Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007

Eurovision Song Contest 2007
Participating broadcaster	Yleisradio (Yle)
Country	Finland
National selection
Selection process	Euroviisut 2007
Selection date(s)	Semi-finals: 20 January 2007 27 January 2007 3 February 2007 10 February 2007 Final: 17 February 2007
Selected artist(s)	Hanna Pakarinen
Selected song	"Leave Me Alone"
Selected songwriter(s)	Martti Vuorinen Miikka Huttunen Hanna Pakarinen
Finals performance
Final result	17th, 53 points
Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2006 • 2007 • 2008►

Finland was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with the song "Leave Me Alone", written by Martti Vuorinen, Miikka Huttunen, and Hanna Pakarinen, and performed by Pakarinen herself. The Finnish participating broadcaster, Yleisradio (Yle), organised the national final Euroviisut 2007 in order to select its entry for the contest. In addition, Yle was also the host broadcaster and staged the event at the Hartwall Areena in Helsinki, after winning the previous edition with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" performed by Lordi.

Yle selected twelve artists with two songs each to compete in the national final, which consisted of four semi-finals and a final, taking place in January and February 2007. Twelve entries ultimately competed in the final on 17 February where votes from the public selected "Leave Me Alone" performed by Hanna Pakarinen as the winner.

As the host country, Finland qualified to compete directly in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Performing in position 5 during the final, Finland placed seventeenth out of the 24 participating countries with 53 points.

Background

Main article: Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2007 contest, Yleisradio (Yle) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Finland forty times since its first entry in 1961.^[1] It has won the contest once in 2006 with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" performed by Lordi.

As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, Yle organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. Yle had selected its entries for the contest through national final competitions that have varied in format over the years. Since 1961, a selection show that was often titled Euroviisukarsinta highlighted that the purpose of the program was to select a song for Eurovision. On 11 August 2006, the broadcaster announced that its entry for the 2007 contest would be selected through the Euroviisut selection show.^[2]

Before Eurovision

Euroviisut 2007

Euroviisut 2007 was the national final that selected the Finnish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. The competition consisted of five shows that commenced with the first of four semi-finals on 20 January 2007 and concluded with a final on 17 February 2007. The three stages were hosted by Finnish presenters Jaana Pelkonen and Heikki Paasonen. All shows were broadcast on Yle TV2, via radio on Yle Radio Vega and online at yle.fi. The final was also broadcast via radio on Yle Radio Suomi.^[3][4]

Format

The format of the competition consisted of five shows: four semi-finals and a final. Three artists each competed with two songs in each semi-final and the winning song per act qualified to complete the twelve-song lineup in the final. The results for the semi-finals and the final were determined exclusively by a public vote. Public voting included the options of telephone and SMS voting.^[5][6]

Competing entries

Twelve artists were directly invited by Yle to compete in the national final following consultation with record companies and presented during a press conference on 8 November 2006. Among the competing artists was former Finnish Eurovision entrant Laura who represented Finland in 2002.^[7] The entries competing in each semi-final were presented in weekly preview programmes on Yle Radio Suomi between 15 January 2007 and 5 February 2007.^[8][9] On 6 January 2007, Jann Wilde and Rose Avenue had been disqualified from the competition after their songs "Lover Lover Lover" and "Soft Is Selling" had already been publicly released before the semi-finals.^[10] The artists were later allowed by Yle to submit replacement songs by 10 February.^[11]

Artist	Song	Songwriter(s)
Beats and Styles feat. Anorah [sv]	"See the Signs"	Jaakko Manninen [fi], Asmo Soivio [fi], Heikki Liimatainen, Anna Nordell, Charles Salter
Beats and Styles	"Take It Back"	Jaakko Manninen, Asmo Soivio, Daniel Wahlgren
Hanna Pakarinen	"Leave Me Alone"	Martti Vuorinen, Miikka Huttunen, Hanna Pakarinen
	"Tell Me What to Do"	Lasse Kurki [fi], Hanna Pakarinen
Humane [fi]	"Bubble Shell"	Kim Herold
	"Plane Away"	Kim Herold, D. Thomson
Jani and Jetsetters [fi]	"Etupenkillä"	Nalle Ahlstedt, Sirpa Peltola
	"Musta sulhanen"	Tuure Kilpeläinen
Jann Wilde and Rose Avenue	"Cinnamon"	Jann Wilde, Rose Avenue
	"Rock'n Roll Dreams"
Johanna Kurkela	"Jossain metsäin takana"	Tomi Aholainen, Sinikka Svärd [fi]
	"Olet uneni kaunein"
Jukka Kuoppamäki	"Levitä siivet"	Jukka Kuoppamäki
	"Pikajuna"
Katra	"Tietäjä"	Risto Asikainen, Ilkka Vainio [fi]
	"Vaaratar"
Kentala [fi]	"Left My Heart Behind"	Harri Kentala, Janne Hyöty
	"Merry-Go-Round"
Laura	"Kosketa mua"	Maki Kolehmainen [fi], Mats Tärnfors, Tracy Lipp [fi]
	"Take a Chance"
Lovex	"Anyone, Anymore"	Lovex
	"Wild and Violent"
Thunderstone	"Forevermore"	Thunderstone, Nino Laurenne [fi]
	"Face in the Mirror"

Shows

Semi-finals

The four semi-final shows took place on 20 January, 27 January, 3 February and 10 February 2007 at the Tohloppi Studios in Tampere. One song per competing artist qualified to the final based on the results from the public vote. A total of 51,535 votes were cast over the four shows.^[12] In addition to the competing entries, Arja Saijonmaa and 1966 Finnish Eurovision entrant Ann-Christine Nyström performed as the interval act in the first semi-final, while 1979 and 1993 Finnish Eurovision entrant Katri Helena performed in the second semi-final, and 1972 Finnish Eurovision entrant Päivi Paunu and Kim Floor performed in the third semi-final.^[13][14][15]

Semi-final 1 – 20 January 2007

Draw	Artist	Song	Televote	Result
1	Jani and Jetsetters	"Etupenkillä"	1,628	Eliminated
2	Hanna Pakarinen	"Tell Me What to Do"	3,777	Eliminated
3	Thunderstone	"Forevermore"	2,825	Eliminated
4	Jani and Jetsetters	"Musta sulhanen"	1,861	Advanced
5	Hanna Pakarinen	"Leave Me Alone"	8,459	Advanced
6	Thunderstone	"Face In the Mirror"	5,056	Advanced

Semi-final 2 – 27 January 2007

Draw	Artist	Song	Televote	Result
1	Jukka Kuoppamäki	"Levitä siivet"	2,277	Advanced
2	Humane	"Bubble Shell"	1,119	Eliminated
3	Katra	"Tietäjä"	2,425	Advanced
4	Jukka Kuoppamäki	"Pikajuna"	1,440	Eliminated
5	Humane	"Plane Away"	4,301	Advanced
6	Katra	"Vaaratar"	797	Eliminated

Semi-final 3 – 3 February 2007

Draw	Artist	Song	Televote	Result
1	Johanna Kurkela	"Olet uneni kaunein"	1,661	Advanced
2	Kentala	"Merry-Go-Round"	584	Eliminated
3	Lovex	"Anyone, Anymore"	4,510	Advanced
4	Johanna Kurkela	"Jossain metsäin takana"	914	Eliminated
5	Kentala	"Left My Heart Behind"	1,044	Advanced
6	Lovex	"Wild and Violent"	881	Eliminated

Semi-final 4 – 10 February 2007

Draw	Artist	Song	Televote	Result
1	Laura	"Kosketa mua"	1,322	Eliminated
2	Beats and Styles feat. Anorah	"See the Signs"	515	Advanced
3	Jann Wilde and Rose Avenue	"Rock'n Roll Dreams"	953	Advanced
4	Laura	"Take a Chance"	2,162	Advanced
5	Beats and Styles	"Take It Back"	351	Eliminated
6	Jann Wilde and Rose Avenue	"Cinnamon"	673	Eliminated

Final

The final took place on 17 February 2007 at the Holiday Club Caribia in Turku where the twelve entries that qualified from the preceding four semi-finals competed. The winner was selected over two rounds of public televoting. In the first round, the top three from the twelve competing entries qualified to the second round, the superfinal. In the superfinal, "Leave Me Alone" performed by Hanna Pakarinen was selected as the winner. A total of 261,679 votes were cast during the show: 95,736 in the final and 165,943 in the superfinal.^[16][17] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the interval act featured Danny performing his 1975 Finnish Eurovision national final entry "Seikkailija".^[18]

Final – 17 February 2007

Draw	Artist	Song	Televote	Place
1	Hanna Pakarinen	"Leave Me Alone"	16,937	1
2	Beats and Styles feat. Anorah	"See the Signs"	2,512	12
3	Jani and Jetsetters	"Musta sulhanen"	3,507	11
4	Lovex	"Anyone, Anymore"	15,112	2
5	Jukka Kuoppamäki	"Levitä siivet"	4,776	10
6	Jann Wilde and Rose Avenue	"Rock'n Roll Dreams"	7,907	5
7	Katra	"Tietäjä"	5,281	8
8	Laura	"Take a Chance"	8,988	4
9	Humane	"Plane Away"	6,828	7
10	Thunderstone	"Face in the Mirror"	10,997	3
11	Johanna Kurkela	"Olet uneni kaunein"	7,791	6
12	Kentala	"Left My Heart Behind"	5,100	9

Superfinal – 17 February 2007

Draw	Artist	Song	Televote	Place
1	Hanna Pakarinen	"Leave Me Alone"	73,052	1
2	Lovex	"Anyone, Anymore"	38,175	3
3	Thunderstone	"Face in the Mirror"	54,716	2

At Eurovision

Hanna Pakarinen performing at the Eurovision Song Contest

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country, the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) and the ten highest placed finishers in the 2006 contest are required to qualify from the semi-final in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from the semi-final progress to the final. As the host country, Finland automatically qualified to compete in the final on 12 May 2007. In addition to their participation in the final, Finland is also required to broadcast and vote in the semi-final on 10 May 2007.

The semi-final and the final were televised in Finland on Yle TV2 with commentary in Finnish by Heikki Paasonen and Ellen Jokikunnas with the addition of Asko Murtomäki in the final. The three shows were also broadcast on Yle FST5 with commentary in Swedish by Thomas Lundin as well as via radio with Finnish commentary by Sanna Pirkkalainen and Jorma Hietamäki on Yle Radio Suomi.^[19][20] Yle appointed Laura Voutilainen, who represented Finland in the 2002 contest, as its spokesperson to announce the Finnish votes during the final.

Final

Hanna Pakarinen took part in technical rehearsals on 7 and 8 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 11 and 12 May.^[21] During the running order draw for the semi-final and final on 12 March 2007, Finland was placed to perform in position 5 in the final, following the entry from Ireland and before the entry from Macedonia.^[22] The Finnish performance featured Hanna Pakarinen performing in a black dress joined by a guitarist, bassist, keyboardist and drummer. The LED screens displayed three artificial flames and colours that transitioned between black, blue, white, red and orange. The performance also featured several effects including smoke, pyrotechnics and a wind machine.^[23][24] The four musicians that joined Hanna Pakarinen on stage were Jaakko Kääriäinen, Jyrki Alanen, Mikko Määttä and Risto Niinikoski.^[25] Finland placed seventeenth in the final, scoring 53 points.^[26]

Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Finland and awarded by Finland in the semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Iceland in the semi-final and to Serbia in the final of the contest.

Points awarded to Finland

Points awarded to Finland (Final)^[27]

Score	Country
12 points	Iceland  Sweden
10 points
8 points
7 points	Andorra
6 points	Estonia
5 points	Lithuania
4 points	Denmark  Norway
3 points
2 points
1 point	Belarus  Germany   Switzerland

Points awarded by Finland

Points awarded by Finland (Semi-final)[28] Score Country 12 points  Iceland 10 points  Hungary 8 points  Serbia 7 points  Turkey 6 points  Estonia 5 points  Andorra 4 points  Georgia 3 points  Latvia 2 points  Bulgaria 1 point  Norway

Points awarded by Finland (Final)[27] Score Country 12 points  Serbia 10 points  Hungary 8 points  Sweden 7 points  Georgia 6 points  Ukraine 5 points  Bulgaria 4 points  Turkey 3 points  Russia 2 points  Moldova 1 point  Germany

References

1. "Finland Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
2. Royston, Benny (11 August 2006). "Eurovision Finnish national final in Turku". Esctoday. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
3. "YLE julkisti Suomen euroviisukappaleet ja niiden tekijät -". Suomi24 Keskustelut (in Finnish). 5 January 2007. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
4. Karhapää, Ilari (17 February 2007). "Eurovision Hanna Pakarinen is the winner!". Esctoday. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
5. "Simo Frangénista euroviisukarsintojen uutisankkuri". yle.fi (in Finnish). 2 November 2006. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
6. van Gorp, Edwin (8 November 2006). "Artists for Finnish final known". Esctoday.
7. "Suomen euroviisuehdokkaiden kilpailupäivät varmistuneet". yle.fi (in Finnish). 12 November 2006. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
8. Karhapää, Ilari (20 December 2006). "First song titles known in Finland". Esctoday.
9. Karhapää, Ilari (5 January 2007). "Eurovision Finland: Euroviisut 2007 songs announced". Esctoday. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
10. Klier, Marcus (6 January 2007). "Jann Wilde & Rose Avenue disqualified!". Esctoday. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
11. Kuipers, Michael (7 January 2007). "Eurovision Jann Wilde & Rose Avenue to enter new songs - ESCToday.com". Esctoday. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
12. "FINNISH SEMI-FINALS 2007".
13. Karhapää, Ilari (20 January 2007). "Finnish Euroviisut: first semifinal". Esctoday. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
14. Klier, Marcus (27 January 2007). "Finland: three songs chosen". Esctoday. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
15. Karhapää, Ilari (3 February 2007). "Eurovision Finland - third semifinal over". Esctoday. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
16. "FINNISH NATIONAL FINAL 2007".
17. Karhapää, Ilari (17 February 2007). "Finland: Hanna Pakarinen with Leave me alone". esctoday. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
18. Rytsä, Paavo (30 March 2007). "Danny: Ninja". yle.fi (in Finnish). Retrieved 23 November 2022.
19. "Finland: Eurovision 2008 in the Finnish media". Eurovision News, Polls and Information by ESCToday. Archived from the original on 30 January 2010.
20. Julkaistu To, 29 April 2010 – 10:19 (29 April 2010). "YLE Radio Suomen kommentaattorit | Euroviisut | yle.fi | Arkistoitu". yle.fi. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
21. Floras, Stella (27 April 2007). "Rehearsals and Press Conferences schedule". Esctoday. Retrieved 21 May 2022.
22. Klier, Marcus (12 May 2007). "LIVE: draw of the running order". Esctoday. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
23. "Finland's Hanna doesn't leave us alone". eurovision.tv. 7 May 2007. Archived from the original on 14 May 2007. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
24. "Hanna PAKARINEN, 4FUN, Sarbel and THE ARK rehearse again". eurovision.tv. 8 May 2007. Archived from the original on 12 May 2007. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
25. "Finland". Six on Stage. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
26. "Grand Final of Helsinki 2007". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 22 April 2021. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
27. "Results of the Grand Final of Helsinki 2007". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 23 April 2021. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
28. "Results of the Semi-Final of Helsinki 2007". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 23 April 2021. Retrieved 23 April 2021.

External links

• (in Finnish) Full national final on Yle Elävä Arkisto