Softengine from Finland qualified for the final in 2014
EBU
Hard rock tradition
Finland have a tradition in recent years of bringing rock songs to Europe's Favourite Tv Show, which isn't surprising given their only win was in 2006 with Lordi, the group who looked like monsters, with Hard Rock, Hallelujah.
This time in contrast, it is the five young, good looking men, who go by the name Softengine who will carry the hopes of the nation in the second Semi-Final.
This content is unfortunately no longer available
They are dressed smartly mainly in black, though the lead singer wears a silvery grey jacket, and the drummer who sports a white jacket. The group stay very much in the centre of the stage throughout the performance, jumping up and down energetically. Apart from the guitarists and the drummer, there is also a keyboard player who uses an upright piano, and also heavily strikes the cymbal.
They do produce one of the loudest songs in the contest, with heavy emphasis on the bass sound.
Something Better starts with some strong bright red lighting on the floor and on the cube, and then it changes to strong white lighting. In fact the lights shine up the whole arena, as you would expect from this rock orientated number.
This content is unfortunately no longer available
They are one of the youngest groups to have appeared in recent years at the Eurovision Song Contest, and they speculated that this might be an advantage, that it was revolutionary and that they might stand out.
The lead singer and composer Topi Latukka was asked which of the other songs in the Semi-Final he saw as the greatest threat to the Finns chance of qualifying? He had heard all the songs, but couldn't recall exactly which songs were in the same Semi-Final as Finland, but overall he liked the songs of Greece, Armenia, Malta and Hungary.
Topi was also asked why he didn't tend to look at the camera, or indeed at the audience. "I am focussed on what I am doing, but next time I will keep my eyes open". So far he has been concentrating on the singing, but now after a couple of rehearsals under his belt he can now focus on the audience.
Following the contest, Softengine will be recording a new album, with maybe some different musical styles, and not just one genre, perhaps a bit more indie. Their main music influence is the group Coldplay.
