Finland FINLAND 2016 - Sandhja - Sing It Away
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This is actually one of the better songs in this very weak year and especially in that very weak semi, but my oh my what a dreadful performance. Everything was wrong basically: vocals were off-key, styling was dreadful, staging and dancing was a bit like what? If done in better way I think Finland might have actually managed to qualify.
This was messy and all over the place kinda. Didn't work at all. It was ok to start the show with it and that's it. Nice song but didn't have what to look for in the final with that performance.
Deserved elimination.
Deserved elimination.
LalehForWD
Active member
Totally agree. I like the song very much, even the chorus which some people complain about. The disco trumpet hook is just supercatchy. It seem YLE didn't give Sandhja and the backing singers enough rehearsal time. I didn't hear any off key singing, but the backing vocals were definitely poorly synched, with each other and with Sandhja. Not to speak of the terrible staging and the cloths. I'd say the designer, the choreograph and the backing vocals killed the act. Hopefully Sandhja will proceed from this unbroken and continue as the the great artist and singer she is.
LalehForWD
Active member
LalehForWD
Active member
LOL it's not true, Sandhja is a great singer.
Isabelle apparently have a balance issue, but as she says openly on FB she could get that fixed. She's very clear she want a foot into Christers circles.
Ok, after re-watching this year's semis in DVD yesterday, I guess it's time for me to resume my reviews 
and I thought I should start with the official opening song from Finland.
Sandhja - Sing It Away
Status: Not good :?
Song: Finland is an unpredictable country in Eurovision and I like that they're not afraid of sending this, that and the other, even if it means sending chanceless or utterly awful entries, because I genuinely think "safeness" in music contest is a greater evil (yes, I'm looking at you Denmark!). I realized that I loved only one Finnish entry since I started watching the contest in 2009 (Työlki Ellää, if you wonder) and liked another one - to a lesser extent (När Jag Blundar), and unfortunately this year didn't make me root for Finns once again. "Sing It Away" is a funk-ish disco-ish pop-ish song, it starts slowly to build up a little bit during the first verse - which is imo the best part of the song - and then comes an ininspired and anti-climatic chorus which is kind of a let down because I expected it to explode and be powerful. On the contrary, it is a repetition of the song title with some dated brass sounds here and there, followed by a ooh-ooh part to make up for the lack of catchiness. The bridge is probably the most annoying part to me, the melody is disharmonious, it doesn't build up or anything and it's truly not pleasing to the ear. Overall, it is a weak effort which isn't memorable and doesn't go anywhere. I don't think it's even fun, it's just there... What makes me worry a little bit is that five people composed this...
Voice: Well, it all depends on people's tastes, but I think Sandhja's low register is miles better than her high one. It may also be because the song is mediocre and not melodious enough, but she seemed to scream (and be off-tune) more than sing most of the time (chorus + bridge). Her semi performance was meh to say the least, in that music genre perfect vocals aren't mandatory if one oozes energy and confidence on stage. Unfortunately, I saw none of that. She seemed very stressed and it showed through her vocals, which led to an underwhelming rendition. I definitely didn't want to sing it away with her.
Staging: It was pretty simple as the backdrops were basically displaying moving purple/pink/blue triangles, lines and shapes. There were also some white lights surrounding the stage, but overall it wasn't really special, even for an uptempo song. I think Finns made great use of space with the backing vocalists, who kind of filled the stage a little bit. I disliked Sandhja's hairstyle, and her outfit was... okay, I liked the colour. 'Tis not a clothing outrage
Outcome: Even though "Sing It Away" was the most obvious choice to open the semi (because it was "uptempo" and not a contender for victory), Finland had absolutely zero chances of qualifying this year, so I don't think that starting position truly hurt them in the end, they were destined to be forgotten. Out of all their efforts since 2009, this is certainly one of their weakest and most unmemorable ones. Indeed, everything was just mediocre imo: first the song itself, the anonymous staging didn't help and Sandhja's live performance didn't elevate it either. She reached 15th place in the first semi, which I think is fair enough considering all those elements working against her. That song (even in studio version) is somewhere near the bottom of my personal ranking (34 out of 42), I admit this is not a music genre I particularly like in the first place, but even apart from that, I fail to find redeeming qualities to rank it higher. Better luck next time Finland Let's hope you'll have a stronger song, and please re-think your entire NF and voting system: children, LGBT (who dat?), parliament people and asphalt constructors ARE NOT music expects and shouldn't be part of any music-related jury. If you want to present a good song to the contest, stop resorting to random people to mess things up.
and I thought I should start with the official opening song from Finland.Sandhja - Sing It Away
Status: Not good :?
Song: Finland is an unpredictable country in Eurovision and I like that they're not afraid of sending this, that and the other, even if it means sending chanceless or utterly awful entries, because I genuinely think "safeness" in music contest is a greater evil (yes, I'm looking at you Denmark!). I realized that I loved only one Finnish entry since I started watching the contest in 2009 (Työlki Ellää, if you wonder) and liked another one - to a lesser extent (När Jag Blundar), and unfortunately this year didn't make me root for Finns once again. "Sing It Away" is a funk-ish disco-ish pop-ish song, it starts slowly to build up a little bit during the first verse - which is imo the best part of the song - and then comes an ininspired and anti-climatic chorus which is kind of a let down because I expected it to explode and be powerful. On the contrary, it is a repetition of the song title with some dated brass sounds here and there, followed by a ooh-ooh part to make up for the lack of catchiness. The bridge is probably the most annoying part to me, the melody is disharmonious, it doesn't build up or anything and it's truly not pleasing to the ear. Overall, it is a weak effort which isn't memorable and doesn't go anywhere. I don't think it's even fun, it's just there... What makes me worry a little bit is that five people composed this...
Voice: Well, it all depends on people's tastes, but I think Sandhja's low register is miles better than her high one. It may also be because the song is mediocre and not melodious enough, but she seemed to scream (and be off-tune) more than sing most of the time (chorus + bridge). Her semi performance was meh to say the least, in that music genre perfect vocals aren't mandatory if one oozes energy and confidence on stage. Unfortunately, I saw none of that. She seemed very stressed and it showed through her vocals, which led to an underwhelming rendition. I definitely didn't want to sing it away with her.
Staging: It was pretty simple as the backdrops were basically displaying moving purple/pink/blue triangles, lines and shapes. There were also some white lights surrounding the stage, but overall it wasn't really special, even for an uptempo song. I think Finns made great use of space with the backing vocalists, who kind of filled the stage a little bit. I disliked Sandhja's hairstyle, and her outfit was... okay, I liked the colour. 'Tis not a clothing outrage
Outcome: Even though "Sing It Away" was the most obvious choice to open the semi (because it was "uptempo" and not a contender for victory), Finland had absolutely zero chances of qualifying this year, so I don't think that starting position truly hurt them in the end, they were destined to be forgotten. Out of all their efforts since 2009, this is certainly one of their weakest and most unmemorable ones. Indeed, everything was just mediocre imo: first the song itself, the anonymous staging didn't help and Sandhja's live performance didn't elevate it either. She reached 15th place in the first semi, which I think is fair enough considering all those elements working against her. That song (even in studio version) is somewhere near the bottom of my personal ranking (34 out of 42), I admit this is not a music genre I particularly like in the first place, but even apart from that, I fail to find redeeming qualities to rank it higher. Better luck next time Finland
Let's hope you'll have a stronger song, and please re-think your entire NF and voting system: children, LGBT (who dat?), parliament people and asphalt constructors ARE NOT music expects and shouldn't be part of any music-related jury. If you want to present a good song to the contest, stop resorting to random people to mess things up.
AuroraBorealis
Member
Isabelle Larm - stand-in for Sandhja
great singing
Isabelle is a student at Kulturama music school in Stockholm.
(i prefer her to sandhja tbh)
Mainshow
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