantly. The topic of being "paskana" which is translated as fucking wreck, is easily relatable. Social media quickly filled on Monday night with heartfelt comments from people around the world crying and feeling this song.

This is simply captivating - you can't pass this without stopping to listen to this and feeling what she sings. This will translate across language barriers.

ESC doesn't allow swearing so in case of winning UMK Sara would have to find another title for her song which might be a difficult task. There have been hopes of her translating this into English or pieces of it but I do hope this masterpiece remained in Finnish. Also this would differ quite a lot from our previous ESC entries. The last time we heard a female ballad from Finland was in 2017 with NormaJohn.

In a scenario where she didn't win UMK she might be the next Bess (Ram pam pam, 2022) or Kuumaa (Ylivoimainen, 2023) which either were the winning acts but made the biggest hits of their careers with the help of UMK. Reactions have been positive everywhere you go and her UMK videoclip has already been viewed over 240 000 (more than Sexmane) times. She's on her way to stardom!

What do you think of the third UMK24 track and would you vote for Sara Siipola to go all the way to Malmö? UMK final takes place on February 10th!

My Helsinki

This is Helsinki/Finland! 

(Aerial sightseeing in Helsinki 2013. Filmed with a DJI Phantom quadcopter and Hero 3 Black Edition. Edited in Final Cut Pro X. The song is Crystallize by Lindsey…)

J'arrive Québec!! in a few days :)

They say that Olaias is the most beautiful metro station in Lisbon and even one of the most outstanding ones in the world!

Christmas time in Porvoo last year. 

Helsinki in December 2015.

More Suomenlinna, the sea fortress, UNESCO World Heritage Site

UMK top 3 worst and best stagings (recent years)

All Eurovision fans out there know that the staging is half of the performance and it can either kill you or raise you. 

Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu has had a track record of producing both over the recent years. Here are my top three for each category. The performances do not appear in my favourite order! 

TOP3 THE BEST UMK STAGINGS that have managed to elevate the songs : 

The Rasmus - Jezebel (2022 UMK winner)

Despite of being the biggest favourite when going in to UMK last year The Rasmus’ song didn’t quite reach the hights as a studio cut. However, the playful and colourful live performance elevated this one for me

Akseli Kankaanranta - Looking back (2020 winner) 

Akseli pushed through passed the fan favourite Cicciolina back in 2020 with his well balanced and stylish live performance! 

NormaJohn - Blackbird (UMK 2017 winner) 

Back in 2017 Blackbird left many people cold with its studio cut but when performed live.... the emotion was real and very atmospheric! 

TOP3 THE WORST UMK STAGINGS that have ruined the song’s success in the contest : 

Bess - Ram pam pam (UMK 2022)

Bess Ram Pam Pam eventually became the biggest hit in Finland last year but her UMK staging ended up being messy, confusing and not meeting the hype of the song before going in to the UMK live. 

Erika Vikman - Cicciolina (UMK 2020)

Can someone explain me what those bears and forest do on the same stage with sinful Cicciolina? This performance made no sense to me at all. Not then or not now. 

Saara Aalto - Monsters (winning song in 2018) 

Despite of winning the entry ticket to Lisbon’s Eurovision back in 2018 Monsters live performance was complex to start with. I liked the beginning with the cape and all but they ended up adding here too many elements (this got worse in Lisbon). 

Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu Final takes place tomorrow February 25th on Yle Areena at 9pm (FIN time zone)! Let’s see how the seven acts will do and if fan favourites are able to keep their positions!

And who will have the courage if not me?

Hello there!

So in case someone has missed my enthusiastic posts on FB or Twitter about leaving to Montréal, Canada I'm glad to inform you about it now. So that’s where I’ll be going, next week actually, and that’s what this blog is all about! My working holiday visa (through the SWAP organization) is for 12 months but I’m doing my practical training while I’m there which will probably last untill the end of this year. After that I WISH, HOPE and PRAY to find a decent job so that I won’t have to come home before the summer 2014.  

I’ve been asked about if I speak French. I probably wouldn’t go if I didn’t. I’ve studied the language now roughly a decade or so but I’ve never been in ANY French speaking territory before. But I feel like the hours spent in the classrooms have totally passed me by and now it’s time to get out there and see what I’ve learnt. If nothing. But I will learn this language - even though it would be the last thing I do!

So still a few days to go, before my departure and things are looking good. I’m emptying my flat which still feels like an endless process (you can’t imagine this amount of stuff I have!) but otherwise everything is well organized for the journey. Or at this point I still think they are. It’s a good thing my parents aren’t together anymore so I’ve got two places to squeeze my stuff into. I might need them one day so it would be a pity to sell them all..

Still no job though but I’ve made a list of potential employers which I will be approaching once I get there. I’d like to work in a hotel, big enough where I could work in different positions but event organizing interests me as well. Luckily there are plenty to choose from. The industry of tourism in Montréal is waaaay bigger than what I’m used to at back home.

Another thing people have been asking me is, am I nervous or scared to go. Yes and no. In a way  I feel like I’ve got nothing to lose here so if I die there, I’ll die happy or trying to be at least. Just in case I have prepared myself for the worst: even though all of this went terribly wrong, I wouldn't find a job or learn the language or whatever. Then I just fly back home and re-arrange the things again.

Going to Canada and especially to Québec has been my dream for as long as I can remember and not just to visit there as a tourist but to really, really, really live there. To explore the nation in a deeper level.

This is definetely the craziest thing and in the same time the most natural thing I’ve ever done in my life. And it is such a liberating feeling! I’ve never been more happy or excited about anything else! Of course I have fears… millions of things can go wrong but I’m not ready to give up on this, just because it’s new and unknown for me. I REFUSE to be the one who’ll be sitting in her rocking chair as a 60-year-old and regretting all the chances she missed.

Who will have the courage if not me?