All entries in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest are known, but the actual contest is still about a month away. As a warm-up, we introduce one of the entries every day in random order. Part twenty-seven is dedicated to the entry from Finland.

Basic information

Performers:	Waldo's People
Song:	Lose control
Language:	English
Music:	Anna-Karima Holm, Ari Lehtonen
Lyrics:	Anna-Karima Holm, Ari Lehtonen, Marko Reijosen, Annie Kratz-Gutå
Draw:	15th in the first semi final

The song

Lose control is an up-tempo Eurodance song in the style of the 1990s with rap parts in the verses. The lyrics are about someone losing everything (and even control)despite defending against it:

I don't wanna live a lie
Is this my reality?
It's spinning round and round
Day and night

I don't wanna lose control
But I'm falling
I just can't believe it
Never thought that I would be the one
Falling down

The band

Waldo's people center around the main vocalists Karoliina Kallio and Marko "Waldo" Reijonen. The latter had already had some success as a solo performer in the early 1990s, when they founded Waldo's People in 1998 with Sami Lehto (drums), Karl Sinkkonen (keyboards) and Kimmo Nissinen (guitar). Their first single was U drive me crazy and it would be a number three hit in Finland and its video was the first Finnish video included in MTV Nordic's daily video rotation. Their debut album Waldo's People was almost equally successful reaching number six in the charts.

In 2000, the band's second album was released and it reached the same position in the charts and produced the number four hit single 1000 ways. Having taken a rather long break, Waldo's People returned to recording in 2008 with their greatest hits compilation Back again, which peaked at number 27 in the charts. The eponymous song included on the CD was released as a single in Mayand became the band's first number one hit in Finland.

The band entered the Finnish national selection for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest and could win it with the song Lose control and could win it. Having been in the top ten for three months already, it finally reached the top of the Finnish single charts two weeks ago. The third studio album of the band, which was released in February and includes the song, has currently reached number 13.

The national selection

The Finnish broadcaster repeated the Euroviisut formula of 2008. Four semi finals were held with four songs each and two songs of each heat qualified for thegrand final. A second chance round with all non-qualifiers was held right before the final and eventually, ten songs competed for the ticket to Moscow. Waldo's People were the winners with 45.1% of the votes inthesuperfinal, where the top three competed.

Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest

Finlandentered the Eurovision Song Contest in 1961 andhas been a frequent competitior since despitenever finishing in the top five for a very long time.This suddenly changed in 2006, when Lordi won the contest for Finland in Athens.The last twoparticipations ended outside the top ten again, but stillthe country has not been missing a final since 2006.

Toivotamme Suomelle ja Waldo's Peoplelle onnea ja menestystä Moskovassa!

Videos

Live in the national final:

The preview video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwYDdPHup3Y&ap=%2526fmt%3D18&rel=0

The first hit song U drive me crazy:

The number one hitBackagain:

Other parts of this series

1. France
2. Portugal
3. Romania
4. Denmark
5. Netherlands
6. Cyprus
7. Latvia
8. Ireland
9. Malta
10. Armenia
11. Germany
12. Serbia
13. Belgium
14. Greece
15. Croatia
16. Poland
17. Czech Republic
18. Iceland
19. Moldova
20. Switzerland
21. Slovenia
22. Andorra
23. Ukraine
24. Spain
25. Sweden
26. Montenegro

Tomorrow, we will take a look at the Lithuanian entry.

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