escYOUnited
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Finland FINLAND 2021 - Blind Channel - Dark Side
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Schlagerman1
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Seeing the vid and it feels great.....YAAAAAAAA!!! 
Sure, let's wait for the last song just in case, but so far, there isn't anything else for the finns to do than to send Blind Channel to Rotterdam!
Sure, let's wait for the last song just in case, but so far, there isn't anything else for the finns to do than to send Blind Channel to Rotterdam!
Okay like expected it ticks all the boxes of the typical song I would listen to in my daily life. Now I just wonder how I would rate it goes to ESC (not that it would, but still). Well, at least it's by far my favorite from this NF.
I'm dead in a ditch. Slayed. 
Dark Side is insanely good. I have my tune for the next year.
Dark Side is insanely good. I have my tune for the next year.
rasmuslights
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i'm the only one who isn't keen on this. it's good, but not for my taste unfortunately. it's just not it, I especially hate that dog sounds it's just not for me.
RainyWoods
Croak-kay
Not into this at all. Way too much on the whiney teenybopper side of rock for me. Has its audience for sure but I'm not it. I kind of like the "woof woof woof woof" chant but then we go into a very predictable anthemic chorus, and it's not self aware enough to get away with the hamminess. It's all too watered down and safe, which in turn will actually probably allow this to work well at Eurovision. Not the worst song in this selection though. I prefer it over Oskr and Aksel's offerings. It's doing something at least. I'm just not here for what it's doing unfortunately.
cegs5
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Finland is a metal land and I can assure you that not many Finnish metalhead would vote for it... if any at all.
About young audience, that’s a good question, not sure about the figures in the latest years, but at least in 2013 and 2014 UMK televote favoured teen-music stuff, but a lot of water has run under the bridge.
Zonne147
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My favorites so far are Oskr and Aksel, despite the fact that I'm not crazy for any of them - both have very pleasant songs to listen to but they just do not really stand out. "I Love You" by Teflon Brothers and Pandora has a very catchy chorus and a nice vibe but I'm afraid that the verses aren't doing it for me.
For me Laura is just there, Danny has a different but a meh choice, while (unpopular opinion) I find Blind Channel's song almost unlistenable, except for the chorus which is slightly enjoyable - i'm very selective when it comes to this specific genre and this is definitely in the "Not for me" category.
For me Laura is just there, Danny has a different but a meh choice, while (unpopular opinion) I find Blind Channel's song almost unlistenable, except for the chorus which is slightly enjoyable - i'm very selective when it comes to this specific genre and this is definitely in the "Not for me" category.
ZoboCamel
Well-known member
Give me something to really get excited for, UMK
Aaaand now I have that something! Dark Side is my favourite here pretty easily. It's not perfect (the chorus gets repetitive and the lyrics are a bit corny), but I'd definitely like to see this win the NF (unless the final song reveal impresses me more)
That said, every song except for Laura's is at least interesting (and even hers has its merits). So really anything here could win me over with a great live performance. Until then, though, I wouldn't mind a nostalgic slice of mid-00s emo rock~
Why? This is, what we do best!
They are in UMK 2021, but their value to decide UMK winner has lowered to 25%.
I update this a little bit:
1. Blind Channel - Dark Side 4.5/5
2. Teflon Brothers feat Pandora - I Love You 4/5
3. Aksel Kankaanranta - Hurt 3.5/5
4. Oskr (Oskari Ruohonen) - Lie 3/5
5. Laura - Play 2/5
6. Danny - Sinä päivänä kun kaikki rakastaa mua 1/5
RainyWoods
Croak-kay
I just listened to Dark Side again, trying to pay closer attention to its lyrical content this time, and there's a line: "Like the 27 club, headshot, we don't wanna grow up". The 27 club is a list comprised mostly of very popular and extremely talented musicians who tragically left us at (you guessed it) the young age of twenty seven. Such greats as Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse and Kurt Cobain. These early deaths came mostly as a result of what were troubling rock and roll lifestyles. Some were accidental and some were suicides.
I'm not opposed to putting the dark and gritty into music. In fact I think music is an incredibly important vessel to unload such things especially when they're personal. It's something I highly encourage. There's a great American emo band called Sorority Noise. The lead guy Cameron Boucher writes in brutal honesty about his day to day mental health struggles, real life events he's been through, and it's not pretty but from his work you feel a great sense of release, a cathartic experience for both him and those fans who connect with his story.
Meanwhile over here in Dark Side it's middle fingers up (that'll show 'em) and not wanting to grow up. We don't care if we die, in fact, we encourage it pretty much or at least seem to be celebrating it. The lyrical content is just so bad. They've made what's essentially a drink yourself to death party pop song with (in this case) a tasteless thrown in and repeated club 27 reference for their bit of edge, and that's it. All nicely polished up for the Eurovision audience. It's like an emo version of Black Eyed Peas at their most unbearable (we're talking I Gotta Feeling horrors *shudders*). What more is actually here? Where's the meat? Where's the story? Where's my reason to believe anything that's being said (and frankly it's quite a good thing that I don't)? This doesn't feel like genuine darkness to me. It's just tacky masquerading and a cringe romanticizing of what were tragic deaths and in some cases, suicides. It's like a thirteen year old wrote the song. It's so very immature and trite in my opinion. And yes, I probably wouldn't care to write such a long think piece post if it were not for that one particular line involving the 27 club and the headshot. These legends deserve better.
I'm not opposed to putting the dark and gritty into music. In fact I think music is an incredibly important vessel to unload such things especially when they're personal. It's something I highly encourage. There's a great American emo band called Sorority Noise. The lead guy Cameron Boucher writes in brutal honesty about his day to day mental health struggles, real life events he's been through, and it's not pretty but from his work you feel a great sense of release, a cathartic experience for both him and those fans who connect with his story.
Meanwhile over here in Dark Side it's middle fingers up (that'll show 'em) and not wanting to grow up. We don't care if we die, in fact, we encourage it pretty much or at least seem to be celebrating it. The lyrical content is just so bad. They've made what's essentially a drink yourself to death party pop song with (in this case) a tasteless thrown in and repeated club 27 reference for their bit of edge, and that's it. All nicely polished up for the Eurovision audience. It's like an emo version of Black Eyed Peas at their most unbearable (we're talking I Gotta Feeling horrors *shudders*). What more is actually here? Where's the meat? Where's the story? Where's my reason to believe anything that's being said (and frankly it's quite a good thing that I don't)? This doesn't feel like genuine darkness to me. It's just tacky masquerading and a cringe romanticizing of what were tragic deaths and in some cases, suicides. It's like a thirteen year old wrote the song. It's so very immature and trite in my opinion. And yes, I probably wouldn't care to write such a long think piece post if it were not for that one particular line involving the 27 club and the headshot. These legends deserve better.
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Schlagerman1
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@RainyWoods I see your point but I don't fully agree with you. When I hear the song, I think that it is a pretty simple way to show how many people have felt over the last year. The anger of losing your relatives, your job, your friends, your family, your life basically. Everything is changed and nothing will be the same, even with a working vaccine in the coming months and that makes some people upset, sad and frustrated. Sure, the lyrics do have some juvinile parts and such, but it is made for everyone, even those who doesn't have english as their first, second or even third language. And also, ESC has had thousands of songs that has sounded childish and ridiculous in english, even some of the songs that you have liked in recent years, like some of the San Marinese entries, if I am being totally honest here.
I think the song is in layers. They might sing that they are going to drink until they pass out and saying the world should to go to hell, but there is more to it. I feel that it is about being different as well and to be okay with it. Sometimes when you have different interests or just being different for some reason, it feels often that you aren't allowed to be that. I myself has always felt that, being an ESC-nerd who even hid being gay in my youth, in danger of connecting the two dots for example. At the end of it, you should just say "F*** the world" and live your life to the fullest. They are also wanting to connect these, making an "empire of the freaks", which sounds for me as a way to unite everyone of us who likes this weird little music competition.
The Club 27 part I see in two ways. Sure, I can agree that it might sound romanticizing the club 27-people, that living a short life is the best, and that is of course something that shouldn't be called to live up to. But what Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse and Kurt Cobain for example all had in common was that they were living their life to their potential. Sure, they were all people that had problems dealing with their inner demons, but they gave us some incredible songs that will forever be memorized. They tried to go through life, tried to survive the best way they could, but in the end, it became too much. I think what Blind Channel wants to say is to go all in when it comes to your life, whatever it is, just because life is short and you never know what comes around the corner.
I don't write this to change your mind. I understand completly that this is a song that isn't for everyone for millions of reasons. But I wanted to tell you what I see, read, hear and feel when I finally, in quite many years now, might have a finnish entry (if it wins) that I can support finally. It is exactly what Finland should send, with the anger of the world, with the lack of rock in the competition, with a real band that seems to have worked for many years, this is the real shit. And I love it.
I think the song is in layers. They might sing that they are going to drink until they pass out and saying the world should to go to hell, but there is more to it. I feel that it is about being different as well and to be okay with it. Sometimes when you have different interests or just being different for some reason, it feels often that you aren't allowed to be that. I myself has always felt that, being an ESC-nerd who even hid being gay in my youth, in danger of connecting the two dots for example. At the end of it, you should just say "F*** the world" and live your life to the fullest. They are also wanting to connect these, making an "empire of the freaks", which sounds for me as a way to unite everyone of us who likes this weird little music competition.
The Club 27 part I see in two ways. Sure, I can agree that it might sound romanticizing the club 27-people, that living a short life is the best, and that is of course something that shouldn't be called to live up to. But what Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse and Kurt Cobain for example all had in common was that they were living their life to their potential. Sure, they were all people that had problems dealing with their inner demons, but they gave us some incredible songs that will forever be memorized. They tried to go through life, tried to survive the best way they could, but in the end, it became too much. I think what Blind Channel wants to say is to go all in when it comes to your life, whatever it is, just because life is short and you never know what comes around the corner.
I don't write this to change your mind. I understand completly that this is a song that isn't for everyone for millions of reasons. But I wanted to tell you what I see, read, hear and feel when I finally, in quite many years now, might have a finnish entry (if it wins) that I can support finally. It is exactly what Finland should send, with the anger of the world, with the lack of rock in the competition, with a real band that seems to have worked for many years, this is the real shit. And I love it.
That is exactly how I read the song between the lines and why i love it.