FINLAND: #UMK17 REVIEW: ANNI SAIKKU - REACH OUT FOR THE SUN

80/120

Anni Saikku scores a third place in our little panel. Anni (21) comes from Helsinki and describes herself as extrovert, talkable one, she loves and lives hard, she's got ADHD. She's a dreamer and romantic, loves sea and is now finally in UMK. She almost participated already last year, as she thinks UMK and Eurovision is a huge opportunity in a little country like Finland. She already participated in The Voice (same season as Tuuli Okkonen and Siru from last year's UMK) that she recalls the craziest, bravest and coolest thing she's done. So far.

She describes her song a combination of light and shadows, a strong and empowering song. How to find your inner fire and reach out for your dreams, the stars. Or the sun. That's just what Anni is doing. Here and now.

If Anni is your favorite please vote for her in my poll or for real here

Our little international* panel placed this third. Quite a few 9s and 8s and a couple of 4s. Like Marco puts it "Good song, good voice. Needs a bit improvement for Eurovision but I like it". Valentina likes it, Jack counts it among his top-3 as does Robert adding "a pleasant song and a singer with nice voice. I also like the instrumental effects". This blogger likes this, too, quite a lot. Beautiful melody and atmosphere alternating between sad and hopeful. The thing most mentioned and critizised was the anticlimax that bothers me a bit, too. Just when you think this is going to be a banger and explode it slows down again. That must be played down well with staging or it will kill the song on stage. Anyways, I wouldn't be too sad if this travelled all the way to Kyiv.... if the staging is right. A solid 80/120 from us.

Current standings and reviews:

3. Anni Saikku – Reach out for the sun 80

4. Emma – Circle of light 77

5. My First Band – Paradise 76,5

6. Alva – Arrows 68

7. Zühlke: Perfect Villain 59

8. Günther & D'Sanz: Love Yourself 50,5

9. Club La Persé – My little world 43

10. Kucklebone Oscar & The Shangri-La Rubies – Caveman 27

*Valentina (SanMarino), Jack (UK), Michele (Sweden/Italy), Markus (Germany/UK), Marco (Italy), Francisco (Spain/Venezuela), 3M (Malta), Robert (Netherlands), 3K (Finland) and Blogilkar (Finland). Most jurors have years of experience inside and outside Eurovision as artist, producer and delegation members. Some are just active fans while 3K are a group of teenagers, non-Eurovision fans who follow it as randomly as any normal people, :-)

All of us gave votes from 0-10 to each entry, so the maximum votes is 120.

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