Finland FINLAND 2021 - Blind Channel - Dark Side

[escYOUnited]

Put your middle fingers up
Take a shot, throw it up and don't stop
I'm, I'm, I'm living that life on the dark side

Every psycho in the scene
Hands up and follow me saying (hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo)
Empire of the freaks, all drinks on me

Just another night in my pitch black paradise
Don't wanna cry, so I gotta get paralyzed
My body is my weapon, so I keep it loaded
'Til I'm all over the place like my head exploded
Don't waste your prayers, they can't save us
Lifestyles of the sick and dangerous

Put your middle fingers up
Take a shot, throw it up and don't stop
I'm, I'm, I'm living that life on the dark side
Likе the 27 Club, headshot
We don't wanna grow up
I'm, I'm, I'm living that lifе on the dark side
Life on the dark side

Every psycho in the scene
Hands up and follow me saying (hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo)
Empire of the freaks, all drinks on me

I'm in a cave of man-made misery
Digging a grave for myself and my enemies
Of all the dark things that keep me wasted
You're the sweetest I've ever tasted

Put your middle fingers up
Take a shot, throw it up and don't stop
I'm, I'm, I'm living that life on the dark side
Like the 27 Club, headshot
We don't wanna grow up
I'm, I'm, I'm living that life on the dark side
Life on the dark side

Just another night in my pitch black paradise
Don't wanna cry so I gotta get paralyzed
Don't waste your prayers, they can't save us
Lifestyles of the sick and dangerous

Put your middle fingers up
Take a shot, throw it up and don't stop
I'm, I'm, I'm living that life on the dark side
Like the 27 Club, headshot
We don't wanna grow up
I'm, I'm, I'm living that life on the dark side
Life on the dark side

Every psycho in the scene
Hands up and follow me saying (hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo)
Empire of the freaks, all drinks on me​

 

[mauve]

No. This kind of music can't win ESC.

Did anyone believe Lordi would win?

 

[Sammy]

No. This kind of music can't win ESC.

Don't say such a nasty thing!

No, honestly: my experience says there is no single rule about the ESC that is without exception.

 

[I bims]

I have a feeling that many ordinary viewers will feel themselves represented by this outburst of power which for me is like a catharsis from all the frustration that we accumulated throughout the past months. I'm arguing here of course from a very subjective point of view so I could be all wrong. But if I'm right and the song really catches the general feeling among the people then it would have one of the main characteristics of a winner.

I'm with you except when it comes to being the winner.
I think "Dark Side" will appeal to a lot of people and will represent a type of music that is barely represented. For me it has the Hatari effect, the boys are likeable and their song appeals to casual listeners who normally would not seek out this kind of music. It will do great with the televote. The jury... I don't think. But it should be enough for the Top 10.

But I would of course be happy if it does even better. It has a firm spot in my Top 3 right now and I don't think it will leave my Top 5 when every song is released.

 

[Morpheus]

Did anyone believe Lordi would win?

Probably not. But unfortunately one winning rock song doesn't make a pattern.

The jury has their shovels ready to bury this one as deep as they can. I hope against hope that enough people around Europe will be inspired to vote for Blind Channel to help balance it out.
I'm so invested in them that it will break my heart if the door is slammed in their faces.

 

[HayashiM]

Probably not. But unfortunately one winning rock song doesn't make a pattern.

The jury has their shovels ready to bury this one as deep as they can. I hope against hope that enough people around Europe will be inspired to vote for Blind Channel to help balance it out.
I'm so invested in them that it will break my heart if the door is slammed in their faces.

I don't think it's that bad with the jury potential - let's not forget they also won the juryvote at UMK rather convincingly, getting four out of seven 12s possible.
Hatari and AWS both didn't score very high with juries, but imo Blind Channel is much more accessible than these two - unlike those entries, I can for instance easily picture Dark Side being played on the radios here in
It's probably not a jury winner, but - with slightly improved vocals - I don't see why it couldn't be at least in the jury top 10.

 

[ZoboCamel]

I wouldn't mind if this won Eurovision (heck, it's my slight favourite of the songs chosen so far), but I'm not in the camp who thinks it will. The closest parallels I can think of from recent years are perhaps Alter Ego (21st in 2016), Viszlat Nyar (21st in 2018) and Hatrid Mun Sigra (10th in 2016); while none of them is a perfect comparison, I think it's in that general group of songs.

Specifically, I'd say it's:

• A slightly stronger song than Alter Ego, but not quite as mainstream and accessible; and
• A slightly weaker song than Viszlat Nyar and Hatrid Mun Sigra, but more accessible than those two.

So I don't expect it to be too far ahead of, or behind, those three in terms of results. Sure, it won its NF with a pretty astounding televote score, so I don't want to write it off completely... but I said the same thing about Roi in 2019, and that still only finished 16th at Eurovision despite arguably improving a lot between the NF and May. At the end of the day, I guess we'll have to wait and see for now; I ultimately wouldn't be too surprised to see this finishing anywhere in the 3rd-23rd kind of range in the final.

 

[midnightsun]

I don’t think this will not go well with the juries. It’s mainstream nu metal and way more juryfriendly than let’s say AWS, O. Torvald or Aina mun pitää. Let’s not forget that Softengine was loved by juries too and got them their best place since Lordi.
Manga came second with a mainstream rocksong.
I have no doubt it will do well in May, with both jury and public, but I doubt it will be a winner. But top 5 is definitely realistic.

If it was up to me - I wouldn’t mind them winning, it’s my favourite so far and I doubt it will change no matter which other songs are gonna be released.

 

[eren]

Darude? Saara Aalto? Aksel? Naaaah. THIS is everything we need from Finland. THIS is Finland at its best. I was a bit worried about the live performance but they nailed it. Excellent job, Finland. FINALLY

 

[lifeonthedarkside]

Darude? Saara Aalto? Aksel? Naaaah. THIS is everything we need from Finland. THIS is Finland at its best. I was a bit worried about the live performance but they nailed it. Excellent job, Finland. FINALLY

thanks. I feel like finally we made the right choice

 

[Franzilein]

I don’t think this will not go well with the juries. It’s mainstream nu metal and way more juryfriendly than let’s say AWS, O. Torvald or Aina mun pitää. Let’s not forget that Softengine was loved by juries too and got them their best place since Lordi.
Manga came second with a mainstream rocksong.
I have no doubt it will do well in May, with both jury and public, but I doubt it will be a winner. But top 5 is definitely realistic.

If it was up to me - I wouldn’t mind them winning, it’s my favourite so far and I doubt it will change no matter which other songs are gonna be released.

Nu metal isn't mainstream nowadays however. But it's the ESC and it's a genre that hasn't really been performed there in the past, so it will probably bring a fresh breath of air to the contest – and I'm all here for it, I agree with everything you said

 

[BorisBubbles]

The usual 'it is Finland' penalty doesn't apply when the Finnish song is 'exactly' what Finland is known for (and liked for) in the contest.

 

[Grinch]

Doesn't sound nu metal to me at all. More like, bunch of rappers tried to make rock music and failed.
And the moment when 2 vocals flipped their hair to the right at the same time...
#YasssQueen

 

[Iker]

It is very Linkin Park / The Rasmus like imho. I think the chorus is pretty good, but the whole thing is just ok-ish for me.

 

[midnightsun]

It is very Linkin Park / The Rasmus like imho.

It is very Linking Park feat. The Rasmus feat. Papa Roach feat. Korn feat. Limp Bizkit feat. Dog eat dog plus add some Nordic Viking battlecries and all put together very well! And I‘m all in!

Nu Metal isn’t (unfortunately) no mainstream any longer on the radio but in Eurovision speaking terms, this is pure mainstream rock with a good chance to score high.

 

[Ezio]

The Rasmus reference I totally get.

 

[pjelacki]

ruined my ears over the past few days by setting the volume to over 9000... worth it!

 

[heke1988]

Blind Channel call their music genre as "Violent Pop".

 

[cegs5]

This is not even rock or metal to begin with. I think it’s quite early to discuss about potential winners, but in any case Dark Side is a jury friendly pop song. Well produced, polished, full of mainstream stereotypes, lyrics are in English with accesible/familiar melody and voice.

Hatari or AWS are not in the same category.

 

[midnightsun]

Neither Hatari nor AWS are „rock“, „metal“ or „new metal“ but do we really want to talk about sub-genres when even the main genre is so rarely represented in Eurovision?
I am a Metal fan too (true Metal ) but I am speaking Eurovision here so I just call it rock or metal.

 

[Morty]

Hatari is industrial techno, so I really don't understand how they're even mentioned in this thread.

Dark Side reminds me of a lot of songs made by one of my favorite bands for several years, Hollywood Undead.