Finland’s story heading into Vienna is one of the most compelling of this year’s contest.
Linda Lampenius, a 56-year-old violin virtuoso and former child prodigy who became one of Finland’s best-selling classical artists, has joined forces with Pete Parkkonen, a pop and soul singer who first came to prominence on Finnish Idol in 2008.
Together, they have created something genuinely unlike anything else in this year’s competition.
“Liekinheitin”, which translates from Finnish as “Flamethrower”, is a genre-blending powerhouse, combining elements of rock, classical and dance music into a track that divided opinion when it was first unveiled and has since become one of the most talked-about entries in recent Eurovision memory.
Their victory at Finland’s national selection show UMK was historic in itself as they received 55.80% of the televote, beating the previous UMK record held by Käärijä, and scored 570 points overall, a UMK record.
The unanimous verdict from both jury and public is the kind of mandate that tends to translate into Eurovision success.