Welcome to XTRA Decides! In this feature the team here at ESCXTRA rank the national final songs, giving our choice of the winner. We are ranking the songs using the Eurovision style 12-1 scoring system. Today we decide our winner of Finland’s selection ‘Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu’. (UMK)
We had seven songs to choose from for this national final. UMK 2021 features a diverse mix of songs, making for an interesting selection with mixed views on our favourites. After giving our scores, the team has chosen Telfon Brothers x Pandora with their song ‘I Love You’ to win the competition. Check out our scores and the thoughts of some of the team below…
Our Scores
| Song | Score | |
|---|---|---|
| Telfon Brothers x Pandora – I Love You 12: Maria, Angelos, Justas, Lisa, Dominik, Sean | 1 | 151 |
| Ilta – Kelle mä soitan 12: Tom O, Costa, Nathan P | 2 | 134 |
| Blind Channel – Dark Side 12: Aline, Bente | 3 | 133 |
| Aksel – Hurt 12: Sami, Tim, Vincent | 4 | 123 |
| Oskr – Lie 12: Tom R | 5 | 110 |
| Laura – Play | 6 | 104 |
| Danny – Sinä päivänä kun kaikki rakastaa mua 12: Nick | 7 | 77 |
Reviews
Lisa (12pts)
This is every Eurovision gamer’s dream come true! Those pulsing New Wave beats make me want to play Tetris while listening to this. usually I can get bored of repetitive songs easily. But here it’s the unique selling point. Nothing lingers too long, from the Finnish rap sections to Pandora’s over the top 80s vocal. All that does permanently linger on the memory is that catchy “I love you”, hook. it is made for the TikTok generation. This is going to be an experience to remember come the live show itself. That’s what Finland excells at and I can’t wait to see it!
Maria (12pts)
To be honest, I never was a big fan of such music in general but this particular entry got me almost immediately. It’s easy to listen, various and even ironic enough for me. I know it’s popular already but still I also think the audience would love it even more with a good staging. Seems like the song has a really great potential for Eurovision in case Teflon Brothers and Pandora win so I am kinda excited to see what the guys are going to show us during their performance.
Costa (10pts)
I cannot recall a similar entry to this in recent memory, which is a noval thing indeed. What it lacks in lyrical depth, it makes up for in production quality and infectiousness. I personally think being divisive is a great thing, especially when public opinion generally skews favourably. This will absolutely be a hoot on stage, regardless of audience, and be exactly what viewers need. I cannot wait to see how they stage this.
Sami (6pts)
I think Teflon Brothers have some great party songs and I see some of those elements in this song as well. Some of the jokes in the song are funny, but sadly the song gets very repetitive very fast. I think the best part of the song actually is Pandora’s bridge before the last chorus. It’s interesting to see a popular group taking part in UMK but I hope they don’t win just because they probably have the most fans.
Xtra Decides so far…
Check out more from our XTRA DECIDES feature with the links below…
- 🇳🇴 We choose ‘Vi er Norge’ as the Melodi Grand Prix wildcard
- 🇭🇷 We choose Bernarda with ‘Colors’
- 🇸🇪 Melodifestivalen: our semi-final 2 direct finalists
- 🇸🇪 Melodifestivalen: our semi-final 1 direct finalists
- 🇱🇹 We choose The Roop
- 🇫🇷 We choose Barbara Pravi
- 🇮🇱 We choose ‘La La Love’ for Eden Alene
Do you agree with our decision? Let us know! Be sure to stay updated by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter, @escxtra on Instagram and liking our Facebook page for the latest updates! Also, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for reactions and interviews.
