Hanna Pakarinen won the Finnish Euroviisut on Saturday night and will fly the Finnish flag in Helsinki in May, but as always not everyone is happy with that. The critics has been loud as usual and some have even voiced there must be something wrong with the voting. Hanna partied all night with the runner up Thunderstone while Lovex tried to keep up a smiley face. Let�s see how the media writes.
Especially in Lovex team there were some scepticism about the results but TeliaSonera’s Timo Koso comments on today’s Ilta-Sanomat: “We got votes from all regions in Finland. Hanna was number one in each and every of them. Of course a voting like this causes passion but it all worked normally.”
Timo Suomi from YLE ads: “I was following the voting figures on computer during the show. There were no problems in any region and Hanna was a clear number one everywhere. Every song got votes but for some their favourite one obviously didn’t get them enough.”
Fans in internet messageboards went wild right afterwords. Channel 4 TV-news run a story how the Eurovision fans were unhappy. Everybody seems to forget that before the list of singers in Euroviisut 2007 was announced Hanna Pakarinen was basicly on every list of singers the fans would want to sing for Finland in 2007. Now, after victory she, or rather, her song has been critized a lot. If Lovex won Hanna fans would propably be doing the same to them. If someone else won, both Hanna and Lovex fans would be doing the same. It happens everywhere and it is a part of the game.
“Everyone knows how talkative I am but now I am lost for words” comment overjoyed Hanna right after she has been announced the winner. “This is so confusing. I was already so happy to be in the superfinal! I was very nervous beforehand but when the song started I just went for it. I guess tonight we will party all night and I might end up in Jacuzzi in my dress with Thunderstone’s guys!” They did party all night but things didn’t go quite that far. “We will offer Hanna champagne and check if she can party like a real rock chick” laughs Thunderstone’s Pasi Rantanen. “We will back up Hanna and support her with some heavy partying tonight!”
“The song is about a very difficult love affair” she tells. “About how difficult and impossible a love can be at times that you can’t let go and just wish the other one would do it for you.” If it’s a story from her own life she says: “I am a 26-year-old woman, a lot has happened in my life.” She refuses to comment if she is dating someone at the moment but the rumour is she is not single.
“The show will be a bit different in Helsinki, I will also have a new dress, blood red and silver. I had designed tonight’s dresses myself, also the choreography was all mine” she says. “Mr Lordi congratulated me already and reminded me to be just the way I am. Kimmo Valtanen from SonyBMG Finland says Lordi’s promotion was a good training for them and they will use all their know how now to make Hanna known abroad. “We are not planning a promotion tour all over the Europe though” he says, “as the host nation’s artist Hanna will be noticed well enough.”
Thunderstone was the most surprised on Saturday night. “This was a big surprise indeed” says the bassist Titus Hjelm, “it’s quite amazing we were so close to Hanna who sells like 15-20 times more albums in Finland than we do. The heavy rock population has showed its power again.” They hope this gig will make them more known in Finland as well. Next Tuesday is fully booked for interviews all around the world for their forthcoming album release. “It will be released just about every country in the world” Hjelm tells to Ilta-Sanomat.
Lovex were not able to hide their disappointment. “Of course we knew Hanna has a lot of fans and Finns like her” says the lead singer Theon. “We will have a few drinks and set our mind in the future. Next week we will be doing promotion in Germany. We did our best but it wasn’t enough.” The band kept low profile the rest of the evening but didn’t leave the party.
Heikki Paasonen and Jaana Pelkonen had found again the spark they have and that was lost in last week’s semi final. “I have heard there’s going to be one very hot chick in Helsinki in May” joked Heikki in live show and proved he has got over the disappointment. “Of course I was disappointed but all the support I have got from fans has felt very good. And why would I be angry to Jaana? She is one of the most wonderful persons I know! Jaana and Mikko will be great in May.”
Jaana tells she has been sad for Heikki, too. “I have talked about it with Mikko and we both have felt sorry for Heikki, but the decision was not up to us. I will work with Heikki in the future, in fact next week we will be working together all week, and who knows we will be back in Euroviisut next year?”
Hanna will soon start her tour in Finland. Her third album Lovers was released on February 14th and on March 2nd she will have a special album launch gig in Helsinki’s Virgin Oil co. club. The promotional single for Leave me alone should come out already next week. The first single from the album was Go go.