Category: FINLAND
Finland 2019 ๐ซ๐ฎ DJ Darude chosen by YLE for Tel Aviv
FINLAND – Ville Virtanen, better known by his stage name Darude, is a Finnish DJ and record producer from Eura, Finland. He started making music in 1995 and released the platinum selling hit single “Sandstorm” in late 1999. His debut studio album, Before the Storm released on 18 September 2000 and sold 800,000 copies worldwide, earning Darude three Finnish Grammy Awards.
It peaked at number one on Finland’s Official List and number 6 on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart in the United States. Darude’s second studio album, Rush, reached number 11 on the Billboard dance chart in 2003 and number 4 on weekly album chart in Finland.
His third studio album, Label This! was released in 2007. Though it did not chart as high as his previous albums, Gawker praised the album’s single “In the Darkness” as “a floating, gossamer piece of trance music…it’s tightly composed, easy to dance to, and has a soaring, undeniable hook.”
In 2011, he co-founded the record label EnMass Music, through which he has released a number of mix compilations related to his radio show Salmiakki Sessions. After performing at festivals such as tenth anniversary of Tomorrowland in 2014 and Future Music Festival in 2015, he released his most recent studio album, Moments, on 14 August 2015, followed by a tour of the United States and Canada in September 2015.
His music is characterised by its progressive/uplifting style.
He will represent Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019.
The winning Darude track that finally represents Finland in the ESC 2019 will be decided by a combination of public vote and an international juryโs points via live stream and TV broadcast UMK19: Darude on 2nd March.
Finland 2019 ๐ซ๐ฎ Krista Siegfrids to host UMK
FINLAND – Krista Siegfrids, who represented Finland at Eurovision 2013, will present the national final of UMK 2019, as the country’s public television announced a while ago. Finland will announce its Eurovision entrant at a special press conference on January 29th. UMK 2019 is expected to include as the sole candidate the artist to be announced, interpreting various songs in order for the television audience and the jury to choose what will represent Finland in Tel Aviv, just like last year with Saara Aalto.
Finland 2019 ๐ซ๐ฎ is Robin Packalen, YLE’s choice for Tel Aviv?
FINLAND – Following the rumors surrounding the choice of Eva & Manu, there is a new favorite to represent Finland at the Eurovision 2019 Festival: Robin Packalen. After announcing a career break in August 2017, with the latest single “Me tehtiin tรครค” to have been released after the announcement, the singer recently recorded two songs in the base of the Finland copyright organization, something that has raised the rumors surrounding the choice of singer for the Eurovision 2019 Song Contest.
๐ซ๐ฎ Saara Aalto signs up for Dancing On Ice
UNITED KINGDOM – X Factor star Saara Aalto has signed up for Dancing On Ice, The Sun’s Bizarre TV column can reveal.
The singer, who also represented her native Finland at Eurovision, will compete on the ITV show next year.
A source said: “After Jake Quickenden won the show last year bosses were keen to sign up another X Factor star.
“They’re sure Saara’s showmanship and bubbly personality will translate to the rink and are delighted she said yes.”
Saara joins a stellar line-up on the rebooted series’ second instalment, hosted by Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield.
๐ซ๐ฎ Saara Aalto proposes that she and Steps can bring the trophy back to the UK!
UNITED KINGDOM – Today the EBU has confirmed that next yearโs competition will be held in Tel Aviv, Israel; after Nettaโs Toy stormed to victory in Lisbon back in May. Saara represented Finland with her song Monsters; taken from her debut album Wild Wild Wonderland – which hit No2 in her homeland. She then came over to the UK to tour with Steps; building on the popularity she earned when she competed on our version of The X Factor in 2016, finishing second.
Now, she has just the idea for how the UK can finally triumph after more than two decades of Eurovision Song Contest disappointment.
โI was touring with Steps in June in the UK on their Stadium Tour and it was so great,โ she told Express.co.uk. โI know people really want them to do Eurovision for the UK – Iโm like, โhmm, maybe I should join them!โโ
Steps featuring Saara Aalto would certainly be a camp, poptastic extravaganza that Europe would be powerless to resist.
โI love Faye [Tozer] doing Strictly Come Dancing, sheโs so lovely, and I really want to work with them. So maybe we should do Eurovision for the UK. I would love that.โ
On her experience at the contest this year, she reflected: โI definitely got what I wanted. I loved my performance, I did it with Brian Friedman – who I worked with on X Factor. I loved the whole event. I would love to do it again.โ
Next year’s contest final will be on May 18, with semi-finals on May 14 and May 16.
Finland 2019 ๐ซ๐ฎ YLE announce UMK date
FINLAND – New Music Competition, aka UMK, will take place soon March 2nd as Finnish national broadcaster announced today. Next week Finland will announce the artist who will represent the country in Eurovision 2019 and the song search will kick off.
Then on March 2nd, there will be a song selection where public and jury will decide the song with which the country will participate in Tel Aviv’s Eurovision edition.
Finland has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 52 times since its debut in 1961. Finland won the contest for the first time in 2006 with Lordi’s “Hard Rock Hallelujah”. Previously, its best result was Marion Rung with the song “Tom Tom Tom” in 1973, which placed 6th.
Finland has finished last in the contest ten times, receiving “nul points” in 1963, 1965 and 1982. Since the introduction of the semi-finals in 2004, Finland has failed to reach the final seven times. In 2014, the country had its best result in eight years when Softengine finished 11th.
In 2015 Finland finished last in Semi Final One with the shortest ever Eurovision entry “Aina mun pitรครค” that only lasts 1 minute and 27 seconds by PKN (Pertti Kurikan Nimipรคivรคt).
Finland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. The entry was selected in the national final Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2018 on 3 March 2018, where all three entries were performed by the singer Saara Aalto who was internally selected by the Finnish broadcaster YLE on 7 November 2017 to perform the nation’s entry at the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal.