We hoped for something better, Finland

The Finns have struggled to do well in ESC since their first win back in 2006. Quite undeservedly we might add, as they’ve had quite a few good entries performing below expectations. We would have loved to see Kuunkuiskaajat and Pernilla Karlsson in the grand final, and Paradise Oskar was top 5 material.

In Copenhagen we’ll get acquainted with five groomed and preppy schoolboys, which is all fine and well. Softengine will present a rather cool and contemporary rock song, with ample opportunity for singing along to the chorus, doing some clapping through the verses, to nod and say something about how talented these young men are. It would have been exciting if this were the song representing the Finns on home turf seven year ago. Well apart from the fact that these blokes would have been around 8 years old at the time, but what we’re trying to say is that back then this would have been a very fresh and modern song for Eurovision. Back then it was music like this hitting the charts with smash hits by Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys, The Killers, Kings of Leon etc. etc. While still being a popular genre, it’s not exactly groundbreaking, even in ESC.

And we hate to break it to these aspiring stars that, perhaps apart from Lordi, rock bands tend to have very little success in ESC. And a bunch of guys looking all rather serious, with no choreography, gimmicks, glitter or sequins is a rather hard sell in this competition where extravaganza galore for the most part is being abundantly awarded. At least you need a pretty darn good song, and a rock solid performance. The Danes pulled it off a few years back with AFIL’s New Tomorrow. But this is not a new New Tomorrow so to speak. And although cute and charming, front man Topi Latukka is not Tim Schou. There’s something lacking both when it comes to stage charisma and live vocal abilities.

But, but, BUT! The song’s an earworm, we’ll give’em that much. Once you hear the chorus a couple of times, it sticks. It’s been virtually velcroed to our brains the past few days. Which can only be a good thing when it’s time for viewers across Europe to pick up their phones and text in a couple of votes. And by all means, Something better is probably one of the better we’ll hear in Copenhagen, which most of all speaks volumes on the overall quality of this year’s line-up.