FINLAND 2022

The Finnish Final "Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu" was held on February 26th at Logomo in Turku, hosted by Vesala and Mmiisas. The winner was chosen through a 25/75 mix of international juries and national televoting. Going to Eurovision is The Rasmus with "Jezebel"

The original line up for The Rasmus formed while still at school and their first independent EP was released December 1995. Since then the band has had nine studio albums, two compilation albums, six tours and countless singles with their most successful period coming in the mid 2000s. Their breakthrough single "In The Shadows" was a hit throughout Europe, as well as the antipodes. The album "Dead Letters" was certified Gold in Sweden, Poland, Hungary, UK; and Platinum in Switzerland, Germany and Finland. In 2007 they met Desmond Child who produced their album "Black Roses". This partnership continues and Child has a writing credit on their Eurovision entry. Their music is rock based but has influences of glam, alternative, pop and goth.

The song starts off with a guitar riff before Lauri starts to sing the first verse. The tune is rather clever having similarly phrased lines but steadily changing key as it goes. From here it goes straight into the chorus which starts and ends with the title of the song. After a minute it is time for verse 2 however this is substantially shorter than verse 1 but still leads straight into a full chorus. We then have a reprise of the intro but this time with the whole band playing along. There is then a third shortened verse - although it feels more like a bridge as it helps build up to the last part of the song - before a last energetic rendition of the chorus ending with more impassioned repeats of the title.

First of all, UMK is becoming one of my favourite Eurovision national finals. The standard of production is always high, the song and act choices are always interesting and the whole thing always feels seamless and interesting (and many thanks for the multi-language streams too!) This year the final had a bit of a rock/guitar bias but considering Finland and Italy's success last year why break a winning formula? This was not my favourite but is not a bad choice at all. Being a known band helps things plus their image - especially Lauri's - has not changed that much and will help people keep this in their memory. On a vocal level the song starts off a little shaky. I am not sure if Lauri was nervous or trying to hard to sing softly at the top of the song but it felt a little unsure. Yes, it sounded much better as the song went on but he will need to be careful that people don't lose confidence in the song or make too rash an opinion of the whole entry too early. The yellow and black staging is a choice, not sure it goes 100% with the song, but again it does make it memorable. I enjoy the visuals of the cartoon guitar player, modelled on their actual guitarist, and that of the signature birds flying off into the distance at the end. All in all, I think this song has a lot to give and there is a lot that can be done to make it even better. The band has a reputation and fanbase they want to keep, impress and grow. They are going to work hard to make this a success and I hope it will be too.

ARTIST - The Rasmus

SONG - Jezebel

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Desmond Child, Lauri Ylönen