After three weeks of Semi-finals in Finland, the grand final of Eurovision Laulukilpailu took place in the Leonardo Hall in Tampere on the last day of January. Twelve artists fought for the honour of representing their native country in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest - and it was Waldo's People who managed to convince the televoting audience!
Waldo's People won the superfinal against the two other competitors Signmark feat. Osmo Ikonen and Passionworks feat. Tony Turunen who had also reached the second stage of televoting in the Finnish final. The group had already been tipped as one of the favourites as they had won their Semi-Final earlier in January. They got 45,1% of the votes in the superfinal with Signmark feat. Osmo Ikonen coming close second with 41,2%.
Surprise hit from Finland?
Besides being a radio hit in Finland, the Misko Iho-directed video gained nearly half a million hits in YouTube over one weekend after their victory. Waldo’s People is definitely the best europop act in Finland today, if not in whole Europe. The classic dance pop sound of the 90’s is surprisingly becoming fashionable again in the club scene all over. Watch their entry below.
Leading dance artist
Waldo has been one of the leading dance artists and producers in Finland for over a decade already. Classic europop, which he has represented throughout years has brought him four gold albums as a solo artist and foreman of Waldo’s People. Waldo, aka Marko Reijonen, has written many of his hit songs together with Finnish-born, Swedish producer Ari Lehtonen. The current radio hit Lose Control is also written by the duo, whose fruitful cooperation has lasted over ten years.
“It is cool to show the world that also other kind of music besides rock and metal is made in Finland. Lose Control is all about life. There are moments and times in everyone’s lives when they just feel that no matter what they do, things just don't seem to go their way. No one expects bad things to happen. This song is a way of dealing with the facts of life and is our way of inspiring not to give up,” Waldo states.
Waldo's People will perform fifteenth in the first Semi-Final of Europe's favourite TV-show on the 12th of May in Moscow. Read more about them here.
What do you think about their song? Will Finland once again make Europe go crazy? Tell us below!
