Käärijä - Blog Posts
"Hyah Hyah Hyah" by Link and the koroks, representing the summary of the best and most epic weekend of 2023.
Good to see my boy baby lasagna back on the big screen again 😁🥰
Lord. Will we ever recover
Top 5 Non-English ESC23 songs
Eurovision is just a couple weeks away so let’s talk about different entries this year!
Nine songs that are completely not in English are competing this year at the Eurovision. I ranked my top 5 below.
5. SPAIN - Blanca Paloma: Eaea
No one can deny her talent. Her presence and interpretation is captivating, almost hypnotic. This is dramatic, load, theatrical, this is art, this has a soul, authencity. I’m a big fan of her live peformance which I hope will make Europe vote for her. However, after all these weeks I still haven’t downloaded this to any of my ESC playlists which make me scared that this might the most painful flops of ESC23.
4. SLOVENIA - Joker Out: Carpe Diem
This is fun! Catchy and the music video is well fitting of the spirit of the song. You don’t need to understand the language or the lyrics to dance to this one. There’s a true disco, retro beat here I enjoy. I hope they’ll get the staging right for this one in Liverpool.
3. FRANCE - La Zarra: Évidemment
This didn’t knock me out at first listen to be honest. But it has grown on me. It has a nice structure, that builds up nicely and in my opinion could have gone even higher, more edgier. I like the beginning of French chanson which then turns into a this groovy pop tune. I kind of expected a revamp but this definitely the direction France needs to go. Well produced, professionally performed and character owned songs!
2. ITALY - Marco Mengoni: Due Vite
Each year I vote for Italy. Even when I think I don’t like them. Every year the songs grow. I cannot resist the quality, emotion, professionalism, talent that has gone into these Italian tunes. A lot of people say that we don’t need another Italian ballad this year but when it’s this good... there’s always room for one more.
Marco Mengoni is no stranger to Eurovision as represented Italy already a decade ago in Malmö.
1. FINLAND - Käärijä: Cha Cha Cha
Maybe I’m a bit bias as a Finn but even if I wasn’t... this is good and even though I wouldn’t find my cup of tea no one can deny the effect and reaction this song will surely cause in the viewer. Either it’s hate or love people will feel Cha Cha Cha will leave no one cold. The agressive cocktail of multiple genres (rap, pop, rock sounds and effects) will reach out majority of Europeans’ tastes. We’re potentially talking about a winner of Eurovision 2023 and for sure the best Finnish result since Lordi in 2006.
What do you think about the Non-English tracks competing ESC this year? What’s your favourite??
UMK 2023 - review
Gone are the years when Finns were ashamed of their Eurovision selection!
We saw signs of improvement in the attitude of Finnish artists and music industry towards UMK / Eurovision already in 2020 before the COVID-19 hit us. I would wanna say a game changing factor happened when YleX (radio channel, part of YLE broadcasting company) joined in the production team after ESC 2019.
Robin’s song Girls like you was elevated by the fun, uplifting and may I say a bit risky staging! (UMK23)
Three years ago Erika Vikman was the moral winner with her Cicciolina even though not winning the actual trophy and ticket to Rotterdam. Her song became a major hit launching her musical career to new hights in Finland. I even dare to say that she did change the competition with her song and performance.
In 2021 the world saw music shows differently on TV and it was much needed face lift also for UMK. The other songs had no chance against Blind Channel. These were the years when the staging improved overall tremendously even though we had a few misclick (Teflon Brothers 2021, Erika Vikman 2020).
Lxandra’s Something to lose was one of the most beautiful moments in UMK23! I would have wanted this to reach a much higher climax at one point though..
In 2022-2023 we really saw big Finnish names participating UMK (The Rasmus, Benjamin, Robin Packalen, Kuumaa) and also having some new artists emerging (Bess, Younghearted, Käärijä) and making a name for themselves some even without the UMK trophy.
In 2023 UMK final gathered 2,1 millions viewers (in 2022 1,9millions), the lyric videos on Youtube were viewed almost 5,5 million times and the songs were listened on Spotify over 14 million times!
In 2023 we finally have the quality that we need and the people’s interest (abroad and home) that we want!
Kuumaa’s Ylivoimainen live performance was simple but effective! However, when watching it for the first time it seemed a bit dull and not having enough to keep you interested. (UMK23)
Finns tend to complain about the number of UMK songs and how 6-7 is not enough but if this is the quality they deliver, personally I need no more! I’ve voted 5 UMK songs now in two years in a row and I’m content! This is also a money factor, if we had more songs would the level of quality hold? In music, music videos and in the live statings? I would be doubtful.
I also like the way things are being revealed and when. Mid Jan for artists anouncements is a perfect time just before the ESC national selection kicks off and I love that the songs are being dropped from there without any delay or waiting times. For seven days, there was always something new to look for each day! Late Feb has become a bit a pattern for UMK final but technically this could be later but would it ruin the hype then?
Keira’s No business on the dancefloor was excellent with catchy coreography and simple stating. However, the fact that she’s a new artist came across a bit. (UM23)
UMK has received criticism about stagings over the years which we’ve seen improving each year (this year being perfect). Also camera work, angles haven’t been on point (las year Isaac was a bit of a disaster) but last night was a big jump to the right direction!
What still is left to improve however is the acoustics - every year we complain about the artists vocals sounding shitty when in reality they sound good at the actual venue. The venues have been changing over the years (Tampere’s Mediapolis, Turku’s Logomo etc). Even last night the sounds of the audience singing, clapping were overwhelming the artists vocals which I think damaged the reactions of the people watching the live at home.
Benjamin’s Hoida Mut was well executed and performed except vocally... However credits for performing ALONE!
So overall UMK was smash hit with high quality performance and not just the competing ones and with a winner (Käärijä - Cha cha cha) that is definitely taking a risk. The hype has already spread outside of Finland and Cha cha cha is predicted to become a televote winner (juries, you never know). Time will tell us in a few months..
It’s been a year and I still think about CHA CHA CHA, I have not thought about tattoo
u think eurovision is a competition between european countries but it's a actually a competition between the jury and the people
Making a sketch and then suddenly it become a doodle in a painting style
HELLO KÄÄRIJÄ NATION MAY I OFFER: KÄÄRIJÄ MIKU
IT'S CRAZY! IT'S PARTY!!!