Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009

Finland was present at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, held in Moscow, Russia. The country was represented by Waldo's People with "Lose Control".[1]

Eurovision Song Contest 2009
Country Finland
National selection
Selection processEuroviisut 2009
Selection date(s)Semi-finals
9 January 2009
16 January 2009
23 January 2009
Second Chance
31 January 2009
Final
31 January 2009
Selected entrantWaldo's People
Selected song"Lose Control"
Finals performance
Semi-final resultQualified (12th, 42 points)
Final result25th, 22 points
Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2008 • 2009 • 2010►

Before Eurovision

Euroviisut 2009

12 entries competed in three semi-finals held on 9, 16 and 23 January 2009, with four entries taking part in each show. The top two entries from each semi-final advanced directly to the final, while the remaining two entries advanced to the Second Chance round on 31 January 2009. An additional two entries from the Second Chance round qualified for the final also on 31 January 2009. The results for all shows were determined exclusively by a public vote.[2]

Competing entries

Composers had until 1 November 2008 to submit songs.[3] The 12 artists to compete were announced on 25 September 2008. They include many former Euroviisut participants, including 12-time Euroviisut participant Tapani Kansa, 1994 participant Janita, 2002 participant Sani (as part of Aikakone), 2004 participant Riikka and winner of Euroviisut 2004 Jari Sillanpää.[4] Each artist has been drawn into a semi-final, and the songs that each artist will sing were released on 3 December 2008.[5][6][7]

Artist Song (English translation) Composer(s)
Janita "Martian" Janita (m & l), Tomi Sachary (l)
Jari Sillanpää "Kirkas kipinä" (Bright spark) Petri Laaksonen (m & l)
Kwan "10,000 Light Years" Harry Sommerdahl (m), Pauli Rantasalmi (m), Jaani Peuhu (m), Mari Pajalahti (l)
Passionworks feat. Tony Turunen "Surrender" Kristian Pihlajaharju (m), Harriet Hägglund (m & l)
Remu Aaltonen "Planeetta" (Planet) Remu Aaltonen (m & l), Ilkka Vainio (l), Risto Asikainen (l)
Riikka "Meren" (The sea) Ville Laaksonen (m & l), Riikka Timonen (l), Saara Honkanen (l), Suvi Nurmi (l)
Sani "Doctor, Doctor" Maki Kolehmainen (m), Mats Tärnfors (m), Steven Stewart (l)
Signmark feat. Osmo Ikonen "Speakerbox" Osmo Ikonen (m & l), Mahtotapa (m), Sulava (m), Signmark (l), Brandon (l)
Tapani Kansa "Rakkautta on, rauhaa ei" (There's love, there's no peace) Mika Toivanen (m), Tapani Kansa (l)
Tiara "Manala" (Underworld) Tiara (m & l)
Vink "The Greatest Plan" Vink (m & l)
Waldo's People "Lose Control" A. Lehtonen (m & l), Karima (m & l), Waldo (l), A. Kratz Gutå (l)

Semi-final 1

The first semi-final of Euroviisut 2009 was held on 9 January 2009, and featured four songs. Two songs qualified for the final, while the other two acts would progress to the Second Chance round.

The first performance of the show was Kwan with "10,000 Light Years". The song is a hip-hop/pop song which the group performed in black outfits. Fire, light and pyrotechnics was used frequently on stage for visual presentation. Second on stage was Riikka, performing "Meren". The song is an ethnic piece, performed in a blue haze on stage. Riikka, dressed in a black and white dress, is joined by five female backing singers, all in black. Next on stage was Tapani Kansa, performing "Rakkautta on, rauhaa ei". The song is a ballad, which Kansa performs in a black, and he is joined on stage by five female backing singers in white. During the start of his performance, however, Kansa loses his cue and stops singing, however he starts again shortly afterwards. The final performance of the night came from Tiara, who performs "Manala". The song is a rock number, which Tiara performs in a black and red dress. She is joined on stage by a three-man band and two female backing singers, all in black.[8][9]

Tapani Kansa and Kwan were revealed to be the qualifiers for the final, having gained 37.4% and 31.9% of the televote respectively. Riikka and Tiara went to the Second Chance round.[10][11]

Semi-final 1 – 9 January 2009
Draw Artist Song Televote Place
1 Kwan "10,000 Light Years" 31.9% 2
2 Riikka "Meren" — —
3 Tapani Kansa "Rakkautta on, rauhaa ei" 37.4% 1
4 Tiara "Manala" — —

Semi-final 2

The second semi-final was held on 16 January, with another four songs competing. Two more songs qualified for the final, with the remaining songs going to the Second Chance round.

The first act on stage from the second semi-final was Sani with "Doctor, Doctor". The performance is 60s inspired, featuring many classic Finnish items on stage. Sani begins her performance sitting in a ball chair, with three female backing dances in black and white Marimekko dresses, and two female backing singers in black dresses. The song itself is an up-tempo pop number. Favourites to win, Passionworks are next on stage, joined by Tony Turunen. The female soloist is in a long purple dress, featuring a large snowflake protruding from the back. Turunen begins the performance of this rock song on a black piano on stage, before standing up and singing. Remu gives the penultimate performance of the night, singing "Planeetta". He performance the rock number in a black suit with burgundy suit, and is joined on stage by three female backing singers/dancers. two of the backing performers wears black suits, while the remaining backing performer performs in a burgundy suit, wearing a Halloween mask. Waldo's People is last on stage, however the band are absent from the show in order to emphasize the vocals and performance. Waldo, dressed in a black top, jeans and cap, is joined on stage by three female singers, dressed in black, as well as two backing performers juggling fire, also dressed in black leather. Fire is used throughout the performance for effect.[12][13]

Waldo's People and Remu Aaltonen qualified for the final, receiving 44,3% and 28,6% respectively. Pre-contest favourites Passionworks, and Sani, failed to qualify and competed in the Second Chance round.[14][15]

Semi-final 2 – 16 January 2008
Draw Artist Song Televote Place
1 Sani "Doctor, Doctor" — —
2 Passionworks feat. Tony Turunen "Surrender" — —
3 Remu Aaltonen "Planeetta" 28.6% 2
4 Waldo's People "Lose Control" 44.3% 1

Semi-final 3

The final semi-final was held on 23 January, with another four songs competing. Two more songs qualified for the final, with the remaining songs going to the Second Chance round.

First on stage was Signmark, with Osmo Ikonen, with the song "Speakerbox". The song is a hip-hop song which includes the use of sign language during the performance. Janita was next on stage, singing "Martian". The song is a rock number, which Janita performs in a black dress, and she is accompanied on stage by a lead and bass guitarists and a drummer, all in black. Rock band Vink was the penultimate performance for the night, with "The Greatest Plan", an energetic pop-rock song. The group and backing singer were all in black for their performance. The band and backing singers are dressed in black jackets and colourful T-shirts. The final song to be performed was "Kirkas kipinä" (Bright spark) by Jari Sillanpää, who represented Finland at the 2004 contest. Sillanpää performed the ballad in a black suit, and was joined on stage by four backing singers who moved about on stage during the performance, dressed in shades of white and black. Gymnast Marleena Saresvirta also performed on stage during the song.[16][17]

From this semi-final, Signmark and Jari Sillanpää advanced to the final, receiving 46.5% and 34% of the televotes. Janita and Vink failed to qualify, proceeding to the Second Chance round.[18][19]

Semi-final 3 – 23 January 2009
Draw Artist Song Televote Place
1 Signmark feat. Osmo Ikonen "Speakerbox" 46.5% 1
2 Janita "Martian" — —
3 Vink "The Greatest Plan" — —
4 Jari Sillanpää "Kirkas kipinä" 34.0% 2

Second Chance

The Second Chance round contained the six semi-finalists that failed to qualify for the final, getting the fewest votes in the televote. They performed again for the chance to qualify for the final. The two qualifiers were Passionworks feat. Tony Turunen with "Surrender" and Vink with "The Greatest Plan".[20]

Second Chance – 31 January 2009
Draw Artist Song Result
1 Passionworks feat. Tony Turunen "Surrender" Advanced
2 Tiara "Manala" Eliminated
3 Riikka "Meren" Eliminated
4 Vink "The Greatest Plan" Advanced
5 Janita "Martian" Eliminated
6 Sani "Doctor, Doctor" Eliminated

Final

The final was held on 31 January 2009 in Leonardo Hall in Tampere, hosted by Jaana Pelkonen and Mikko Peltonen.[4] The winner was selected over two rounds of public televoting. In the first round, the top four entries were selected to proceed to the second round, the superfinal: Signmark feat. Osmo Ikonen with "Speakerbox", Waldo's People with "Lose Control" and Passionworks feat. Tony Turunen with "Surrender". In the superfinal, Waldo's People with "Lose Control" was selected as the winner with 45.1% of the votes.[1][20]

During the final, male dance group 'Scandinavian Hunks' and metal cover band 'Northern Kings' performed as interval acts.[5]

Final – 31 January 2009
Draw Artist Song Result
1 Kwan "10,000 Light Years" Eliminated
2 Jari Sillanpää "Kirkas kipinä" Eliminated
3 Signmark feat. Osmo Ikonen "Speakerbox" Superfinalist
4 Tapani Kansa "Rakkautta on, rauhaa ei" Eliminated
5 Waldo's People "Lose Control" Superfinalist
6 Remu Aaltonen "Planeetta" Eliminated
7 Passionworks feat. Tony Turunen "Surrender" Superfinalist
8 Vink "The Greatest Plan" Eliminated
Superfinal – 31 January 2009
Draw Artist Song Televote Place
1 Signmark feat. Osmo Ikonen "Speakerbox" 42.2% 2
2 Waldo's People "Lose Control" 45.1% 1
3 Passionworks feat. Tony Turunen "Surrender" 13.7% 3

At Eurovision

Since Finland was not one of the "Big Four" and was not the host of the 2009 contest, it competed in the first semi-final and qualified for the finals. Finland performed with the entry number 24 in the final, and it placed last, receiving only 22 points. Finland's commentary was provided in Finnish on YLE TV2 by Jaana Pelkonen, Mikko "Peltsi" Peltola, and Asko Murtomäki, while Swedish commentary was provided by Tobias Larsson.[21]

Split results
  • In the Final Finland came 25th (last) with 22 points: the public awarded Finland 22nd place with 30 points and the jury awarded 24th place with 12 points.

Televoting results

Semi Final voting

Finland's televoting for the first semi final were as follows:[22]

The televotes were then converted into points, as shown in the points column.

Draw Country Televotes Points
1  Montenegro 549 0
2  Czech Republic 241 0
3  Belgium 469 0
4  Belarus 2 103 4
5  Sweden 5 949 10
6  Armenia 1 147 1
7  Andorra 703 0
8   Switzerland 2 219 5
9  Turkey 2 693 7
10  Israel 2 430 6
11  Bulgaria 404 0
12  Iceland 9 846 12
13  Macedonia 787 0
14  Romania 654 0
15 Finland N/A N/A
16  Portugal 1 651 2
17  Malta 1 828 3
18  Bosnia and Herzegovina 4 237 8

Final voting

Finland's televoting for the grand final were as follows:[22]

The televotes were then converted into points, as shown in the televote points column. As the 50/50 rule had also been re-introduced a jury of 5 professionals in music from Finland also voted. These votes were then combined and converted into the point system as shown in the final column.[23]

Draw Country Televotes Televote
Points		 Jury
Points		 Total Final
Points
1  Lithuania 1 531 0
2  Israel 2 292 1 1
3  France 3 467 3 6 9 4
4  Sweden 7 517 7 2 9 7
5  Croatia 947 0
6  Portugal 2 203 0
7  Iceland 9 865 8 12 20 10
8  Greece 2 757 1 1
9  Armenia 1 409 4 4 1
10  Russia 3 180 2 2
11  Azerbaijan 4 441 5 5 2
12  Bosnia and Herzegovina 5 358 6 3 9 6
13  Moldova 1 187 0
14  Malta 1 986 7 7 3
15  Estonia 16 225 12 10 22 12
16  Denmark 1 692 0
17  Germany 1 650 0
18  Turkey 3 909 4 5 9 5
19  Albania 2 191 0
20  Norway 15 560 10 8 18 8
21  Ukraine 1 242 0
22  Romania 1 079 0
23  United Kingdom 1 659 0
24 Finland N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
25  Spain 672 0

Points awarded by Finland
Points awarded to Finland (Semi-final 1)
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
Points awarded to Finland (Final)
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

References
  1. Schacht, Andreas (31 January 2009). "Finland goes dance: Waldo's People to Moscow!". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 31 January 2009.
  2. Davies, Russell (30 November 2008). "Finland: YLE gets an early start for 09". ESCToday. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  3. "YLE's Eurovision final in Leonardo Hall, Tampere". Oikotimes. 30 August 2008. Archived from the original on 6 September 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2008.
  4. Repo, Juha (25 September 2008). "Finland: 12 artist names revealed for 2009". ESCToday. Retrieved 25 September 2008.
  5. Repo, Juha (30 November 2008). "Finland: All 12 songs online on December 3rd". ESCToday. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  6. van Tongeren, Mario (2 December 2008). "Finland: Song titles and running order for national selection announced". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 21 May 2009. Retrieved 2 December 2008.
  7. Repo, Juha (3 December 2008). "Finland: Listen to national final 2009 songs online". ESCToday. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  8. Repo, Juha (9 January 2009). "First heat in Finland". ESCToday. Retrieved 9 January 2009.
  9. Euroviisut 2008: Semi-final 1. Yleisradio Oy/Rundradion Ab (2009-01-09). Retrieved on 2009-01-09.
  10. Klier, Marcus (9 January 2009). "Finland: two acts qualified for the national final". ESCToday. Retrieved 9 January 2009.
  11. Backfish, Emma (9 January 2009). "Kwan and Tapani Kansa to Finnish final". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 21 May 2009. Retrieved 9 January 2009.
  12. Repo, Juha (16 January 2009). "Second heat - national final in Finland". ESCToday. Retrieved 16 January 2009.
  13. Euroviisut 2008: Semi-final 2. Yleisradio Oy/Rundradion Ab (2009-01-16). Retrieved on 2009-01-16.
  14. Klier, Marcus (16 January 2009). "Finland: another two acts chosen for the final". ESCToday. Retrieved 16 January 2009.
  15. Konstantopoulos, Fotis (16 January 2009). "Finland: Two more for the final". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 21 May 2009. Retrieved 16 January 2009.
  16. Repo, Juha (23 January 2009). "Third heat - national final in Finland". ESCToday. Retrieved 23 January 2009.
  17. Euroviisut 2008: Semi-final 3. Yleisradio Oy/Rundradion Ab (2009-01-23). Retrieved on 2009-01-23.
  18. Repo, Juha (23 January 2009). "Finland: last two songs selected". ESCToday. Retrieved 23 January 2009.
  19. Backfish, Emma (23 January 2009). "Finland: Another two get a ticket to the final". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 21 May 2009. Retrieved 23 January 2009.
  20. Klier, Marcus (31 January 2009). "Tonight: National final in Finland". ESCToday. Retrieved 31 January 2009.
  21. "YLE Final Round schedule (in Finnish)". Archived from the original on 15 May 2009. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
  22. "Swedish televotes - 2009". esc.info.se. Archived from the original on 3 June 2010. Retrieved 4 October 2010.
  23. Bakker, Sietse (31 July 2009). "Exclusive: Split jury/televoting results out!". EBU. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
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