She swept the Finnish national final, but can Sandhja sing her way to a Eurovision victory in Stockholm?
Finland is one of the more interesting Nordic nations to watch in the run-up to the Eurovision finals. Unlike Norway or Sweden, there's a certain unpredictability to the entry they'll send - everything from metal to pop to punk has been sent in the past decade, and the Finnish televoters seem to be willing to follow whatever weird drumbeat they want to. Continuing this trend is this year's entry, Sandhja's "Sing It Away", which had already won by jury vote before the televoters had their say:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFTJfSPcQXk
A good part of me really wants to like this song more than I do. The energy of the chorus is fantastic, as is the brass arrangement that's going on throughout it. And then there are the verses and bridge , which feel copied and pasted in from a different song on Sandhja's inevitable album. I like Sandhja's general vocal tone, but there's a lack of control in her performance that tends to go off key quickly, which could hurt her chances in a semi-final if she's not giving her best performance there.
Then there's the lyrical content of the song. Admittedly, you really shouldn't go to Eurovision songs looking for in-depth lyrics, but these ones are especially bland and follow the same generic "sing away your troubles" that at least one entry a year sends in. There's a nice amount of soul to the voice performing them, but I wonder if this will get outshined by better entries in their semifinal.