FINLAND

The Finnish Final was held on February 27th at the YLE TV Studios in Helsinki, hosted by Roope Salminen & Krista Siegfrids. Before the final there were 3 semi-finals each containing 6 songs with 3 qualifying in each. The winner was chosen by 10 juries (50%) & televoting and online voting (50%). Going to Stockholm is Sandhja and “Sing it away”.

The song is a modern pop song with dance, almost disco, touches. The structure of the song is similar to Sigma’s “Changes” or Major Lazer’s “Lean On” although is very different to these in style. The song starts quite slow but become much more upbeat in the chorus. The chorus is very repetitive – too repetitive almost – and most of it seems to be carried by the backing singers. In some ways it feels a little incongruous as the first verse sets you up thinking you are going in one direction but you are taken to another.  She has a nice set up with the DJ and 4 backing singers – who she needs! The act is highly choreographed but is quite simplistic in its dance moves and the ending is a bit too “High School Musical” for my liking.

Sandhja has released a couple of singles in Finland over the past 3 years as well as an album called “Gold” however it seems as though these were released with little sales success but did get some radio play. Sandhja is half Fininsh, half Guyanese/Indian and has a very striking look. Singing hasn’t always been her profession as she is a trained nurse.

The UMK format has been relatively successful for choosing Finish entries, but I think this is their worst choice to date. Sandhja is an OK singer but she seems a bit out of her depth singing this one, and is very obvious during the chorus. She also gurns a lot and pulls some very negative faces when singing. I also think she could wear something much more colourful. The song makes no real impact on you whatsoever which is not good news being that they are in the first half of semi 1. It must also be noted that although she won the final, she only came 3rd in the Finnish televote – it was the jury vote that sealed her win. I can only finish by re-iterating how disappointed I am with this entry and I am 90% sure this is a non-qualifier.

ARTIST – Sandhja

SONG – Sing it away

MUSIC - Thomas Burchia, Conrad Hensel, Anna Leyne

LYRICS – Thomas Burchia, Conrad Hensel, Anna Leyne