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Finland FINLAND 2023 - Käärijä - Cha Cha Cha

How do you rate this entry?

  • 12

    167 58.2%
  • 10

    32 11.1%
  • 8

    20 7.0%
  • 7

    17 5.9%
  • 6

    3 1.0%
  • 5

    7 2.4%
  • 4

    1 0.3%
  • 3

    4 1.4%
  • 2

    3 1.0%
  • 1

    4 1.4%
  • 0

    29 10.1%

  • Total voters
    287

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Gera11

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Oof just realised I never actually did a ranking of this, though I listened to every song. Anyways,

1. Käärijä - "Cha Cha Cha" 9/10
2. Benjamin - "Hoida mut" 8.5/10
3. Kuumaa - "Ylivoimainen" 8/10
4. Keira - "No Business On The Dancefloor" 7/10
5. Lxandra - "Something To Lose" 7/10
6. Portion Boys - "Samaa taivasta katsotaan" 6/10
7. Robin Packalen - "Girls Like You" 6/10

I have no idea how "Cha Cha Cha" ended up being my favourite, I didn't even expect to like it. It's such a crazy mix that...works? Only Finland can do stuff like this. Benjamin and Kuuma are lovely, Keira and Lxandra are decent, Portion Boys is...cute, then there's Robin. Sigh. Monkey paw shit right here: I wanted Robin to participate for years, then he comes with the worst song in the line-up and has big chances of winning. Thanks Obama. I guess "Girls Like You" is not a bad song though, it would work wonders in other NFs honestly.
 

Franzilein

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This seems to be such a done deal, seeing how popular Cha Cha Cha is.
 

Flamenkax

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For those who don't know, Käärijä played Cha Cha Cha live for the first time yesterday. It's difficult to call it a day because of course the quality of the clips are quite bad, but the singing parts are somewhat... eh. Of course it doesn't sound that good tbh.
BUT : this is not the kind of song that relies a lot on singing in the end. He doesn't pretend to be some kind of Mariah Carey or whatever, so in the end i think it... works in a sense ? Let's also assume this is the end of the show also.
On the other hand, the rap verses are top notch, he's just spitting fire. But the singing parts, will juries like it ? Nothing is written in stone yet.
 

rasmuslights

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For those who don't know, Käärijä played Cha Cha Cha live for the first time yesterday. It's difficult to call it a day because of course the quality of the clips are quite bad, but the singing parts are somewhat... eh. Of course it doesn't sound that good tbh.
BUT : this is not the kind of song that relies a lot on singing in the end. He doesn't pretend to be some kind of Mariah Carey or whatever, so in the end i think it... works in a sense ? Let's also assume this is the end of the show also.
On the other hand, the rap verses are top notch, he's just spitting fire. But the singing parts, will juries like it ? Nothing is written in stone yet.

cha cha cha will not win eurovision that's for sure. there's no way juries are going to put this in their top 10.

but it will still get a decent result i think. probably around the lower top 10 (7th - 9th).

I do think acts like Kuumaa, Robin and Lxandra have the same potential because they are more jury friendly. Robin could easily pull a Benjamin Ingrosso in 2018, Lxandra can easily pull Amanda's result from last year and Kuumaa is a risky choice but I can see it doing decently with both the jury and the televote.
 

DanielLuis

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I keep hearing the comparisons between Robin Packalen and Benjamin Ingrosso, but in my opinion "Girls like you" can't even come close to hold a candle next to "Dance you off"
And I'm pretty certain it won't either after the staging is known
 

rasmuslights

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I keep hearing the comparisons between Robin Packalen and Benjamin Ingrosso, but in my opinion "Girls like you" can't even come close to hold a candle next to "Dance you off"
And I'm pretty certain it won't either after the staging is known

i love dance you off. and yeah i do think girls like you is a bit weaker but it would still come top 10 i think.
it's true that it needs good staging tho.
 

Realest

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"Dance you off" is miles better than "Girls like you".
But its no shame to be worse than Benjamin.
"Girls like you" is still very good.
A Shame we didnt have prerecorded Vocals back then.
Im pretty sure, Benjamin would have won the Juryvote and been Top15 with the Televoters and Top5 combined.
 

MooseShoes

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cha cha cha will not win eurovision that's for sure. there's no way juries are going to put this in their top 10.

but it will still get a decent result i think. probably around the lower top 10 (7th - 9th).

I do think acts like Kuumaa, Robin and Lxandra have the same potential because they are more jury friendly. Robin could easily pull a Benjamin Ingrosso in 2018, Lxandra can easily pull Amanda's result from last year and Kuumaa is a risky choice but I can see it doing decently with both the jury and the televote.
Hmm, I partially agree with what you say about the juries downvoting Cha Cha Cha, but I think we all forget that juries will give points to less jury-friendly songs if they've got enough hype behind them. If you think about the heights reached by songs ranked low by the juries but with a high televote (:ua:2021, :md:2022), their overall results are impressive.

Would we have considered Zitti e buoni a jury-friendly song? I'd say no. A (very) quick look at Eurovisionworld.com is telling me that it got :6: points or less from about half the juries and only got :12: points from 4 juries, but it was still their 4th place; there were enough :10:s and :8:s about to make up for quite a few zeroes.

Where am I going with this? Not sure, but I think we sometimes give juries too much blame for killing potential winners, when they can be overcome. By winners, I mean outright winners.

Anyway, my thoughts are if Dark Side came 6th in a very tough year, Cha Cha Cha should finish higher as long as it isn't a mess live
 

rasmuslights

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Hmm, I partially agree with what you say about the juries downvoting Cha Cha Cha, but I think we all forget that juries will give points to less jury-friendly songs if they've got enough hype behind them. If you think about the heights reached by songs ranked low by the juries but with a high televote (:ua:2021, :md:2022), their overall results are impressive.

Would we have considered Zitti e buoni a jury-friendly song? I'd say no. A (very) quick look at Eurovisionworld.com is telling me that it got :6: points or less from about half the juries and only got :12: points from 4 juries, but it was still their 4th place; there were enough :10:s and :8:s about to make up for quite a few zeroes.

Where am I going with this? Not sure, but I think we sometimes give juries too much blame for killing potential winners, when they can be overcome. By winners, I mean outright winners.

Anyway, my thoughts are if Dark Side came 6th in a very tough year, Cha Cha Cha should finish higher as long as it isn't a mess live

i always thought maneskin are jury-friendly as well due to their star quality.

käärijä is not something that i imagine doing well with the juries (well meaning top 10) in any scenario. It can do decently tho.
 

heke1988

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KUUMA's Ylivoimainen has also reached one million streamings mark on SPOTIFY. Keira's No Business On The Dancefloor and Benjamin's Hoida mut are near one million streamings mark on SPOTIFY.
 

mauve

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I would love to see Finland hosting ESC 2024, but I doubt that the Jury will have it in their top 5. Televoters definitely!
 

tsegaye

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I cannot believe we almost have a whole month left until we know the winner of UMK. The suspense is killing me already.
 

burrito

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It's a strong year for UMK but still none of the acts seem like a contender to win the whole thing. Cha cha cha surely has the biggest televote appeal so it's the best shot for top5, but it will rely mostly on televote. The rest (maybe apart from Portion Boys) would do quite decently both by jury and televote, but I can't see any of it getting support big enough from either to do better than Kaarija would do. Keira might have a shot at top 10. And Kuumaa, sadly, even tho they're getting views, might not even get past semis if chosen
 

heke1988

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Käärijä's "Cha, Cha, Cha"-youtubevideo has reached one million views.

On Spotify Benjamin's "Hoida mut" and Keira's "No Business On The Dancefloor" have reached one million streamings.
 

Yazy

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This is my ranking (with comments attached):

THE TRUE X FACTOR AWESOMENESS
1. KäärijäCha Cha Cha - Piña colada on repeat day after day. xmusic
The live staging is a question mark and probably one of the things I am most excited to see during this ESC season. I
HOPE they pull it off.
Even though this NF is stacked and this is not the only song that I love, I will still be asking a question: "Why not send Käärijä?" in case any other song wins.


I LOVE IT A LOT
2. KuumaaYlivoimainen - Totally not in your face and sounds rather background, yet has one of the catchiest and engaging melodies that I heard. xup

3. Portion BoysSamaa taivasta katsotaan - This feels like a sequel to Pandora and Teflon Brothers but also mixed with some elements of joke entries from 2000´s era of Eurovision (Pirates of the Sea is the main thing that comes to mind). There is something about this cheesy and sugar coated mixture that just feels right for some reason.

I LIKE IT A LOT
4. LxandraSomething To Lose - Far from the strongest ballad that I ever heard, but I still love this style.
The vibe that radiates from the song is gripping and the mixture of moody and hopeful tone is well done. The percussion that kicks in after the first chorus is a good choice. Reminds me a bit of "Blackbird" which is one of my all time favorite Finnish entries.

NOT MY THING BUT STILL ADEQUATE
5. Robin PackalenGirls Like You - It seems to be the popular opinion to have this one in a last place or nearby. I guess I´m not far from that but I don´t have anything negative to say about this. Matter of fact, I do find the beat and melody to be oddly infectious.

6. BenjaminHoida mut - This one took a while to grow on me. Looks like I´m an oddball because so many others have this one very high up in the ranking. But I do love the video and how it is filmed in a greenhouse. Definitely the most original concept along with Käärijä´s boxing ring. xup

7. Keira
No Business On The Dancefloor - Not a big fan of this style of pop which is very early 2000s girl group inspired. It does have a solid beat carrying it and oriental sound is a plus.
 

i anixi

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I haven't yet listened to any of the Finnish songs, but I spotted Finland third in the odds so I figured there must be something big in the horizon. From what I'm reading here "cha cha cha" seems to be it. Am I right?
 

tsegaye

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I haven't yet listened to any of the Finnish songs, but I spotted Finland third in the odds so I figured there must be something big in the horizon. From what I'm reading here "cha cha cha" seems to be it. Am I right?
Yes, but they could almost send anything and qualify for the final. But the hype mostly seems to be about Cha Cha Cha, even though Ylivoimanen is no. 1 on the finnish Spotify top 50 atm.
 
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