Finland FINLAND 2020 - Aksel Kankaaranta - Looking Back

[escYOUnited]

 

[Uto]

You just said that my two favorites of this national final are the weakest!

People can have opinions contrary to your own. No need to get upset about that.

I will defend my position, maybe it will ameliorate your anger or at least bring some understanding:

Cicciolina I feel is let down by very dated production. Even when going for a nostalgic feeling the bad production will be a distraction. I'm afraid it will come across is very amateurish. Eternity doesn't have that problem, but it is just a rather bland song lacking in dynamic range and I fail to see how that would ever win over voters. Her vocals are fine, but given that a lot of countries are going to be bringing their A-game it's also unlikely that she'll turn out to be the jurors pet. In fact, one of the greatest robberies I have ever witnessed at Eurovision was exactly Finland making this mistake when they went for Nar Jag Blundar. That song deserved so much better than to just be left in the semis. And Eternity is not half the song Nar Jag Blundar was.

 

[Citelis]

People can have opinions contrary to your own. No need to get upset about that.

I will defend my position, maybe it will ameliorate your anger or at least bring some understanding:

Cicciolina I feel is let down by very dated production. Even when going for a nostalgic feeling the bad production will be a distraction. I'm afraid it will come across is very amateurish. Eternity doesn't have that problem, but it is just a rather bland song lacking in dynamic range and I fail to see how that would ever win over voters. Her vocals are fine, but given that a lot of countries are going to be bringing their A-game it's also unlikely that she'll turn out to be the jurors pet. In fact, one of the greatest robberies I have ever witnessed at Eurovision was exactly Finland making this mistake when they went for Nar Jag Blundar. That song deserved so much better than to just be left in the semis. And Eternity is not half the song Nar Jag Blundar was.

Do not worry! It's not real anger of course. It mostly works as a dislike button.

 

[Koori]

Wow, if Cicciolina is "dated" because of 80s vibes, I don't wanna imagine where did they found Bananas which sounds like a typical pop girl group trash

God bless they have another song after this flop. But probably we won't see them again after the preselection

 

[BorisBubbles]

Yes the 80s sound is so dated. Nobody likes it anymore. "Blinding Light" by the Weeknd has no business being in the hit parade -- nobody with taste, ever.

 

[HayashiM]

Hello stranger. I hope you have a nice day so far. Could you spare a couple minutes to talk about the greatness of our goddess saviour Erika Vikman?

Cicciolina -
Wow that really got me. To no surprise of all my fellow believers I guess I hope I am not too late to board the hype train.

 

[HayashiM]

Catharina Zühlke - Eternity is the other entry I enjoy here, however sending anything else than Cicciolina would be pure blasphemy.

 

[Citelis]

''Ethernity'' is the only one i accept except ''Cucciolina''.

 

[Uto]

Yes the 80s sound is so dated. Nobody likes it anymore. "Blinding Light" by the Weeknd has no business being in the hit parade -- nobody with taste, ever.

My argument against the song is that the production is bad. This happens to place it in the 80s nostalgia-range, because that's the era we had substandard electronic sounds. The argument against it is not that it tries to go for nostalgia. I'm fine with that. There's a decent market for such things as you are already saying. Comparisons with Blinding Light however miss the mark if you ask me. Blinding Light has solid production values, that's one thing. Also, the melody in the chorus of Blinding Light is pretty strong and actually very much 80s inspired. Cicciolina has a line in the chorus that is more reminiscent of late 90s/early 00s Eurovision entries, it's not 80s.

 

[Ana Raquel]

Can I use this moment to ask for views for this dated 80s bop

 

[Mrm]

''Ethernity'' is the only one i accept except ''Cucciolina''.

Citelis you are a STAR! cUcciolina..

 

[Citelis]

Citelis you are a STAR! cUcciolina..

I'm not good at typing!

 

[Mrm]

I'm not good at typing!

 

[Citelis]

@Mrm Isn't it a clever idea to sign up in a Eurovision forum with a bus type as a username?

 

[BarefootBoogaloo]

Can I use this moment to ask for views for this dated 80s bop

The best to date of her Future Nostalgia singles

 

[NikolaiMoller]

If you are having a boring or sad Sunday, here's something to cheer you up

 

[Citelis]

I have already listened to it hundreds of times!

 

[VikingTiger]

Finlands NF turns out to be the biggest surprise of the year - at least so far. I admit that I normally havent found much of interest in the finnish NFs over the last years.
But this year is different. As many of you, Cicciolina won me over after 2 minutes. I love the nostalgia it brings, the simplicity - and most of all the finnish language! This really reminds me of old day Eurovision.

Apart from Cicciolina I like I Let My Heart Break very much. Starting to listen I though this would be yet another female ballad. But halfway through the song it really grabbed me. It's not modern, the lyrics are nothing special. But Tika has a great voice, and there are some melodic parts that I really enjoy.

 

[Mrm]

One tweet:

"Erika Vikman could kick me down the stairs of the Helsinki Cathedral and I’d say kiitos"

 

[Uto]

Got home today after work and decided to do Finland again. I wasn't feeling my best when I had listened to this last time and I really dislike that I seem to have missed the point of Cicciolina while it's glaringly obvious, so I conclude that I just wasn't with it last time. Was a good decision, I actually think now that Finland has a very strong lineup and there's just not much that can go wrong.

Given that I think that all the entries are solid enough to analyse, here they are:

Tika​

I Let My Heart Break​

So, this song has a major downside from the first few notes, which is that it is going to load 'People Help The People' into the consciousness of the audience and then immediately breaks that expectation. It's jarring to say the least. While reeling from that it quickly develops into a power ballad with verses that consistently have this 'PHTP'-problem and it employs a chorus that has a really average production the first time around and the melody also fails to compel. By then it has already lost every chance to win. Thing plods on doing whatever is expected. It's certainly not bad, but there's just all these downsides. Then for the third chorus there's a key change which is normally jarring, but it's somehow masked decently even though no effort to do that is actually made which baffles me. Brilliant sleight of hand there. For me, that's a highlight. For most people it's something they don't notice. Had to mention it. Just don't pick this, it's decent but there are way better options.

Catharina Zuhlke​

Eternity​

Again a power ballad. This one obviously tries to perform a tasteful Eurovision nostalgia trick on us, which is a valid choice you can make, but its returns are diminished to zero by the fact that Cicciolina is there. I don't really have much to say about this track. Everything that should be here is included, there's a nice shift in tempo, there's a decent hook, it's pretty charming. It lacks originality and the singer doesn't seem like the type to really add something to this song so you're going to have some trouble with staging (I tentatively assume it's going to be boring to just look at her for 3 minutes). I don't think this is a strong entry, I think it's the weakest Finland has. It's still okay though, if this is chosen you are still likely to outperform about a third of the field, enough to make it to the final I think.

Sansa​

Lover View​

Very nice and soothing little dance track. This is stuff I can always get behind because it's just so pleasing. Problem is that at a place like Eurovision this will probably come across as plodding and it's really hard to get the staging right for a song like this because there are no cues given for any visual acrobatics. So even though I like the melodies, the production and pretty much everything here, it's just too risky for Eurovision. This song gives people ample reason to like them, no one will vote against this. But who is going to vote *for* this? I don't know. Very strong song but not the right choice.

Aksel Kankaanranta​

Looking Back​

Melodically strong right off the bat, that is rare. It keeps this quality, it's really strong. Production is also well thought out, a lot of high reverb and only a slight emphasis on the downbeat keeps giving all this space to the vocals. I also like how this is a ballad with a deceptively high tempo which actually makes this a disguised dance track. There's one problem with this, which is that you're going to end too quickly and the song is just ever so slightly tedious at the end. Still, if this is chosen it's going to be a contender for best ballad. I like how the singer has a timbre that works with the song, I like how the melody is quite Sheeran-esque, I also like the lyrical content in conjunction with the slightly depressed atmosphere. It's all really quite good. There's just... the singer. I'm not gay, I'm not particularly good at judging this when the singer is male, but please.... how is he going to charm an audience? I'm not aiming at his somewhat rotund physical stature or the fact that he's rather plain, although this doesn't really help. I'm talking about actual charm. If you're going to spend all your time looking in pain you're just being a bummer. Still, it's something that can be worked on and it doesn't kill the song. This is a very solid choice for Finland, one they could make without regrets.

F3M​

Bananas​

It's an insipid, stupid, ludicrous song. The lyrics are dumber than dumb and I really dislike this kind of idiocy, unless it's clear that this idiocy is tongue-in-cheek. It is, luckily. We're left with a booming track with great melodies and a very strong hook. I like that there are harmonies in the chorus and the production is absolutely on point. It's deceptively sparse which creates space for the vocals (not doing so is probably the most common mistake made in pop music) and there's also space for all these various entertaining sound effects. The bridge is very strong, it's rather long so the song passes through this long pause to work up to the final chorus. Song still ends earlier than necessary. This is all important, much care is taken that the song does not overstay its welcome. There's nothing I don't like except for the fact that I just dislike inane music like this in general. Staging is easy here. Just a fun pseudo-dance and you're there. Some bananas in the background, make it zany and fun. There's one thing though: they absolutely have to kiss at the end of the song. It's not going to be a huge shocker, but it has to be done for the song to make any sense. It will win more votes than you'll lose. Also, any comparison to 'Marry Me' is moot, that song just turned it into a political thing which is not what you want. It has to be about just having fun. Think this is a really solid entry and if chosen should perform well. Not going to trouble the winners.

Erika Vikman​

Cicciolina​

Yeah so there's this thing right. You spend three minutes with a song which has a rather complex vocal line in the chorus. It's multiple bars long. That's not something you normally remember right off the bat. So I was thinking about various entries this morning and couldn't quite remember the song I liked from Czechia, I know the qualities I liked but not the melody. That's normal. Started thinking about Finland and I could instantly recall the melody to Bananas. But that's just an easy melody. Could I remember Cicciolina? Oh yes, vividly. I could remember her look, her dress and the entire melody for the chorus. That's rough man, that's some next level subliminal stuff. You give me six runs through a melody and it's burned into my brain. Impressive. I still dislike the production, but I have to appreciate that this is a choice made to make it feel nostalgic. All the rest is fine. Staging isn't going to be particularly difficult although they have to be careful not to go full blown camp, because I feel that's going to hurt its chances as you're going to feign quality instead of showing quality (the lyric video is very good in that regard, it's certainly campy but not straight down the rabbit hole). So all in all yeah, I'm on the bandwagon guys, just do it. It'll be fun.

 

[Morpheus]

Got home today after work and decided to do Finland again. I wasn't feeling my best when I had listened to this last time and I really dislike that I seem to have missed the point of Cicciolina while it's glaringly obvious, so I conclude that I just wasn't with it last time. Was a good decision, I actually think now that Finland has a very strong lineup and there's just not much that can go wrong.

Given that I think that all the entries are solid enough to analyse, here they are:

Tika​

I Let My Heart Break​

So, this song has a major downside from the first few notes, which is that it is going to load 'People Help The People' into the consciousness of the audience and then immediately breaks that expectation. It's jarring to say the least. While reeling from that it quickly develops into a power ballad with verses that consistently have this 'PHTP'-problem and it employs a chorus that has a really average production the first time around and the melody also fails to compel. By then it has already lost every chance to win. Thing plods on doing whatever is expected. It's certainly not bad, but there's just all these downsides. Then for the third chorus there's a key change which is normally jarring, but it's somehow masked decently even though no effort to do that is actually made which baffles me. Brilliant sleight of hand there. For me, that's a highlight. For most people it's something they don't notice. Had to mention it. Just don't pick this, it's decent but there are way better options.

Catharina Zuhlke​

Eternity​

Again a power ballad. This one obviously tries to perform a tasteful Eurovision nostalgia trick on us, which is a valid choice you can make, but its returns are diminished to zero by the fact that Cicciolina is there. I don't really have much to say about this track. Everything that should be here is included, there's a nice shift in tempo, there's a decent hook, it's pretty charming. It lacks originality and the singer doesn't seem like the type to really add something to this song so you're going to have some trouble with staging (I tentatively assume it's going to be boring to just look at her for 3 minutes). I don't think this is a strong entry, I think it's the weakest Finland has. It's still okay though, if this is chosen you are still likely to outperform about a third of the field, enough to make it to the final I think.

Sansa​

Lover View​

Very nice and soothing little dance track. This is stuff I can always get behind because it's just so pleasing. Problem is that at a place like Eurovision this will probably come across as plodding and it's really hard to get the staging right for a song like this because there are no cues given for any visual acrobatics. So even though I like the melodies, the production and pretty much everything here, it's just too risky for Eurovision. This song gives people ample reason to like them, no one will vote against this. But who is going to vote *for* this? I don't know. Very strong song but not the right choice.

Aksel Kankaanranta​

Looking Back​

Melodically strong right off the bat, that is rare. It keeps this quality, it's really strong. Production is also well thought out, a lot of high reverb and only a slight emphasis on the downbeat keeps giving all this space to the vocals. I also like how this is a ballad with a deceptively high tempo which actually makes this a disguised dance track. There's one problem with this, which is that you're going to end too quickly and the song is just ever so slightly tedious at the end. Still, if this is chosen it's going to be a contender for best ballad. I like how the singer has a timbre that works with the song, I like how the melody is quite Sheeran-esque, I also like the lyrical content in conjunction with the slightly depressed atmosphere. It's all really quite good. There's just... the singer. I'm not gay, I'm not particularly good at judging this when the singer is male, but please.... how is he going to charm an audience? I'm not aiming at his somewhat rotund physical stature or the fact that he's rather plain, although this doesn't really help. I'm talking about actual charm. If you're going to spend all your time looking in pain you're just being a bummer. Still, it's something that can be worked on and it doesn't kill the song. This is a very solid choice for Finland, one they could make without regrets.

F3M​

Bananas​

It's an insipid, stupid, ludicrous song. The lyrics are dumber than dumb and I really dislike this kind of idiocy, unless it's clear that this idiocy is tongue-in-cheek. It is, luckily. We're left with a booming track with great melodies and a very strong hook. I like that there are harmonies in the chorus and the production is absolutely on point. It's deceptively sparse which creates space for the vocals (not doing so is probably the most common mistake made in pop music) and there's also space for all these various entertaining sound effects. The bridge is very strong, it's rather long so the song passes through this long pause to work up to the final chorus. Song still ends earlier than necessary. This is all important, much care is taken that the song does not overstay its welcome. There's nothing I don't like except for the fact that I just dislike inane music like this in general. Staging is easy here. Just a fun pseudo-dance and you're there. Some bananas in the background, make it zany and fun. There's one thing though: they absolutely have to kiss at the end of the song. It's not going to be a huge shocker, but it has to be done for the song to make any sense. It will win more votes than you'll lose. Also, any comparison to 'Marry Me' is moot, that song just turned it into a political thing which is not what you want. It has to be about just having fun. Think this is a really solid entry and if chosen should perform well. Not going to trouble the winners.

Erika Vikman​

Cicciolina​

Yeah so there's this thing right. You spend three minutes with a song which has a rather complex vocal line in the chorus. It's multiple bars long. That's not something you normally remember right off the bat. So I was thinking about various entries this morning and couldn't quite remember the song I liked from Czechia, I know the qualities I liked but not the melody. That's normal. Started thinking about Finland and I could instantly recall the melody to Bananas. But that's just an easy melody. Could I remember Cicciolina? Oh yes, vividly. I could remember her look, her dress and the entire melody for the chorus. That's rough man, that's some next level subliminal stuff. You give me six runs through a melody and it's burned into my brain. Impressive. I still dislike the production, but I have to appreciate that this is a choice made to make it feel nostalgic. All the rest is fine. Staging isn't going to be particularly difficult although they have to be careful not to go full blown camp, because I feel that's going to hurt its chances as you're going to feign quality instead of showing quality (the lyric video is very good in that regard, it's certainly campy but not straight down the rabbit hole). So all in all yeah, I'm on the bandwagon guys, just do it. It'll be fun.

Awesome. That was some top notch faint praise and a whole bitchslaps worth of backhanded compliments. Thanks Utö!