As we’re getting even closer to this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, intense speculation has arisen on whether the authors of Saara Aalto’s entry Monsters will be able to join the Finnish delegation and travel with them to the Portuguese capital next May.

Linnea and Joy Deb out of delegation; YLE reacts

According to reports from the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, the Finnish national broadcaster YLE has said unable to cover costs for the songwriters Linnea Deb and Joy Deb, who this year joined forces with the country, despite their continuous collaboration with Swedish artists for Melodifestivalen, with the 2015 winner Måns Zelmerlöw being amongst them.

Willing to shed more light on the issue, the newspaper quotes the broadcaster’s television producer Anssi Autio statements:

We are already paying for so many things and it’s not entirely up to us to decide who will be included in the delegation.

I want to point out that we would very much like to have them. Songwriters should definitely be in place more than managers and promoters. But this is also a collaboration with the record company Warner Music Finland and Saara’s team, something we must take into account before deciding who will be included and who will not.

Following these words from Anssi Autio, the presence of the Swedish songwriters in Lisbon, at least at the broadcaster’s expense, seems rather unlikely.

Great bitterness for the composers

The authors’ team expressed its disappointment for this decision, accusing YLE that they were used as long as they were necessary for the song’s production. In the sequel, they ruled out any future cooperation with the broadcaster.

Here are Linnea Deb‘s words:

It was important to bring us to Finland for the national final but now we were thrown out. I feel it’s so unfair that authors are not taken into account in a contest based on their work. It’s skewed. Imagine a film festival without the director or scriptwriter in place!

We’re not going to work with YLE again.

Finland with Saara Aalto is going to perform 15th at the first semi-final evening on 8 May.